Show lep r asam so ry aa ah ab ah AMON aa v 0 mm tta 0 o J 1 t aw m 7 klo it timm I 1 X 1 ac t va 1 V n ar L A lip 4 ml 2 T TRI 41 w alip i i L AT A r ea Z TV A ey cy ELMO SCOTT WATSON UT at camp kearney near sin diego calif there was recently erected a monument to one of the most moat famous military organizations lations in n alic lie history of our country mention to the average american the three hundred elgi eighth 11 infantry of I 1 hie ae seventy seventh chislon dil slon rind it may or may not have any special significance for him nut but speak of tile hie lost battalion and see how quickly lie will understand estand what you NOU are arc talking about for the stori of lip HIP bost battalion Is one of the real hero herci tales of tile world war As such it Is familiar to nil all of u oven even though the facts about that incident in the great I 1 meuse argonne oren offensive sive of the american forces in tile the autumn of 1018 have become becom e so BO colored with a certain amount of notion as to produce another example of popular misinformation in ID our national legend the seventy seventh seventy division of the hie national army Is known na as new yorks own because its ranks were 11 filled mainly with men who were called to the colors in new york city by that great human lottery the the service act for that reason it may seem curious that t a monument to the herril heroism sin of new yorkers should be erected in california clear across the continent from new york but the lie reason for the lie camp kearney memorial Is this before talin taking g over its sector for the meuse argonne offensive the seventy seventh was astren strengthened with replacements from the fortieth division composed of men from nil all parts of tile the west who hall had trained at camp kearney and in the lie famous lost battalion episode cowboys from the west fought alongside alon alde of men of every occupation nationality class clam rind creed from the rast cast side or melting vot rot of new york in regard to the fiction which has crept into the story etory of the lost Batt battalion tillon it should be noted first that the name itself Is 13 a misnomer for the lost B battalion at tallou never was lost led ly by maj charles W WhIttle scy rind and capt george W tile battalion of something less than men took part in nn attack by the seventy seventh on the morning of october 2 2918 with a certain road on the ed edge ge of a ravine in fit tile Charle vaux vally RS as tile the objective they were acting under orders ot of gerl gen robert alexander commander of the seventy seventh who later assumed full responsibility for what aliat took place my orders were positive and Prec precise lse said general alexander tile the objective was to be gained without regard to losses and wi without phout regard to the exposed condition of the flanks flank 8 11 of the four battalions from the lie three hundred sixth throe three bundred amenth three hund reil eighth find throe three hundred ninth infantry which were sent into the attack Whittles pys from the three hundred was the only one to reach its objective As a result the enemy pene penetrated 1 rated to the rear of their position and the batta battalion I 1 ion was cut off so they were cut olt off they were not lost for they knew all the time where they were the seventy seventh division knew where they were and made repeated attempts during the five days they were beleaguered beleaguer ed to rescue them what took place during those five fire days la is told in entertaining fashion faa lilon in a book recently published by the boehs merrill company it Is without censor written by thomas M job joanson correspondent for tile the new york sun still with the A E F it now lt ft can be told bool book which explodes many popular myths about the world war and shells sheds much new light on many disputed questions eions in tile the chapter finding the lost battalion mr johnson tells the true story of that famous incident in our history ns as follows the morning of october third general alexander ordered the attack resumed rea umed and directed general johnson johnon to give special attention to joining up with whittlesey whittlesey and hla his men had heard the firing to the rear as the rest real of the one hundred fifty fourth brigade tried to reach them but the firing receded died down and they knew that the germans germana had repulsed the attack were free tor for a time to destroy the Amerikaner nest an they called it they tried for live days day and nights by infantry attack attach by trench mortar bombs hand band grenades machine guns euna sweeping the valley by gulping PIng me fire from front flank dank and rear tIlly by flame throwers th rowers the americans americana dune clung to their small foxhole fox hole holer along alone the slope dope the trees arnved them safe bate holes could cou id be dur dug under roots tilinka and bra branches deflected bullets scon became hu hungry agry for they had started vh dhori at of the living ate te those of cil the binl ii nl bt bi t ll it eineo 1 ere rating eating leaves leaven in 44 ac c cap fact even at the end of october third the lost battalion was dwindling fast its effective strength only two hundred forty five water could not be grot got from the muddy stream in the valley watched by enli slashed flashed by machine guns some who volunteered to 1111 canteens did not return the mm men had started without blankets and it was cold and rainy there was no surgeon burgeon only two medical corps men binding wounds with bandages or wrap puttees taken from the dead even their friends teemed seemed 6 to have turned agal list the lost battalion the second day october fourth while the germans were giving them a brief rest nn an allied artillery barrage came down upon them slowly the shell bursts commenced on the solf southern thern siope slope of 0 the valley more rapidly more quickly they crept down the slope crossed the valley an and d settled straight on the line of foxholes fox holes boles held by the cou cowering crIng bewildered americans crashing hells threw about branches leaves stones and earth smashed in foxholes fox holes burying some men all wounded who could walk were moved to places of comparative safety but thirty americans were killed or wounded by that barrage so easy to pass the buck to the french but the weight of evidence seems to be that it was american whittlesey and mcmurtry thought so flom its flaming smoking midst whittlesey sent his last carrier pigeon with this message we are arc along the road parallel 2761 our own artil artillery levy Is dropping a barrage dI directly recty on us for heavens sake stop it to whittlesey and mcmurtry it seemed that th the shells just missed them passed on right at th the end of it came a german attack but that was vlas beaten olt off and the sound bound of the firing told tile the rest of the seventy seventh that hat tile the lost battalion was still there it had bad made every effort to let the division know that whenever whittlesey asked volunteers to take back messages he found them the germans captured all but three of the messengers captured some of them lying face down downward amid the brown forest leaves so starving chilled drenched sleepless threatened with instant death from foe or friend the men hung on through great heroism amon among them calm nod and smiling moved the scholarly spectacled whittlesey or the optimistic mcmurtry laughing and joking in a whisper with part of a german potato masher grenade sticking from a wound n his back ono one by one their nine precious machine guns were knocked out their ammunition ran low the germans could not see why they did not our bur render kammrad Ka Ha morad will your they shouted across to which the doughboys dough boys replied Nam kamerad erad yourself you some german americans came in very handy there m A party of soldiers from captain cullens company on the left lank flank slipped oft off to look for kitchens kitchen tor for food dropped from airplanes trainor vainly to succor the lost battalion and all were killed wounded or captured only one named returned bearing this letter exactly transcribed to the commanding officers of the 2nd and ball J it sir the bearer of the present lowell R has been taken prisoner by us on october ile he refused to the german intelligence officer entry answer to his questions question and Is quite an honourable honour able fellow doing honor to his fatherland in the strictest sense of the word ile he has ha been charged against his will believing it doing wrong to his country in carrying forward this present tetter letter to the officer in charge of tile the 2nd and ball J R of the div with tile the purpose to recommend this Com commander monder to surrender with his forces no as it would be quite csele useless 3 to resist any more in view of the present conditions the suffering of your wounded men can be heard over oler here in the german lines and we tire appealing to your human sentiments sentiment A withe flag shown by one of your men will tell us that you agree with these conditions please treat the lowell R ts as rn nn honourable honour able man lie he Is quite a soldier we envy you the writer of that letter was heinrich prinz who before the war lived in seattle wash ills ruse did not work neither did whittle closey ley reply go to h I 1 that legend originated k when correspondents first got the story from an enthusiastic division commander what answer did he send em they asked what answer would he send em general alexander replied lie told em cm to go eo to h 1 I 1 next day those few correspondents who saw the mild mannered whittlesey asked him did you really ull em to go to h lt ir well ho he said slowly mcmurtry and holderman were squatting near by I 1 read the note we smiled I 1 I 1 just uit folded up the note it was typewritten and put it in my pocket and said to the soldier go back to your post Whitt leacy said in his written ritten report no reply seemed necessary but the next thing ho he did after putting pulling the noie note in his pocket was to order taken in the white cloth panels with li which vilich he had attempted to signal american airplanes trying to drop food 1 H 4 was afraid they might look like withe flags the rescue of the lost battalion was finally accomplished by colonel houghton of the three hundred seventh who ubo discovered a gap in the german barbed wire south of Charie vaux valley through which men might wriggle one nt at a time unobserved if they were cry ry careful th then en when enough had got through they might start to work their way along the valley from the east toward IN position by the morning of october seventh two men from force had got in touch with these men creeping creep lne forward and were brought to colonel Hough tons hole in the ground some of his wounded were found bandaged by german surgeons who had said soon it Is we who will be surrounded men pushed on at seven that evening their first small party reached the right of the line of foxholes fox holes boles that the lost battalion had held with such fortitude tor for five days and nights companies A 13 and ht of the ahree hundred seventh soon appeared the siege was ended just in time the lost battalion had held out on nerve for the last let two or three days saving every ounce of strength to repel german attacks attack one of 0 the worst of all had come the last morril morning ang october seventh for the first time the enemy ned liquid ore fire belching smoke and flame did not demoralize the americans on the right tanks flanks after their terrible ordeal it made them mad they jumped from their fox foxholes holes and with their rifles shot the men carrying the lame flame throwers th rowers yet when Hough tons men tame among them they could hardly have with withstood stood another attack hand grenades were all gone ammunition almost t only two of nine machine guns left and no to machino machine achino gunners to handle them to meet the next attack the men were sharpening defiantly on stones and earth their bayo bayonets neti about all they had left the night of october seventh they got a little food slept for the first time safely guarded by the rescuing three hundred seventh next morning occurred a thing that brought tears to the eyes that saw it up from foxholes fox holes at roots of trees pits pith where dead lay wl with th living rose men of the who had atta attacked aked five days before and of the 19 many bore w wounds oun ds they were all who could walk alk out of Char Charlo lavaux vaux valley which they had taken a and nd hold held am n orde ordered red the rest were dead or had to be carried th the 0 one hundred ninety four walked heavily numbed by utter exhaustion clothes tattered and filthy faces like drawn masks of putty with the fixed store stare of determination worn ou out t dirty hungry thirsty they would not give in the eyes told that those of us who were there and slaw saw them as the pioneers turned the first or of earth for the others know that here was indeed a holy place those who sought whittlesey WhIttie whittlesey sey found a tall slim youngish man wearing glasses very tired a sitting I 1 on a stump slump in a little clearing at a forest crossroads and near him the bat battalion tallon the handful that was left about the first thins thing he said ard and be really raid mild it was dont write about me just jus about these men A fine alne modest gentleman how untrue and unjust like most goes gossip IP were the rumors about what h he had done ile he was of the hie conscientious ape that worries ills friends thought afterward the that t hit bl nerves were shot hot and those rumors preying upon him mind may have helped casslo his tragic death by suicide lie he had obeyed his orders with unswerving devotion ill had done a soldiers duty lie ile and thoe e with him lini lial left one of the world wars noblest traditions that is iq tile the true glory it the hie dinst Val lallon it will never be lort loft |