The Lost Battalion of World War I

It's like something out of a really depressing movie-- 600 soldiers surrounded by a much larger enemy force, pinned down in a ravine.and forced to dig deeper and deeper foxholes in order to protect themselves from the volleys coming from above and all around them. Already very low on medical supplies, they are pummeled by repeated enemy assaults and then prolonged friendly fire. Through all of this they had no stable communications and very little food. The scene I've described is the one faced by the Lost Battalion of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I.

Place: Argonne Forest, France. The Argonne is a wild tangle of vegetation, rocky terrain and nasty weather.

Time: October 2-7, 1918

American Troops involved: Nine units of American soldiers from the 77th division of the American Expeditionary Force. The 77th was from New York City and was known as the Melting Pot Division. Specifically involved were:

Companies A, B, C, E, G, H 308th Infantry
Company K 307th Infantry
Companies C, D 306th Machine Gun Battalion.

Approximately 600 men. 107 were killed. Most of the others were wounded.

The Man of the Hour: Major Charles White Whittlesey--A lawyer from New England, he practiced law on Wall Street. Whittlesey would emerge from the action a well-respected and beloved leader, but he didn't go into the battle with that reputation. Rather, he was known as a stern disciplinarian and stoic who wasn't admired much.

The battle plan was very simple--hit the enemy hard, knock him back, and keep moving forward. If the other units on your flanks don't keep pace--tough!! The problem developed when the plan worked too well for Major Whittlesey's group. They met very little resistance and were able to outstrip the other units because they unknowingly marched right through a gap in the German lines. The Germans soon became aware of their error, closed the gap and left the battalion surrounded in a rugged ravine. They had low ground, very little food, few medical supplies and battle-hardened German troops all around them. The good news was that they had a commander who wouldn't give up (and a few carrier pigeons!!)

The Lost Battalion woke to the sound of German mortar shells whizzing everywhere. They hunkered down and waited, anticipating a full-scale attack. It came that afternoon. Before the attack Major Whittlesey had issued 2 orders: 1) Everyone was to dig his foxhole deeper. 2) The officers were to make their men understand, "Our mission is to hold this position at all costs." As their comrades fell to mortar and sniper fire, the men began to understand what following that second order would require.

Day 3--October 4--was the very worst. One of the carrier pigeons had made it back to HQ with a message that outlined the location of the Lost Battalion. Late that afternoon an American plane appeared. Rather than dropping supplies as the troops anticipated, the plane fired a lone rocket and then flew away. Suddenly the air erupted with gunfire! Someone had botched the location, and American artillerymen were firing on American troops. Eighty men were killed or wounded before the friendly fire ended. Through it all, Major Whittlesey remained calm and ran from foxhole to foxhole assuring his men, "This won't last long." When he had realized who was firing on them, Whittlesey rushed to the HQ foxhole and scribbled a message. "We're along the road parallel 276.4 Our artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heaven's sake, stop it."

Whittlesey attached his message to the last pigeon--Cher Ami, or Dear Friend. The pigeon started on his way, but for some reason decided to stop on a tree limb. A few well-aimed pebbles got Cher Ami going again, but not before the Germans had noted what was going on and began shelling the bird. The situation seemed hopeless.

Amazingly, Cher Ami made it home. Missing an eye and a leg, and having a shattered breastbone, the little bird still delivered the message. By the end of that day the Americans rectified their error and began bombarding the Germans, but were unable to actually reach the men.

By day 5 the troops were in terrible shape! All the rations had been gone for 2 days. Medics had no medicines or bandages. Men were too weak to dig graves for the fallen; the look and smell of death was everywhere. Their situation was made even more pitiful when the men realized that the food packets the Americans were dropping were landing in the arms of the Germans! As the Lost Battalion starved, the Germans feasted on American meat, butter, biscuits and chocolate.

Out of carrier pigeons, but desperate to get out one more message, Major Whittlesey asked for volunteers to get a message to HQ. Three men agreed to go. Within a short time two of the three returned. They'd lost contact with the 3rd man--Abe Krotoshinsky. They assumed he was dead because the forest was crawling with Germans, and they'd heard gunfire near where they'd last seen Krotoshinsky. When they heard this, the weary soldiers prepared for one last stand and waited. But instead of seeing Germans attacking, by day's end they saw Krotoshinsky leading a group of rescuers! Of the 600 men who marched into battle, only 194 walked out with the rescuers--107 were dead and the remainder were wounded.

Major Whittlesey was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and awarded the Medal of Honor.

Abe Krotoshinsky was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Cher Ami was given the French Croix de Guerre, The pigeon returned to the US via a private cabin on the transport ship Ohioan and was later fitted with a wooden leg. After he died, Cher Ami was stuffed and is now on display in the Smithsonian.

I included the clips from "the Lost Battalion" movie not because the film is strictly accurate historically--it isn't, based on other information I've gathered.  However, it is riveting and shows what heroes the "regular soldiers" were--decorated or not.  That's my real purpose in sharing this information.