We Need Joint Marine Corps–Army Constructive Exercises
By James Young
July 2020
Proceedings
In June 1918, near France’s Belleau Wood, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps were sent into action in a desperate attempt to stop a German breakthrough that threatened Paris. The 2nd Infantry Division, reinforced with the Marine Corps’ 4th Brigade, moved forward through shattered French Army forces who were falling back in disarray from the attacks of at least five German divisions. Assessing the situation, Army and Marine Corps leaders determined a defensive scheme, seized key terrain, and established hasty positions from which to fight. Over the following two weeks, the U.S. forces defeated successive German assaults that employed everything from attempted night infiltrations to large quantities of chemical weapons. Having blunted the German offensive, U.S. forces reconsolidated and then, in a determined and bloody counterattack, cleared Belleau Wood of German forces and paved the way for further Allied offensive operations.1
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2020/july/we-need-joint-marine-corps-army-constructive-exercises
