CHATEAU THIERRY
That was the thing--to get there!
The marines have always fought in that way. It is tradition--and their
nature.
German gunners ran from their guns in face of such assaults; others
tried to withdraw their guns; still others were taken in groups huddled
in ravines as youth, fearful in its white rage of determination, bore
down upon them and gathered them in, or, again, drove the bayonet home
into gunners who stuck to their posts until the instant that forms, with
eyes gleaming, leapt upon them.
With captured German machine guns, men, whom the marines farther back
could not reach with food and water, held their gains, taking food and
water from the American and German dead.
Although the first phase of the attack had not been fully accomplished,
it was determined not to hold back the other companies, which had been
waiting under shell fire that only aroused their eagerness to advance,
from undertaking the second phase.
Theirs was a simpler task than that of their comrades who had stormed
the woods. Artillery preparation in clearing away was, of course, more
serviceable against a village than against a woods, and neither machine
gun nor shell fire delayed the precision of the movement across the open
to the village of Chateau Thierry itself.
But the enemy contested every step of the advance. These troops that the
German general staff now hurled forward to stem the tide of the American
advance were the flower of the emperor's army--the Prussian Guards, who
boasted that they had never been stopped.
But not only were they to be stopped by the impetuous daring of the
Americans, but they were soon to be driven back in utter rout.
In the woods the marines were cheek by jowl with the enemy, who were
slipping more machine guns into that section of the wood.
The Germans must be made to understand that the woods was the property
of the Americans--that was the thought in the hearts of all the marines
as they went about their work, while the Germans, on their part, began
gassing the approaches both of Chateau Thierry and Belleau village.
The very irregular shape of Belleau Woods, no less than the character of
the ground, favored the defenders in forming cross zones of fire. It was
a strange and fierce business, there in the dense brush, where men of
the same squad could not keep in touch with one another at times.
Happily the marines had located some of the enemy nests before they
attacked, but those farther ahead they could locate only when the
Germans began firing, or when they stumbled upon gunners who were still
hugging cover after the bombardment, or who simply had concluded it was
better to be a live prisoner than to die for the Kaiser.
They were taken in groups and singly, taken standing behind trees and
hugging the holes they had dug in the earth. Some were trying to retreat
with their guns; others fled precipitately, and many continued to work
their guns.
It was a hunt of man-hornet nests, with khaki the hunter and the German
gray the hunted. The marines fought even more fiercely than in their
first attack. They wanted to finish the job this time; and the job was
to be finished soon.
The enemy, smarting under the American success, began bringing up
reserves and concentrated a terrific artillery fire on the ground close
to Chateau Thierry and the village itself. Chateau Thierry seemed to
have become a point of honor with the Germans no less than with the
Americans. They saturated it with a bombardment of yperite gas, which
clings to the earth and the trees, and burns flesh that comes in contact
with it.
As the Germans could hardly send their own men into this area to suffer
the effects intended for the marines, the battle momentarily died down.
But it was to be resumed shortly with redoubled fury.
An hour later the Germans, with their reserves, made an attack in force.
By all criterions this attack should have succeeded. Some Germans
penetrated to within a short distance of the American lines and a good
many of them remained there--dead.
American machine-gun fire and rifle fire drove all who escaped back
toward the enemy's lines. At the same time, under cover of their
artillery, the Germans had reinforced their machine-gun units, which
remained in the edge of the woods, probably thinking that as soon as the
effects of the yperite were over, recovery of the woods would not be
difficult.
But the German staff was doomed to disappointment.
For perhaps half an hour the battle died down again. The Germans took
advantage of this lull to reform their lines just beyond Chateau Thierry
and to prepare to repel an attack.
From this moment the German staff seems to have lost all desire of an
offensive movement. They must have realized that the possibility of a
further advance had gone a-glimmering with the defeat of the Prussian
Guard in Belleau Woods. No longer would the Germans be the aggressors;
it would be the Yankees, and their Allies, from this time on that would
push the fighting.
The marines were now at full strength--two solid divisions, except for
the losses in the early fighting--and these had been heavy. Not in the
history of man had there been such a desperate charge as the marines had
made there in Belleau Woods, and it was to be equalled only by the
charge that was to drive the enemy from Chateau Thierry.
Officers hastily looked over the decimated troops during the brief
pause, as they awaited word to advance. Though their losses had been
enormous, and though it seemed impossible to advance further through the
hail of shells, bullets and shrapnel that poured upon them, the marines
were not daunted. Their spirit was as superb as when they had first
advanced confidently to the attack. Their morale was unbroken.
To the German staff, and to the German veterans themselves, it must have
been a thing of wonder the way the American marines stood to their
tasks. True, they were outnumbered by the enemy, but there wasn't a man
there who stopped to think of that.
Reinforcements were on their way from the rear.
American regulars, and the French troops, broken by the first shock of
the German advance, had had time to regain their lost cohesion and
reform. But it was not General Bundy's plan to await these
reinforcements; he had the enemy on the run now and he was not disposed
to surrender his advantage.
So, after a brief pause, he ordered the attack.
Wild cheers broke from the marines as they darted upon the enemy machine
gunners and artillerymen who still clung to the edge of the woods. There
was a sharp skirmish, and the Germans abandoned their guns and fled
toward where other lines had been fortified just before Chateau Thierry.
The marines dashed forward on the very heels of the enemy.
Into the streets of the little village poured the Americans pell-mell.
Here, under the command of their officers, the Germans braced and their
resistance became stiffer.
But the men from Yankeeland were not to be denied. Absolutely
disregarding the enemy machine-gun fire, that cut great gaps in their
lines, they leaped forward with lowered bayonets. Steel clashed on steel
as the fighting became hand-to-hand.
Here and there marines, crazed with battle, cast away their rifles and
bayonets and dashed upon the enemy barehanded. Down went Germans before
heavy blows from American fists. Groups of Germans gathered here and
there and attempted to check the Americans. As well have tried to shut
out a tornado.
The Prussian Guards, once the pride of the German army, became
demoralized. Some threw down their weapons and raised their hands in
token of surrender. Others turned and ran. These latter the marines
pursued, making captives of some and accounting for others with their
rifles and bayonets.
Fiercer and fiercer the fighting raged in the streets of the little
village. From one end of the streets, the enemy covered the marines with
machine guns and fired rapidly as the Americans came toward them.
But this fire had no more effect than if the Germans had been spraying
the marines with water. Those who survived the terrible fire leaped over
the bodies of their prostrate comrades and at the throats of the Huns.
It was more than flesh and blood could stand. The Germans turned and
fled in utter rout.
But the work of the marines was not yet over. They pushed on to the edge
of the village. Machine guns were hastily posted and manned and a
destructive fire poured into the ranks of the fleeing enemy.
Soon the Germans reached the shelter of a distant woods, posted their
own big guns and opened upon the exposed Yankee positions.
Instantly General Bundy gave the command to dig in again.
Weapons of warfare were immediately discarded by the marines for
intrenching tools and the dirt began to fly. American artillery,
meantime, hurled high explosive shells over the heads of the marines
into the German positions beyond.
Night fell and the duel of big guns continued as the marines still dug
and clawed at the ground. But before midnight the newly-won positions
had been made secure. Sentinels were posted and the men at last were
permitted to sleep.
Not in the history of all wars has there been a victory to equal that of
the American marines in Belleau Woods and at Chateau Thierry. It was
wonderful. No other word will describe it. And in its effect, the result
was far reaching.
Not only did the American victory enable the hard-pressed French troops,
so recently driven back by the German advance, to reform; not only did
it reduce the effectiveness of the German man-power, but it shattered
the morale of the whole German army. It was the greatest single blow
that had been struck during the war.
No wonder the tired American marines slept the sleep of the just that
night. They had been the instruments that set in motion the great
offensive that was to make the world safe for Democracy.
It was a glorious day for America--the seventeenth of June, 1918!