Belleau Wood
From the German perspective
by Alexander Merrow, Capt Gregory Starace, & Agostino von Hassell
A stereoscopes photo showing a burial ground for Americans who lost their lives in the battle. (Archival photo provided by the author.)
Belleau Wood conjures up
memorable phrases for those
who have studied the battle.
“Retreat, hell! We just got
here.” “These are American regulars
. . . . They will hold.” “Come on, you
sons-o’-bitches! Do you want to live
forever?” “Teufelhunden.”
Belleau Wood has become part of the
lore of the modern U.S. Marine Corps.
The battle is thought to have stopped the
German armies’ final roll toward Paris
and perhaps even to have turned the tide
of the “Great War.” Those involved in the
ferocious fighting from 6 to 26 June
1918—whether they captured the wood
or died in the wheat fields outside of the
wood—became heroes.
The historical literature on Belleau
Wood could fill several shelves of a library. Classic accounts, such as Robert
B. Asprey’s At Belleau Wood (Putnam,
1965), and recent works, such as Alan
>Dr. Merrow earned his doctorate in modern European history at Georgetown University. He has taught history at the University of Tennessee and Franklin & Marshall College. He currently lives in Hamburg, Germany.
>>Capt Starace is currently assigned to Marine Cryptologic Support Battalion. He
is a part-time master’s student in strategic intelligence at the National Defense
Intelligence College. He received his bachelor’s degree in history from The George
Washington University.
>>>Mr. Von Hassell has written widely about the U.S. Marine Corps and other subjects and runs a national consulting firm in New York City.
Axelrod’s Miracleat Belleau Wood (The
Lyons Press, 2007), provide detailed
accounts of the experience of the U.S.
Marines during the battle. Memoirs
from individual Marines complement
standard accounts and show the valor,
fear, and sacrifice that enabled Maj
Maurice Shearer to declare on 26 June
1918 that the woods were entirely
under the Marines’ control.
Yet, the existing works reveal little of
how the German forces opposed to the
U.S. Marines experienced the battle.
On the
Web
Read more about the Battle of Belleau Wood at www.
mca-marines.org/gazette/belleauwood.
