Battle of Belleau Wood: Part 1

[Intro] [church bell tolls] Bell over France Smoke over stone The Germans held the timber The Marines took the road A field between the armies A forest full of guns The bell kept slow time Before the killing drums [Verse 1] French columns fell back bleeding The Marne still on their coats Fourth Brigade stepped into place With rifles on the road Fifth and Sixth faced northward German lines came through the grain Then Marine rifles cracked from far And gray ranks fell like rain Eight hundred yards of distance Eight hundred yards of aim The drive that thought the road was open Met fresh fire in the plain [Pre-Chorus] [snare cadence builds] One side worn from marching One side eager to close German guns in root and stone Marine sights over open rows [Chorus] Hold Hill One-Forty-Two Hold the road to Boo-resh Cross the wheat through Maxim fire Close with the guns in the woods Fifth on the ridge Sixth in the timber Machine guns speak from stone and root The bell keeps time with the barrage [church bell tolls] [Verse 2] First of Fifth went up the hill Before the morning cleared German light guns crawled the slope And brought the flank in near Janson hit the nearest crew The fight broke hard And fast The hill stayed under Marine hands While counterblows came back The Germans held like soldiers The Marines attacked like beasts Both sides knew the open ground Was death between the trees [Chorus] Hold Hill One-Forty-Two Hold the road to Boo-resh Cross the wheat through Maxim fire Close with the guns in the woods Fifth on the ridge Sixth in the timber Machine guns speak from stone and root The bell keeps time with the barrage [Verse 3] Ninety-Six Company Second Battalion, Sixth Drove into Boo-resh village Brick by bloody brick Wall to wall And stair to stair The fight went room To room German fire cut the streets And filled the square with fumes Twenty-one Marines still stood When the first hard rush was done Twenty-one held the village stones Until more came through the dark [Break] [machine-gun drum hits] Rush and crawl Root and stone One gun nest Then another one [Verse 4] [double-time] Third of Fifth crossed open wheat Third of Sixth reached broken trees Maxims stitched the field in strips Men dropped To hands And knees The woods broke every clean command Smoke took every sign A trench became a pocket A pocket became a line Seventy-fives began to pound One-five-fives tore the crowns Tree bursts cracked above the trunks And rained the forest down Sixth Machine Gun Battalion Raked the flank From Boo-resh stone Second Engineers in craters Dug and wired While fighting on [Pre-Chorus] [drums rising] German reports would name it Heftiger Angriff Ohne Rücksicht auf Verluste Kein Feuer hielt sie zurück [German Chorus] Haltet Hügel Eins-Vier-Zwei Haltet die Straße nach Boo-resh Durch den Weizen, durch Maximfeuer Ran an die MGs im Wald Fünfte auf dem Kamm Sechste tief im Holz Maschinengewehre sprechen aus Stein und Wurzel Die Glocke hält Takt mit dem Trommelfeuer [Bridge] [chaotic forest section] Nebel fraß die Signallichter Das Sperrfeuer kam zu spät Stimmen riefen durch Rauch und Busch Wo bleibt Regiment Vierzig? Der Vierzigste verlor die Naht Der Four-Sixty-First bog zurück Flanke wurde Rücken Und Rücken wurde Panik In den Bäumen Wurde die Karte blind Im Rauch Brach die Linie klein Die Marines waren nicht überall Doch es fühlte sich so an [German Refrain] Mörderisches Feuer Still they came Gas in den Senken Still they came Nester aus Stein und Wurzeln Still they came Nerven nicht verbraucht Still they came [Verse 5] The northern corner stayed alive Under branches split by fire The Three-Forty-Seventh held the last wood Sick, hungry Worn and wired Then the heavy guns came back And the whole wood shook apart Third Battalion of the Fifth Moved forward through the dark One nest broke Then another fell One gun choked Then all was still [Final Chorus] Hold Hill One-Forty-Two Hold the road to Boo-resh Cross the wheat through Maxim fire Close with the guns in the woods Fifth on the ridge Sixth in the timber Machine guns speak from stone and root The bell keeps time with the barrage [Outro] [church bell tolls] Bell over France Smoke over stone The woods kept every footstep After all the guns went still