The Marines, Counterinsurgency, and Strategic Culture

Identity and Role 59
experienced Germans wielding machine guns. 32 Hard- charging hero figures
such as Dan Daly made their mark tearing across enemy lines and into
legend: “Come on, you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever?” 33
Marines fell by the hundreds as they swarmed across open fields toward
the Germans but would not relent. Their mettle and audacity captured the
heart of the American press and won praise from the very soldiers they were
trying to kill. Internal German reports noted the “bravery and dash” of the
young Marines and predicted their future as formidable adversaries. 34
Craig Cameron marks Belleau Wood as the Marine Corps’s “rite of passage
to maturity”: “A respected foe had granted recognition of the marines’
institutional distinctiveness that perforce made them a representative of
the United States, separate from the Army. Never before had the Marine
Corps been so clearly set apart from other American soldiers, and to this
day, marines take great pride in the sobriquet ‘devil dogs’ (Teufelhunden)
bestowed on them in their first major battle.” 35 Affectionately and often
applied, the nickname “Devil Dog” reigns supreme as the first bit of history
Marines are required to learn and memorize from the United States Marine
Guidebook of Essential Subjects (known to Marines simply as Knowledge).
Of “Devil Dog” it reads: “The term ‘Devil Dog’ came into use during World
War I, and is said to have originated as follows: During interrogation, a
captured German soldier was asked his opinion of U.S. Marines in the bitter
fighting in Belleau Wood during June, 1918. He replied that the Marines
fought like teufel hunden, legendary wild, devil dogs that at one time roamed
the forest of northern Germany.” 36
Unfortunately for Marine legend, not only is this an improper rendering
of the German word (it should read Teufelshunde), but there seems to be no
evidence of the Teufelhunden story in any form in German records. 37 The
lack of evidence in history, however, has failed to diminish Marine affection
for the term. Marine newborns are often referenced as “devil pups,”
and Corps enthusiasts continue reproducing the vintage Teufelhunden
poster and its modern variants on decals, coffee mugs, T- shirts, tattoos, and
nearly every other printable surface. Incidentally, the nickname “leatherneck”—stemming
from an earlier era in which black leather stock collars
were worn—is also included in Knowledge as a term of affection bantered
about by Marines. “Jarhead,” however, is noticeably absent. Marines are
less inclined toward this term, which stems from disputed origins, the most
popular of which is as a reference to Marines’ “high and tight” haircuts.
The early years of World War I represent a stronger effort than had been
previously applied at branding awareness for the Corps. One poster boasts
the eagle, globe, and anchor of the Marine Corps emblem and says simply,
“This device on hat or helmet means U.S. Marines.” The eagle, globe, and
anchor, or EGA, has become a deeply internalized and beloved symbol for
the Corps. Its official description in the United States Marine Guidebook of
Essential Subjects is appropriately historical: “The emblem . . . of the Marine