For nineteen days in June of , American marines and doughboys contested a fire-raked square mile of French woodland against the best Germany had to offer and, at terrible cost, prevailed. Laurence Stallings, co-author of What Price Glory? Here Mr. Stallings tells the story of this first major encounter in which the American Expeditionary Force was involved.
His account is taken from his book, The Doughboys , a history of the A. In the spring of , Germany made her great bid for victory in the four-year deadlock on the western front and came very close to winning the First World War.
She staked everything on one awesome gamble—that she could defeat the weakened British and French before the Americans arrived in force that summer. So, on March 21, the German commander, General Erich Ludendorff, struck near the juncture of the British and French lines in Picardy; before his offensive lost momentum, he had driven the Allies back some forty miles. In April Ludendorff attacked again, this time farther to the north, and all but hurled the British into the sea. Then, on May 27, came his third and in some ways most menacing thrust.
In a surprise attack, the German Seventh Army smashed along the chalky ridges north of the Aisne River; by May 31, leading units had reached the Marne River, little more than forty miles away from Paris: it seemed like all over again. Every available man was needed; now, ready or not, the Americans would have to fight. The following day, the American 2nd Division Major General Omar Bundy , with 26, men in its twin brigades of Regulars and Marines, was rushed in to plug a four-mile gap in the line left by a disintegrating French division.
Its line faced the village of Bouresches and a nearby mass of trees and rocks called the Bois de Belleau—Belleau Wood. For the better part of a week, the 2nd stood its ground against the oncoming Germans; then the order came to counterattack. June 6, —few days in the history of American arms have witnessed so much bravery, and such futile sacrifice.
