Battlefield Atlas
World War I · 1918 Free to explore

Belleau Wood, 1–26 June 1918

In June 1918 the US 4th Marine Brigade, part of the Army's 2nd Division, fought for three weeks to drive German troops out of Belleau Wood, a hunting preserve a few miles north-west of Château-Thierry, at the tip of the German offensive toward Paris. Attacking across open wheat fields into machine-gun fire, the Marines took Hill 142, Bouresches and finally the whole wood at a cost of about 5,200 casualties. Belleau Wood was the first major American battle of the war; it helped halt the German advance on Paris, convinced the Allies that the new American army could fight, and became a cornerstone of Marine Corps identity — the Germans were said to have called the Marines 'Teufelshunde', devil dogs.

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First attack on the Bois de Belleau
First attack on the Bois de Belleau — Claggett Wilson — public domain (Smithsonian American Art Museum)

The battle, stage by stage

  1. 1–5 June 1918

    "Retreat? Hell, we just got here!"

    The German spring offensive has reached the Marne at Château-Thierry, 50 miles from Paris. The US 2nd Division, with its brigade of Marines, is rushed in to plug the line west of the town. As French troops fall back through them, a Marine captain at Les Mares Farm is told to withdraw and answers, 'Retreat? Hell, we just got here!' The Germans dig into Belleau Wood, Hill 142 and Bouresches.

  2. 6 June, 03:45

    Hill 142

    At dawn the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines attacks Hill 142 in waves across open wheat, as if on a drill field, and takes it at heavy cost; Gunnery Sergeant Ernest Janson wins the Medal of Honor beating off a counterattack. It is the Marines' first attack of the war.

  3. 6 June, 17:00

    Into the wood

    In the afternoon the brigade attacks the wood itself. The 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines crosses 400 yards of wheat into machine-gun fire — Gunnery Sergeant Dan Daly urges them on with 'Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?' — while the 3/6 gets into the southern corner and the 2/6 storms Bouresches. With 1,087 casualties it is the bloodiest day in Marine Corps history up to then.

  4. 7–14 June

    Clearing the centre

    The wood is a jumble of boulders, ravines and thick undergrowth, and the Germans hold it with interlocking machine guns. Attacks by the 1/6 and 2/5 on 11 June cross the centre of the wood to its eastern edge near the old hunting lodge, and the Marines beat off German counterattacks and a gas bombardment.

  5. 23–26 June

    U.S. Marine Corps entirely

    After a week's relief by Army infantry, the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines makes the final assault on the northern part of the wood. On 26 June Major Maurice Shearer signals: 'Woods now U.S. Marine Corps entirely.' The brigade lost about 5,200 killed and wounded. France renamed the wood the Bois de la Brigade de Marine.

Paintings and photographs

First attack on the Bois de Belleau
First attack on the Bois de Belleau The 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines advancing on the wood at 5 PM on 6 June — painted by Claggett Wilson, a Marine officer wounded in the battle. Claggett Wilson — public domain (Smithsonian American Art Museum) · source
Triangle Farm, 1918
Triangle Farm, 1918 Triangle Farm, held by the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines before the attack on Bouresches. USMC Archives — CC BY 2.0 · source
Bouresches after the battle
Bouresches after the battle The ruins of Bouresches, taken by the 2/6 Marines on the evening of 6 June. Earl H. Ellis Collection, USMC Archives — CC BY 2.0 · source
The Marine memorial in Belleau Wood
The Marine memorial in Belleau Wood Felix de Weldon's bronze relief in the wood, unveiled in 1955. United States Marine Corps — public domain · source

Sources and method

Belleau Wood, 1–26 June 1918. Positions are placed on the ground as mapped in OpenStreetMap (the wood, Lucy-le-Bocage, Bouresches, Champillon, Les Mares Farm, Torcy, Belleau and the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery), following the USMC History Division's account and the American Battle Monuments Commission's battlefield guide. Blocks stand for Marine battalions and German regiments; positions inside the wood are approximate (roughly 100–250 m). Pictures from Wikimedia Commons.