es to capture the bald, jagged
ridge twenty miles due east of Rheims, known as Blanc Mont Ridge. Here
the armies of Germany and the Allies had clashed more than once, and
attempt after attempt had been made to wrest it from German hands. It
was a keystone of the German defense, the fall of which would have a
far-reaching effect upon the enemy armies. To the glory of the United
States marines, let it be said that they were again a part of that
splendid 2d Division which swept forward in the attack which freed Blanc
Mont Ridge from German hands, pushed its way down the slopes, and
occupied the level around just beyond, thus assuring a victory, the full
import of which can best be judged by the order of General Lejeune,
following the battle:

France, Oct. 11, 1918.

Officers And Men Of The 2d Division:

It is beyond my power of expression to describe fitly my admiration for
your heroism. You attacked magnificently and you seized Blanc Mont
Ridge, the keystone of the arch constituting the enemy's main position.
You advanced beyond the ridge, breaking the enemy's lines, and you held
the ground gained with a tenacity which is unsurpassed in the annals of
war.

As a direct result of your victory, the German armies east and west of
Rheims are in full retreat, and by drawing on yourselves several German
divisions from other parts of the front you greatly assisted the
victorious advance of the allied armies between Cambrai and St. Quentin.

Your heroism and the heroism of our comrades who died on the battlefield
will live in history forever, and will be emulated by the young men of
our country for generations to come.

To be able to say when this war is finished, "I belonged to the 2d
Division; I fought with it at the battle of Blanc Mont Ridge," will be
the highest honor that can come to any man.

John A. Lejeune.

Major-General, United States Marine Corps, Commanding.

Thus it is that the United States marines have fulfilled the glorious
traditions of their corps in this their latest duty as the "soldiers who
go to sea." Their sharpshooting--and in one regiment 93 per cent of the
men wear the medal of a marksman, a sharpshooter, or an expert
rifle-man--has amazed soldiers of European armies, accustomed merely to
shooting in the general direction of the enemy. Under the fiercest fire
they have calmly adjusted their sights, aimed for their man, and killed
him, and in bayonet attacks their advance on machine-gun nests h