"Bois de la Brigade de Marine"
"Bois de la Brigade de Marine" ("Wood of the Marine Brigade")
It's a good day to remember the Battle of Belleau Wood, aka "Bois de la Brigade de Marine" ("Wood of the Marine Brigade") and an old poem titled "Unknown: USMC, but first, a short recounting of a story told to me by an old Marine down in Texas about his time there with a BAR:
On a hot summer day, somewhere down in Texas, I was walking from door to door selling magazines and came up on an old, slender gray haired man in his late 80s, who was sitting on the porch just passing the time. It just so happens there was an extra chair next to his and that's where I sat and got to know him a little better. I don't remember how the subject got around to WWI, the Marine Corps, and the Battle of Belleau Wood, but it did. He stared off to the front and went back in time to when he was a young Marine during WWI. He was marching along in column, no doubt, at route step with his fighting unit on their way to Belleau Wood, when they came upon an Army unit encamped with pitched tents, and as they passed through it he spied a BAR next to the front of one of them. Apparently, the soldiers were busy nearby, but from the way I remember it, he broke ranks just for a few steps, commandeered a well oiled gun, and continued to march off with it. He fought the entire battle with this gun, and once it was over, he found that his unit took the same path back, where he left a well oiled BAR at the same tent. Of course, there was a whole lot more to the story, and I had to ask specific questions that pertained to the borrowed automatic rifle. I can see the old boy today in my mind's eye, and I'm really honored to have met him as he shared his story with me...that was special then, as it is right this minute.
Excerpt from the link shown below:
Main article: Devil Dog
United States forces suffered 9,777 casualties, included 1,811 killed.[1](p32) Many are buried in the nearby Aisne-Marne American Cemetery. There is no clear information on the number of German soldiers killed, although 1,600 were taken prisoner.[10]
After the battle, the French renamed the wood "Bois de la Brigade de Marine" ("Wood of the Marine Brigade") in honor of the Marines' tenacity. The French government also later awarded the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments the Croix de guerre. An official German report classified the Marines as "vigorous, self-confident, and remarkable marksmen ..."[9](p4) General Pershing?commander of the AEF?said, "The deadliest weapon in the world is a United States Marine and his rifle."[11] Pershing also said "the Battle of Belleau Wood was for the U.S. the biggest battle since Appomattox and the most considerable engagement American troops had ever had with a foreign enemy."[9](p4)
Legend and lore has it that the Germans used the term "Teufelshunde" ("devil dogs") for the Marines. However, this has not been confirmed, as the term was not commonly known in contemporary German. The closest common German term would be "H?llenhunde" which means "hellhound".
Regardless of the term's origin, ten years after the battle, Lieutenant Colonel Ernst Otto, from the Historical Section of the German Army, wrote of the Marine Corps; "Their fiery advance and great tenacity were well recognized by their opponents."[12]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Belleau_Wood
POEM
It's a good day to remember the Battle of Belleau Wood, aka "Bois de la Brigade de Marine" ("Wood of the Marine Brigade") and an old poem titled "Unknown: USMC, but first, a short recounting of a story told to me by an old Marine down in Texas about his time there with a BAR:
On a hot summer day, somewhere down in Texas, I was walking from door to door selling magazines and came up on an old, slender gray haired man in his late 80s, who was sitting on the porch just passing the time. It just so happens there was an extra chair next to his and that's where I sat and got to know him a little better. I don't remember how the subject got around to WWI, the Marine Corps, and the Battle of Belleau Wood, but it did. He stared off to the front and went back in time to when he was a young Marine during WWI. He was marching along in column, no doubt, at route step with his fighting unit on their way to Belleau Wood, when they came upon an Army unit encamped with pitched tents, and as they passed through it he spied a BAR next to the front of one of them. Apparently, the soldiers were busy nearby, but from the way I remember it, he broke ranks just for a few steps, commandeered a well oiled gun, and continued to march off with it. He fought the entire battle with this gun, and once it was over, he found that his unit took the same path back, where he left a well oiled BAR at the same tent. Of course, there was a whole lot more to the story, and I had to ask specific questions that pertained to the borrowed automatic rifle. I can see the old boy today in my mind's eye, and I'm really honored to have met him as he shared his story with me...that was special then, as it is right this minute.
Excerpt from the link shown below:
Main article: Devil Dog
United States forces suffered 9,777 casualties, included 1,811 killed.[1](p32) Many are buried in the nearby Aisne-Marne American Cemetery. There is no clear information on the number of German soldiers killed, although 1,600 were taken prisoner.[10]
After the battle, the French renamed the wood "Bois de la Brigade de Marine" ("Wood of the Marine Brigade") in honor of the Marines' tenacity. The French government also later awarded the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments the Croix de guerre. An official German report classified the Marines as "vigorous, self-confident, and remarkable marksmen ..."[9](p4) General Pershing?commander of the AEF?said, "The deadliest weapon in the world is a United States Marine and his rifle."[11] Pershing also said "the Battle of Belleau Wood was for the U.S. the biggest battle since Appomattox and the most considerable engagement American troops had ever had with a foreign enemy."[9](p4)
Legend and lore has it that the Germans used the term "Teufelshunde" ("devil dogs") for the Marines. However, this has not been confirmed, as the term was not commonly known in contemporary German. The closest common German term would be "H?llenhunde" which means "hellhound".
Regardless of the term's origin, ten years after the battle, Lieutenant Colonel Ernst Otto, from the Historical Section of the German Army, wrote of the Marine Corps; "Their fiery advance and great tenacity were well recognized by their opponents."[12]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Belleau_Wood
POEM
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GreatGuns wrote:"The Battle of Belleau Wood" was a topic of discussion with some table mates while my wife and I were in Normandy at the beginning of last week. Fascinating history that few are aware of........here.
Jim
Thanks for the note, JIm...it was one of your posts that got me to started on mine.
Good to hear from you, man.0
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