Background
The Battle of Belleau Wood (1–26 June 1918) was a major battle that occurred during the German spring offensive in World War I, near the Marne River in France. The battle was fought by the U.S. 2nd (under the command of Major General Omar Bundy) and 3rd Divisions along with French and British forces against an assortment of German units including elements from the 237th, 10th, 197th, 87th, and 28th Divisions.
In United States Marines Corps lore dating back to the battle, the nickname Teufel Hunden (“Devil Dogs”) originated. It was a made-up phrase from an American war correspondent, however, and no German ever called Marines that name or any variation of that name.
n March 1918, with nearly 50 additional divisions freed by the Russian surrender on the Eastern Front, the German Army launched a series of attacks on the Western Front, hoping to defeat the Allies before U.S. forces could be fully deployed. A third offensive launched in May against the French between Soissons and Reims, known as the Third Battle of the Aisne, saw the Germans reach the north bank of the Marne River at Château-Thierry, 95 kilometres (59 mi) from Paris, on 27 May. On 31 May, the 7th Machine Gun Battalion of the U.S. 3rd Division supported the Senegalese Tirailleurs in holding the German advance at Château-Thierry, in hard house-to-house fighting, and the German advance turned right towards Vaux and Belleau Wood.
On 1 June, Château-Thierry and Vaux fell, and German troops moved into Belleau Wood. Under General Jean Degoutte’s French 21st Corps, the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division—which included a brigade of U.S. Marines—was brought up along the Paris-Metz highway. The 9th Infantry Regiment was placed between the highway and the Marne, while the 6th Marine Regiment was deployed to their left. The 5th Marine and 23rd Infantry regiments were placed in reserve. Just as German offensive came to an end, French general Jean Degoutte ordered American forces to take the Bois de Belleau, a small patch of forest near the southwestern extremity of the German salient
On the evening of 1 June, German forces punched a hole in the French lines to the left of the Marines’ position. In response, the U.S. reserve—consisting of the 23rd Infantry Regiment under Colonel Paul B. Malone, the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines under Major Julius S. Turrill, and an element of the Marine 6th Machine Gun Battalion—conducted a forced march over 10 km (6.2 mi) to plug the gap in the line, which they achieved by dawn. By the night of 2 June, the U.S. forces held a 20 kilometres (12 mi) front line north of the Paris-Metz Highway running through grain fields and scattered woods, from Triangle Farm west to Lucy and then north to Hill 142. The German line opposite ran from Vaux to Bouresches to Belleau.
On the night of 4 June, the intelligence officer for the 6th Marines, Lieutenant William A. Eddy, and two men stole through German lines to gather information about German forces. They gathered valuable information showing the Germans were consolidating machine gun positions and bringing in artillery. While this activity indicated an attack was not immediately likely, their increasing strength was creating a base of attack that raised concern about them breaking through to Paris.
At 17:00 on 6 June, the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines (3/5), commanded by Major Benjamin S. Berry, and the 3rd Battalion 6th Marines(3/6), commanded by Major Berton W. Sibley 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 machine gun fire. One of the most famous quotations in Marine Corps history came during the initial step-off for the battle when First Sergeant Dan Daly, a recipient of two Medals of Honor who had served in the Philippines, Santo Domingo, Haiti, Peking, and Vera Cruz, 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, advancing in well-disciplined lines, were slaughtered; Major Berry was wounded in the forearm during the advance. On his right, the Marines of Major Sibley’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 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.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Belleau_Wood
The Game
Our group has a decent sized group game of Flames of War every Friday. Due to a standing commitment, I usually arrive later and take on the reserves or replace any early leaving players. Last week, both are primary GM and his back up were both out for other commitments. I had a clear morning for a change, so decided I would run something for the group. I had not done much with the WWI figures, so I thought it would be a nice time to try something different!
Since I have Americans and Germans and was not in the mood to do a trench slog, I decided I would do part of the Belleau Wood fight. I opted to stay away from the assault on the wood, as I figured that would be too much of a slog too. I decided the first counter attack by the Marines would be good and focused on the area of the 2/6th Marines and the sweep into Bouresches.
I set up the table using my new Cigar Box Battle mat. I included the forward facing area of the town of Bouresches in the center, a portion of Belleau Wood on one flank and the forest and orchard next to Bouresches on the other flank. Due to the time of year, the crops were high (especially the wheat), so I made all the field sections on the mat cover for infantry. Any brown area was considered open.
I managed to leave my clusters at home, so through out some tree lines along the road. The were just cover and aesthetic, so did not block line of site.
I used the Hasty Attack scenario from the file book as the bases of the game. As the table was wider, I made a few tweaks. First, the attacker would not pick up the extra objective, they would indicate in secret which one it was. I added a second objective to the defender and they would also indicate which was the fake in secret. The intent was to ensure they somewhat covered the frontage with troops!
The German force was regular infantry with two units on the table and four units of delayed reserves off. In addition, the had two support guns units and an MMG platoon on the table. I have them an observer, as they were the defender. They had a battery of artillery off table.
The Marines had an infantry company. They decided to keep two platoons of infantry off table to meet the immediate receives requirement and deploy the other two platoons and the MMGs onto the table. The Marines also had one battery of artillery off table.
The Marines were the attacker and slightly outnumbered. However, they had a clear quantitative advantage and would have access to their reserves faster. So, it would be quantity over quality!
The Germans set up with one platoon in the Wood and the other in the town. The MMGs and guns supported the town. They chose not to cover the other objectives on their left flank!
Their plan was to attack out of the Wood to grab their objective and try to slow down the center attack by the Marines with fire and home their reserves would arrive.
The Marines, seeing the open flank, deployed two platoons to that side to take advantage of the opportunity. The MMGs covered the other flank, to keep the German honest, until help arrived.
The Marines launched their assault and moved up at full speed. Their HQ stayed back, to call in their artillery and soften up the town. The 75s rained down and managed to almost wipe out the German MMGs in the first two turns. The dice gods would continue to shine on the Marines throughout the game! Or maybe they just failed to do so on the Germans, because their save dice were terrible….
The Germans saw their mistake right away and tried to re-deploy an infantry platoon to their left. At the same time, the other platoon moved forward to make their attack against the MMG platoon. The one platoon got to the objective just in time, but not fast enough to dig in. The other platoon got to see what MMGs could do in WWI…. After taking a number of hits, that force retreated back into Belleau Wood.
The Marine reserves all came in a timely manner and went onto the offensive into the center and towards Belleau Wood. The Germans on the other flank tried to engage the two Marine platoons, but it was an uneven fight. After a few turns, there were no more soldiers left to hold back the Marines and the Marines were pretty much intact. Even the German artillery could not do much be minor casualties!
Fortunately for the Germans, their first reserve finally arrived on turn six (they basically failed all their rolls up to that point and got the auto arrival). They were thrown in to the objective and some were also sent into the town to contest that objective.
Unfortunately for the Germans, they did not do much and were wiped out in one turn of fighting. The Marines in the center and left continued to attack forward with not much to stop them.
It would come down to the reserves for the Germans. They rolled four dice and not nothing! So, just the auto arrival. The next roll was to see where they arrived. They ended up on the other side of the table in Belleau Wood…. Far too far from the action in the center or on the left flank to save the day.
The Marines were in control of two of the objectives and they took light casualties. The game ended there with a historic Marine victory! It seems they did want to live forever…
- Manteuffel