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Show 1 Belleau Wood, June 6, 1918 Anniversary of the Successful Struggle of j ' Yankee Boys Across the Seas. X the early days of Judp, on a front of A twenty kilometers, after eight marches sn'I with only the reserve rn Moris you car-rlM. car-rlM. you stood like a wall ajmnat the enemy advance on Paris. For this timely action you havo received the thanks of the French people, whose horues you saved, and the generous praise of your comrades in arms. "You have engaged and defeated with great loss throe important German divisions, and have occupied the Import unt strong points of the 1 Belleau wood. Boureeches and Vaui, You have talten about H00 prisoners. may machine guns and moch other material. A in id the dangers aod trials of battle every officer and every man hau done well his part." Major General liuody to the Second division, which included the njarinPb. A TEAR ago today four regiments of American troops the Fifth and Sixth marines and the Ninth and Twenty-third infantry were delivering de-livering against the German line In Belleau wood the attack which turned the tldo of war and made- the surrender of the boche Inevitable. The Twelfth, Fifteenth and Seventeenth artillery aided In the glorious work. Hurling the pick of their great army into the battle, with every available piece of artillery massed for the drive, the Germans Ger-mans in a few short weeks had smashed their way through the French and British Brit-ish armies to Chateau Thierry, within a few miles of Paris. There, with victory almost within their reach, the advancing enemy bumped Into a thin, overextended line of Yanks. The line held, at frightful cost, and the German Ger-man armies hesitated. That was on June 2. For four days the 1 confident Germans and the desperate Americans faced each other across the j wheat fields which bordered Belleau wood. The Germans waited for reserves. ! j The Americans hung on, knowing that j i their line was the last between the enemy, land Paris, and continually expecting a.; j monster attack, but the attack did not I come. I On June fi, at daylight, the Americans were ordered to take the initiative In an effort to clear Belleau wood of the en- emy and eliminate the menacing salient which that position formed. The fate of the world depended upon thtj four famous American regiments which charged across the wheat fields on that historic day. Defeat meant an open road to Paris and victory. Success meant another an-other chance for the allies. The Yankees charged in typical Amer- I lean fashion a rush, a halt, a rush again, . in four-wave formation. Tho rear waves took up the work of those ahead as they i fell wounded and dead. Other waves fol- ' lowed. The loss was heavy, but the at- I tack did not falter. Companies melted from 2.10 to half a hundred men, yet kept' on goinpr. Sixteen hours after the bat-1 tie opened Lieutenant James F. Robertson, a rid twenty-two men had taken Bou-resches. Bou-resches. Keenforcementa reached them 1 and hung on. i The Germans counter-attacked again ! (Continued on pa&c 13, column 2.) 'h BELLEAU WOOD DAY Id COMMEMORATED (Continued from Page One, ) and ap-ain, but the new American line held fast. The lirst break had been made. The Germans were on their way back toward the Rhine. The cost was appalling. The fighting had been from tree to tree, through a jungle jun-gle sown with German machine mm ne?ts. But the marines of the Second division, relying almost whv-Ily upon their bayonets, had gained a foothold in the wood, and Uie tide of invasion had been checked. June G did not break the German line. Bitter days of savage fiyhtlnj; on slen- , der rations and without leserves were to come for the Americans before the final clearing of P.elleau wood. But June 6 was the beginning- of the surein move- ! ment toward the German frontier, which ' was to end. five months later, in the en- j emy's surrender. June 6 was the beinnin of the end. Victor: was assured one year ago today by the gallant Second division that included in-cluded the renowned marine brigade. |