Combat· World War I
Battle of Belleau Wood
Belleau Wood was the 4th Marine Brigade's first major battle of the war, fought in a dense forest near the Marne River as the Germans pushed toward Paris.
The brigade was part of the Army's 2d Division and was ordered to stop the German advance and then drive the enemy out of the woods. The Marines attacked across open wheat fields into heavy machine gun fire, taking ground a piece at a time. The fighting was brutal and close, often hand to hand among the trees and rocks. Captain Lloyd Williams gave the famous reply, "Retreat? Hell, we just got here." After weeks of repeated assaults and German counterattacks, the Marines cleared the wood entirely. The battle cost the Corps more casualties than it had suffered in its entire history up to that point, and it built the reputation that defined the brigade.
Podcast episodes on World War I
Record no. 96