At Belleau Wood, five of those German divisions squared off against the U. It quickly turned into a rout -- of the Germans. Marines forced a German retreat and followed them into the woods, where Marines and those fresh German veterans of the war's Eastern Front fought for an entire month amid artillery fire, poison gas attacks and many, many machine gun nests. It was a battle no one believed the Marines would win until they did.
Today, at Belleau, the Devil Dog Fountain sits a few steps away from a chapel rebuilt by Americans after the war, bearing the names of 1, men who disappeared during the battle.
From the fountain comes a constant stream of fresh water, and Marines visiting the site take a drink in the belief those who drink from it will receive strength and protection in battles to come.
It's also done to remember the Marines who fought there and those who never came home. The day before Dunford, Neller and Kelly visited the site, was Nov. It's a holiday that is, to Marines, as celebrated as Veterans Day itself.
There's no way these Marines of past and present would have missed the chance to take a drink from one of the most revered sites in Marine Corps history. The 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines was brought back to clean the Germans out of the woods but it too was badly mangled. The Marine Brigade took over the front again. On June 25th at 5 P. On June 26th at 7 A.
A gigantic parade was set in Paris and the 2nd Division sent a Battalion of hand picked old hands to go to the rose-strewn welcome in the Capitol. After a night of celebration the Marines headed back to the front. Yet the price had been high, Officers and 5, enlisted men of the Marine Brigade dead and wounded.
That included 1, battle deaths. But the battle bad an unhappy aftermath, as a rivalry broke out between the Marines and the soldiers of the Division. The Army smarted under the new found glory… and publicity… won by the Marine Brigade. The bitterness simmered for a generation and is the given reason for keeping the Marines out of Europe in World War II.
The fortunes of war placed the Marines at Belleau Wood, shoved them into battle where they stopped the Germans and drove them out of Belleau Wood. It was the Marine Corps biggest moment and they grabbed it. They would fight again but henceforth the name United States Marine Corps would be known around the world.
Now let us get to the name Devil Dog. Remember I told you earlier how the Marines were under supplied with Grenades, mortars and etc. This came into play in the tenacity that the Marines displayed at Belleau Wood. Now perhaps you can better understand what the name Devil Dog stands for. Honor, there was no fun at Belleau Wood. The name Devil Dog was earned at the cost of 1, Marines who gave their all.
We may not have the right to use the title Devil Dog as it something sacred and was earned by Marines in But since we do we should bring no shame upon it. We all at one time have been accorded the privilege of being called Marine.
We must never lose sight that to be also accorded the title Devil Dog, was earned many years ago, in And is a distinct honor. You have just read a thumbnail report of where the Devil Dogs were born.
But what those hard-nosed Marines left us, we must never, ever tarnish. The heroism and doggedness of that battle are unparalleled. Time after time officers seeing their lines cut to pieces, seeing their men so dog tired that they even fell asleep under shellfire, hearing their wounded calling for the water they were unable to supply, seeing men fight on after they had been wounded and until they dropped unconscious; time after time officers seeing these things, believing that the very limit of human endurance had been reached, would send back messages to their post command that their men were exhausted.
But in answer to this would come the word that the line must hold, and, if possible, those lines must attack. And the lines obeyed. Without water, without food, without rest, they went forward - and forward every time to victory. Companies had been so torn and lacerated by losses that they were hardly platoons, but they held their lines and advanced them.
In more than one case companies lost every officer, leaving a Sergeant and sometimes a Corporal to command, and the advance continued. After thirteen days in this inferno of fire a captured German officer told with his dying breath of a fresh division of Germans that was about to be thrown into the battle to attempt to wrest from the Marines that part of the wood they had gained. The Marines, who for days had been fighting only on their sheer nerve, who had been worn out from nights of sleeplessness, from lack of rations, from terrific shell and machine-gun fire, straightened their lines and prepared for the attack.
It came - as the dying German officer had predicted. At 2 o'clock on the morning of June 13th it was launched by the Germans along the whole front.
Without regard for men, the enemy hurled his forces against Bouresches and the Bois de Belleau, and sought to win back what had been taken from Germany by the Americans.
The orders were that these positions must be taken at all costs; that the utmost losses in men must be endured that the Bois de Belleau and Bouresches might fall again into German hands. But the depleted lines of the Marines held; the men who had fought on their nerve alone for days once more showed the mettle of which they were made. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance.
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