WWI Marine Riflemen in Europe!!
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  1. #1
    Registered User Free Member lovdog's Avatar
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    Thumbs up WWI Marine Riflemen in Europe!!

    I was reading an book or article awhile back about the Soldiers of WWI. That war was one nasty way of fighting. I thought that the trench warfare was just fought with the Army forces, and it was for quite a while.
    They imported some Marines to fight with the Army because Marines at that time had superior training in marksmanship. It had said that Marines,even with the, I believe they used the Enfield, could hit a German at 800 yards.
    They were picking them off right & left. The Germans finally found a way to get around this sniping effect and started using a 1" steel plate that they would push ahead of them to keep from getting "picked off" at a long range.
    Although this prevented them from getting shot, it slowed their attacks to a snails pace. Bet the Army was glad they showed up!!!
    Still, the Marines had taken quite a toll on the Germans by that time.
    Man, I wish some of those old timers could come back for a day or so & put a story of two on this Website!! That would be something!!


  2. #2
    There is some pretty good books out there that cover it.. and were written by the Marines that were there... like, "My Time in Hell" a Marines POV about WW1, and his envolvement in it, interesting read.


  3. #3
    http://www.geocities.com/millrat_99/...wwonexray.html

    A little effort of mine, on the Fighting Devil Dogs of World War I...
    As Nagafar says, there several books and there many Marine quotes attributed to these fine Marines...I hope my little effort meets your approval...

    Semper Fidelis
    Ricardo


  4. #4
    Registered User Free Member lovdog's Avatar
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    Thanks for the info guys. Not much nowadays even on the History Channel on WWI. One of my favorite movies is Sgt. York with Gary Cooper - got it on VHS. And, "All Quiet on the Western Front" was pretty good, shows both sides of the war. That was one nasty war from what I have read. Bad enough dealing with trench warfare but the gas & weather were brutal too - now those were one tough Marines & Soldiers fighting that! I guess you had to be there to appreciate (wrong word) that one. Nam was bad enough but at least it was warm weather most of the time and you were just constantly wet. WWI you were wet, cold and probably miserable "all" of the time!!
    I'm not sorry I missed that one!!


  5. #5
    Cool site Ricardo. I read George B. Clarks book "Devil Dogs: Fighting Marines of WWI". It was a good book, very informative, but a bit boring. WWI era Marines are one of my favorite subjects, so much so that I purchased a Springfield Armory 1903 manufactured in 1918. It's almost 100 years old and it shoots better than most of my modern rifles. All I need is the hard to find bayonet



  6. #6
    Two of the more memorable things I remember reading about our brothers in WW1, first, how more than a few units were border line for straving, and eating rats and scavanged dead horse while most French troops were eating plenty of rations supplied by America, if I remember right it was something like the rations were shipped to France, then issued to units by the French, and second, there were a lot units that had about 60% off the line due to VD in its various forms..


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