The Battle of Belleau Wood (1–26 June 1918) was a major battle that occurred during the German spring offensive in World War I, near the Marne River in France. The battle was fought by the U.S. 2nd (under the command of Major General Omar Bundy) and 3rd Divisions along with French and British forces against an assortment of German units including elements from the 237th, 10th, 197th, 87th, and 28th Divisions. The battle has become a key component of United States Marine Corps history.

Background

In March 1918, with nearly 50 additional divisions freed by the Russian surrender on the Eastern Front, the German Army launched a series of attacks on the Western Front, hoping to defeat the Allies before U.S. forces could be fully deployed. A third offensive launched in May against the French between Soissons and Reims, known as the Third Battle of the Aisne, saw the Germans reach the north bank of the Marne River at Château-Thierry, 95 kilometres (59 mi) from Paris, on 27 May. On 31 May, the 7th Machine Gun Battalion of the U.S. 3rd Division supported the Senegalese Tirailleurs in holding the German advance at Château-Thierry, in hard house-to-house fighting, and the German advance turned right towards Vaux and Belleau Wood.^{: 106–107}

On 1 June, Château-Thierry and Vaux fell, and German troops moved into Belleau Wood. The U.S. 2nd Infantry Division—which included a brigade of U.S. Marines—was brought up along the Paris-Metz highway. The 9th Infantry Regiment was placed between the highway and the Marne, while the 6th Marine Regiment was deployed to their left. The 5th Marine and 23rd Infantry regiments were placed in reserve.^: 107

Battle

On the evening of 1 June, German forces punched a hole in the French lines to the left of the Marines' position. In response, the U.S. reserve—consisting of the 23rd Infantry Regiment under Colonel Paul B. Malone, the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines under Major Julius S. Turrill, and an element of the Marine 6th Machine Gun Battalion—conducted a forced march over 10 km (6.2 mi) to plug the gap in the line, which they achieved by dawn.

Devil Dog is a nickname for a United States Marine coined during World War I.

History

Multiple publications of the United States Marine Corps claim that the nickname "Teufel Hunden"—"Devil Dogs" in English—was bestowed upon the Marines by German soldiers at the Battle of Belleau Wood in June 1918. However, on April 14, 1918, six weeks before that battle began, hundreds of U.S. newspapers ran a fanciful, unsigned wire service report that stated:

That time-honored nickname, borne by the United States marines for generations—"leathernecks"—is no more! At least, the Germans have abandoned it, according to reports from France. In its place the Teutons have handed the sea soldiers one with far more meaning. They call the American scrappers "teufel hunden," which, in English, means "devil dogs."

The American press immediately seized upon the new term, and it was used on a Marine Corps recruiting poster by Charles Buckles Falls in July 1918, showing an American bulldog chasing a German dachshund wearing a pickelhaube.

The veracity of the German origin of the term, however, was questioned as early as 1921 when journalist H. L. Mencken wrote that the term was the invention of an American war correspondent. In modern scholarship, Robert V. Aquilina of the United States Marine Corps History Division stated that the term was likely first used by the Marines themselves and that there is no evidence of German use or origin of the term. Similarly, Patrick Mooney of the National Museum of the Marine Corps wrote that "We have no proof that it came from German troops...There is no written document in German that says that the Marines are Devil Dogs or any correct spelling or language component of 'Devil Dog' in German." Further, when asked about the term by Stars and Stripes, Lt. Col. Heiner Bröckermann of the German Military History Research Institute said that he had "never heard anyone using the word 'Teufelshund' or 'Teufelshunde' in Germany." Nevertheless, "Devil Dog" has become firmly entrenched in the lore of the United States Marine Corps.