On Oct. 3, 1918, the U.S. Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, along with the French Fourth Army, advanced on Blanc Mont Ridge, the Imperial German machine gun death trap that the Entente forces had failed to capture over the past four years. The goal was to capture the ridge and push the Huns back over the Aisne River. It was a good plan, but like all World War I strategies, it was easier said than done.
John Kelly Charged Through Fire to Make History
The Americans stepped off toward the ridge in the wake of a rolling artillery barrage. As the shells chewed up the battlefield to soften up the defenses, a lone Marine could be seen running through the maelstrom of high explosives. It was Pvt. John J. Kelly, who was about to go down in history.
The German commander at Blanc Mont Ridge knew he didn’t have the manpower to hold the position indefinitely. His goal was to deter attacks by inflicting as many casualties as possible. This is why the French had failed in their previous attempts to take the position because they simply didn’t have the fresh shock troops needed for an initial assault. The ridge gave the defenders absolute dominance over the approaches to this now-heavily fortified position, while entrenched redoubts and razor wire forced incoming enemy troops into the machine guns’ kill zones.
When the United States entered the war, France finally got its shock troops. Along with the U.S. Army’s 2nd Division came the 4th Marine Brigade—and John J. Kelly. Artillery bombardments were a common tactic in World War I trench warfare. It opened breaches in the enemy defenses and silenced machine guns that would otherwise slice through advancing waves of infantry.
John Kelly Led a Fearless Assault on Blanc Mont Ridge
Kelly was already a salty combat veteran by the time he charged Blanc Mont Ridge. He’d fought at Château-Thierry and St. Mihiel. If he was concerned about machine guns, defenses, or even getting blown up by his own artillery, it didn’t show. He ran through the artillery shower, more than 100 yards ahead of the rest of the front line. When he reached a machine gun nest, he killed the gunner and another crew member and took eight prisoners.
He then moved back through the same artillery barrage, only this time with his prisoners in tow. The rest of the Division eventually smashed into the fortification, and the two sides fought with rifles, grenades, and bayonets, usually in close quarters. The Americans pushed the Germans out, and before they could mount a counterattack, the American 36th Division was also on hand to not only keep the Germans out but also push them toward the Aisne River.
John Kelly Earned Two Medals of Honor for One Act of Valor
The Marine Corps had already made headlines for its courage and tenacity during the Battle of Belleau Wood the previous June. Blac Mont would secure that reputation as the Marines stormed an impregnable enemy position that had shrugged off years of repeated French assaults. When the Americans took Blanc Mont Ridge, it forced a German withdrawal all across the sector.
Blanc Mont Ridge was the Champagne door that the Germans couldn’t hold shut. The U.S. 2nd Division kicked it in, the 36th shoved it wide, and the whole front sagged back toward the Aisne. It’s less famous than the Battle of Belleau Wood, but if you’re tracking how the Western Front finally came apart, Blanc Mont was a hinge on which the end of the war swung. The Germans were out of Champagne for good.
John J. Kelly made history, not only because of his insane valor during the battle, but because of how he was rewarded. For breaking that machine gun nest and capturing the gun crew, he received two Medals of Honor. At the time, Marines operated inside Army units, making them eligible for both the Army and Navy versions of the award, which is how John J. Kelly received two Medals of Honor for the same action.
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