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GEN John J. Pershing leads the victory parade past the Arc de Triomphe on Bastille Day, July 14, 1919, the last time the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) marched in Paris. First Lieutenant William J. Cunningham carries the general’s standard and is followed by MG James C. Harbord, AEF chief of staff. n assessing the reasons for the Allied victory during World War I, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) com- mander GEN John J. (Black Jack) Pershing noted that By COL Cole C. Kingseed “upon the young commanders of platoons, companies U.S. Army retired and battalions fell the heaviest burden.” Deeds of daring, to use Pershing’s phrase, were legion during the war, and there were many whose heroic services had been recognized over Archives National November 2010 I ARMY 45 A memorial marks the valley in the through one of the Plattsburgh, N.Y., Argonne Forest in Binarville, France, camps designed in the American pre- where the “Lost Battalion” of the 308th paredness movements in 1916. His Infantry, 77th Division, led by MAJ Charles previous wartime experiences had W. Whittlesey, held off surrounding Germans for a week until relief arrived. been unremarkable. By October 1, 1918, Whittlesey’s 1st Battalion positioned itself on the front the course of the war. In his memoirs, line within the Argonne Forest, under however, Pershing mentioned only orders to continue the attack the fol- three soldiers whose battlefield ex- lowing morning toward Charlevaux ploits he deemed particularly extraor- Mill, with McMurtry’s 2nd Battalion dinary and representative of the fight- in direct support. Due to the attrition ing spirit of the AEF. during the previous week’s combat, Best typifying the spirit of the rank the fighting strength of the combined and file of the AEF were a Reserve of- battalions was less than 700. To their ficer, a draftee from the mountains of front was a deep ravine that separated northern Tennessee and a Regular the left flank companies from the Army man. Of the more than 2 million main body. soldiers who composed the American At precisely 0630 hours, Whittlesey Expeditionary Forces over the course plunged forward under cover of an of the war, Pershing singled out MAJ intense artillery bombardment. The Charles W. Whittlesey, who refused to Ret. MAJ Lillian Pfluke, USA assault across the corps front failed surrender the “Lost Battalion” of the 77th Division; CPL immediately, but by early afternoon on October 2, the divi- Alvin C. York of the 82nd Division, who singlehandedly sion commander renewed the attack. Whittlesey somehow killed 25 enemy soldiers and captured 132 Germans; and discovered a gap in the enemy defense and penetrated the LT Samuel Woodfill from the 5th Division, who personally German line to a half-mile. McMurtry’s 2nd Battalion was attacked a series of German machine-gun nests near Cunel, hot on his heels. Casualties, however, had reduced their France, and killed the crews of each in turn until reduced combined strength to approximately 550 men. to the necessity of assaulting the last detachment with a Awaiting reinforcements, Whittlesey assumed direct pick, dispatching them all. All three soldiers fought in the command of the survivors and relayed his position to bat- Meuse-Argonne offensive that began the last week of Sep- talion headquarters. Alone in the Argonne since his flank- tember 1918 and continued until the armistice on Novem- ing elements had failed to match his advance, Whittlesey ber 11. established a defensive posture and waited for the inevitable German counterattack. He did not have to wait long. ew legends from the Great War have endured as By midafternoon, the Germans had recovered from their long as the story of the Lost Battalion. In reality, initial surprise and began penetrating Whittlesey’s perime- MAJ Charles W. Whittlesey’s 1st Battalion of the ter. Whittlesey dispatched two of his eight carrier pigeons 308th Infantry, 77th Division, was never lost, nor to the division commander, requesting resupply of ammu- was the Lost Battalion a single battalion. What be- nition and giving his approximate position. MG Robert came known as the Lost Battalion was actually Alexander, commanding the 77th Division, ordered a res- Fseven companies from two separate infantry battalions cue attack on October 3, but the relief effort failed due to and two machine-gun sections from the 306th Machine heavy fog and determined German resistance that reduced Gun Battalion. From October 2, 1918, until the surrounded the assaulting Americans by 50 percent. Whittlesey was doughboys were relieved a week later, Whittlesey was the now hopelessly surrounded with little expectation of relief. senior commissioned officer of the besieged defenders. By the end of the day, he had lost 222 men, 82 of them CPT George G. McMurtry, an old Rough Rider, commanded killed. Whittlesey’s sister battalion from the same regiment. October 5 proved the worst day of the battle. Friendly ar- Whittlesey lacked the military presence of a Pershing or tillery descended on Whittlesey’s troops and wiped out one a Woodfill. A “slender bespectacled New Englander, a man platoon. Now subject to enemy artillery and mortar fire, of manners, a practicing lawyer in New York” is how Whittlesey released two more carrier pigeons in an attempt doughboy historian Laurence Stallings describes him in his to halt the fratricide. McMurtry was badly wounded, and book The Doughboys: The Story of the AEF. Not a profes- the Lost Battalion was under repeated infantry and hand sional soldier, Whittlesey had earned his commission grenade assault. To make matters worse, aerial resupply was totally ineffective. The next day produced no relief as COL Cole C. Kingseed, USA Ret., Ph.D., a former professor of the Lost Battalion again held their position by the skin of history at the U.S. Military Academy, is a writer and consul- their teeth. tant. On October 7, nine soldiers from McMurtry’s battalion 46 ARMY I November 2010 attempted to escape the encirclement, only to be killed or Not that far from where the Lost Battalion was rescued, captured by the enemy. Later that afternoon, one of the York’s company moved forward to the vicinity of the vil- prisoners, PVT Lowell R. Hollingshead, under protest de- lage of Chatel-Chéhéry, France, near the edge of the Ar- livered a surrender demand from the German commander gonne along the Aire River. On October 8, Company G to Whittlesey. The letter read in part, “The suffering of moved forward without artillery support. Instantly the your wounded men can be heard over here in the German company encountered stiff enemy resistance, and the at- lines, and we are appealing to your humane sentiments to tack stalled. At that point, Danforth decided to send a stop. A white flag shown by one of your men will tell us small detachment of men from the 1st Platoon around the that you agree with these conditions.” Whittlesey treated left flank of the company line. CPL Bernard Early com- the surrender demand with utter contempt and sent no re- manded the platoon-size detachment, with York com- ply. Hearing nothing from the Americans except cries of manding one of three infantry squads. Within minutes, profanity, the Germans attacked the Early’s force ran into heavy machine- Lost Battalion with increased inten- gun fire and was reduced to 17 men. sity. Moving through the dense under- Down to their last rounds of ammu- growth, the doughboys came across nition and dying from thirst, Whittle- two German stretcher bearers who sey’s Lost Battalion repelled the final fled as soon as they saw the American German assault. That same afternoon, platoon. Early followed and soon an American battalion from the 307th stumbled upon an encampment of 25 Infantry Regiment finally reached German soldiers, whom they promptly Whittlesey’s beleaguered troops and captured. As Early rounded up the provided rations, medical supplies prisoners, a German officer hollered a and ammunition. Whittlesey waited command, and two concealed ma- until the afternoon of October 8 to chine guns started firing on the Amer- withdraw his troops. By that time, the icans. Early fell with five bullets in his Lost Battalion had captured the imagi- body. Six doughboys died instantly, nation of the American high com- and another two were wounded in mand. GEN Alexander himself visited addition to Early, leaving York and Whittlesey in the Argonne and con- seven others unharmed. gratulated him on his spirited de- MAJ Charles W. Whittlesey Now the senior noncommissioned fense. Only 194 of the original 554 officer, York seized command. Leav- doughboys who started the attack on October 2 stood un- ing the remnants of his command, he crawled to a position wounded. where he could draw a bead on the enemy machine-gun The Army promoted Whittlesey to lieutenant colonel fol- nests. “In order to sight me or swing their machine guns at lowing the relief of the Lost Battalion and pulled him from me,” he later explained, “the Germans had to show their the front line. On December 5, Whittlesey was honorably heads above the trenches.” Every time a gunner appeared, discharged from active service. The next day he was York picked him off, emptying three clips of ammunition awarded the Medal of Honor. A civilian once again, Whit- in the process. Just then, a German officer with six men tlesey returned to his law profession where he served as an with fixed bayonets charged York from 25 yards away. associate for a prestigious law firm from 1919–1920; but he York promptly killed each with a carefully aimed shot, never adjusted to civilian life—always haunted by the starting with the rear soldier and working his way for- deaths that he had witnessed in the Argonne Forest.

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