On March 21, 1918, the Germans launched a series of attacks on the Western Front. These attacks penetrated the Allied lines to within 45 miles of Paris. By late April German forces were unable to move supplies and reinforcements fast enough to maintain their advance. German troops leading the attack could not carry enough food and ammunition to sustain them, and with the strengthening of Allied resistance the offensives stalled.
On June 1st, the towns of Château-Thierry and Vaux fell. German troops moved into Belleau Wood. The U.S. 2nd Division including a brigade of U.S. Marines advanced along the Paris-Metz highway to plug the growing hole. The U.S. 9th Infantry Regiment was placed between the highway and the Marne, while the 6th Marine Regiment was deployed on their left.
German troops advanced on Marigny and Lucy through Belleau Wood. Other German troops crossed the Marne River. U.S. Army General James Harbord, commander of the Marine Brigade, ordered the Marines to “hold where they stand”. The Marines dug fox holes from which they could fight.
In the afternoon of June 3rd, German infantry attacked the Marine positions through the grain fields with bayonets fixed. The Marines waited until the Germans were close before opening deadly rifle fire stopping the German advance and forcing them to retreat into the woods.
The Germans dug in a defensive line from Hill 204, just east of Vaux, to Le Thiolet on the Paris-Metz Highway and northward through Belleau Wood to Torcy. Retreating French forces repeatedly urged the Marines to turn back. In response, Marine Captain Lloyd W. Williams of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines uttered the now-famous retort “Retreat? Hell, we just got here”.
Second Division commander, Major General Bundy, assumed command of the American sector of the front on June 4th. The Marines successfully repelled the continuous German assaults over the next two days. Additional French troops gave General Bundy a chance to consolidate his section of the front. He arrayed the 3rd Brigade on the south, while the Marines held the north.
On June 6th General Pershing ordered a counteroffensive to drive the Germans out of Belleau Wood. This task fell to U.S. Marines under General James Harbord. The Marines attacked four German divisions positioned in the woods. By the end of the first day they had suffered more than 1,000 casualties.
Belleau Wood was the first large-scale battle fought by American soldiers in World War I. The battle began northwest of the Paris-to-Metz road. For the next three weeks, the Marines, backed by U.S. Army artillery, launched many attacks into the forested area, but German General Erich Ludendorff was determined to deny the Americans a victory. Ludendorff continually brought up reinforcements from the rear, and the Germans attacked the U.S. forces with machine guns, artillery, and gas. Finally, on June 26, the Americans prevailed but at the cost of 1,811 dead, and a further 7966 wounded, or missing. In this one battle the U.S.Marines suffered more casualties than they had in their entire history. The German 5th Guards Division, brought in as a counterattack force, nicknamed the Marines Teufelhunden – Devil Dogs – after failing to dislodge them from the Wood.
The spring offensive of 1918 was the last German offensive of World War 1. The flood of American troops and material helped the allies to break the stalemate and overwhelm the German army.
So, why does it matter to us today? Well, it’s claimed that war reparations laid the foundations for World War 2; but further post war agreements resulted in the crazy layout of the Middle East nations. World War 1 was a clear dividing line between two ways of life.
Here are some stories of the people who were there:
The narrator asks: “can modern people even fathom what it was really like?” It’s hard to imagine but American troops died at a faster rate in World War 1 than in the Civil War.
Alan Seeger was an American who joined the French Foreign Legion. He wrote the poem “I have a Rendezvous with Death”; it starts:
I have a rendezvous with Death
At some disputed barricade,
When Spring comes back with rustling shade
And apple-blossoms fill the air—
I have a rendezvous with Death
When Spring brings back blue days and fair.
The full poem can be found here.