'Warmest regards from the Somme . . . ' from Robert Künger, September 21, 1916, presumably pictured with his machine gun crew. Translation couresy of Thomas Faust, ebay's Urfaust.
'Warmest regards from the Somme . . . ' from Robert Künger, September 21, 1916. Translation couresy of Thomas Faust, ebay's Urfaust.
"In the black recesses of Belleau Wood the Germans had established nest after nest of machine guns. There in the jungle of matted underbrush, of vines, of heavy foliage, they had placed themselves in positions they believed impregnable. And this meant that unless they could be routed, unless they could be thrown back, the breaking of the attack of June 2nd would mean nothing. There would come another drive and another. The battle of Château-Thierry was therefore not won and could not be won until Belleau Wood had been cleared of the enemy.It was June 6th that the attack of the American troops began against that wood and its adjacent surroundings, with the wood itself and the towns of Torcy and Bouresches forming the objectives. At 5 o'clock the attack came, and there began the tremendous sacrifices which the Marines Corps gladly suffered that the German fighters might be thrown back."
Excerpt from an account on the Battle of Belleau Wood by Josephus Daniels, U.S. Secretary of the Navy. American machine gunners and French colonials held the town of Château-Thierry on May 31, 1918 during the German Aisne Offensive, the third German offensive of 1918. The defenders prevented German forces from crossing the Marne River, blowing the bridge over it and holding against German attacks that continued through June 2. The battle for Belleau Wood continued into July.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. VI, 1918, pp. 200–201, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
1918-06-06, 1918, June, Belleau Wood, Bois de Belleau, German machine gun crew
