es 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.

HELD THE LINE FOR DAYS

In all the history of the Marine Corps there is no such battle as that
one in Belleau Wood. Fighting day and night without relief, without
sleep, often without water, and for days without hot rations, the
marines met and defeated the best divisions that Germany could throw
into the line.

The heroism and doggedness of that battle are unparalleled. Time after
time officers seeing their lines cut to pieces, seeing their men so
dog-tired that they even fell asleep under shellfire, hearing their
wounded calling for the water they were unable to supply, seeing men
fight on after they had been wounded and until they dropped unconscious;
time after time officers seeing these things, believing that the very
limit of human endurance had been reached, would send back messages to
their post command that their men were exhausted. But in answer to this
would come the word that the line must hold, and, if possible, those
lines must attack. And the lines obeyed. Without water, without food,
without rest, they went forward--and forward every time to victory.
Companies had been so torn and lacerated by losses that they were