Having suffered heavy casualties, the Germans dug in along a defensive line from Hill 204, just east of Vaux, to Le Thiolet on the Paris-Metz Highway and northward through Belleau Wood to Torcy.[4]:?109? After Marines were repeatedly urged to turn back by retreating French forces[citation needed], Marine Captain Lloyd W. Williams of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines uttered the now-famous retort "Retreat? Hell, we just got here."[5][6] Williams' battalion commander, Major Frederic Wise, later claimed to have said the famous words.[4]:?109?
At 17:00 on 6 June, the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines (3/5)—commanded by Major Benjamin S. Berry—and the 3rd Battalion 6th Marines (3/6)—commanded by Major Berton W. Sibley, on their right—advanced from the west into Belleau Wood as part of the second phase of the Allied offensive. Again, the Marines had to advance through a waist-high wheat field into machine gun fire.
One of the most famous quotations in Marine Corps history came during the initial step-off for the battle when First Sergeant Dan Daly, a recipient of two Medals of Honor who had served in the Philippines, Santo Domingo, Haiti, Peking, and Vera Cruz, prompted his men of the 73rd Machine Gun Company forward with the words: "Come on, you sons of bitches. Do you want to live forever?"[4]:?99–100?
A German private, whose company had 30 men left out of 120, wrote "We have Americans opposite us who are terribly reckless fellows."
After the battle, the French renamed the wood Bois de la Brigade de Marine ('Wood of the Marine Brigade') in honor of the Marines' tenacity. The French government also later awarded the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments and the 6th Machine Gun Battalion the Croix de guerre. An official German report classified the Marines as "vigorous, self-confident, and remarkable marksmen ..."[10]:?4? General Pershing—commander of the AEF—said, "The deadliest weapon in the world is a United States Marine and his rifle."[12] Pershing also said "the Battle of Belleau Wood was for the U.S. the biggest battle since Appomattox and the most considerable engagement American troops had ever had with a foreign enemy."[10]:?4?
Legend and lore has it that the Germans used the term Teufelshunde ('devil dogs') for the Marines. However, this has not been confirmed, as the term was not commonly known in contemporary German. The closest common German term would be Höllenhunde which means 'hellhound'. Regardless of the term's origin, ten years after the battle, Lieutenant Colonel Ernst Otto, from the Historical Section of the German Army, wrote of the Marine Corps: "Their fiery advance and great tenacity were well recognized by their opponents."[13]
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