Devil Dogs: Fighting Marines of World War I 1st Edition

A great book - nearly finished with it
American history.
Semper Fi

From Leatherneck Magazine - March, 1999
The rich thread of tradition has woven itself throughout the tapestry of Marine Corps history. From these threads, Marines of today uphold the standards of service and sacrifice of the past as the proud inheritors of this heritage. Of all the eras of Marine Corps history, arguably the most romantic and colorful would be the involvement of the Marines in the First World War. The Marine Corps of today is still flavored by the traditions and experiences of those years. Words such as Devil Dog and Foxhole still permeate the language of our Marines and students from The Basic School have adopted Belleau Wood and travel over regularly to assist in the maintenance of this hallowed ground, the only wholly-owned American battlefield on foreign soil. By the same token, this has remained one of the least explored eras throughout the history of the Marines.
Certainly, the classics of Asprey's "At Belleau Wood" and Stallings' "Doughboys" stand forth as valuable contributions to the understanding of that history. However, no one has published a comprehensive examination of the actions and service of the 4th "Marine" Brigade until now.
It is with a clear love and empathy for this subject that former Marine, George Clark undertook the monumentous task of shifting through and composing the far-flung resources of documentation into a concise and readable history of the Fourth "Marine" Brigade and it's service from formation until disbandment.
Clark's work, drawn from 25 years of research into the subject, captures the color and character, as well as the facts and figures, of the Marine Brigade as no previous work. Based on contemporaneous unit histories, Marine diaries, personal letters, as well as official documents and correspondence, this book blows open the door and illuminates the incredible story of ordinary men, who, under extraordinary circumstances, left a legacy of valor courage and sacrifice unsurpassed to this day.
Highly detailed and filled with fascinating insights, "Devil Dogs" takes no prisoners. It tells the unvarnished tale of the largely volunteer force, leavened by a strong cadre of seasoned Officers and NCOs, who formed the nucleus of the 2nd Division (Regulars) of the infant American Expeditionary Force. The author offers interesting and thought-provoking opinions of the success and failure of the various Officers who led the Marines in combat in France and makes no apology for ruffling a few feathers along the way.
A rollicking, fun book to read, Clark takes the reader along from the stateside clashes with Pershing and the Army bureaucracy to training in France and through the battles of Belleau Wood, Soissons, St. Mihiel, Blanc Mont and Meuse-Argonne. Chapters also cover the history of Marines in the Occupation of Germany and explore the little known history of the Marines in the Composite Regiment of the AEF - Pershing's Showpiece.
Though not for those wishing a "quick" synopsis of Marine involvement in the Great War, "Devil Dogs" is a must for any student of Marine History or for those wishing to get the full picture of this most colorful era. Clark's work justifiably joins Asprey and Stallings as a modern classic of the American experience in the Great War. With valuable lessons for today's military, it stands as a true picture of the success by leadership, unmatched valor and pure guts, against a seasoned and battle-tested foe.
Patrick Mooney

Mr. Clark not only records the History from primary source material and books written by those he wrote about within this masterpiece – he provides the historical account in form and fashion of the true story sense. There wasn’t a page in this book I didn’t enjoy. Mr. Clark also had in my opinion a bit of snarky humor that is peppered periodically throughout the pages; I found myself chuckling at times and although the active voice of Mr. Clark I never knew, I could in fact sense and feel this third dimensional communication through the words of inflection, almost as though they were rain drops on my face in the fields, hills, and woods of France. These accentuated points that oft times within the book are injected at key points during the battle history, in this manner he shows his ability above and beyond the source material and in doing so brings this overall story to life. Passages that contain statements such as: that on page. 285: “Although the 4th Brigade later generally referred to St. Mihiel as a “piece of cake,” no one ever needs a second helping of that kind of desert.” Mr. Clark provides a steady balance and was under no illusions in this highly-detailed book. Early in the book he writes of Marines that took issues in their personal memoires of Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers who wrote critically and rather pessimistically of all they met; the balance provided in such references is acknowledged by the many heroic acts of Marine and Naval Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers, and Enlisted personnel generally. He gives credit as well to the U.S. Army Divisions and pays honorable tribute to the French Forces who were at the time of the arrival of the 4th Brigade – exhausted after years of war.

Blanc Mont comes to mind near the conclusion of the “Great War” as to how exhausted the French Forces were when questions of those forces continuously were aroused within field reports going back to the Post Command locations. Though my main interest in this book was to balance the Battle of Bois de Belleau with that of the accounting as presented in the book "Through the Wheat" Through the Wheat: The U.S. Marines in World War I the battles that came after Belleau Wood makes me question certain actions taken both during this first major front the Marines were exposed to within the open and later actions in which protective caution then circles back in following battles but is thrown to the wind toward the end. As I continued to read and then reached the Battle of Blanc Mont the full accounting of various reports arriving back to Post Command were consistent from various points of the battle front on the noticeable lack of French Forces to the flanks which caused gaps and additional work for the Marines and Army ranks present at the time. It should be noted that although in modern times the term “PC” became “CP” and Post Command therefore transitioned to “Command Post” before the Second World War. This is one form of keeping the historical accounting correct to the time and honoring the efforts of those involved. Whether intentional or not Mr. Clark does not make much reference to Maréchal Philippe Pétain in the final closing phases of the war and in fact Petain is referenced a mere few times within the book overall. Regardless, this does not take away from the official battle accounts of the many men who served, were injured or killed, or the objectives that had to be met at the time. One thing is clear in this readers’ mind – the fog of war lays everywhere within the battle fronts and Mr. Clark was highly critical of a President who went to war and Soldiers and Marines who were at the time ill prepared. President Roosevelt, had, in 1941 the foresight previously of what that stage of time to come to and in fact had one excellent officer in General George C. Marshall to do what could have been done prior to the American involvement of the Second World War – the First World War was however a different matter entirely and quite frankly, this book covers the U.S. Marine involvement rather well. Mr. Clark obviously enjoyed “asking tough questions” – as I write this I ponder to myself how many up the brass ranks he may have perturbed along the way.

Mr. Clark saves his opinion for certain sections near the end, there is an “Editorial Comment” provided following the Meuse River Campaign in which I personally believed could have been expanded upon and an “Opinion” section in the “Conclusion” chapter. For sometimes critical considerations and decisions made during this final phase period of the First World War he briefly takes mention of the slaughter the Canadian Expeditionary Forces experienced as well as others (I would be remiss here at this point if I did not mention the good lads of Australia and New Zealand – the Anzac Bridge in Australia represents the hard-emotional feeling of loss to this day of the slaughter.) This was the “Lost Generation” over all for all nations involved. A thing to note is that following the Franco-Prussian War the development of armaments outpaced the tactical planning and abilities of General Officers from all nations at the outbreak of this war. Tactics would eventually catch up during the war but not before the trenches would force a stalemate. In this, the involvement of the American Expeditionary Forces was necessary for the time – the Wilson Administration was severely lacking in quiet preparation and the desire to end this war became the mantra to force the conclusion after their supportive arrival in France.

Mr. Clark was well to point out the human elements of existence and this includes nothing less than the manner to which he writes of the wars conclusion. On page 376 we see yet as we do throughout all of combat, war, military history of all eras of how a “grunt is a grunt” regardless of nation or whether the soldier was on the winning or losing side of the war. Following the cessation of hostilities, the German soldier emerged wanting to exchange cigarettes, cigars, brandy sharing with the Marines and Soldiers they had been fighting only days (if not hours) before. Fraternization rules have proven never to have worked – we see this in Europe following the Second World War, General MacArthur was the one in fact in Japan who never allowed the rule to even exist following the surrender of the Japanese Forces. Here, however for this time frame one can easily imagine with the words of Mr. Clark the soldiers on both sides coming to the open, white handkerchiefs on bayonets atop rifle in one hand, Brandy in the other – possibly a cigar in the mouth of the German Soldier with a smile or grin on his face. Mr. Clark embodies this in a curt manner rather well and to the point. To the much larger view of this – a “grunt is a grunt” and will always be as they have always been going back to ancient Greek and Roman times.

Maps - the maps within this book are nothing short of outstanding and will stand the test of time for their detail in not being over burdened but true to the topical formations and movements of battle lines. Very easy to follow for any person who knows how to read battle maps and basic enough for any person not familiar with maps to follow with the story line.

Art work on the cover – is an official painting of the 2nd Battalion of 5th Marine Regiment of the 2nd Division crossing the Meuse River on 10 and 11 November 1918 respectively. Major George W. Hamilton was the Commanding Officer of the Battalion of the time and Captain Charley Dunbeck was the leader who followed the orders that were properly reported to Major Hamilton. (See the book by Mr. Mark Mortensen as well "George W. Hamilton USMC: America’s Greatest World War I Hero" for a full accounting. George W. Hamilton, USMC: America's Greatest World War I Hero) This painting is held by the U.S. Naval Historical Center. The cover captures well the anguish that was felt on the battle fields.

Lastly, and of special note here – Author and Historian Mr. Mark Mortensen informed me of the passing of Mr. Clark (which occurred) on or about 23 December 2016. I learned of this loss as I was reading the pages of the chapter on the Battle of Blanc Mont. True Historians such as Mr. Clark bring a lasting value to the societies to which they are citizens of and to the greater need of mankind generally. It is apparent that Mr. Clark worked for “truth” as opposed to “fame” – his fortune and his legacy are written with this and his other works for time immortal. This book is the first book I have read by Mr. Clark, I feel honored and humbled at the same time to possibly be the first reviewer of one of his works following his passing. I truly wish I had had the opportunity to meet this extraordinary Veteran, Author, American – may he Rest in Peace and may his family and friends continue to celebrate his life and admire the honesty of work and truth that will be brought to future generations and current persons like myself who are in continuous education of History.

This book is excellent. All the other reviews are dead on accurate.
Just to add something different to the discussion...
I would have given it five stars but for one thing. Occasionally the detail overwhelmed the writing and story telling aspect lagged. Just every so often it started to read like an after-action report. Don't let this put you off, just don't plan on being able to read parts of it right before bed time.

With so few great titles on the American experience in the Great War this book is a must read. It reads very well and spares no small detail. It gives you a "leather-necks" view of the the war in France.

I support the Leatherneck review and am tempted to rate it 5 stars. It is refreshing to read not only the USMC WW1 history but the authors considered opinions on the battles and personalities involved.