Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge

Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge
Part of the Western Front of World War I
Date 3–27 October 1918 Location Northeast of Reims 48°47′36″N4°26′21″E / 48.79333°N 4.43917°E / 48.79333; 4.43917 Result Allied victory
Belligerents
France United States	German Empire
Commanders and leaders
Henri Gouraud John A. Lejeune William Ruthven Smith	Crown Prince Wilhelm
Strength
French 4th Army (elements) 2 US Army divisions Assigned to French Fourth Army divisions United States Marines (elements)	2 German infantry divisions Six additional divisions(elements)
Casualties and losses
7,800 men, killed and wounded. Unknown number captured	Unknown Unknown number captured

The Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge (3 October to 27 October 1918) occurred during World War I, northeast of Reims, in Champagne, France. The US Army's 2nd Infantry Division and the 36th Infantry Division alongside the French Fourth Army opposed the Imperial German Army's 200th and 213th divisions, along with portions of six additional German divisions. ^[1] The German defense had four main lines of defense. The first line was located south of the village of Sommepy. The second line was one kilometer north of the village. Both of these lines were overrun quickly by the advancing French on the 26th of September 1918 before the attack on Blanc Mont Ridge. The third line was between Blanc Mont and Médéah Farm. These defenses were the hardest to attack because of their position. The fourth line was about 4 kilometers north of Blanc Mont. Blanc Mont was an important strategic location as it was the highest point in the Champagne Region, and if it fell, so would much of the surrounding area. On October 2nd, the combined forces of the French and American divisions both attacked from the left and the right with the goal of taking Blanc Mont. They faced heavy resistance from the German troops, but eventually were able to capture Blanc Mont. ^[2] The result of this battle was the expulsion of the Imperial German Army from the Champagne Region.

Further reading

• , "Forgotten Victory" (Doughboy Center)
• Field Orders for the battle
• Mortensen, Mark (August 10, 2011). George W. Hamilton, USMC: America's Greatest World War I Hero. McFarland. p. 120. ISBN   9780786486175.

References

1. Curtis, Thomas (1919). History of the Sixth Machine Gun Battalion, Fourth Brigade, U.S. Marines, Second Division: And its participation in the great War. pp. 40–44. ASIN   B00088KKOU.
2. Shaw, Christopher A. (2014), "The Battle of Blanc Mont", A Companion to the Meuse-Argonne Campaign, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 59–73, doi:10.1002/9781118836330.ch4, ISBN   978-1-118-83633-0 , retrieved November 12, 2025