But behind those waves were more waves, and the attack went on.
"Men fell like flies," the expression is that of an officer writing from
the field. Companies that had entered the battle 250 strong dwindled to
50 and 60, with a Sergeant in command; but the attack did not falter. At
9.45 o'clock that night Bouresches was taken by Lieutenant James F.
Robertson and twenty-odd men of his platoon; these soon were joined by
two reinforcing platoons. Then came the enemy counter-attacks, but the
marines held.
In Belleau Wood the fighting had been literally from tree to tree,
stronghold to stronghold; and it was a fight which must last for weeks
before its accomplishment in victory. Belleau Wood was a jungle, its
every rocky formation containing a German machine-gun nest, almost
impossible to reach by artillery or grenade fire. There was only one way
to wipe out these nests--by the bayonet. And by this method were they
wiped out, for United States marines, bare-chested, shouting their
battle-cry of "E-e-e-e-e y-a-a-h-h-h yip!" charged straight into the
murderous fire from those guns, and won!
Out of the number that charged, in more than one instance, only one
would reach the stronghold. There, with his bayonet as his only weapon,
he would either kill or capture the defenders of the nest, and then
swinging the gun about in its position, turn it against the remaining
German positions in the forest. Such was the character of the fighting
in Belleau Wood; fighting which continued until July 6, when after a
short relief the invincible Americans finally were taken back to the
rest billet for recuperation.
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