Hill 142

Before the name Belleau Wood became legend, the fight began on a rise of ground known only as Hill 142.
From this height, German machine guns dominated the surrounding wheat fields and roads. As long as the hill remained in enemy hands, the advance toward the wood could not begin.
The mission fell to the U.S. Marines of the 5th Regiment.
At dawn they stepped off into the open.
No cover.
No concealment.
Only waist-high wheat and a hillside alive with machine-gun fire.
Men fell in rows as the Marines pushed forward through the field.
Officers were hit.
Units became tangled and scattered under the storm of bullets.
Still they climbed.
Across the slope and into the German trenches the fight became close and violent—rifles, bayonets, grenades, and bare hands in the churned earth.
By afternoon the hill had been taken.
Hill 142 was small ground on the map of France.
But its capture opened the road to Belleau Wood, where the Marines would soon fight one of the most savage battles in their history.
The first step toward that legend was taken here.
On a hill that had to be seized.
And was.