Scholars and historians offer several theories for the crippling losses 
suffered by the American Expeditionary Forces on the battlefields of 
World War I: inexperience, poor leadership, hasty expansion of duties, 
and others. But until now, most of these studies have focused at the 
division level or higher. Now, with To the Limit of Endurance, Peter F. 
Owen offers a tautly worded, historically rigorous, and intensely 
human survey of the agonizing burden shouldered by the Second 
Battalion of the Sixth Regiment of U.S. Marines from its formation in 
Quantico, Virginia, in 1917 until the cessation of hostilities in 
November of the following year.

    In places like Belleau Wood and Soissons, these young men, led 
by dedicated officers, died in staggering numbers—primarily because 
of the outmoded tactics they had learned. Owen shows how the 
battalion regrouped after these campaigns, however, and embarked 
on a period of intense retraining. By the time of the closing weeks of 
the war, the adjustments they had made allowed them to mold 
themselves into a coldly efficient military machine.

    Drawing on a treasure trove of surviving first-hand accounts, Owen 
expertly combines these individual observations with military records 
and archival sources to create a mosaic that provides not only a case 
study of how one organization grappled with transformation but also a 
tightly focused, ground-level view of the lives—and deaths—of these 
courageous American military men. The grueling, ultimately 
triumphant odyssey of the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines will appeal to 
military historians, professional soldiers, and interested general 
readers.

_________________________________________________________

PETER F. OWEN is a lieutenant colonel in the United States 
Marines. His first command was a weapons platoon in the 2nd 
Battalion, 6th Marines. During his research for this book, he walked 
every battlefield on which 2/6 fought during the Great War. Owen 
previously annotated Carl Brannen's World War I memoir, Over There.


Number Nine: C. A. Brannen Series


What people are saying about this book

"Owen makes superb use of an impressive array of personal 
accounts from officers and enlisted men and elucidates many 
interesting features about the experiences of American infantry units 
in the First World War."—Mark E. Grotelueschen, USAF Academy


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