New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1918-12-09

alties numbered SO officers and 1881
men dead, rs officers and 2,435 seri~
ously wounded while but ST marines
are reported officially as captured by
the enemy, illustrating the desperate
charac ter of the fighting in which the
brigade participated and the fact that
it was always advancing.
ITO the United States Marines"
Mr.. Daniels says, Fighting side by
side with equally brave and equally
courageous men in the American
Army, to that faithful sea and land
force of the Navy, fell the honor of
taking over the lines where the blow
of the Prussian would strike the
hardest, the line that was nearest
Paris and where, should breach
occur, all would be lost.
THE world knows today that the
United States Marines held that line;
that they blocked the advance that
was rolling on toward Paris at a rate
of or miles a day; that they met
the attack in American fashion and
with American heroism, that Marines
and soldiers of the American Army
threw back the crack guard division
of Germany, broke their advance,
and then, attacking, drove them back
wv WV NAA~'o F|"S
not to end until the cease firing
signal sounded for the end of the
worlds greatest war"
A striking picture of the fighting at
Belleau Wood, now renamed in
honor of the Marine Brigade, is given.
The place was a jungle filled with
machine gun nests, the Secretary says,
impossible to reach with artillery or
grenades.
There was only one way" he con-
tinues ''to wipe out these nests-hy
bayonet And by this method were
they wiped out, for the United States
Marines, bare chested~ shouting
their battle cry of 'E-e-e-e-e va
a-l1-h yip!' charged straight into the
murderous fire from those guns, and
won! Out of the number that
charged, in more thar. one instance.
only one would reach the stronghold.
There, with his bayonet as his only
weapon, he would either kill or cap
ture the defenders of the nest, and
then swinging the gun about in its
position, turn it gaainst the remain
ing German positions in the forest.
I'm all the history of the Marine
Corps there is no such battle as that
one in Belleau Wood. The heroism
and doggedness Of that battle are I'M
paralleled."
Sailors on Land Duty.
The building and manning of the
14-inch rifle naval batteries working
with the armies in France Is also de-
scribed. There have been no equals
in the fighting Of these highly mobile
weapons with a range of 80 miles, the
report says, adding:
Briefly, the American navy has
designed, built and is now manning
with bluejackets specially trained for
land service, the largest and most
high powered mobile land artillery in
the world. So successful have these
guns been that additional orders for
many more were requested before the
armistice.' & -- -~4.t -1s r.
The. depth bomb has proven the
most effective means of combating
the submarines, the report states, and
it shows that American enterprise
was responsible for very largely in
creasing that effectiveness. The early
SO pound charge bombs were crude
and of low destructive force com
pared to the 800 pound and 600
pound charges now being produced.
Many allied ships have been equipped
with these American improvements
Another ordnance development that