"Retreat, hell! We just got here!" The words of Captain Lloyd Williams
at Belleau Wood in June 1918 entered United States Marine Corps legend,
and the Marine Brigade's actions there--along with the censor's failure
to take out the name of the Brigade in the battle reports--made the
Corps famous.
The Marines went to war as part of the American Expeditionary Force,
bitterly resented by the Army and General Pershing. The Army tried to
use them solely as labor troops and replacements, but the German spring
offensive of 1918 forced the issue. The French begged Pershing to commit
his partially trained men, and two untested American divisions,
supported by British and French units, were thrown into the path of five
German divisions. Three horrific weeks later, the Marines held the
entirety of Belleau Wood. The Marines then fought in the almost
forgotten Blanc Mont Ridge Offensive in October, as well as in every
well-known AEF action until the end of the war.
This book looks at all the operations of the Marine Corps in World War
I, covers the activities of both ground and air units, and considers the
units that supported the Marine Brigade. It examines how, during the war
years, the Marine Corps changed from a small organization of naval
security detachments to an elite land combat force.
