[phantom4570]

I was told of a captured German diary that contained an account of a German advance that was abandoned because of aimed rifle fire from United States Marines. I've run searches in Google in the past and never found the story.
The first officer was hit at 900 yards from the enemy line
They thought it was machine gun fire but there were far too few misses.
At some point the rifle fire became so accurate that none of the shots missed.
At that point they withdrew.

Any thoughts from the military historians out there?

This engagement perhaps?
http://www.mcu.usmc.mil/historydivi... Battle Briefs/Belleau Wood Lecture Notes.pdf

ix.
The 2d Division repelled what was left of the German assault, which by now, even though this fact was not known at the time, was running out of steam. When the Germans approached the 4th Brigade's lines, Marine rifle fire began killing them at 800 yards. German officers who did not teach their men to shoot at individual targets
-
first thought they had encountered a panicky unit firing prematurely. But as their casualties mounted, they became convinced they were facing a unit armed with nothing but machine guns and rifles. Their advance stalled and never regained its momentum. Their drive on Paris stopped.

Found this as well:
http://usmchc.org/wp-content/upload...e-4th-Marine-Brigade-at-Belleau-Wood-1918.pdf

 

[stand watie]

phantom4570,

I don't know about that one BUT a longtime friend of mine (& who is a heavily decorated hero of the Korean War himself) says that he saw an incident where a Marine Gunnery SGT & a Marine Gunner (Warrant Officer) STOPPED a regiment-size attack by the CHICOMS using a M1 Garand & a BAR.
The Chief says that, "- - - - -the attack slowed, stuttered, stopped & then they started running away" when the CHICOMS saw how many of their number were being KIA by well-aimed rifle fire from over 400 yards.

yours, sw

 

[CaptainGyro]

I always figured this is exactly why warfare evolved over the last century and a half from frontal assaults, to trench warfare, to armor-supported Blitzkrieg, to guerrilla insurgency, to "kill the leadership with drones".

Stand up and walk toward the enemy and you're gonna get shot.

 

[dfariswheel]

There's one famous case from the 1920's "Banana Wars" in Central America that was written about by famed Marine author and artist John W. Thompson.

There was a small detachment of Marines hold up in a building and under siege of guerrillas.
Every day at 12:00 noon a Marine would fire one round at the small bell in a church tower at something like 600 yards.
They never missed, and the guerrillas never had the guts to try to rush the Marines.

This was the days when every shooting match entered by Marines was won by Marines.
An army officer asked a Marine officer why the Marines always won when the Army was much bigger.
The Marine said that the Marines had more riflemen to pick from.
In the Army only a few men were riflemen, in the Marines everyone is a rifleman, first.

 

[csmkersh]

In the Army only a few men were riflemen, in the Marines everyone is a rifleman, first.

And this has been a long time gripe of mine. In the Corp everyone is first a combat rifleman, then what ever MOS they want. The Army spends just enough time on the range to qualify a soldier with their TO&E weapon.

 

[flipper35]

Sounds similar to Sgt York.