First to Fight: The U.S. Marines in World War I

An account of how the Marine Corps were the first Americans to fight in WWI and how they became an elite fighting force. The Marines went to war as part of the American Expeditionary Force, bitterly resented by the Army and General Pershing. The Army tried to use them solely as labor troops and replacements, but the German spring offensive of 1918 forced the issue. This book looks at all the operations of the Marine Corps in World War I, and considers the units that supported the Marine Brigade. It will examine how, during the war years, the Marine Corps changed from a small organisation of naval security detachments to an elite land combat force. AUTHORS: Oscar E. Gilbert was a U.S. Marine Corps artilleryman and instructor, and retired after a thirty-eight year career in government service, university teaching, and international petroleum exploration. He is the author of numerous books on military history. Romain V. Cansiere is a native of southern France, interested in the U. S. Marine Corps since his teenage years. His current historical research is on the Marine Corps in World War I. Oscar and Romain co-authored Tanks In Hell: A Marine Corps Tank Company On Tarawa, winner of the 2016 General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Award for distinguished non-fiction. 30 illustrations