June 7, 1918 - Don Martin tells story of Bouresches, while Battle of Belleau Wood was in progress

Don Martin diary entry for Friday, June 7, 1918:

Was awakened at 8 a.m. by a telephone message from Lieutenant Hartzell who said [Floyd] Gibbons was shot by a machine bullet and badly hurt. His left eye probably destroyed.

         Don Martin reported on the success of the Marines at Bouresches in the following article dated June 7 and published in the Paris Herald on June 8.

MARINES STORM BOURESCHES, FORCING WAY OVER GROUND HEAPED WITH GERMAN DEAD

Americans Advance Brilliantly on Wide Front, Hold All Gains — Enemy Fires Machine-Guns from Village Housetops, but Is Conquered as "Amex" Reinforcements Are Rushed Up.

By DON MARTIN.

(SPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THÉ HERALD.)

WITH THE FIGHTING ARMIES, Friday. [June 7]

                  Following the gains made by them on Wednesday [June 5], the American Marines, fighting side by side with two companies of infantry almost as well known in the United States as are the Marines, yesterday executed a brilliant operation against the Germans, driving them back from two to five kilometres, along a fairly wide front north-west of Chateau-Thierry, taking 200 prisoners and holding the ground won against desperate attacks by the Germans, who in this instance proved to be Bavarians and Saxons.

               The American casualties were fairly heavy, but small when compared with the number of German dead left on the field of battle and the vastly larger number of the enemy known to be badly wounded. The Marines led the charge, and on their flanks were the infantry companies. It was by long odds the most important scrimmage the Americans have yet been in, and it was likewise the largest single operation of yesterday along the entire front.

              The fight started at half-past five o'clock on Thursday morning and at midnight the Americans occupied the village of Bouresches. They continued to advance, and as this despatch is written the Germans are entrenched across the railroad which runs along the edge of the village of Bouresches. The Americans advanced to the Bois de Belleau and up to Torcy.

                       North of the Bois de Belleau the Americans met one of the severest trials of their experience. Twenty German machine-guns were mounted on a plateau and, as the Americans approached, a deluge of lead was turned loose upon them. Pausing a moment in their dash, the Americans gained cover as well as they could and sent word back to have the artillery blow away the surface of the plateau.

GREAT CHARGE FOLLOWS BOMBARDMENT.

                      A few moments later a terrific rain of artillery fire from the American-manned French guns fell upon the plateau and was followed by a swift dash of the American boys. The plateau was piled high with dead Germans and wrecked machine-guns. Not a living soul was to be found. Of the twenty machine-guns which had sprayed the Americans with such a withering and deadly fire not one was worth retaining.

                       During the nineteen hours continuous fighting—and skirmishing is still going on as this is written—there were scores of instances of personal valor among the American boys. Some day there will no doubt be medals of honor for many whose names are but part of the record of the brilliant yet, in a way, tragic day.

                      Lieutenant W. C. Robertson led a platoon into the village of Bouresches and drove the Germans outside the village limits. But the Germans had cunningly devised a trick which proved costly to the Americans, though it nevertheless failed of its purpose. Machine-guns had been mounted on the roofs of buildings and when the moment arrived they were turned loose upon the Americans.

                   With his ranks diminishing, Lieutenant Robertson held his ground until two companies came up. The new arrivals, aided by the lieutenant and such of his men as had escaped the hail of machine-gun ballets, drove the Germans from their perches and captured not only many of the Huns, but several of their guns as well. There was much hand-to-hand fighting in the village, but in none of it was there anything to indicate that the trained Bavarian or Saxon can outfight the supposedly untrained American soldier.

RIDES THROUGH SHOWER OF SHRAPNEL.

                Another incident in connection with the Bouresches fight should be mentioned. The gallant soldiers in the village were running short of ammunition, when a courier was despatched to have some sent back. This courier rode through a shower of shrapnel, but delivered his message.

              Then Lieutenant Donald Moore, a Princeton athlete, well-known throughout America, drove over a shell-swept roadway with a truck filled with ammunition. He escaped injury. He was not only on a road which was literally pitted with fresh shell holes, but was in full view, during his perilous trip, of German snipers, who were very active during the whole time.

               An officer of considerable rank was picked off by a German sniper, and his three aides were struck with snipers' bullets. As indicating the maelstrom the Americans were fighting in, it might be said that while two privates were dragging a lieutenant and a captain to shelter, a shell struck the group.

         The severest fighting ended about midnight, but continued intermittently during the rest of the night and all of to-day, though on a much lessened scale. It was impossible to tell what the German losses were, but from the great number of dead left by them in their retreat over the territory, ranging in depth from two to five kilometres, it is a fair assumption that their losses were vastly heavier than those suffered by the Americans. The Americans passed most of their time to-day consolidating their new positions, which they intend to hold.

GERMANS WAKING TO TRUTH.

            From the prisoners captured in the battle considerable information was obtained. Some of the Germans said there is a lowering morale in the German army, because the food is not so good as it was; also that the soldiers are beginning to realize that the German government has habitually deceived them as to the strength of the French particularly, and also as to the potentiality and fighting qualities of the Americans.

                    The prisoners, who talked quite freely, said they had been assured by their officers that the French would demand peace very early in the present offensive and would refuse to fight. It was added by these men that the staunchness and brilliance of the French resistance and counter-attacks had not only staggered the German officers, but opened the eyes of the soldiers to the fact that France is still the virile nation it was at the outset of the war.

               The prisoners stated also that the Germans had schemed to attack the Americans on Saturday, but that the assault by the Marines on Wednesday had upset their calculations and that the new attack of yesterday completely disarranged all the schemes of the German commanders at this particular point of the line, which is north-west of Château-Thierry, in the vicinity of Veuilly-la-Poterie, Champillon and Lucy-Le Bocage.

              The Germans in their fighting against the Americans made use of smokescreens to conceal themselves. The ruse was not in any degree successful; on the contrary, it worked to the advantage of the Americans, because they plunged through the clouds of smoke.

         A second story, dated June 7, was published in the Paris Herald on June 8. It featured how Americans can fight much larger groups of Germans.

Thirty Americans Fight 200 Germans

(SPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE HERALD.)

AMERICAN FRONT, Friday. [June 7]

          An American patrol in the sector near Luneville put up a game fight against two hundred Germans for twenty minutes. The American patrol was about thirty strong.

         Yesterday Americans in this sector heard noises from the German lines which made them suspicious. Early this morning the American patrol set out and by moonlight penetrated to the third German trenches before they encountered opposition. Here they suddenly were met by two hundred Germans.

        The Americans opened fire with their rifles and automatics and heaved numbers of grenades into the Heinies.

         After twenty minutes' fighting in the bushes the Americans retired, protected as they crossed No Man's Land by the American artillery. An officer half apologetically said, when telling of the work of this patrol: "The leader of the patrol was a cautious man and didn't want to take many chances or we might have done more." The Americans estimate that they saw twenty Germans fall.

              Activity on the Toul front has been little, except for the aviation. The American air fighters had five combats this morning. In the course of one fight two Americans drove a German biplane to the ground, following the Heinie almost to the treetops.                                DON MARTIN.

Battle of Belleau Wood

        While Don Martin was in Paris, the first large-scale battle fought by American soldiers in World War I began, on June 6, 1918, in Belleau Wood, near Château-Thierry and northwest of the Paris-to-Metz road.
       General John J. Pershing on June 6 ordered a counteroffensive by U.S. forces to drive the Germans out of Belleau Wood. For the next three weeks, the Marines, backed by U.S. Army artillery, launched many attacks into the forested area, but German General Erich Ludendorff was determined to deny the Americans a victory. Ludendorff continually brought up reinforcements from the rear, and the Germans attacked the U.S. forces with machine guns, artillery, and gas.

        At 03:45 a.m. on June 6, the Allies launched an attack on the German forces. The French 167th Division attacked to the left of the American line, while the Marines attacked Hill 142 to prevent flanking fire against the French. As part of the second phase, the 2nd Division were to capture the ridge overlooking Torcy and Belleau Wood, as well as occupying Belleau Wood. However, the Marines failed to note a regiment of German infantry dug in, with a network of machine gun nests and artillery. At dawn, the Marine 1st Battalion, 5th Marines—commanded by Major Julius Turrill—was to attack Hill 142. The Marines advanced in waves with bayonets fixed across an open wheat field that was swept with German machine gun and artillery fire, and many Marines were cut down.

      In the German counter-attack, Gunnery Sergeant Ernest A. Janson repelled an advance of 12 German soldiers, killing two with his bayonet before the others fled; for this action he became the first Marine to receive the Medal of Honor in World War I. Also cited for advancing through enemy fire during the counter-attack was Marine Gunner Henry Hulbert. By the afternoon, the Marines had captured Hill 142, at a cost of nine officers and most of the 325 men of the battalion.

      At 17:00 on June 6, the 3rd Battalion 5th Marines—commanded by Major Benjamin S. Berry, and the 3rd Battalion 6th Marines—commanded by Major Tyler M. Meyer, on their right—advanced from the west into Belleau Wood as part of the second phase of the Allied offensive. Again, the Marines had to advance through a waist-high wheat field into deadly machine gun fire. One of the most famous quotations in Marine Corps history came during the initial step-off for the battle when Gunnery Sergeant Dan Daly, a recipient of two Medals of Honor, prompted his men of the 73rd Machine Gun Company forward with the words: "Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?"

   The first waves of Marines were slaughtered; Major Berry was wounded in the forearm during the advance. On his right, the Marines of Major Meyer's 3/6 Battalion swept into the southern end of Belleau Wood and encountered heavy machine gun fire, sharpshooters and barbed wire. Marines and German infantrymen were soon engaged in heavy hand-to-hand fighting. The casualties sustained on this day were the highest in Marine Corps history up to that time. Some 31 officers and 1,056 men of the Marine brigade were casualties. However, the Marines now had a foothold in Belleau Wood. But the battle was now deadlocked.