The Battle of Belleau Wood: A Historic Clash

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  • During the Battle of Belleau Wood, the number of German soldiers killed is unknown, but 1,600 were captured as prisoners.
  • The Marines' tenacity during the battle led to the French government renaming the wood 'Bois de la Brigade de Marine' and awarding the 4th Brigade the Croix de guerre.
  • The Battle of Belleau Wood was a significant engagement for the United States, and it is said that the German term 'Teufelshunde' (devil dogs) was used to describe the Marines.
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英文を日本語訳して下さい。

There is no clear information on the number of German soldiers killed, although 1,600 were taken prisoner. After the battle, the French renamed the wood "Bois de la Brigade de Marine" ("Wood of the Marine Brigade") in honor of the Marines' tenacity. The French government also later awarded the 4th Brigade the Croix de guerre. An official German report classified the Marines as "vigorous, self-confident, and remarkable marksmen ..." General Pershing—commander of the AEF—even said, "The deadliest weapon in the world is a United States Marine and his rifle." Pershing also said "the Battle of Belleau Wood was for the U.S. the biggest battle since Appomattox [Court House] and the most considerable engagement American troops had ever had with a foreign enemy." Legend and lore has it that the Germans used the term "Teufelshunde" ("devil dogs") for the Marines. However, this has not been confirmed, as the term was not commonly known in contemporary German. The closest common German term would be "Höllenhunde" which means "hellhound". Regardless of the term's origin, ten years after the battle, Lieutenant Colonel Ernst Otto, from the Historical Section of the German Army, wrote of the Marine Corps; "Their fiery advance and great tenacity were well recognized by their opponents." Marines actively serving in the Fifth and Sixth Marine regiments are authorized to wear the French Fourragère on the left shoulder of their uniform to recognize the legacy and valor of their regimental predecessors. In June 1923, the Marine Band performed a new march called "Belleau Wood" for the first time during the annual Belleau Wood Anniversary celebration. Composed by then Second Leader Taylor Branson, who would later lead the Marine Band from 1927 to 1940, it was dedicated to Army Major General James. G. Harbord, who commanded the Marines during the battle. In July 1923, Belleau Wood was dedicated as an American battle monument. Major General Harbord was made an honorary Marine and attended the event. In his address, he summed up the future of the site: U.S. Marines and French soldiers at the 92nd anniversary memorial service of the battle “ Now and then, a veteran, for the brief span that we still survive, will come here to live again the brave days of that distant June. Here will be raised the altars of patriotism; here will be renewed the vows of sacrifice and consecration to country. Hither will come our countrymen in hours of depression, and even of failure, and take new courage from this shrine of great deeds.

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>There is no clear information on the number of German soldiers killed, although 1,600 were taken prisoner. After the battle, the French renamed the wood "Bois de la Brigade de Marine" ("Wood of the Marine Brigade") in honor of the Marines' tenacity. The French government also later awarded the 4th Brigade the Croix de guerre. An official German report classified the Marines as "vigorous, self-confident, and remarkable marksmen ..." General Pershing—commander of the AEF—even said, "The deadliest weapon in the world is a United States Marine and his rifle." Pershing also said "the Battle of Belleau Wood was for the U.S. the biggest battle since Appomattox* [Court House] and the most considerable engagement American troops had ever had with a foreign enemy." ⇒1,600人のドイツ軍が捕虜になったにもかかわらず、殺害された兵士の数については明確な情報がない。 戦闘後フランス軍は、米国軍海兵隊の強靭さを称えて、この森(ベロー・ウッド)を「海兵隊旅団の森」と改名した。フランス政府はまたその後第4旅団に「クロア・ド・ゲール」(戦功十字章)を授与した。ドイツ軍の公報では、海兵隊員を「活発、自信に満ちた、際立つ射撃の名手…」と分類した。パーシング将軍―AEFの司令官―は、「世界で最も致命的な兵器は、米国軍海兵隊とそのライフルだ」とまで述べた。パーシング氏はまた、「ベロー・ウッドの戦いは、アポマトックス*〔コート・ハウス〕以来の最大の戦いであり、米国軍が外国の敵とまみえた最大の交戦だった」と述べた。 *Appomattox:米国バージニア州中部の町。この町の近くでリー将軍麾下の南軍がグラント将軍麾下の北軍に降伏し、事実上南北戦争が終結した。 >Legend and lore has it that the Germans used the term "Teufelshunde" ("devil dogs") for the Marines. However, this has not been confirmed, as the term was not commonly known in contemporary German. The closest common German term would be "Höllenhunde" which means "hellhound".  Regardless of the term's origin, ten years after the battle, Lieutenant Colonel Ernst Otto, from the Historical Section of the German Army, wrote of the Marine Corps; "Their fiery advance and great tenacity were well recognized by their opponents." Marines actively serving in the Fifth and Sixth Marine regiments are authorized to wear the French Fourragère on the left shoulder of their uniform to recognize the legacy and valor of their regimental predecessors. ⇒伝説と伝承によれば、ドイツ人は海兵隊員を表すのに「悪魔の犬」という言葉を使用している。しかし、この言葉は、現代ドイツ語では一般的に知られていないため、確認もされていない。最も一般的なドイツ語は「地獄の番犬」(ギリシャの「ケルベロス」)を意味する"Höllenhunde"〔ヘーレンフンデ〕である。  術語の起源如何にかかわらず、本戦闘の10年後にドイツ軍の歴史部門出身のエルネスト・オットー中佐は海兵隊についてこう書いた。曰く、「彼らの猛烈な進軍と絶大なる頑強さは、彼らとの抗戦者らによっていやというほど認識された」。第5、第6海兵連隊で果敢に活動する海兵隊員は、彼らの前任者の遺産と功績を認識するためにフランス軍の肩飾り緒を服の左肩に着用する権限が認められている。 >In June 1923, the Marine Band performed a new march called "Belleau Wood" for the first time during the annual Belleau Wood Anniversary celebration. Composed by then Second Leader Taylor Branson, who would later lead the Marine Band from 1927 to 1940, it was dedicated to Army Major General James. G. Harbord, who commanded the Marines during the battle.  In July 1923, Belleau Wood was dedicated as an American battle monument. Major General Harbord was made an honorary Marine and attended the event. In his address, he summed up the future of the site: U.S. Marines and French soldiers at the 92nd anniversary memorial service of the battle “Now and then, a veteran, for the brief span that we still survive, will come here to live again the brave days of that distant June. Here will be raised the altars of patriotism; here will be renewed the vows of sacrifice and consecration to country. Hither will come our countrymen in hours of depression, and even of failure, and take new courage from this shrine of great deeds.* ⇒1923年6月、海兵隊バンド(管弦楽団)が、「ベロー・ウッド記念の年次祝典」で、初めて「ベロー・ウッド」と呼ばれる新しい行進曲を演奏した。これは、当時の第2指揮者テイラー・ブランソンによって作曲され、この戦闘中に海兵隊を指揮したジェームズ・G.ハーバード方面軍少将に捧げられた。なお、彼ブランソンは後に1927年から1940年まで、海兵隊バンドの正指揮を勤めることになる。  1923年7月、ベロー・ウッドがアメリカの戦闘記念碑として捧げられた。ハーバード少将は名誉海兵隊員の名を与えられて式典に出席した。彼は演説でこの遺跡の未来をこうまとめた。本戦闘の92周年記念式典にご列席の米海兵隊員およびフランス軍兵士の皆様、「さて、私のごとき老兵も、まだ生き永らえる限りは時折ここに集い、あの遥かなる6月の勇敢な日々を再び生きたいと願うものであります。 愛国心の祭壇がここに建立されることになりましょう。祖国への犠牲と奉献の誓いが更新されましょう。ここにおいて、我ら国民は、抑圧の時も、失敗の時も、この偉大なる行ないの神殿から新たなる勇気を拝受することでしょう」*。 *この段落は誤訳があるかも知れませんが、その節はどうぞ悪しからず。

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    German strategy had given priority to offensive operations against France and a defensive posture against Russia since 1891. German planning was determined by numerical inferiority, the speed of mobilisation and concentration and the effect of the vast increase of the power of modern weapons. Frontal attacks were expected to be costly and protracted, leading to limited success, particularly after the French and Russians modernised their fortifications on the frontiers with Germany. Alfred von Schlieffen, Chief of the Imperial German General Staff (Oberste Heeresleitung "OHL") from 1891–1906, devised a plan to evade the French frontier fortifications with an offensive on the northern flank, which would have a local numerical superiority and obtain rapidly a decisive victory. By 1898–1899, such a manoeuvre was intended to pass swiftly through Belgium, between Antwerp and Namur and threaten Paris from the north. Helmuth von Moltke the Younger succeeded Schlieffen in 1906 and was less certain that the French would conform to German assumptions. Moltke adapted the deployment and concentration plan, to accommodate an attack in the centre or an enveloping attack from both flanks as variants, by adding divisions to the left flank opposite the French frontier, from the c. 1,700,000 men which were expected to be mobilised in the Westheer ("western army"). The main German force would still advance through Belgium to attack southwards into France, the French armies would be enveloped on their left and pressed back over the Meuse, Aisne, Somme, Oise, Marne and Seine rivers, unable to withdraw into central France. The French would either be annihilated by the manoeuvre from the north or it would create conditions for victory in the centre or in Lorraine on the common border.

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    Under Plan XVII, the French peacetime army was to form five field armies of c. 2,000,000 men, with groups of Reserve divisions attached to each army and a group of reserve divisions on the flanks. The armies were to concentrate opposite the German frontier around Épinal, Nancy and Verdun–Mezières, with an army in reserve around Ste. Ménéhould and Commercy. Since 1871, railway building had given the French General staff sixteen lines to the German frontier against thirteen available to the German army and the French could wait until German intentions were clear. The French deployment was intended to be ready for a German offensive in Lorraine or through Belgium. It was anticipated that the Germans would use reserve troops but also expected that a large German army would be mobilised on the border with Russia, leaving the western army with sufficient troops only to advance through Belgium, south of the Meuse and the Sambre rivers. French intelligence had obtained a 1905 map exercise of the German general staff, in which German troops had gone no further north than Namur and assumed that plans to besiege Belgian forts were a defensive measure against the Belgian army.