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Why the Marines won
Why did the Marines win the Battle of Belleau Wood? The actions on 11 June 1918 were key. On that day, 2d Battalion, 5th Marines charged across "the wheatfield," decisively entered the wood, broke the German line, and drove across the breadth of the wood. They cleared most of the area, along with an attack the following day, but the wood was not finally cleared until 26 June because of a number of factors: exhaustion of the Marine Brigade, partial reinforcement and recovery of their position by the Germans and the ensuing period of gas warfare trying to maximize American casualties, and a final defensive line to the north. But the actions on 11 June broke the back of the German defense.
German sources make clear why the Marine attack of 11 June succeeded. A small party of Marines, who remain unidentified to this day, after suffering heavy casualties assaulting across the wheatfield, hit an undefended gully just after entering the wood. The Germans had stationed forces to cover this gully, but they were taken out by the preparatory artillery fire. Furthermore, the gully was a weak point; not only was it a junction point between two different regiments (the 461st of the German 237th Infantry Division and the 40th of the German 28th Infantry Division) but it was also a junction point between the two divisions-the 237th and the 28th. Working down the gully, this party of Marines, and others who no doubt followed them, came in behind the right flank of the German 2/40th Regiment and rolled up its two rightmost companies from the flank and rear. Marines attacking from the southern part of the wood (2/6) hit the battalion from the front, while elements of 2/5 continued rolling up the battalion from its right rear. The 2/40th Battalion broke. Large numbers of Germans surrendered or were shot as they tried to escape the collapsing German position.
Meanwhile, the German battalion to the left of the penetration point (from the Marines' perspective), the 1st Battalion, 461st Regiment, was rolled up from its left by Marines who exploited the newly opened gap, surrounding the two leftmost German companies. When the Germans brought up their reserves, these companies had to...