Miracle at Belleau Wood: The Birth Of The Modern U.S. Marine Corps

Currrent and former members of the United States Marine Corps as well as history buffs interested in World War I or military history will enjoy The Miracle at Belleau Wood by Alan Axelrod. As a rule, I find military histories somewhat hard to follow – I get lost in a maze of place names and general’s names and dates and lose track of where I am in both time and space. This book, focusing on a single battle, is an exception.The book provides the reader with a good description of trench warfare in World War I at its full maturation. It delivers a hard-hitting, clear view of the reality of terms tossed around in history books such as “the fog of war.”More than anything else, this book is a coming of age story about the United States Marine Corps. The author’s contention is that this battle consolidated the position of the USMC in the public eye as the leading edge fighters of the United States military, the all-volunteer force that is proud to be “the first to fight.” The USMC, of course, needed no such consolidation in its own mind; it has always known who it is.Alan Axelrod does a good job of presenting the build-up to the battle and the battle itself in an engaging manner, but without glorifying the concept of war itself. The book is replete with anecdotes from people who were in the battle which highlight not only the bravery but the humor men seem to find in even the grimmest situations. One of my favorite anecdotes is the Marine officer who received a message from a French officer that the Marines were supposed to retreat as the French were retreating. The Marine looked up and told the messenger, “Retreat? Hell, we just got here.” My second favorite anecdote is the exchange between one officer and another when the first officer, Major Thomas Holcomb, came forward to meet with Major Frederic Wise, whose battalion he was to relieve shortly. As he arrived, the Germans cut loose with a fierce artillery barrage. Holcomb looked at Wise and asked, “Is this celebration due to my arrival?” Dead pan, Wise replied, “No…This is only routine.”Axelrod does not shield the reader from the horrors of war in the trenches, either. The casualties in this battle were horrific – over 120 officers and over 5700 men. As Americans rediscovered in another war a generation later on the shores of Normandy, in spite of their heavy losses, the Marines at Belleau Wood ultimately succeeded because American commanders and officers explained to their troops their objectives and how they intended to achieve them. American soldiers then used their ingenuity, experience and gut determination to achieve that objective – if they were cut off from their squad or platoon, if the higher ranking officers were killed, the individual soldiers still strived to forge forward to win the battle.During the battle, the Marines were commanded by an army general, General Harbord. By the end of the battle, the Marines voted to make General Harbord an honorary marine, an honor he ranked personally as the highest honor he ever achieved.One of the reasons the battle of Belleau Wood was important was that it was the first time that United States fighting forces would fight the Germans essentially on their own. FN. The Germans hoped that they would be able to squelch and demoralize the American marines completely, gaining a psychological edge on the battlefield. The Germans also were racing against time – the sheer number of men the Americans would be able to field on behalf of the Allies would ultimately overpower Germany, which was reaching exhaustion. For the Germans to win the war, this last offensive push had to succeed – and at Belleau Wood, only the Marines stood between them and a break in the lines to reach Paris.The extent to which the German troops were able to “squelch” and “demoralize” the Marines can be judged by the nickname the German soldiers gave to them – the Teufelhunden, which means “Devil Dogs.”I was very interested to learn that among the forces on the field during the battle, only the Marines emphasized the importance of marksmanship in regular battle as well as for snipers. Common military practice at the time was to teach troops to simply point in the general direction of the enemy and shoot, the theory being that you would have so many bullets flying at the enemy at one time that he was bound to suffer casualties. Not so the Marines – each Marine aimed at a target when he shot, and what he aimed at, he hit.It does take the author several chapters to ease the reader into the battle – about four – and I would have liked to know a little bit more about what happened to various people after the battle throughout the rest of the war. The first four chapters, however, provide the reader with important background information without which the reader would be unable to appreciate exactly what the Marines did at Belleau Wood and there are references throughout the book to what happens to certain of the Marines as time goes on.The author’s assessment of the final result of the battle is interesting, too. Many historians credit the Marines in this battle with preventing the fall of Paris in Ludendorff’s last offensive to break through the trench lines. However, most historians also believe that once the Marines had done this, fairly early on in the battle, the rest of the fight to take the wood, which cost so many Marine lives, accomplished little. The author agrees, and yet, as he explains, after listing the terrible tally of the battle – 126 Marine officers and 5057 Marine men killed along with many more Germans:For the U.S. Marine Corps, this investment in blood has never been subject to question or controversy. It was a mission. That in itself is all that really matters. Beyond this however, it was a test of American military capacity and American character, and the marines felt fortunate that were given the responsibility for taking and passing this test. … The reputation of the marines as America’s fiercest warriors, the nation’s elite fighting force, was forged in this battle. After Belleau Wood, the marines claimed the right to be regarded as the American vanguard, the first to fight and if necessary, the last to leave.This book is definitely worth your time.

This is an easy and informative read about a little known part of WWI. I so wanted to really like this book however, it has a fatal flaw. Throughout the book there are constant references to places in the French countryside near and around where the battle will take place. These locations are important enough to dwell on them, however there are no maps in the book that give you any sense of where these places are in terms of placing in your mind's eye, the movement of troops and the situational circumstances. It would have been so much more enjoyable to have a map or two in the book where one could reference them as you read the story of the battle. Sadly, unless you have a detailed map already or perhaps know the area, you are left wondering where the hell all this activity is happening.

This is another excellent reference for the student of WW1 as well as the USMC. A good read with lots of detail.

A great, easy, and informative read. The fog of war that lead to the decisions that put the Marines into Belleau Woods, the headlines and America's history are clearly explained. It helped me understand how poor or the total lack of communications, played a major role in events. How staff officers who never saw the ground that was to be fought over, higher commanders that never looked beyond their maps,created the mincing machine the soldiers fought and died in.

The story was good. The author gave an excellent account of the battle and the early history of the Corps. My problem is from a tacticians point of view. There isn’t a single map in the entire book. Not one for the area of conflict or for the movement of troops during the battle itself. I would love to see a new edition with the appropriate maps inset to the chapters

The book was an excellent story of the circumstances, political reality and savagery of a hard fought battle that formed the reputation of the Corps. The detail brought the reader closer to the realities of war that includes confusion, fear, elation, suffering and many other conflicting feelings and emotions. I struggled with concern about Marines being thrown into a meat grinder of artillery, machine guns, snipers, poison gas and other ways of killing. At the same time, I felt immense pride in the fierceness and tenacity of those Marines who preceded me and who contributed to the brotherhood that I am a part of.

As a member of the United States Marine Corps for 17 years and at one time assigned to this unit. I found the missing pieces at where never talked about or even read in the units history. This clears up many unanswered questions when, where, how and why they where put into the first line when they got there.

Not many stories about The Great War, now known as World War 1, seem to be written at this level of detail about a single campaign as the Civil war or WW2. The information about the Corps was outstanding. This is must read for anyone with an ancestor or family member involved in this batlle. I was looking for some details of the role that the US Army combat enginneers played in this battle, but there was very little about them.

At one point the author mentions 'confusing combat' and on several occasions flags up the shortcomings of the French maps the Americans had. These comments sum up my opinion of the book. The combat was indeed very confused, making my understanding very difficult, but above all the fact that there are no maps in my copy of the book - Lyons revised edition 2018 - makes it all but impossible to comprehend and visualise the many places mentioned and the movement of the multiple US, German and French units involved. A great shame. Even one map would have made a world of difference. Indeed, multiple maps showing each stage of the action would have transformed the book. I was obliged to look at maps on Wikipedia and in other publications. I suspect there were maps in the original publication, but have been removed in various reprints. Without maps, I cannot recommend this book.

The author often mentions the shoddy French maps available to the Marines. That's ironic really because this book only has one map (actually two because it's reproduced on the endpapers). The map seems to have been taken off the internet where I searched futilely for a decent one. As a result there is an unexplained symbol on it and many locations are not mentioned. For example it does not show Hill 142 yet one chapter is titled Hill 142. Maybe it's meant to simulate a battle where you don't know where you are or where you're going. All readers of military history are familiar with this problem but apparently not publishers. With some decent maps this book might have been good but it's hard to tell. If you like small-scale tactical histories you won't like this. On the other hand there aren't many alternatives.