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Show 1 MORE STORIES OF I LOSTBATTALION 5f Recitals From Different Men J Describe How They Were 'j ij Caught in Wood. I I WITH THE AMERICAN FORCES I . NORTHWEST OF VERDUN, Wedncs- C It daJ' 0ct " A comnosIte story glean - j ! ed from a dozen recitals reveals that 5 h the battalion when ordered to advance c4f last Friday pushed Its way rapidly tiWm ahead through the forest and, in Its iltjii eagerness to catch up with the retreat- 13 inE Germans, gradually spread out and fill widened its ranks. This allowed the ' fir Germans to Infiltrate unseen behind j j the Americans and they fell directly fH into a cunning trap which the Germans :jf had set for them. m The enemy had planned to catch the , Ii Americans In a hollow surrounded on J all four sides by heights, the greatest 'If of which was a steep hill directly III ahead. The Americans who were not !!( accustomed to forest fighting and were ill filled with eagerness, dashed into this h hollow without stopping to think that ti the enemy might bo awaiting them. lj The members of the battalion were at ft first checked by their own artillery fly barrage which had worked steadily III forward. Nevertheless it had not work- I ed as fast as tho troops themselves U and the battalion proceeded half way to up the hill and there they waited for, jjf the barrage, to pass in front of them. I I ill Then tbey discovered that the Ger- I mans on both sides had jointly flanked II them and had closed in upon their rear, w Sheltered only in shallow and has- M lily constructed trenches, the men 9 were subjected to a grilling sniping, W machine gun fire as well as a trench ' mortar bombardment every time they I' showed themselves. Only with the m greatest difficulty and with extremo Dill P,ace an(l Ircep guard against surprise llff attacks. If Tlie baltalion . had started with ll meager rations expecting more to lf reach them later. These of course1 JII .could no longer be transported to llll thorn. It was the greatest good fortune HI that they were fairly well supplied III with water. Nightly and daily, too, they sent II back volunteer scouting parties, but if If these reached the positions in the rear j without being captured or killed they t could not tell, for none ever returned. Daily American aviators searching for them flew' overhead but no outcry out-cry the men could make brought anything any-thing but a volley of shouts and laughter from the Germans in" front i and behind and to the right and left of them. The beleaguered men discovered , there were German machine gun nests all around thorn every fifteen' feet or so and a men to show himself ever so briefly was the signal for a sweeping rain of bullets. If n man made an unusual un-usual noise trench mortars pounded the vicinity viciously. Just for diversion the enemy made a practice of sweeping the whole terrain the hillside where the improvised trenches were located and the valley in which the men crawled to get leaves and water regularly and then irregularly irregu-larly with machine guns. Snipers were constantly on watch. German 77's pounded the locality and' hand grenades also were hourly in evidence. The Americans had no rockets rock-ets or other signals and they were powerless to attract the attention of I any one but the Germans. As the days passed the Americans grew more and more emaciated and more and more bearded but they never gave up hope. There was nothing but a grim determination to hold out until the last man was finished. There was not a man in the battalion, wounded 'or otherwise, hungry or starved, but scouted the idea of surrender. Their ammunition was depleted to a point whore the few machine guns in the outfit had but one belt of cartridges r apiece and the rifle ammunition was running so short that they had re-; re-; ceived ordors not to flre at any one at-L at-L tacking until within such short range I that his death or serious injury was almost inevitable. Major Whittlesay, who is a well known New Yorker, had his entire battalion behind him to a man, Captain Cap-tain Leo Stromcs of San Bernardino, Cal., told the Associated Press, his-tnen his-tnen jeered at the idcr. cS 3urrendcr and the men who came out of the four days' siege are united in declaring that they never would have given up. |