WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.779 Welcome to the to the deep dive. It is so great 00:00:02.779 --> 00:00:04.639 to have you with us today. Yeah, thanks for joining 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:07.879 us for this one We are zeroing in on a single 00:00:07.879 --> 00:00:11.720 just incredibly rich source document It's a comprehensive 00:00:11.720 --> 00:00:14.419 historical text breaking down one of the most 00:00:14.419 --> 00:00:17.559 ferocious and really legendary engagements of 00:00:17.559 --> 00:00:20.719 World War one Battle of billowwood exactly the 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:23.239 Battle of billowwood now our mission today isn't 00:00:23.239 --> 00:00:26.280 just to you know Read off a timeline of dates 00:00:26.280 --> 00:00:29.289 and trip movements you can get a dry timeline 00:00:29.289 --> 00:00:32.030 from any encyclopedia. What we want to do is 00:00:32.030 --> 00:00:35.390 extract the real aha moments from this text. 00:00:35.750 --> 00:00:37.390 We're looking at exactly how legends are born 00:00:37.390 --> 00:00:40.229 under fire and how just a few weeks in a shattered 00:00:40.229 --> 00:00:43.570 French hunting preserve. completely forged the 00:00:43.570 --> 00:00:45.850 identity of a modern military force. It really 00:00:45.850 --> 00:00:48.530 is a masterclass in how a group's identity, in 00:00:48.530 --> 00:00:51.289 this case, the modern US Marine Corps, is forged, 00:00:51.810 --> 00:00:53.450 not just through victory, but through shared 00:00:53.450 --> 00:00:56.509 sacrifice, sheer tenacity, and the power of the 00:00:56.509 --> 00:00:59.070 stories they tell about themselves. But to truly 00:00:59.070 --> 00:01:01.630 grasp the scale of what happened in those woods, 00:01:02.289 --> 00:01:05.349 we have to understand the profound desperation 00:01:05.349 --> 00:01:08.370 of the moment. We're talking about a pivotal 00:01:08.370 --> 00:01:10.829 flashpoint where the entire trajectory of the 00:01:10.829 --> 00:01:13.569 First World War just hung by a thread. Okay, 00:01:13.590 --> 00:01:16.930 let's untack this. The year is 1918. It's March. 00:01:17.129 --> 00:01:19.590 And the situation for the Allies is looking, 00:01:20.230 --> 00:01:23.260 uh... incredibly grim. On the eastern front, 00:01:23.480 --> 00:01:26.140 the Russian empire has collapsed. They've surrendered. 00:01:26.519 --> 00:01:28.500 Which changes everything. It changes everything 00:01:28.500 --> 00:01:30.519 because what that means practically on the ground 00:01:30.519 --> 00:01:33.739 is that the German army suddenly has nearly 50 00:01:33.739 --> 00:01:36.560 additional divisions freed up, 50 divisions. 00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:40.480 It's a massive influx of manpower suddenly shifting 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:42.739 focus entirely away from the east and barreling 00:01:42.739 --> 00:01:45.040 straight toward the western front. If we connect 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:47.760 this to the bigger picture, The German High Command 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:50.219 knows they're operating on a very strict ticking 00:01:50.219 --> 00:01:52.060 clock here. Right, because of the Americans. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:54.459 Exactly. The United States has officially entered 00:01:54.459 --> 00:01:56.819 the war, but American forces aren't fully deployed 00:01:56.819 --> 00:01:59.780 on the continent yet. So the Germans are essentially 00:01:59.780 --> 00:02:02.959 racing to launch a series of overwhelming spring 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:05.799 offensives. To finish it before the U .S. arrives 00:02:05.799 --> 00:02:09.419 in force. Yes. The goal is to absolutely crush 00:02:09.419 --> 00:02:12.360 the British and French forces before the full 00:02:12.360 --> 00:02:14.400 weight of the American industrial and military 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:17.340 machine can get there. Yeah. And they are terrifyingly 00:02:17.340 --> 00:02:20.020 close to succeeding. How close? By late May of 00:02:20.020 --> 00:02:22.539 1918, German forces have reached the north bank 00:02:22.539 --> 00:02:25.460 of the Marne River. They are just 59 miles away 00:02:25.460 --> 00:02:29.419 from Paris. Wow. Just 59 miles. Just pause and 00:02:29.419 --> 00:02:31.620 imagine you were sitting in Paris at that moment. 00:02:32.229 --> 00:02:34.990 You know, the German army, bolstered by hundreds 00:02:34.990 --> 00:02:37.389 of thousands of men from the Eastern Front, is 00:02:37.389 --> 00:02:39.389 less than 60 miles away. It's right on their 00:02:39.389 --> 00:02:42.150 doorstep. If Paris falls, the war could very 00:02:42.150 --> 00:02:44.430 well be lost right then and there. It is absolute 00:02:44.430 --> 00:02:47.469 do or die. And that takes us to the frantic early 00:02:47.469 --> 00:02:49.889 days of June. German forces have just punched 00:02:49.889 --> 00:02:52.189 a massive hole in the French lines right to the 00:02:52.189 --> 00:02:53.949 left of where the American Marines are positioned. 00:02:54.110 --> 00:02:56.469 The situation is so dire that the U .S. Reserve, 00:02:56.509 --> 00:02:58.770 which includes the 23rd Infantry Regiment and 00:02:58.770 --> 00:03:01.009 the 5th Marines, they're thrown into the breach. 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:04.319 They are forced to conduct a grueling 10 kilometer 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:07.479 forced march. And a forced march isn't just a 00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:10.500 brisk hike. We are talking about carrying heavy 00:03:10.500 --> 00:03:14.000 gear, rifles, ammunition. Moving over choked 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:16.879 muddy roads. Yeah, with little to no sleep. They 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:20.180 are racing against time to literally plug this 00:03:20.180 --> 00:03:23.099 gap in the line by dawn. Just picture that deep 00:03:23.099 --> 00:03:25.599 bone rattling exhaustion before the fighting 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:28.460 even really begins. And they arrive to find a 00:03:28.460 --> 00:03:31.669 completely collapsing front. The momentum of 00:03:31.669 --> 00:03:34.689 the German advance was terrifying. It was so 00:03:34.689 --> 00:03:37.009 overwhelming that the retreating French command 00:03:37.009 --> 00:03:39.590 actually ordered the arriving Americans to fall 00:03:39.590 --> 00:03:42.229 back with them. To retreat? Right, to dig trenches 00:03:42.229 --> 00:03:44.469 further to the rear and prepare for a deeper 00:03:44.469 --> 00:03:46.969 defense. But the commander of the Marine Brigade, 00:03:47.289 --> 00:03:49.830 Army General James Harbord, he absolutely refuses. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:53.360 He countermands that French order with a directive 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:55.960 that is just incredibly bold. He tells the Marines 00:03:55.960 --> 00:03:57.979 to hold where they stand. Hold where they stand. 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:00.020 And the source notes, they don't even have proper 00:04:00.020 --> 00:04:02.439 entrenching tools. So they are literally digging 00:04:02.439 --> 00:04:05.379 shallow fighting positions into the earth using 00:04:05.379 --> 00:04:07.800 their bayonets. Just trying to scrape out enough 00:04:07.800 --> 00:04:10.000 cover to shoot from a prone position in these 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:12.840 grain fields. Using knives to dig trenches. That 00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:15.759 detail about the bayonets is crucial. It highlights 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:18.939 the sheer lack of preparation time. They are 00:04:18.939 --> 00:04:20.779 scraping the dirt while the enemy is marching 00:04:20.779 --> 00:04:23.740 toward them. And then, on the afternoon of June 00:04:23.740 --> 00:04:26.399 3rd, the German infantry attacks. I fear they 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:28.240 come. They come advancing through those grain 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:30.660 fields with their bayonets fixed, fully expecting 00:04:30.660 --> 00:04:33.959 to roll right over these hastily prepared, exhausted 00:04:33.959 --> 00:04:36.819 American positions. But wait. If these Americans 00:04:36.819 --> 00:04:39.560 are sleep deprived from a forced march and lying 00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:41.779 in shallow ditches they just dug with knives, 00:04:42.120 --> 00:04:44.620 how do they not just immediately open fire the 00:04:44.620 --> 00:04:46.620 second they see the enemy? Right, it goes against 00:04:46.620 --> 00:04:49.220 every human instinct. Yeah, it goes against every 00:04:49.220 --> 00:04:51.600 survival instinct to push a threat away as quickly 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:54.879 as possible. That is exactly the aha moment here. 00:04:55.220 --> 00:04:57.779 The tactical discipline of these Marines completely 00:04:57.779 --> 00:05:00.550 changed the equation. Despite the exhaustion, 00:05:00.949 --> 00:05:03.550 they relied on their intense marksmanship training. 00:05:04.029 --> 00:05:06.269 They didn't open fire at maximum range. They 00:05:06.269 --> 00:05:08.970 waited. They waited. They let the advancing German 00:05:08.970 --> 00:05:10.910 ways get within a hundred yards. A hundred yards 00:05:10.910 --> 00:05:13.209 is nothing. You can see their faces at that distance. 00:05:13.709 --> 00:05:16.850 Exactly. They waited until the enemy was dangerously 00:05:16.850 --> 00:05:19.889 close before unleashing a coordinated deadly 00:05:19.889 --> 00:05:23.490 rifle fire. The source material notes that this 00:05:23.490 --> 00:05:26.889 specific lethal accuracy completely shocked the 00:05:26.889 --> 00:05:28.870 German forces. because they weren't expecting 00:05:28.870 --> 00:05:31.550 it. The Germans simply weren't used to that level 00:05:31.550 --> 00:05:33.670 of disciplined marksmanship at that range from 00:05:33.670 --> 00:05:37.680 a supposedly green untested army. It mowed down 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:39.800 the advancing waves and forced the survivors 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:42.680 to break their advance and retreat right into 00:05:42.680 --> 00:05:45.399 the cover of billow wood. Which perfectly sets 00:05:45.399 --> 00:05:47.939 the stage for one of the most legendary quotes 00:05:47.939 --> 00:05:50.899 in military history. As this defensive stand 00:05:50.899 --> 00:05:54.000 is happening, a French officer supposedly suggests 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:55.720 again that the Americans should pull back to 00:05:55.720 --> 00:05:58.699 save themselves. Right. And Marine Captain Lloyd 00:05:58.699 --> 00:06:01.379 W. Williams of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:03.980 delivers this immortal retort. He says, retreat 00:06:03.980 --> 00:06:06.839 hell, we just got here. That's incredible. Now, 00:06:06.860 --> 00:06:08.899 the source does note that his battalion commander, 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:11.480 Major Frederick Wise, also later claimed he was 00:06:11.480 --> 00:06:13.620 the one who said it. Well, it's one of those 00:06:13.620 --> 00:06:17.199 historical moments where the exact attribution 00:06:17.370 --> 00:06:20.529 almost matters less than the attitude it represents. 00:06:21.209 --> 00:06:24.670 That bravado, that sheer stubborn refusal to 00:06:24.670 --> 00:06:26.569 yield ground when every piece of conventional 00:06:26.569 --> 00:06:29.569 wisdom told them to run, that became absolutely 00:06:29.569 --> 00:06:31.810 foundational to the identity of the U .S. Marine 00:06:31.810 --> 00:06:34.230 Corps. They were drawing a line in the dirt. 00:06:34.389 --> 00:06:35.990 But holding the line was only the beginning. 00:06:36.479 --> 00:06:38.379 Defending is one thing. Now they had to go on 00:06:38.379 --> 00:06:40.480 the offensive to push the Germans back. Right. 00:06:41.100 --> 00:06:43.939 This brings us to dawn on June 6th and the plan 00:06:43.939 --> 00:06:47.060 to attack Hill 142. The Allies are launching 00:06:47.060 --> 00:06:50.160 an attack to preempt a German strike. The Marines 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:52.660 are ordered to take this hill to prevent flanking 00:06:52.660 --> 00:06:55.779 fire, which is essentially enemy fire hitting 00:06:55.779 --> 00:06:57.699 the side of a formation rather than the front. 00:06:57.959 --> 00:07:00.899 Exactly. To protect the neighboring French 167th 00:07:00.899 --> 00:07:04.360 Division. But there is a massive fatal mistake 00:07:04.360 --> 00:07:07.240 made right at the start. The Marines failed to 00:07:07.240 --> 00:07:09.420 scout the woods before advancing. The cost of 00:07:09.420 --> 00:07:11.839 that intelligence failure was devastating. But 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:14.079 why wouldn't they scout? How does a modern military 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:16.519 force just advance blindly into a massive forest 00:07:16.519 --> 00:07:18.480 without knowing what's in there? It comes down 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:22.240 to a mix of extreme urgency and a breakdown in 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:25.240 battlefield intelligence. They were rushing to 00:07:25.240 --> 00:07:27.720 preempt a German attack, so time was of the essence. 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:31.310 So they just rushed in. But... Because they didn't 00:07:31.310 --> 00:07:33.529 scout they completely missed the fact that there 00:07:33.529 --> 00:07:36.430 was an entire regiment of German infantry heavily 00:07:36.430 --> 00:07:40.430 dug in We are talking about a sophisticated network 00:07:40.430 --> 00:07:43.689 of interlocked machine gun nests interlocked 00:07:43.689 --> 00:07:47.050 meaning meaning the fields of fire overlap Yeah, 00:07:47.110 --> 00:07:49.629 if you manage to dodge the bullets from one machine 00:07:49.629 --> 00:07:51.829 gun You were immediately stepping into the stream 00:07:51.829 --> 00:07:54.250 of bullets from another no safe zones none. There 00:07:54.250 --> 00:07:56.149 are no safe zones No blind spots. They were also 00:07:56.149 --> 00:07:59.290 supported by artillery When you advance blindly 00:07:59.290 --> 00:08:01.870 into an entrenched position like that, the outcome 00:08:01.870 --> 00:08:04.009 is inevitably tragic. Tragic doesn't even begin 00:08:04.009 --> 00:08:06.569 to cover it. You have the 1st Battalion, 5th 00:08:06.569 --> 00:08:09.430 Marines advancing in waves with fixed bayonets 00:08:09.430 --> 00:08:11.930 straight across an open waist -high wheat field. 00:08:12.050 --> 00:08:14.079 Waist -high wheat. Yeah, and Waste High Wheat 00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:16.839 sounds picturesque until you realize it obscures 00:08:16.839 --> 00:08:20.180 the uneven ground, trips you up, but offers absolutely 00:08:20.180 --> 00:08:22.920 zero ballistic protection against bullets. They 00:08:22.920 --> 00:08:26.139 are completely exposed. Catherine Crowther, commanding 00:08:26.139 --> 00:08:28.819 the 67th Company, is killed almost instantly. 00:08:28.980 --> 00:08:31.220 Yes, brutal. On the other side, Captain Hamilton 00:08:31.220 --> 00:08:33.559 and the 49th Company are fighting tree to tree. 00:08:34.299 --> 00:08:36.659 Hamilton loses every single one of his five junior 00:08:36.659 --> 00:08:40.210 officers in this charge. Yet somehow... His men 00:08:40.210 --> 00:08:42.330 not only take their objective, they overrun it 00:08:42.330 --> 00:08:44.929 by exactly six yards. And it's in the midst of 00:08:44.929 --> 00:08:48.129 this absolute chaos that we see staggering individual 00:08:48.129 --> 00:08:51.090 heroism. During a fierce German counter -attack, 00:08:51.269 --> 00:08:53.750 you have Gunnery Sergeant Ernest A. Jansen, who 00:08:53.750 --> 00:08:55.710 was serving under the name Charles Hoffman at 00:08:55.710 --> 00:08:57.830 the time. What did he do? The source details 00:08:57.830 --> 00:09:00.330 how he single -handedly repelled in advance of 00:09:00.330 --> 00:09:02.809 12 German soldiers who were carrying light machine 00:09:02.809 --> 00:09:04.889 guns. Twelve against one. He charged them, killed 00:09:04.889 --> 00:09:06.929 two with his bayonet, and the rest actually dropped 00:09:06.929 --> 00:09:09.519 their weapons and fled. For that sheer force 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:11.980 of will, he became the first Marine to earn the 00:09:11.980 --> 00:09:15.639 Medal of Honor in World War I. That heroism brings 00:09:15.639 --> 00:09:19.000 us to a darker pivot point later that same afternoon. 00:09:19.740 --> 00:09:22.220 Here's where it gets really interesting. Because 00:09:22.220 --> 00:09:26.480 at 5 0 p .m. on that same day, June 6th, the 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:28.679 next phase of the offensive begins. Right, the 00:09:28.679 --> 00:09:31.980 17 .0 assault. This time it's the 3rd Battalion, 00:09:32.220 --> 00:09:35.059 5th Marines, and the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, 00:09:35.320 --> 00:09:37.639 advancing directly into below wood from the west. 00:09:37.960 --> 00:09:40.340 Once again, they have to cross a waist -high 00:09:40.340 --> 00:09:43.759 wheat field right into the teeth of German machine 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:46.100 guns. Right back into it. And during the initial 00:09:46.100 --> 00:09:48.620 step off for this assault, First Sergeant Dan 00:09:48.620 --> 00:09:50.720 Daley, who already had two medals of honor from 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:53.700 previous conflicts, looks at his men in the 73rd 00:09:53.700 --> 00:09:56.120 Machine Gun Company and yells out this famous 00:09:56.120 --> 00:09:58.259 battle cry. A legendary quote. He yells, come 00:09:58.259 --> 00:09:59.679 on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:02.120 forever? It's a quote that echoes through history. 00:10:02.669 --> 00:10:05.789 But we have to ground that bravado in the sobering 00:10:05.789 --> 00:10:07.809 reality of what actually happened in that wheat 00:10:07.809 --> 00:10:10.789 field. Those first waves of Marines, advancing 00:10:10.789 --> 00:10:12.830 in well -disciplined lines just as they were 00:10:12.830 --> 00:10:15.350 trained, were systematically slaughtered. Major 00:10:15.350 --> 00:10:18.549 Berry was severely wounded. The men swept into 00:10:18.549 --> 00:10:20.649 the southern end of the woods and immediately 00:10:20.649 --> 00:10:24.070 hit a wall of heavy machine gun fire. Sharp shooters 00:10:24.070 --> 00:10:27.590 hidden in the trees, thick barbed wire, and brutal 00:10:27.590 --> 00:10:29.929 hand -to -hand combat. It was a meat grinder. 00:10:30.250 --> 00:10:33.029 It was. The casualties sustained on June 6th 00:10:33.029 --> 00:10:35.129 alone were the highest in Marine Corps history 00:10:35.129 --> 00:10:39.090 up to that point. 31 officers and 1 ,056 men 00:10:39.090 --> 00:10:42.070 in a single day. Over a thousand men lost while 00:10:42.070 --> 00:10:44.210 charging across an open field. It feels like 00:10:44.210 --> 00:10:46.610 a complete failure of tactics. It's one of those 00:10:46.610 --> 00:10:49.029 wild contradictions of military history. You 00:10:49.029 --> 00:10:50.909 look at the tactical map and think this is a 00:10:50.909 --> 00:10:52.909 complete disaster. You don't charge machine guns 00:10:52.909 --> 00:10:55.289 across an open field. Right. But strategically, 00:10:56.470 --> 00:10:59.309 Despite the catastrophic loss of life, the Marines 00:10:59.309 --> 00:11:01.690 had finally gained a foothold inside Belleau 00:11:01.690 --> 00:11:04.230 Wood. They absorbed a terrifying amount of punishment, 00:11:04.610 --> 00:11:06.750 but they breached the fortress. And that breached 00:11:06.750 --> 00:11:08.830 fortress turns into an absolute nightmare over 00:11:08.830 --> 00:11:11.600 the next week. From June 7th to the 15th, the 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:14.139 battle descends into a brutal grinding deadlock. 00:11:14.659 --> 00:11:16.740 The text points out that Belleau Wood had once 00:11:16.740 --> 00:11:20.299 been this attractive, serene French hunting preserve, 00:11:20.340 --> 00:11:24.539 but an enormous allied artillery barrage completely 00:11:24.539 --> 00:11:27.580 devastated it. The source describes it turning 00:11:27.580 --> 00:11:31.059 into a jungle of shattered trees soaked in massive 00:11:31.059 --> 00:11:33.600 quantities of mustard gas used by the Germans. 00:11:33.879 --> 00:11:36.299 The environmental degradation alone is terrifying 00:11:36.299 --> 00:11:39.700 to visualize. Mustard gas isn't just a that blows 00:11:39.700 --> 00:11:42.559 away. It settles into the shell craters, it coats 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:44.759 the splintered timber, it lingers in the soil, 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:47.539 and burns the skin of anyone who touches it. 00:11:47.720 --> 00:11:50.100 So you can't even take cover properly. You are 00:11:50.100 --> 00:11:52.120 no longer just fighting the enemy, you are fighting 00:11:52.120 --> 00:11:55.500 the very terrain. Platoon communication completely 00:11:55.500 --> 00:11:58.460 breaks down in this maze of fallen trees. Men 00:11:58.460 --> 00:12:00.980 are isolated in small pockets reduced to fighting 00:12:00.980 --> 00:12:03.679 with bayonets, trench knives, and bare fists. 00:12:03.779 --> 00:12:06.480 Which leads to this wildly chaotic detail from 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:09.740 June 11th. Major Wise's 2nd Battalion 5th Marines 00:12:09.740 --> 00:12:11.700 are ordered to attack through a thick morning 00:12:11.700 --> 00:12:14.919 mist. Because visibility is so poor, and the 00:12:14.919 --> 00:12:17.019 terrain is so destroyed that there are no landmarks 00:12:17.019 --> 00:12:19.600 left, they actually advance in the completely 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:21.639 wrong direction. They get completely lost in 00:12:21.639 --> 00:12:23.940 the fog of war. Exactly. Instead of moving northeast, 00:12:24.360 --> 00:12:26.460 they move directly across the narrow waste of 00:12:26.460 --> 00:12:28.840 the woods. Walking right into the unknown. But 00:12:28.840 --> 00:12:31.059 here is the crazy part. They wander into the 00:12:31.059 --> 00:12:33.360 wrong area, but they accidentally smash right 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:35.600 through the German southern defensive lines anyway. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:38.840 How does a mistake like that actually work in 00:12:38.840 --> 00:12:41.539 their favor? What's fascinating here is the psychological 00:12:41.539 --> 00:12:45.419 effect that kind of raw, unpredictable aggression 00:12:45.419 --> 00:12:48.120 had on the German defenders. It surprised them. 00:12:48.340 --> 00:12:51.139 The German military doctrine of 1918 was highly 00:12:51.139 --> 00:12:53.679 choreographed. They expected the Americans to 00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:55.879 fight by the established rules of engagement. 00:12:56.759 --> 00:12:59.240 When these Marines emerged from the mist and 00:12:59.240 --> 00:13:01.519 the wrong place fighting like cornered animals, 00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:04.639 it broke the German mental models. They just 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:07.419 didn't know how to react. It completely compensated 00:13:07.419 --> 00:13:10.460 for the tactical chaos. The source includes a 00:13:10.460 --> 00:13:13.019 profound quote from a German private whose company 00:13:13.019 --> 00:13:15.879 had been reduced from 120 and down to just 30. 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:18.860 He wrote back home. We have Americans opposite 00:13:18.860 --> 00:13:21.379 us who are terribly reckless fellows. Parably 00:13:21.379 --> 00:13:23.659 reckless fellows. They simply didn't understand 00:13:23.659 --> 00:13:25.659 the style of fighting because it defied their 00:13:25.659 --> 00:13:28.500 tactical logic. It was pure aggression overriding 00:13:28.500 --> 00:13:31.440 strategy. But as we talk about this marine aggression. 00:13:31.740 --> 00:13:35.259 We also have to highlight the unsung heroes who 00:13:35.259 --> 00:13:38.200 made this relentless push possible, because the 00:13:38.200 --> 00:13:40.679 Marines absolutely didn't do this alone. Far 00:13:40.679 --> 00:13:43.379 from it. The source specifically praises the 00:13:43.379 --> 00:13:46.299 US Army's second engineers. These guys were doing 00:13:46.299 --> 00:13:49.039 the impossible. As one Marine captain put it, 00:13:49.340 --> 00:13:51.659 boy, they dig trenches and men rows all night 00:13:51.659 --> 00:13:53.919 and they fight all day. Imagine the physical 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:57.419 toll of that. digging through root -choked rocky 00:13:57.419 --> 00:14:00.279 soil in the dark, constantly under the threat 00:14:00.279 --> 00:14:02.379 of artillery, and then picking up a rifle when 00:14:02.379 --> 00:14:04.720 the sun comes up. No rest at all. And when the 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:06.840 Marines were finally just ground down to the 00:14:06.840 --> 00:14:09.399 point of total combat exhaustion, it was the 00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:12.460 Army's 7th and 23rd Infantry Regiments who stepped 00:14:12.460 --> 00:14:15.000 into the line to relieve them. It was a massive 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:17.620 combined arms effort. The Army, the Italians 00:14:17.620 --> 00:14:19.659 took incredibly heavy casualties themselves. 00:14:19.960 --> 00:14:22.279 The seventh infantry was described by a returning 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:24.899 Marine private as being almost wiped out, but 00:14:24.899 --> 00:14:27.139 they held the pressure. They did. The source 00:14:27.139 --> 00:14:29.379 notes, they attacked those woods a total of six 00:14:29.379 --> 00:14:31.779 times against parts of five different German 00:14:31.779 --> 00:14:33.659 divisions. They kept chewing up those defenses 00:14:33.659 --> 00:14:36.620 so the line wouldn't collapse. And all that grinding, 00:14:36.740 --> 00:14:39.179 all that blood in the wheat fields and the shattered 00:14:39.179 --> 00:14:42.679 timber finally culminates on June 26th. The end 00:14:42.679 --> 00:14:45.340 of the battle. Major Maurice E. Shearer, leading 00:14:45.340 --> 00:14:47.899 the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, finishes clearing 00:14:47.899 --> 00:14:50.120 the very last of the German defenders from the 00:14:50.120 --> 00:14:52.720 northern edge of the forest. And he submits a 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:55.419 report back to headquarters that is just devastatingly 00:14:55.419 --> 00:14:59.179 simple. Seven words. Seven words. Woods, now 00:14:59.179 --> 00:15:02.299 U .S. Marine Corps entirely. A seven word report 00:15:02.299 --> 00:15:04.759 to cap off one of the bloodiest and most ferocious 00:15:04.759 --> 00:15:07.159 battles U .S. forces would fight in the entire 00:15:07.159 --> 00:15:10.740 war. But when you look at the human toll, Those 00:15:10.740 --> 00:15:13.320 seven words carry an unimaginable weight. They 00:15:13.320 --> 00:15:16.460 really do. For the United States, nearly 10 ,000 00:15:16.460 --> 00:15:20.399 casualties, including 8 ,811 men killed. And 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:22.620 the German casualties are estimated to be over 00:15:22.620 --> 00:15:25.220 10 ,000. The commander of the American Expeditionary 00:15:25.220 --> 00:15:27.940 Forces, General John J. Pershing, stated that 00:15:27.940 --> 00:15:30.519 for the U .S., it was the biggest battle since 00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:32.960 Appomattox. And just to contextualize that for 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:35.360 a moment, referencing Appomattox means the United 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:37.820 States military hadn't seen concentrated bloodshed 00:15:37.820 --> 00:15:40.460 on this scale since the final... days of the 00:15:40.460 --> 00:15:43.220 American Civil War over 50 years prior. It had 00:15:43.220 --> 00:15:45.960 been a long time. It was a baptism by fire for 00:15:45.960 --> 00:15:48.759 a new generation. It fundamentally shifted how 00:15:48.759 --> 00:15:51.960 the world viewed the American military. Which 00:15:51.960 --> 00:15:55.019 brings us to the lore, the legacy of Bella Wood. 00:15:56.120 --> 00:15:57.879 If you know anything about the Marine Corps today, 00:15:58.100 --> 00:16:00.419 you've probably heard the nickname Devil Dogs. 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:04.019 Yes. Legend has it that the Germans were so terrified 00:16:04.019 --> 00:16:06.299 of the Marines charging through that wheat field 00:16:06.299 --> 00:16:08.399 that they called them Teufelschund or double 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:10.879 dogs. The source actually provides some really 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:13.980 great historical nuance here. It points out that 00:16:13.980 --> 00:16:16.639 Teufelschund likely wasn't common contemporary 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:20.360 German slang. The closer term in German would 00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:23.799 have been Hohlenhunde, meaning hellhound. Hellhound. 00:16:24.009 --> 00:16:26.529 There's evidence to suggest the Devil Dog moniker 00:16:26.529 --> 00:16:28.990 might have been amplified by a clever American 00:16:28.990 --> 00:16:31.649 propaganda poster created by an artist named 00:16:31.649 --> 00:16:33.789 Charles B. Falls. So it might have been partly 00:16:33.789 --> 00:16:36.870 marketing? However, even if the exact vocabulary 00:16:36.870 --> 00:16:39.730 was a bit of stateside myth -making, the underlying 00:16:39.730 --> 00:16:43.129 truth of that profound enemy respect was very 00:16:43.129 --> 00:16:45.669 real. The respect was earned in blood, not just 00:16:45.669 --> 00:16:48.970 on posters. Exactly. An official German report 00:16:48.970 --> 00:16:51.789 evaluated during the battle classified the Marines 00:16:51.789 --> 00:16:55.049 as vigorous, self -confident and remarkable marksmen. 00:16:55.309 --> 00:16:58.090 They felt the impact. Years later, A lieutenant 00:16:58.090 --> 00:16:59.889 colonel from the historical section of the German 00:16:59.889 --> 00:17:02.710 army wrote specifically about the Marines' fiery 00:17:02.710 --> 00:17:05.410 advance and great tenacity. They recognized they 00:17:05.410 --> 00:17:07.049 had faced something entirely different in those 00:17:07.049 --> 00:17:09.309 woods. And you see the echoes of that hard earned 00:17:09.309 --> 00:17:12.069 respect everywhere today. The French were so 00:17:12.069 --> 00:17:14.450 moved by the Marines' tenacity that they officially 00:17:14.450 --> 00:17:17.150 renamed the forest Bois de la Brigade de Marine. 00:17:17.910 --> 00:17:20.210 A huge honor. If you travel to Europe today, 00:17:20.430 --> 00:17:23.630 you can see the 1955 Felix de Welden monument 00:17:23.630 --> 00:17:26.519 in the clearing of those woods. It's a massive 00:17:26.519 --> 00:17:29.420 black marble monolith with a bronze relief of 00:17:29.420 --> 00:17:32.319 a fighting Marine, and it is the only memorial 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:34.740 in all of Europe dedicated solely to the United 00:17:34.740 --> 00:17:37.180 States Marines. The cultural footprint is massive. 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:39.680 It extends far beyond official military channels. 00:17:39.799 --> 00:17:42.000 It really does. Even modern pop culture remembers. 00:17:42.619 --> 00:17:45.680 In 2019, the Swedish heavy metal band Sabaton 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:48.119 released a song literally called Devil Dogs, 00:17:48.460 --> 00:17:50.500 commemorating the battle and using those famous 00:17:50.500 --> 00:17:53.339 quotes from Pershing and Dan Daly. When a Swedish 00:17:53.339 --> 00:17:55.839 metal band a century later is singing about a 00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:58.680 battle in a French forest, you know the mythos 00:17:58.680 --> 00:18:01.079 has taken on a life of its own. So what does 00:18:01.079 --> 00:18:03.880 this all mean? When we step back and look at 00:18:03.880 --> 00:18:06.730 all these sources. The staggering casualty lists, 00:18:06.970 --> 00:18:09.390 the failure to scout, the wrong turns in the 00:18:09.390 --> 00:18:11.710 mist, the legendary battle cries, what is the 00:18:11.710 --> 00:18:14.410 ultimate takeaway from the wheat fields of Bellowood? 00:18:15.230 --> 00:18:17.509 It shows us that military legacy isn't always 00:18:17.509 --> 00:18:20.690 built on perfect tactics. Tactically, Bellowood 00:18:20.690 --> 00:18:23.690 was often chaotic and deeply flawed. But the 00:18:23.690 --> 00:18:25.950 modern U .S. Marine Corps wasn't built on flawless 00:18:25.950 --> 00:18:28.069 doctrine. No. It was built on the willingness 00:18:28.069 --> 00:18:31.490 to endure shared sacrifice, a sheer terrifying 00:18:31.490 --> 00:18:34.329 tenacity and an unbreakable psychological will. 00:18:34.559 --> 00:18:37.319 It is the story of ordinary people placed in 00:18:37.319 --> 00:18:39.880 an impossible shattered landscape who chose to 00:18:39.880 --> 00:18:42.200 move forward when every human instinct and every 00:18:42.200 --> 00:18:44.319 piece of military logic told them to retreat. 00:18:44.599 --> 00:18:46.519 Retreat hell. We just got here. Thank you so 00:18:46.519 --> 00:18:48.519 much for joining us on this deep dive. Walking 00:18:48.519 --> 00:18:50.599 through the harrowing, awe -inspiring history 00:18:50.599 --> 00:18:52.940 of Belleau Wood has been an incredible journey. 00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:55.460 It truly has. And before we wrap up, I want to 00:18:55.460 --> 00:18:57.420 leave you with a final lingering thought to mull 00:18:57.420 --> 00:18:59.740 over. Let's hear it. We've spent this entire 00:18:59.740 --> 00:19:01.740 time talking about the legendary quotes from 00:19:01.740 --> 00:19:05.339 the Americans, but the source notes, 1 ,600 German 00:19:05.339 --> 00:19:07.539 soldiers were taken prisoner during this battle. 00:19:07.900 --> 00:19:11.079 1 ,600 prisoners. Imagine being one of those 00:19:11.079 --> 00:19:13.680 prisoners watching these reckless fellows charge 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:16.500 through a wheat field straight into your machine 00:19:16.500 --> 00:19:20.259 gun fire. How might the personal, untold stories 00:19:20.259 --> 00:19:23.539 of those 1600 captives fundamentally change our 00:19:23.539 --> 00:19:25.519 understanding of what really happened in those 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:28.039 woods? That is a fascinating perspective to think 00:19:28.039 --> 00:19:30.559 about. What did they see? Keep questioning, keep 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:32.619 exploring, and we will catch you on the next 00:19:32.619 --> 00:19:33.279 Deep Dive.