"With the Help of God and a Few Marines": The Battles of Chateau Thierry and Belleau Wood
Albertus W. Catlin
Language: English
Pages: 306
ISBN: 1594161887
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
“The story of the marines in France is told with authority and interest.”—Booklist
“It is one of the books about the American war effort which is well worth keeping as well as reading.”—Outlook
“A well-written and complete account.”—Library Bulletin
In an area of woods smaller than New York City’s Central Park, the United States Marines made a desperate and dramatic stand against the might of the Imperial Germany Army’s final offensive in June 1918. Had the Germans broken through the lines as planned, there would have been no Allied forces between them and Paris. World War I had stagnated for nearly four years, and this last German push was a desperate, but powerful gamble to finally bring the war to a close. As at Guadalcanal during World War II, the enemy had not anticipated the ferocity and doggedness of the United States Marines. Leading this small expeditionary force was Brigadier General Albertus Wright Catlin. For most of the month of June the marines fought the Germans at close range, using their rifles effectively and engaging in hand-to-hand combat. Toward the end of the battle, Catlin was shot in the chest by a sniper and removed from the field. While recuperating, he began “With the Help of God and a Few Marines”, his account of the marines’ experience in France, including what became known as the Battle of Belleau Wood. First published in 1919, and considered among the finest American memoirs from World War I, it is notable for its description of what it means to be a United States Marine—an account as relevant today as it was nearly a century ago—and its straightforward depiction of life and death on the Western Front in the last months of the war.
forces before Veuilly Wood and began a mass attack, seeking to penetrate the wood. The advancing German phalanx was mowed down by our machine guns and the attack was broken up before it reached the American line. Then, by a magnificent counter-attack, the Hun was hurled back. An enemy battalion which crept across the Marne to the left bank above Jaulgonne was counter-attacked by French and Americans and was thrown back to the other bank with losses. After that the Allies held the Marne. I have
patrol duties. How eagerly, how anxiously we watched them, as a mother watches the first steps of her child, to discover whether they would face the music and do the job as a Marine should. We knew they would, but still we watched, and when they came back with what they went for, we breathed deep and faced the next task with confidence. It was in those days that good American blood was spilt out there in No Man's Land, in the midst of the barbed wire and the lurking menace. We looked upon our
organization underwent radical changes. Not only were new regiments formed, but the numbers were changed from 1,000 to 3,600 men to a regiment. The old regiments were broken up so that the seasoned soldiers might serve as nuclei for the new ones, and they had to be spread out so thin that there were only about 300 of them to a regiment, or some 8 per cent. Moreover, it was thought best to hold the National Guard regiments together, so that the regular Army had to depend for its enlargement upon
German armies could be defeated and the German line broken. They saw him assume the offensive, and they joined him in the last grim push to victory. And so, as I write these lines, the dream of the Marines is coming true—to follow the retreating Hun across the Rhine, for they have been chosen to march side by side with the honour divisions of the Allied armies in the forefront of the peace-compelling Army of Occupation. Long live the United States Marines! PART III SOLDIERS OF THE SEA CHAPTER
the embodiment of the American spirit of justice, order, and fair dealing. That history of a hundred daring deeds well done forms a tradition which lies at the bottom of our wonderful esprit de corps. The American Marines were first organized by resolution of the Continental Congress on November 10, 1775. They served in the Revolution, the war with Tripoli, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, and a hundred affairs of less importance. The volume of that history has become part and