Devil Dog

For the 1978 horrormovie, see Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell

A recruiting poster by Charles B. Falls makes use of the "Teufel Hunden" nickname

Teufel Hunden, allegedly meaning Devil Dogs in German, is a motivational nickname for a U.S. Marine.

Origin

he term devil dog is a term often used by senior commisioned, or enlisted marines to be little a subordinate marine. Others will tel you it is simply form of motivation that usually strikes angry thoughts into the individual who gets devil dogged "D D'd" .

A very common story repeated in the Marine Corps holds that the nickname was adopted from the diary of a German soldier who was killed in action during the Battle of Belleau Wood. In it, he apparently referred to Marines as "dogs of the devil" for their fighting spirit and tenacity. Some Marines offer a more detailed story: The Battle of Belleau Wood was fought in France in the summer of 1918, in the midst of a heat wave. At some point during the battle, the Marines were ordered to take a hill occupied by German forces. As the Marines prepared to charge the hill, word came down from command that the Germans were preparing to use mustard gas to repel the attack. As a precaution, the Marines were ordered to put on their gas masks and take the hill. As the Marines fought their way up the hill, the heat caused them to sweat profusely, foam at the mouth and turned their eyes bloodshot. Additionally, at some points the hill was very steep, which caused the Marines to have to scramble on all fours to make their way up. Consequently, from the Germans' vantage point, they witnessed a pack of tenacious, growling figures whose lower faces were obscured by gas masks (which at the time had a prolonged shape that somewhat resembled a snout) but left open their bloodshot eyes and mouth foam seeping from the sides, advancing up the hill, sometimes on all fours, and killing everything in their way. As the legend goes, the German soldiers, upon seeing this spectacle, began to yell that they were being attacked by "dogs from hell." The story is unverified by German records, but it is possible that it was only a handful or even one German soldier that spoke this line and the story has been repeated ever since.

A poster created by Charles B. Falls in 1918 (exhibited at right) was one of the first recorded references to the term.

Note that "Teufel Hunden" is grammatically incorrect in German, the German word would be Teufelshunde. This may suggest that the Marines were never actually referred to as "devil dogs" by German WW1 soldiers. (As a further note: it is very possible that the individual(s) who passed this information on originally weren't well versed in the German language. The two words are very close in spelling.)

Modern use

Currently in the Marine Corps, the term Devil Dog is a very common nickname for all Marines. "Devil Dog" was historically a well accepted term of endearment. Professional Military Education had stated "Devil Dog" is a title of honor. "Devil Dog" should be called out when praising ones actions when they are in keeping with the high standards of the Corps.

See also

• VMF-111