In Belleau Wood where Americans gave Germany her fatal check

In Belleau Wood where Americans gave Germany her fatal check

V18948

It was in this dense tangle of trees and underbrush, slashed by storms of machine gun and rifle bullets and uprooted by shells, that the gallant Marine Brigade, of the 2nd Division, fought for a month and earned immortal glory for its name. Here these redoubtable fighters forced backward foot by foot some of Germany's best troops and finally ousted them altogether from the wooded hill and hurled them back northward across the valley which we can see down yonder beyond the splintered tree branches. Throughout the 30-mile front from Chateau-Thierry (sha'to'-tye're') to the Aisne River west of Soissons (swa'son'), the enemy was struggling desperately to approach nearer to Paris. Everywhere the veteran French troops eventually stopped them, but it seemed that their most sensational check was administered by the hitherto untried Americans of the 2nd and 3rd Divisions at Belleau Wood and Chateau-Thierry, where the invaders had most closely approached the French metropolis. Here, in a very real sense, the fortunes of Germany reached their high tide. When they reeled back from Belleau Wood on July 18th before the furious attack of the 26th ("Yankee") Division, which had relieved the 2nd in this sector, that tide of German fortune was beginning to ebb, and it continued to do so, more and more rapidly, until the final cataclysm which extinguished the hopes of German militarism on Nov. 11th, 1918.

1 stereograph : b&w

1 gelatine silver print stereograph (8 x 15 cm) mounted on card (9 x 18 cm)

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World War through the stereoscope