But no decisive breakthrough had resulted, and Ludendorff was determined to take one more shot before the front was overwhelmed with Americans.
Those four days cost the Germans 30, casualties and the Allies 35, June also saw more American action on the Western Front. Hell, we just got here. Unfortunately, the Marines were unaware of this. Many Marines were mowed down in the wheat fields surrounding the woods, but they achieved their phase one objectives nevertheless.
In terms of casualties this was the worst day for the Marine Corps up to this time. The situation now settled into a stalemate of bloody attack and counterattack, until after six American assaults the Wood was finally cleared of Germans on 26 June. The Americans suffered casualties, while apart from captured German losses are unknown.
Belleau Wood was of course a relatively trivial episode on the Western Front which is why this report is late — I thought it was in July , but it confirmed for the Allies and the Germans that the Americans, who were now flooding into France, were for real. And that an American Marine with a rifle was an awesome weapon. Down in sunny Italy the Allies scored another defensive victory. On 15 June the Austrians launched an offensive along the middle and eastern portions of the front, the Second Battle of the Piave River.
Things were also different across the Piave. Buoyed by the victory at Caporreto and the prospect of knocking Italy out of the war, the Austrians attacked at AM.
