Amid Friday’s controversy over what President Trump said or did not say in Paris in 2018, some people might wonder what actually happened at the Battle of Belleau Wood. Why did it need to be fought? What feats were accomplished those June 1918 days?
Here’s a brief primer.
The Battle of Belleau Wood speaks to the world at its worst and America at its very best. Fought 102 years ago in June, it saw young U.S. service members waging a brutal battle thousands of miles from their homes. They fought for the people of France, for their country, for their corps, and most of all, for each other. Today, their sacrifice is marked only by history and the graves of those buried at Aisne-Marne Cemetery. It’s a somber place to visit. Beautifully maintained, the cemetery chapel marks the names of more than 1,000 U.S. service members whose bodies were never identified. 1,000 families who just had an etched name but never a grave to visit.
The battle was necessary in the face of recent German advances achieved under the Ludendorff offensive. General Erich Ludendorff knew Germany had one chance to win the war, which had now been raging for nearly four years. He had to knock out the allies before the full weight of the U.S. Army could be deployed on French soil. In turn, Ludendorff focused on breaching allied lines with the added mass of 50 divisions freed up by Russia’s surrender on the eastern front. Relying on stormtrooper units to create offensive holes, Ludendorff forced the Allies into a desperate holding action. Near Belleau Wood, Marines of the 5th and 6th Regiments, 2nd Division, were tasked with preventing a German breakthrough toward Paris, just 60 miles away.
The battle began with the Marines repelling German charges across open fields. Unable to overcome the Marine lines, the Germans retreated to establish a stronghold within Belleau forest. Calls by French Army commanders, now exhausted by years of war, for the Marines to withdraw in defensive depth were not received well by the Marines. A 2nd Battalion, 5th Regiment captain remarked, “Retreat? Hell, we just got here!” Instead, although facing heavily defended and overlapping German positions, the Marines seized the initiative.
Entering the forest on June 6, the Marines suffered heavy casualties. Among them was Lieutenant Weedon Osborne, a 25-year-old Navy dentist who was killed as he braved heavy fire to rescue wounded Marines. He received the Medal of Honor. This day also saw the birth of a Marine war cry with Sergeant Dan Daly’s order to advance: “Come on you sons of bitches — do you want to live forever!?”
The fight was brutal and raged on mercilessly each day. The Marines did not waver. When, on June 13, the 2nd Battalion, 5th Regiment came under heavy artillery fire, its commanding officer reported “terrific barrage from command post forward … losses heavy … morale excellent.” More than 1,800 U.S. service members would fall before a final offensive pushed the Germans out of the forest on June 26.
Other stories of heroism before that date included the actions of 6th Marine Regiment Gunnery Sgt. Fred Stockham. On June 22, Stockham died, likely from mustard gas inhalation, after he reacted to a gas attack by giving his mask to a wounded man. The victory would lead the French government to award him its war cross medal, saluting the Marine’s “brilliant courage, vigor, spirit, and tenacity.”
The Marines would have more to do before final victory was secured, but their heroism abounded after Belleau Wood. At the Battle of Saint-Mihiel in September, for example, Navy corpsman David Hayden saw a Marine wounded by a gunshot. Although the Marine had fallen in an open field under withering machine gun fire, Hayden did not hesitate. The 22-year-old ran to his comrade, dressed his wound while still under heavy fire, then carried him to cover. As a 2nd Marine Division history observes, “The Germans, too, were impressed with the Marines. An official German report described the Marines as ‘vigorous, self-confident, and remarkable marksmen.’ Captured prisoners and German letters described the Marines as Teufelhunde, or Devil Dogs/Hell Hounds.”
Those who have fought the Marines since, whether on Guam or at Okinawa, Hue city, Fallujah, or Marjah, would recognize why that nickname is well earned. This indomitable spirit in the face of overwhelming odds informs Marine culture to this day, inspiring actions such as that of Chesty Puller at the Korean War Battle of Chosin Reservoir. Surrounded, outnumbered 4-1, and lacking equipment amid freezing temperatures, Puller remarked, “We’ve been looking for the enemy for some time. We’ve finally found him. We’re surrounded. That’s simplified things.”
Regardless, the resolution of those buried at Aisne-Marne would pay dividends. When the allies began their 100-day offensive in August 1918, the German Empire’s exhausted and overstretched forces would be broken — and a brutal war ended.
The World War I memorial, which remembers all those U.S. service members who served in the Great War and especially the 117,000 who died in it, opens on Veterans Day. Belleau Wood was just one of many battles in that war. Still, it speaks to why Marine Corps recruiting commercials like the one below have so much potency. They testify to a reality measured by blood and honor. And a combined arms fighting force that is unparalleled on Earth. But before you watch the Marine Corps commercial, watch what American service and sacrifice in that war meant to our closest ally. Click the middle of the first video below, and you’ll see a relevant homage to America from the British 100th anniversary remembrance ceremony for the end of the First World War.
