o'clock on the afternoon of the same day, June 6th. The battle was to be in two phases, first the capture of Belleau Wood, second the taking of Bouresches. The artillery opened the action with a raking fire concentrated on Belleau. At a signal the curtain lifted and was diverted to Bouresches. Immediately upon its lifting, the marines tore into the dark shades and thick tangle of Belleau.

There was a brief, bloody struggle for German machinegun positions on the outskirts of the wood. These were soon taken and then the German machine-gun nests in the rocky fastnesses of Belleau came into play. Every foot of ground in the forest was swept by these hidden miniature fortresses. The spaces about which an attack must come had been carefully laid out in checkerboard pattern by the defenders. None of the nests interfered with the zone of operation of any other defense. It was out of the question for the attackers to take any nest in flank. Hidden guns protected every nest. There was only one way to destroy these defenses; by rifle fire and bayonet assault. As coolly as when they were behind their own defenses, the Yankee skirmishers took advantage every rock and picked off every machine gunner who presented himself for a second to view. When opportunity presented itself the doughboys rushed in sudden bayonet charges, using the cold steel skilfully and terribly. Steadily, remorselessly the work went forward but at a terrible cost. Out of the dark ravine trickled blood-stained processions bearing the dead and the dying of the marines. Stokes mortars and supplies of munitions were rushed into the wood in parallel processions.

of

With the coming of nightfall, there was a lull in the action. The marines had made good their foothold in the wood. Some of the ground that had been captured was yielded to the enemy because it afforded no cover for our troops. Emergency rations taken from both American and German dead were eaten by the survivors and the water from the canteens of the dead served to allay the parching, acrid battle thirst.

While the battle for Belleau was going forward furiously the attack upon Bouresches village was launched. Here,

So sure were

Where the marines stopped the Kaiser on his way to Paris. History will record it as one of the most critical moments of the war. the boches that nothing stood between them and Paris that they marched along the roads singing. They had yet to meet the fury of the charge of the 5th and 6th American Marines! The boches, bewildered and infuriated by the unexpected resistance, fought desperately but they did not pass!

to reduce some very strong German positions in the wood. In the twilight of the forest it was almost impossible to differentiate friend from foe. To add to the confusion it was said that German machine gunners dressed themselves in the khaki uniforms of dead Americans. Finally the Germans were pushed back to the verge of the wood. Marine units that had been in Bouresches under shell and gas attacks were called back into Belleau Wood and the regiment of the 3d Division was recalled. Like wolves in sight of their prey the marines leaped forward in the last assault. A short, bloody struggle and Belleau was cleared forever of the enemy. The marines had gone through.

While the marines were capturing Belleau and Bouresches, the 3d Brigade of the 2d Division was making ready for an attack upon Vaux. These regulars went about their job with characteristic courage. Every officer and every man knew his lesson in advance. The Germans knew almost to the minute when the attack was to be made and anticipated the assault by artillery fire of the utmost intensity upon the American positions. This continued for fifteen hours. Working in liaison with the French the attack was made on July 1st. The French directed their assault on Hill 204 while the regulars paid attention solely to Vaux.

So fierce and precise was the attack that within five minutes after they burst over the top, the regulars were in the outskirts of Vaux. The entire village was mapped and every cellar spotted in advance. American artillery cleared the way and the capture of the village was accomplished without incident. When evening of July 1st faded into night all of the American objectives had been taken; the German wedge had been blunted; the German drive had been checked. The road to Paris was in the indisputable possession of the Allies, and once more the banks of the Marne had proved a stone wall of defense against the Germans.

A TRIBUTE TO THE MARINES

For purposes of historical record the tribute paid by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to the marines of the 2d Division is worthy of quotation:

"Memorial Day shall henceforth have a greater, deeper significance for America, for it was on that day, May 30, 1918, that our country really received its first call to battlethe battle in which American troops had the honor of stopping the German drive on Paris, throwing back the Prussian hordes in attack after attack, and beginning the retreat which lasted until imperial Germany was beaten to its knees and its emissaries appealing for an armistice under the flag of truce. And to the United States Marines, fighting side by side with equally brave and equally courageous men in the American Army, to that faithful sea and land force of the navy, fell the honor of taking over the lines where the blow of the Prussian would strike the hardest, the line that was nearest Paris, and where, should a breach occur, all would be lost.

"The world knows today that the United States Marines held that line; that they blocked the advance that was rolling on toward Paris at the rate of six or seven miles a day; that they met the attack in American fashion and with American heroism; that marines and soldiers of the American Army threw back the crack guard division of Germany, broke their advance, and then, attacking, drove them back in the beginning of a retreat that was not to end until the "cease firing" signal sounded for the end of the world's greatest war.

"Having reached their destination early on the morning of June 2d, they disembarked stiff and tired after a journey of more than seventy-two miles, but as they formed their lines and marched onward in the direction of the line they were to hold, they were determined and cheerful. That evening the first field message from the 4th Brigade to MajorGeneral Omar Bundy, commanding the 2d Division, went forward:

"Second Battalion, 6th Marines, in line from Le Thiolet through Clarembauts Woods to Triangle to Lucy. Instructed to hold line. First Battalion, 6th Marines, going into line from Lucy through Hill 142. Third Battalion in support at La Voie du Chatel, which is also the post command of the 6th Marines. Sixth Machine Gun Battalion distributed at line.

"Meanwhile the 5th Regiment was moving into line, machine guns were advancing, and the artillery taking its

position. That night the men and officers of the marines slept in the open, many of them in a field that was green with unharvested wheat, awaiting the time when they should be summoned to battle. The next day at 5 o'clock the afternoon of June 2d, began the battle of Château-Thierry, with the Americans holding the line against the most vicious wedge of the German advance.

"The advance of the Germans was across a wheat field, driving at Hill 165 and advancing in smooth columns. The United States Marines, trained to keen observation on the rifle range, nearly every one of them wearing a marksman's medal or, better, that of the sharpshooter or expert rifleman, did not wait for those gray-clad hordes to advance nearer.

"Calmly they set their sights and aimed with the same precision that they had shown upon the rifle ranges at Paris Island, Mare Island and Quantico. Incessantly their rifles cracked, and with their fire came the support of the artillery. The machine-gun fire, incessant also, began to make its inroads upon the advancing forces. Closer and closer the shrapnel burst to its targets. Caught in a seething wave of machine-gun fire of scattering shrapnel, or accurate rifle fire, the Germans found themselves in a position in which further advance could only mean absolute suicide. The lines hesitated. They stopped. They broke for cover, while the marines raked the woods and ravines in which they had taken refuge with machine gun and rifle to prevent their making another attempt to advance by infiltrating through.

"Above, a French airplane was checking up on the artillery fire. By the fact that the men should deliberately set their sights, adjust their range, and then fire deliberately at an advancing foe, each men picking his target, instead of firing merely in the direction of the enemy, the aviator signaled below 'Bravo!' In the rear that word was echoed again and again. The German drive on Paris had been stopped.

"For the next few days the fighting took on the character of pushing forth outposts and determining the strength of the enemy. Now, the fighting had changed. The Germans, mystified that they should have run against a stone wall of