Show e of lost battalion Baff alion was orld war s supreme hero story sf ory 1 0 e authors of a published book in wh which 1 ch Is given for the ho first timo time the authentic chronicle Chro niclo of this j d unique poignant w 0 to an episode whose luster has lne dimmed j by a tarnish of mystery and sensational rumor 0 western newspaper Newa paper union 10 0 SCOTT WATSON THE TH E afternoon of tober 8 1918 a party american sol aged d haggard some trem trembling bling with weak keeping in forma by a major and a tramped wearily I 1 garleva har leva ux valley in I 1 r orest forest in they were marchie 0 rl rear mr to brigade reid e rest i beyond la palette wind brought a faint sound and above lads ads came the whip hd snapping of mall i bu bullets liets almost tj 11 ic c last grop L those who jt t of the lost bat id not even turn their hey ahey looked neither right nor left one W v them pass kemem lay their eyes when d into those eyes was ms nothing I 1 could them hem 1 the graphic description max of one of the most 1 c incidents in american 1 as is given in the boo book it the jat it tallon written by b y M H johnson an and d fletcher id published recently by bs i merrill company the I 1 tile the lost battalion ener after fter 20 years as the su lA merican hero story of ald 3 war says the fore 0 this book yet this poignant faignant episode has had idlete lete chronicle an and d its as i been dimmed by a tar mystery and sensational to fo get and tell the full we have joined forces a I 1 ne war correspondent who d the episode at the time tim e under ier censorship and an n who has specialized in y history il story der r to ma make ke their book a te and authoritative ac inthis ahls epic event the aua U id thorough and pa pains ins job i of research they con all the army records and hes 3 bearing upon the inci I 1 although hough the odd sur of the lost battalion are ed all over the country interviewed iter viewed in person or by as nany many of these as hey examined diaries and written itten at the time and ad the ie in pots 0 o get it the german side of ry clr elling the myths of all their research has a story far different in many ways much w A A 4 R 1 GEORGE G mcmurtry cond ln in command of the lost battalion 7 creditable to those partial ig than the legend which has 11 ll so profusely about it e epic edic of the lost battalion 4 its origins in an order isby maj gen robert alex aiex r of 0 the seventy seventh dl n at the beginning of its 2 11 against the germans in argonne late in ili september order read ground blound once captured must 11 r no circumstances be given in n absence of f direct positive cormal orders to do so BO ema f ing g from these headquarters aps ops 3 occupying ground must sported against counter ack ck a and all gains hold held it is crate trick ot of the boche to ead acl Gon confusion fusion among our 11 by yU calling ing out retire if I 1 or backle if in such any y aon action command mm lind is heard offis w 4 men may be certain Is oever ia given by an enemy amy 5 aea gives such a command aitor or and it is the duty ol of 41 s y f k 1 I 1 ig 17 M x ij 7 04 4 11 X z t A 4 P Z I 1 A tk w N Z maj charles whittlesey left commander of the lost bat tallon and major commander of the first battalion of the infantry which relieved the lost battalion photo by the united states any officer or man loyal to his country who hears such an order to shoot the offender upon the spot WE ARE NOT GOING BACK BUT FORWARD remembering that order charles W whittlesey major in command of the first battalion of the three hundred eighth infantry of the seventy seventh division had no thought of retreat when on the morning of october 3 fie found his command caught in a pocket a ravine a mile or so northeast of Bi narville twice during the divisions drive which began on october octoba r 2 he had protested against making the attack that would put his command in the dreaded pocket but he was overruled by his superior perlor su officers his orders were to drive on without regard to flanks or losses so he felt that he had no choice but to obey lie obeyed orders despite the tha encircling movement of the germans whittlesey knew on the morning of october 3 that he could get his men safely back to ahn main army but he decided to hold his position later regular army officers trying to gloss over the episode blamed whittlesey for too much zeal and for not withdrawing the result was the five day siege in which force steadily reduced in numbers until only of the men who went into the pocket came out of it beat oft off the assaults of the germans by infantry attack by trench mortar bombs hand grenades nades I 1 and machine gun fire by sniping rifle fire from the front flank and rear and finally by flame throwers tho the americans dug foxholes fox holes among the trees along the slope of the valley and hung on desperately short of rations without enough water and with no surgeons to care are c for their wounds according to the testimony of most of the survivors aal a 3 aj hour period of the second day of the siege was the noon on october 4 there was a lull in the german firing tle men crawled out of their funk holes and sat arounds around wishing for something to eat cat suddenly there was a violent explosion then two more and then three in quick succession they were shell bursts shells coming from the south w where here the american artillery rt illery divisions I 1 lay their preliminary minar y warning screeches were distinctly th the e franco amer ican not the ge german an the line of fire methodi methodically call y moved forward and then concentrated squarely on the place where the battalion lay the friendly barrage it whittlesey scribbled a message we are along the road parn parallel fiel 2764 our own artill artillery ery is dropping a bar barrage rage directly on for heavens sakel sake stop it omer us richards the french C canadian a pigeon mient man nervously clipped the message to tile the leg of the last pigeon cher ami and tossed the bird in the alro air starting it on the hazardous journey back to corporal george gault who was in hahe hv He of the seventy seventh divisions pigeon loft cher ami its breastbone breast bone shattered and a leg and an eye missing arrived at the headquarters loft shortly before four by that time the bombardment had ceased but the damage already had been done whittlesey found that 80 of his men had been killed or wounded in the friendly barrage later in the afternoon the germans captured several of the command including two lieutenants utan leak and harrington lett left alone for a few minutes the prisoners fabricated a tale that probably saved the lost battalion from complete extinction each man cross examined in turn gave the same answers to the enemy questioners that the be league red american battalion consisted of 1500 men well equipped with ammunition and food those inspired lies iles the authors say kept the germans from making a concerted attack on the pitifully weak garrison during the next two days the men of the isolated group were agonized by the sight of allied airplanes flying over the ravine and dropping packets of food cartridges and first aid supplies into the german lines besides i not having the proper co erdl nates the pilots were misled by the american panel signals which were set out by the wily germans the drinking water situation also was desperate the morning of october 7 whit blesey noticed that the morale of his men was breaking down the runners he had sent back for relief apparently had been captured or killed there was a shortage of writing materials particularly of paper A few men wrote f inal final messages to loved ones on scraps of bandage or pieces of shirttail whacked off with pocket knifes with blood for ink not in a gesture of melodrama but out of necessity A demand for surrender later in the afternoon the crumbling morals morale was revived when the german letter asking immediate surrender was received lowell R 1 boar arold ar old private who had been captured by them the garmt germans ins bore the letter back to major whittlesey the popular legend ha has i major whittlesey shouting go to belll to the enemy major Whitt lescys story is that there were no germans near for him tu shout shoat that to so he just folded up the letter te r put it in his pocket and said to go back to your post in his written report the major said simply no reply seemed necessary one effect of the letter was to infuriate the americans so that for two days more they valiantly held out until finally on the night of october 7 several volunteer to the runners 1 got through brigade and the first battalion of the infantry led by major mckinney s smashed mashed through the german lines and reached the pocket the lost Batta battalio liot was st sayndl iveli in regard to the eit go 13 ai 0 11 legend the authors of the 1 0 L lost 1 at battalion say major jmajor whittlesey never said go to holls heill if only because there was no german present to whom to say it but german and all the myth has been perpetuated by a colorful artists painting and even by a fako fake photograph allegedly snapped by ono one of tile the lost battalion if the myth probably originated in the headquarters headquarter a of the seven ty seventh division thence someone sent tin an official report giving tho the text of lieutenant surrender letter an and d tile tho concluding line the reply to tho the above was go to belli back to E kidder mende meado at first corps headquarters A A day day or two later latel on a vis visit it to the seventy seventh division headquarters the coauthor co cc author ol of tills this volume thomas M johnson asked general alexander what did Whitt whittlesey losey tell f em cm what WOULD he tell foil emt em gen general eral alexander retorted ile ho told ern cm to go to liell hell 1 shortly afterward mr johnson asked major whittlesey the samo ame question the major replied wo we told them nothing ile ho and captain mcmurtry wrote vr 0 t a into their official report that no reply seemed necessary 1 but cyp typewriter ow riter cable and linotype to say nothing of headline writer had done their work millions mil liona of americans were throwing down their newspapers to give three rousing cheers for go to hell whittlesey and the lost battalion that ha had d not lost its nerve whoever invented that story was a genius at wartime propaganda ile he could have put into the mouth of the new england lawyer no words that would more en endear dear him and his men to average americans or more inflame their war spirit in this hero worship fic according cording to johnson and pratt lay the main reasons which caused whit blesey later to commit suicide they write his whole position on being de mobilized was a painful one he was naturally a rather modest and retiring individual not nat r Q X 5 q BRIG GEN ROBERT ALEXANDER ALEXANDE R aurally he had always been acutely uncomfortable in the presence of anything that savored of personal publicity or personal display lie he had an acute sympathy with the forgotten roan man and wanted to be one himself now that the fighting was over he wanted nothing so much as to revert to his previous status to sink into the crowd and bury himself in his legal work but he was not permitted to revert he had been named by pershing himself as one ot of the three outstanding heroes of the A E F 1 and he was the only one resident in new york and instantly available for all kinds of speeches and ceremonies his ot of fice became a rendezvous for job hunting ex soldiers not a day but I 1 hear from some of them he said once he was not a private citizen but an exhibition piece a plush horse A plush horse constantly on exhibition in circles who re a word about his reul real convictions on war as a bloody and unnecessary business which do not a ap pear to have would have caused a violent scandal arid and made people think him insane still more would a word of his real convictions as aa to the episode tor for which he was being honored ho he thought it fortuitous and futile not merely the desire to avoid publicity such a word would entail but also his sense of social duty inthis case duty to his old comrades of the A E F many of whom had given lives to an ideal he regarded with suspicion forbade him to speak forbade him publicly to question any detail of the official version i yet every day saw him forced deeper into his false position every event forced upon him more undesired honors more elements of at a career not of his own choosing the result was that about two weeks after the dedication of the tomb of the unknown soldier in arlington a ceremony which he with some 30 others who had bad received thy congressional medal of honor could not avoid attending he boarded a ste steamer timer for a vacation in cuba That night hi he want out on deck and jumped cier the rail |