Marines guarding U.S. sector on the Rhine - Koblenz, Germany

Marines guarding U.S. sector on the Rhine - Koblenz, Germany

Marines guarding U.S. sector on the Rhine, Koblenz

19210

America will never forget the Marines, "the first to land, the first to fight." We knew them to be picked men who would give a good account of themselves when they struck the foe. Our allies knew them only as a unit of the American Army until that first day of June, 1918, when at Belleau Woods they met and Stopped the shock troops of the German Army in its almost victorious rush on Paris. That day the Marines became world famous, that day they made Belleau Woods immortal. Rushed hurriedly into the woods, to stop the German hordes, they had no artillery the first day, no food for several days, except their emergency rations. Aiming and firing as coolly as on parade, with shells bursting around and among them, they swept away rank after rank of the foe, and for ten days withstood one desperate attack after another, covering themselves with undying fame. Here before us are some of these boys, in the Rhineland on the river bank at Koblenz. Across the river looms the frowning fortress of Ehrenbreitstein with its subterranean magazines and passages. For the first time in the history of the world Old Glory flies over this mighty fortress occupied in May, 1919, by the 17th Field Artillery, U. S. A. Little did the Hohenzollern dream, when he started this war, that its close would see an enemy flag flying over this proud fortress. The massive works of Ehrenbreitstein are 400 feet above the level of the river and are built on living rock.

1 stereograph : b&w

1 gelatine silver print stereograph (8 x 15 cm) mounted on card (9 x 18 cm)

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World War through the stereoscope