BELLEAU WOOD
May 28th - June 18th, 1918

"Retreat, hell. We just got here!" Captain Lloyd Williams, USMC 1918 was the decisive year of World War I. The Russians had surrendered in 1917, and huge numbers of Germans were transferred to the western front. The German commanders had decided to try to end the war before the new American divisions could arrive in numbers. Their massive offensives of March-May 1918 threw the Allies reeling back towards Paris, and once again the French government made plans to evacuate the city. The US 3rd division played a vital part in stopping their drive at ChÉteau-Thierry. The Germans wheeled right at this check, moving along the Marne instead of trying to cross it. This brought them to the area of Belleau Wood, from which they ejected the dispirited French in the last days of May. The 4th Marine Brigade, made up of the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments, was part of the 2nd US division. They were holding a line from the Paris-Metz highway on the right, through Lucy-le-Bocage, to Hill 142 on the left. On June 3rd, the Germans continued their attack towards Paris, advancing from the Wood towards Lucy-le-Bocage, the centre of the Marine line. The well-trained Marines held their ground and shot the German attack to a standstill. This was the climax of the German advance. The Germans knew that their advance on Paris was finished, so they dug in inside the woods and waited. The Marines were not to disappoint them. Early on June 6th, 26 years before D-Day, the Marines went in to the attack. Their inexperience was to cost them dear: they had failed to send out patrols to gauge the defence, and had believed the French reports of no enemy troops in the woods. The woods had in fact been converted into a mini-fortress, with barbed wire and a network of interlocking machine-gun nests, and manned by an experienced regiment of Germans.
The epic battle of Hill 142 went on all day. At one point the Marines nearly took Torcy, at another they nearly lost the hill itself. But by 5 pm, the appointed hour of the main assault, they held the hill, depleted but firm. There was no pre-assault artillery bombardment, as this was to be a surprise attack - but the Germans were expecting them. As Sergeant Dan Daly started to lead his men into the withering fire from the woods, he turned to them and exhorted: "Come on, you sons-o'-bitches! Do you want to live for ever?".
The centre and right of the attack did somewhat better,since they did not have to cross such expanses of openground as did the left. One platoon in the centre actuallymanaged to fight their way through the Wood, only to be cut down as they emerged into the open.

The right flank's task was to capture Bouresches, to anchor that flank of the main assault. Twenty three men, the remnants of one company took and held the town for half an hour against counter-attacks until reinforcements arrived. By the end of the day the 4th Marine Brigade had taken 1,087 casualties (about 60% of its infantry strength), more than in their entire history up to that point.
The following day, June 7th, was a day of rest for the Marines. Disorganised, with many small units shattered, it was all they could do to hold their ground and feed in reinforcements and ammunition. The Germans put in an attack at around midnight but were stopped cold. At 4 am on June 8th, the Marines of the 3/6th Battalion were ordered out of their foxholes again. After 6 hours of heavy fighting with no perceptible result, the attack was called off and the battalion withdrawn from combat. The German defence had again been underestimated. June 9th was spent in an enormous artillery duel, with the Americans and French raking the woods from end to end, and the Germans shelling Lucy-le-Bocage and Bouresches and the ground between. On the next day, June 10th, 1/6th Battalion advanced up the long axis of the Wood from the south, while 2/5th Battalion attacked from the west across the deadly wheat fields. The two units were able to link up, but, due to exhaustion and casualties, were unable to further dent the Germans' determined defence.
The following day saw the 2/5th Battalion advancing, so they thought, north east through the woods. Taking heavy casualties, they struggled in platoons and companies through the dense forest. When they emerged from the cover of the trees, they reported back that they had taken the north of Belleau Wood. Unfortunately, they had been travelling west, and had merely crossed the Wood at 90&hibar; to the defensive lines. They had accidentally rolled up much of the Germans' southern defence line, but exposed their left flank to the remaining Germans.
General Pershing had already announced to the world that the Marines had taken Belleau Wood, so the local commanders set about making that news true. The Germans were prepared because the preliminary bombardment had overshot by 1000 yards, leaving the front line undamaged. The Germans fought back with everything, including mustard gas. Despite the fierce combat, the eastern half of the Wood was captured by the Marines that day.
Due to the mix up in position, the 1/5th and 2/6th Battalions, coming to relieve the 2/5th, found the west of
the Wood full of Germans. Finally, on the morning of the 15th, the Marines were able to get a toe-hold in the western side of the woods. Gas had caused so many casualties by now that the whole 4th Marine Brigade was judged unbattleworthy, and was relieved by the US 7th infantry, who failed to make any headway in the next week.
To break the log-jam, the 3/5th Marines Battalion was brought back to 'clear' the northern part of the woods -resistance still being reckoned to be light. The Germans had manned their line with three fresh battalions, to hold the remainder of the Wood. The attack quickly ground to a bloody halt.
The whole of the Marine Brigade was now recalled for action. At 5 pm on the 25th June an attack went in, after a proper all-day bombardment. The attack was spearheaded by the 3/5th Battalion, with the now-veteran 2/5th and 3/6th Battalions on the flanks. The attackers took heavy casualties, but the artillery preparation had knocked out many enemy machine-guns, and they were running out of reinforcements. On the morning of June 26th, men of the 3/5th Battalion finally reached the northern edge of the Wood, and were able to signal "Woods now US Marine Corps entirely". The cost was 1062 killed and 4121 wounded Marines. The defence by the Marines saved Paris and removed the last German chance to win the war.