Our brains told us to fear it, but our wills heard but one command, to clean it out, and I can still see before my very eyes those waves in the poppy-spattered wheat-field as the steady lines of our Marines went in. It is his second line that reveals those intangible traits Marines exhibited during the almost month-long battle—virtues that have set the Corps apart since its inception: discipline, gallantry, grit, sacrifice, esprit de corps , and mission accomplishment among others.
Outgunned and outmanned, a brigade of Marines fought for nearly 26 days against multiple divisions of battle-hardened German infantry and ultimately won. Although the battle has long passed, we Marines have an obligation to look back at this storied engagement and extract from it applicable lessons for today.
This article is just that, a simple recap and analysis of the Battle of Belleau Wood and the leadership fundamentals and virtues exhibited that remain timeless in war. Under the severest of conditions, Marines overcame their tactical and operational missteps, equipment shortfalls, and an overwhelming enemy force.
These are the reasons every new generation of Marines must know the story of Belleau Wood. The war had been raging in Europe since with President Woodrow Wilson pledging to keep America out. Beleaguered French and British allies needed the Americans immediately. The United States responded by assembling roughly 14, troops and sent them to France in June Pershing, the force included 5th Mar.
Second Infantry Division. American action in the war was minor throughout the winter of until the Germans launched a series of offenses with fresh troops freed from the now-silent Eastern Front. British and French forces repulsed the first two German offensives, but the third, known as the Aisne Offensive, struck at French forces in the Chateau-Thierry region of France, only 39 miles east of Paris.
