The sun., 1919-03-09

This Lieut.. Eddy was a daredevil
anyway, and loved nothing better than
to stalk German sentries in Indian
fashion and steal close to their lines
The Marine service has always at
tracted men of that type.
AS say, we were looking for a sor-
tie. but none came. and in the after
noon we were ordered to attack at
P. NJ. The Germans must be driven
cut Of Belleau Wood.
There were sound strategic reasons
for this remarkable order. In the frs
olace, pressure had to be relieve
northwest of Chateau Thierry before
! that position could be made secure
Belleau Wood now formed a dangerous
salient in our curving line, and tC
straighten that line from the ad.
vanced position at the northwest down
to Triangle Farm it was necessary tC
take in the town of Bouresches and
at least a part of the wood.
In the second place. Belleau Woo
was too strong a natural fortress to be
allowed to remain in the hands of a
powerful enemy on our immediate
3, front. 1t was strongly garrisonet
with infantry and machine gunners
and the big guns were coming up. For
the Germans it formed a base of at
tack that threatened our whole line
to the south. So long as they held il
sudden thrust was possible at any
| time. and such a thrust might NEAR
untold disaster. probably the quick ad.
vance on Paris. For us it was an eff
foot iNrn Inr inaA do En II
not advance with that thorn in theil
side.
The Problem mt BelIeau Wood.
Obviously Belleau Wood had TO be
taken and that right quickly, whether
we were to act successfully on the de-
fensive or on the offensive. 1t woulc
have been suicidal to wait for the Ger
man attack. An assumption of the
offensive was the only solution. Tha
We were expected TO succeed speaks
volumes for the confidence that We
had won.
Belieau Wood Is longer than it /!
wide, and the easiest way to take il
was from west to east otherwise we
would have been plunging against the
enemy's deepest strength
Holcomb's battalion was ordered tc
hold the line while Sibley's was tC
Gene up. pass through it and make
the attack on the southern section OF
the woods, starting In on the western
side. The detectives for the first at
tack mentioned in the orders were the
eastern edge of the woods and Bou-
resches. Berry's battalion was to at.
| tack from the west on Sibley's left.
The second prearnnged objective
was another section of the woods anC
line over the high ground south o.
Torcy. The French and the rest OF
the Fifth were to push on toward the
| north, with Torcy and the rest of the
woods as the ultimate objective. Al
will be seen, a part of these objec
tives were attained promptly and de-
| c!sively, while others were delayed.
The orders to attack at O'Clock
! were written at brigade headquarters
about three kilometres in the rear, a
p. NJ. At S:45 a copy was handed
to me by Lieut.. Williams. Gen. Har.
| bord's aide, who came up by motor
cycle.
I was supposed TO direct Berry:
movements. though he had also re-
, ceived the orders from his own regi
mental headquarters. I teephoned a
once to Berry's P. C. at Lucy, but hit
battalion was beyond reach and he wa.
himself in the woods in their rear, 6
mile away. 1t had been impossible, OF
account of the heavy Smelling. to rur
a telephone out to him. I sent run,
ners. but I was sure they couldn
, reach him before the attack woulC
/ have 10 be made.
No one knows how many German.
| were In those woods. I have seen tn,
estimate placed at 1000. but there were
certainly more than that. 1t had beer
impossible to get patrols into the