Re: Happy Birthday Marines!


"Alpha" <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4377d476$0$23370$61c65585@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> >> And your account is a little inacurate. The British 7th division had
>> to
>>> > go
>>> >> in when the U.S Army failed to meet thier objective. In the end the
>>> >> austrailian 2nd div with New Zealnders actually finished the job off
>>> >> thankyou.

Chateau-Thierry formed the tip of the German advance towards Paris, some 50
miles south-west. Defended by U.S. Second and Third Divisions dispatched at
the behest of the French by AEF Commander-in-Chief Jack Pershing, the
Americans launched a counter-attack on 3-4 June with the assistance of the
French Tenth Colonial Division; in a spirited action together they succeeded
in pushing the Germans back across the Marne to Jaulgonne.
Rejuvenated by success first at Cantigny (at the end of May) and now at
Chateau-Thierry, General Bundy's Second Division forces followed up
Chateau-Thierry two days later with the difficult exercise of capturing
Belleau Wood.

Second Division's Marine Corps, under James Harbord, were tasked with the
taking of the wood. This perilous venture involved a murderous trek across
an open wheat field, swept from end to end by German machine gun fire, a
fact that continues to generate controversy today among some historians.

As a consequence of the open nature of the advance on the wood, casualties
on the first day, 6 June, were the highest in Marine Corps history (a
dubious record which remained until the capture of Japanese-held Tarawa in
November 1943).

Fiercely defended by the Germans, the wood was first taken by the Marines
(and Third Infantry Brigade), then ceded back to the Germans - and again
taken by the U.S. forces a total of six times before the Germans were
finally expelled. Also captured were the nearby villages of Vaux and
Bouresche.

The battle ran from 6-26 June and by its end saw U.S. forces suffer 9,777
casualties, of which 1,811 were fatal. The number of German casualties is
not known, although some 1,600 troops were taken prisoner. More critically,
the combined Chateau-Thierry/Belleau Wood action brought to an end the last
major German offensive of the war.

The French name for the wood, Bois Belleau, was subsequently officially
renamed Bois de la Brigade de Marine, in honour of the Marine Corps's
tenacity in its re-taking.


> Is that so?
> Why do I make this statement?
> Scott it is to easy to say some one is an idiot
> but why did I say this?
> And why are you upset.
>
> Ok to prove my point on how
> insular you all are. What happened here Last Week?
> It was big really big go on have a punt champ.

Where are you from?


>
> Dave
>


.

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