Battle of Belleau Wood
- Date:
- June 1, 1918 - June 26, 1918
- Location:
- Château-Thierry
- France
- Marne River
- Participants:
- Germany
- United States
- Context:
- World War I
- Key People:
- John J. Pershing
- James G. Harbord
The Allies’ victory at the Battle of Belleau Wood, which occurred in France from June 1 to June 26, 1918, greatly boosted morale amid the Germans’ Spring Offensive. The battle was the first major engagement of the U.S. army in World War I, and, only 39 miles from Paris, marked the closest the Germans came to the French capital during the war. The struggle for Belleau Wood, at the time a hunting preserve owned by a wealthy Paris businessman, announced to the Germans that the U.S. armed forces had arrived on the Western Front in strength and were eager to fight. It was a tough baptism of fire for the Americans, but persistence and resolution secured them their first important victory in France. The bravery of the U.S. Army’s 2nd Division, comprising the 4th Marine Brigade (the “Fighting Fifth” and 6th Marine Regiments) was especially noteworthy. In recognition of their service and sacrifice, the French renamed Belleau Wood the “Bois de la Brigade de Marine”—Wood of the Marine Brigade—and awarded the 4th Marine Brigade the coveted Croix de Guerre.
As the Germans tried to extend and develop their offensive against the French on the Marne River, they came up against the U.S. 2nd and 3rd Divisions at Château-Thierry and Belleau Wood. Having been checked at Château-Thierry, the Germans advanced through the nearby Belleau Wood, named for a clear spring at its heart, and then encountered more of the 2nd Division and a brigade of U.S. Marines. Neighboring French troops began to fall back and urged the Americans to do likewise, eliciting the famous response from U.S. Marine Captain Lloyd W. Williams: “Retreat? Hell, we just got here!” Many of the retreating French troops, inspired, turned back to fight alongside the American troops. The Allied troops dug in and with a fine display of marksmanship held the German attack on June 4.
Although heavily outnumbered, the Americans went on the offensive and attacked the German positions in front of Belleau Wood on June 6, suffering heavy losses in the process (the highest in U.S. Marine Corps history until the Battle of Tarawa in 1943); casualties were particularly high among commissioned and noncommissioned officers. A subsequent attack gained the Americans a foothold on the edge of the wood, but progress was painfully slow, the enthusiasm of the Americans being met by equal determination from the defending Germans and their movements impeded by a difficult terrain of low cliffs, rock outcroppings, streams, and ravines. The fighting was relentless, much of it at close quarters and involving bayonets, knives, and even fists. The Americans launched six attacks before the Germans were finally expelled from Belleau Wood on June 26. Subsequently, the adjacent villages of Vaux and Bouresche were also secured by the American forces as the Germans fell back to new positions.
The Germans had miscalculated the determination of their newly arrived American foe, their general staff convinced that the Americans would be raw and untrained and would require months to become combat-ready. They were instead moved to dub the Marines Teufel Hunden, “Devil Dogs,” the Marine Corps’ unofficial nickname to this day.
Now protected ground, Belleau Wood lies just outside the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, its centerpiece a monument erected by the Marine Corps to honor the fallen.
Losses: American, 9,777 casualties (1,811 killed); German, 9,500 casualties, including 1,600 captured.
