First Over There: The Attack on Cantigny, America's First Battle of World War I reviewed by Courtland Jindra

First Over There: The Attack on Cantigny, America's First Battle of World War I

by Matthew J. Davenport

Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press, 2015

I am a relative latecomer to World War One. I probably knew more than the average American, but that's only because most Americans have no clue about the Great War other than it happened before WWII. I am a history fan, so as the centennial period began to be brought up in the news I began to do some research. I start with this to say: I have read just a couple of dozen books on the war and do not claim to have the breadth of knowledge of some of the readers of this blog who have been reading scores of books for years.

18th Infantry Opening the Attack

Getting those preliminaries out of the way, I still feel as though Matthew Davenport's monumental First Over There: The Attack on Cantigny, America's First Battle of World War I has to be one of the best accounts of what going through battle in the war's final year must have been like. It covers much the same ground as James Carl Nelson's widely acclaimed Remains of Company D. However, I feel that this book is superior. Focusing on the organization, training, and first combat episodes (climaxing with the three days at Cantigny) of the 1st Division till early June 1918, the book has an extraordinary level of detail. Obviously much of this will be familiar to people who have read numerous volumes on the AEF, but some of these actions and the Doughboys who performed them were new to me as they will likely be to many.

On a personal note, the "Three Musketeers" of the book (Privates Emory Charles Smith, 1900–1963, Levy R. Wilson, 1901–?, and  Orville Lee Klepper, 1899–1955, all with the 28th Infantry), from my home town of Denton, Texas, were fascinating to read about. I wondered why they were not remembered locally. I had never heard their story before despite spending my formative years in Denton. This is probably the most comprehensive account of a battle I have ever read. Obviously it helps that it's restricted to one division, as this level of detail could not be duplicated for larger units and engagements. It's told like it was on the ground, in a journalistic fashion, through many letters and accounts by the survivors. Davenport has no "points" he's trying to prove. Things go awry in war since the best battle plans never completely survive contact with the enemy

Order Now

The general officers are refreshingly not portrayed as idiots (one of my ongoing criticisms with some scholars), though once things get hairy it is largely out of their control and up to the Doughboys on the ground to dig in and hold on on their own. The chaos and confusion of the clash shines through. If I have one complaint, it's that Davenport might be too thorough. There are a lot of names to keep track of and I needed a bookmark in the index to help re-look up participants continually. However, this also leads to the book being a great memorial, as nearly every American KIA gets a mention. Davenport even gives background on where many were buried after the war.

It is hard to recommend this book enough. It is Davenport's first book, and I have seen in interviews that he's not sure he's up for another. I fervently hope he reconsiders. Should he completely focus on his day job of being a lawyer from now on, he still has given us one of the best tributes to the American fighting man that there is.

Courtland Jindra