Throughout its 244-year history of the Corps, the Marines have fought wars around the world, earning a reputation as an unstoppable force.
In many cases, the infantry, surrounded by an outnumbered and better armed enemy, performed seemingly impossible tasks. Often the first to enter the battle, the infantry regularly suffered heavy losses in bloody battles, but the Devil's Dogs were convinced that the enemy paid dearly for these sacrifices.
These are ten of the most brutal and most famous battles in which the Marines fought.
Battle of Derna. "To the shores of Tripoli"
Libya. April 27 - May 13, 1805
A small expeditionary force commanded by Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon traveled more than 500 miles across the Libyan desert to storm the Tripolitanian port city of Derna, where infantrymen won a historic victory over the Barbary pirates of North Africa and freed the crew of the American frigate Philadelphia.
The victory, backed by the American navy and local mercenaries, helped keep the fleet and commerce safe in a critical era in America's development. The battle also largely kick-started some of the traditions of the Marine Corps.
The nickname "leatherneck" came from the Battle of Derna, where marines wore high leather collars (part of the 1775-1875 naval uniform) to protect against pirate sabers.
The Mameluke sword, gifted to O'Bannon by the legitimate ruler of Tripoli, who was able to take his throne again after this battle, eventually became part of the uniform of the Marine Corps officer. This unique sword remains the oldest ceremonial weapon in the American military today.
The Battle of Derna is well celebrated in the Marine Corps' anthem, the main lines of which read: "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, we are fighting for our country in the air, on land and at sea."
Battle of Chapultepec. From the Halls of Montezuma
Mexico City. September 12-13, 1847
Chapultepec Castle sits on top of a steep hill, serving as the most important fortress in the defense system of Mexico City. American Army General Winfield Scott decided to take him before the troops captured the capital.
Marines and army soldiers reached the top of the hill under heavy musket and artillery fire and engaged the Mexican army in fierce hand-to-hand combat. Then American soldiers began to climb the stairs, storming the high walls of the castle, they fought desperately with an enemy ready to fight to the last drop of blood.
At the end of the two-day battle, the infantrymen raised a flag inside the fort, which is commonly called the "Halls of Montezuma". Having won this victory, American troops captured the last stronghold of the enemy and cleared the way for their forces to take the Mexican capital.
The Marine Corps anthem not only mentions the earlier Battle of Derna, but also the Battle of Chapultepec. In addition, the purple stripes on the infantry's blue dress pants, called “bloody stripes,” are said to commemorate those who fell in Chapultepec. However, these stripes, according to available information, appeared even before this famous battle.
Battle of Belleau Wood. "Go ahead, you sons of bitches, you don't want to live forever, do you?"
France. June 1-26, 1918
The Battle of Belleau Wood was one of the most brutal battles of the First World War, in which American troops took part. The Marines launched their offensive, advancing waist-high across the wheat field under German machine-gun fire, suffering incredible casualties. Determined to occupy the forest, the Marines did not stop their advance.
"Go ahead, you sons of bitches, you don't want to live forever, do you?" Legendary First Sergeant Dan Daly, twice Congressional Medal of Honor, called on his soldiers to encourage them to keep moving forward.
The infantry attacked the machine-gun nests with bayonets and clashed with the Germans in fierce hand-to-hand combat, moving from tree to tree. During the merciless three-week battle, the Americans and Germans took control of the forest six times.
The Marines succeeded in their mission, clearing the forest and changing the course of the war, but this victory came at a great cost. In this famous battle, the USMC showed the whole world that it is a formidable force that does not want to accept anything but victory.
It was in the French town of Belleau Wood that the Marines earned their new nickname. German officers are said to have called the persistent and unstoppable foot soldiers "Teufel Hunden", which means "Devil's Dogs." At least that's what the legend says.
Battle of Guadalcanal. "Guadalcanal is no longer just the name of an island … It is the name of a Japanese army cemetery."
Solomon islands. August 7, 1942 - February 9, 1943
During the first major Allied offensive against Japan during World War II, the Marines of the 1st Marine Division landed on Guadalcanal, determined to stop the Japanese advance into Australia.
With the beginning of the battle, the infantry landed on the coast, quickly taking control of the strategic airfield.
While the Devil's Dogs, with the support of the army, took over the island, the American fleet suffered a major defeat, which allowed the Japanese to regain control of the sea, as a result of which the supply transports were forced to withdraw and the marines were cut off from supplies except for accidental air drops. …
For three months, the infantry, deprived of reinforcements, withstood the daily bombardment of the Japanese from the sea, dubbed the "Tokyo Express". American forces were also subjected to horrific psychic attacks from the Japanese on the island. The Japanese made regular attempts to regain key strategic positions, but the Americans stopped them every time.
Eventually, the US Navy took control of the surrounding waters again and the Japanese withdrew from the area in secret.
The ILC, along with the US Army, won a great victory, successfully stopping the expansion of Japan to the south. The infantrymen lost more than 1,500 people. Japanese casualties numbered tens of thousands of soldiers.
After this battle, or rather the victory that turned the tide of the war for the allies, the Japanese general Kyotake Kawaguchi uttered his famous phrase: "Guadalcanal is no longer just the name of the island … This is the name of the cemetery of the Japanese army."
Battle of Iwo Jima. "The Marines on Iwo Jima, incredible prowess was their common virtue."
Japan. February 19 - March 26, 1945
Undoubtedly, one of the bloodiest battles in the history of the USMC is the Battle of Iwo Jima, which claimed the lives of almost 6,800 Marines. Another 19 thousand were wounded in battle.
Although the marines had a numerical superiority over the defenders of the island, the Japanese turned it into a battlefield that seemed to be specially designed for heavy casualties, since the island, devoid of any vegetation, was covered with mines and an extensive network of underground tunnels.
After three days of shelling the island from the sea, the marines landed ashore. Of the approximately 70,000 people who fought in Iwo Jima, about one third were killed or wounded.
At the start of this battle, the Marines raised the American flag at the highest point on the island, Mount Sirubachi, to cheer up the soldiers as they disembark and make their way under artillery and machine gun fire. Five Marines and one Navy orderly risked their lives and raised the national flag.
Paying a high price, the Marines captured strategic airfields and cleared the island of the Japanese military.
“With their victory, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions and other units of the 5th Airborne Corps raised the prestige of their country, and only history can fully appreciate this,” said Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz after winning the battle. "The Americans who fought on Iwo Jima had incredible prowess in their common dignity."
These words are carved on the Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington DC. Iwo Jima has received more Congressional Medal of Honor for courage and bravery than any other battle.
Incheon landing operation. "One of the most daring and impressive successful landings in naval history."
Korea. September 10-19, 1950
By the summer of 1950, the Allies were forced to retreat beyond the so-called Pusan perimeter at the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula (a part of the country controlled by the Americans and South Koreans and made up no more than 10% of the peninsula's territory), where the troops were forced to repel waves of bloody attacks by the North Koreans.
The Supreme Commander, General Douglas MacArthur, put forward the idea of a landing outside this perimeter, although initially the plan seemed too risky.
"The only alternative to the blow that I propose is to continue the insane sacrifice that we will be forced to make in Busan without any hope of help in the foreseeable future," he argued at the end of August.
The landing operation, code-named Chromit, was eventually approved due to the desperate situation of the Americans in the south of the peninsula.
The surprise landing of the Marines at Incheon was a decisive victory for the UN forces. The North Koreans here were completely taken by surprise.
The troops landing on the coast of the Yellow Sea were able to disrupt the supply routes of the Communists, broke the blockade of the Busan perimeter and cleared the way for the liberation of Seoul.
In October, the North Koreans began to flee en masse to the north and the Allied forces crossed the 38th parallel. Later, after the Chinese army entered the conflict, the course of the war changed dramatically, but the landing in Incheon nevertheless became a significant event in the history of the Marine Corps. MacArthur called it "one of the most daring and impressive successful amphibious landings in all of naval history."
Battle of the Chosin reservoir. “We have been looking for the enemy for several days. Finally, we found him. We are surrounded. This simplifies our task of finding these people and destroying them."
Korea. November 26 - December 13, 1950
The Battle of Chosin Reservoir was a defining event for the Corps. The Marines, surrounded for 17 days, repulsed attacks by the Chinese army, which entered the war in late November 1950.
About 30 thousand UN soldiers, the so-called "Few of Chosin", were surrounded and attacked by the Chinese numbering approximately 120 thousand soldiers.
“We have been looking for the enemy for several days. Finally, we found him. We are surrounded. This simplifies our task of finding these people and destroying them,”General Lewis Puller, the most decorated Marine in American history, answered the question of a front-line journalist about the upcoming actions. When asked about plans to withdraw troops, he replied to the frightened officers that there would be no retreat.
Towards the end of the battle, the battle turned into a fierce battle, the marines entered hand-to-hand combat with the Chinese, repelling enemy attacks one after another.
Unable to dig trenches in the frozen ground, the Marines used the corpses of dead Chinese soldiers to build defensive structures.
The corps lost almost a thousand people (another 10 thousand were wounded) in the battle, which was a technical defeat, as the UN forces fighting in the "Frozen Chosin" were forced to retreat back to the south of Korea.
On the other hand, the losses of the Chinese were catastrophic and were estimated at tens of thousands of people.
Battle of Khe Sanh. "What was once a military base looked like a heap of construction waste."
Vietnam. January 29 - July 9, 1968
The battle began with massive artillery shelling by North Vietnamese troops of the Marine Corps garrison in Khe San, where about 6,000 Marines were stationed. It was one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War, with the Marines and South Vietnamese soldiers holding back the besieging enemy for several months.
This battle, which is part of the powerful Tet Offensive, was another heavy battle in which the marines were surrounded by overwhelming enemy forces. The victory in it was not at all obvious.
The Khe San base was razed to the ground by endless shelling. The Marines continually dug in and rebuilt their defenses.
“Destruction was everywhere,” First Lieutenant Paul Elkan later recalled. - Cars were mangled, windshields smashed, wheels deflated, tents torn to shreds. The pieces of equipment, the torn sandbags, everything mixed with each other. Our military base was like a pile of rubbish."
Concerned that the Khe Sanh base could become the second American Dien Bien Phu, President Lyndon Johnson demanded that the base be held at all costs, portraying it as a symbol of the fight against communism in Southeast Asia.
The endless attacks of the North Vietnamese army on Khe Sanh American soldiers responded with return fire, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. Experienced Corps snipers prevented the communists from entering the base, and combat aircraft, especially B-52 bombers, played a decisive role in breaking the siege.
The Khe San base was completely destroyed during the siege, several thousand American soldiers were killed in this battle. However, the fallen Americans took many more North Vietnamese soldiers with them.
Battle of Hue. "If you can find something like hell, it will be Hue."
Vietnam. January 30 - March 3, 1968
The Battle of Hue City during the Tet Offensive is one of the most violent urban battles in the history of the USMC.
The battle began with a coordinated attack by the North Vietnamese army and the Viet Cong (South Vietnamese guerrillas) on the poorly defended city. Ten battalions of the communist army attacked the city of Hue, quickly gaining control over it. Marines from the nearby Fubai base were sent to liberate the captured city.
Marines preparing for combat in the jungle were given approximately an hour to prepare for urban combat. They were faced with a monstrous task. Almost every street has been turned into a ready-made fire bag. Snipers were everywhere, and the North Vietnamese and Vietcong regularly used civilians as human shields. The Marines have methodically carried out a sweep of the city, but it cost them great losses.
“The battle for every house is one of the most difficult and dangerous types of warfare. Like a rat to be removed from its burrow, an enemy soldier hiding in a building must be knocked out of its hiding place and destroyed. As a rule, it is impossible to get him out of there without a fight. The advancing soldier must go inside and pull him out,”later recalled Major Ron Christmas, the company commander that fought for Hue.
After 26 days of intense fighting, the Marines won a decisive victory, putting the Communists to flight, but the published photos of the dead American soldiers and the destroyed city caused a great public outcry, after which a campaign began to withdraw American troops from Vietnam. Memories of Hue still haunt some of the American soldiers who fought for the city.
Sergeant Bob Toms, who was wounded six times during this battle, later stated that "if anything like hell can be found, it will be Hue."
Battle of Fallujah. "One of the toughest city battles … since the battle for Hue City."
Iraq. November 7 - December 23, 2004
The second Battle of Fallujah, codenamed Ghost Rage, took place shortly after the first violent assault on the Iraqi city in April 2004. The military called the battle "one of the toughest urban battles since the Battle of Hue City in 1968."
By 2004, the city of Fallujah had become a haven for rebels and militants of all kinds and needed to be liberated. This battle is considered one of the bloodiest of the entire war in Iraq.
The USMC led a joint US, British and Iraqi offensive against the rebel forces stationed in the city. Coalition troops numbering about 14 thousand people fought with about 3 thousand insurgents.
Coalition troops fought fiercely, moving from house to house, from roof to roof. As in past battles, the Marines were forced to fight a motivated enemy in close combat, which at times turned into hand-to-hand combat.
The so-called City of Mosques was badly destroyed during the battle. The losses of the Americans amounted to about 400 people killed, while the rebels lost over a thousand of their fighters.
“I was proud of the Marines… how they fought for a month in heavy urban combat,” Marine Corps Commander Colonel Craig Tucker said after the battle. "We did a good job."
