Posted on 10/26/2014 1:45:28 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
“Retreat? Hell, we just got here!”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Fine article.
Germany knew, one way or the other, that the Americans would tip the balance against them.
Wonder what’s it’s like to not swell with pride and patriotism after reading that. And sorrow for the men lost.
If I ever meet Obama I’ll ask him.
WWI showed America how unprepared for war it was.
It is indeed a fine article — so fine I couldn’t imagine what in the world it was doing in the New York Times. Then I saw it was in the travel section — so just another far-off romantic destination unconnected to the real world, a place to go and have a nice bottle of wine.
when the Times readers find out that the current band of fascist, American-hating freedom-hating lunatics actually want to ban wine, maybe then they’ll wake up. but probably it’ll take a good deal more than that.
OTOH, “Retreat? Hell, we just got here!” is wonderful, and passing a miracle to find such words printed admiringly in any part of the New York Times.
Oh, I agree. But we had fresh soldiers, and manufacturing capacity. No matter how green we were, fresh blood to a war weary Europe tipped the scales.
On June 6, I always commemorate the Battle of Belleau Wood, the turning point of WWI. However, a different battle that took place on the same date in a later war seems to get far more attention.
We could have sat that one out. And maybe should have.
Every Marine knows the punctuation is wrong in that quote
Retreat hell! We just got here!
Ping to later
I haven’t read the article yet (and I plan to) but before I read it I want to state my overall opinion of American involvement in WWI:
Wilson promised not to take us into WWI. He lied and did so anyway. If he hadn’t, many believe (and I agree) that there would have been a negotiated settlement and no decisive winner, and no Versailles Peace Treaty and no reparations and no Adolf Hitler.
So Wilson lied, and 50 million people died.
Now I’ll read the article and see if it changes my mind.
I have been in France, but never had the opportunity to visit any of these American cemeteries. Can someone who has actually been there tell me if there is an American military guard of honor, or is the place staffed by the locals there.
You may well be right, but the valor of the Marines remains an inspiration.
And to think, between 1914 and 1916, the American Stock Investment firms were selling Imperial German War Bonds as a good investment.
Oh, I agree. And I just read the article. And it was inspiring, reading of the courage and fighting spirit of our Marines.
As someone noted, this is a travel article, which is the only reason it made it in to the Times at all.
And yes, of course our presence won the war for the allies. They were as exhausted as dirt and our fresh bravery and deep-bench manufacturing was unbeatable.
But as far as my original question goes, my mind is not changed. This is the first place I ever read that the Germans would have won the war without our presence, and this is a travel article and it's going to take more than a travel article to dissuade me from what I've read many other places, that the Germans also were as exhausted as dirt, even more exhausted than the allies, who were already being resupplied by the US.
Anyway, even if the Germans had won WWI (and I never considered that as even a possibility before this article making the claim that it would have happened without us), I have to wonder, so what? How bad would that have been, compared to the rise of Hitler, which was a direct result of the way WWI actually ended.
But imagine if all of those European armies were exhausted, it would have probably resulted in the Bolsheviks sweeping into power all over Europe.
Semper Fi Marines!
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