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McCOflMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICK, S. C.. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1938 Siege of "Lost Battalion" Was 'World Wars Supreme Hero Story So Say the Authors of a Recently-Published Book in Which Is Given for the First Time the Complete and Authentic Chronicle of This "Unique, Poignant Episode Whose Luster Has Been Dimmed by a Tarnish of Mystery and Sensational Rumor." e Western Newspaper Union. Maj. Charles Whittlesey (left), commander of the “Lost Battalion,’' and Major McKinney, commander of the First battalion of the 307th infantry, which relieved the “Lost States Army Signal Corps.) Jly ELMO SCOTT WATSON N THE afternoon of October 8,1918, a party of 194 American sol diers, ragged, haggard, some of them trembling with weak ness but keeping in forma tion, led by a major and a captain, tramped wearily across Charlevaux valley in the Argonne Forest in France. They were march ing to the rear, to brigade re serve and' rest. “From beyond La Palette, the raw wind brought a faint rapping sound, and above their heads came the whip ping and snapping of ma chine-gun bullets, almost spent—the enemy’s last grop ing finger-tips. Those who were left of the Lost Bat talion did not even turn their heads; they looked neither to the right nor left. One, who saw them pass, remem bers today their eyes. ‘When I looked into those eyes, there was nothing I could say to them.* " Such is the graphic description of the climax of one of the most dramatic incidents in American history, as given in the book “The Lost Battalion,” written by Thomas M. Johnson and Fletcher Pratt and published recently by the Bobbs-Merrill company. “The siege of* the Lost Battalion en dures after 20 years as the su preme American hero-story of the World war.” says the fore word to this book. “Yet this unique, poignant episode has had no complete chronicle, and its luster has been dimmed by a tar nish of mystery and sensational rumor. To get and tell the full truth, we have joined forces: a sometime war correspondent who reported the episode at the time, albeit under, censorship, and an historian who has specialized in military history.” In order to make their book a complete and authoritative ac count of this epic event, the au thors did a thorough and pains taking job of research. They con sulted all the army records and dispatches bearing upon the inci dent. Although the 100-odd sur vivors of the Lost Battalion are scattered all over the country they interviewed in person or by letter as many of these as possi ble. They examined diaries and letters written at the time and checked the Reichsarchi in Pots dam to get the German side of the story. Dispelling the Myths. Out of all their research has emerged a story “far different from, and in many ways much CAPT. GEORGE G. McMURTRY Second-in-command of the “Lost Battalion” more creditable to those partici pating than, the legend which has grown so profusely about it.” The epic of the Lost Battalion had its origins in an order is sued by Maj .-Gen. Robert Alex ander of the Seventy-seventh di vision at the beginning of its drive against the Germans in the Argonne late in September. That order read: “Ground once captured must under no circumstances be given up in absence of direct, positive and formal orders to do so ema nating from these headquarters. Troops occupying ground must be supported against counter attack, and all gains held. It is .a favorite trick of the Boche to spread confusion among our troops by calling out ‘Retire!’ or ‘Fall back!’ If, in any action, any such command is heard, offi cers and men may be certain that it is given by an enemy. Whoever gives such a command Is a traitor, and it is the duty of any officer or man loyal to his country, who hears such an or der, 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 in fantry of the Seventy-seventh di vision, -had no thought of retreat when, on the morning of October 3, he found his command caught in a “pocket,” a ravine a mile or so northeast of Binarville. Twice during the division’s drive, which began on October 2, he had protested against making * the attack that would put his command in the dreaded “pock et,” but he was overruled by his superior officers. His orders were to drive on “without regard to flanks or losses.” So he felt that he had no choice but to obey. He Obeyed Orders. Despite the encircling move ment of the Germans, Whittlesey knew on the morning of October 3 that he could get his men safely _ back to the main army, but he decided to hold his position. Lat er 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 Whittlesey’s force, steadily reduced in numbers un til only 194 of the 554 men who went into the “pocket” came out of it, beat off the assaults of the Germans—by infantry attack, by trench mortar bombs, hand gre nades, and machine gun fire, by sniping rifle fire from the front, flank and rear and finally by' flame-throwers. The Americans dug fox-holes among the trees along the slope of the valley and hung on desperately—short of ra tions, without enough water and with no surgeons to care for their wounds. According to the testimony of most of the survivors, a SVz-hour period of the second day of the siege was the worst of all. At noon on October 4 there was a lull in the German firing. Whit tlesey’s men crawled out of their funk-holes and sat around, wish ing for something to eat. Sud denly there was a violent explo sion, then two more -and then three in quick succession. They were shellbursts, shells coming from the south where the Ameri can artillery divisions lay. Their preliminary warning screeches were distinctly the Franco-Amer- ican 75s, not the German 77s. The line of fire methodically moved forward and then concentrated squarely on the place where the battalion lay. The “Friendly Barrage.” Whittlesey scribbled a mes sage: “We are along the road parallel 276.4. Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heaven’s sake, stop it.” Omer Richards, the French Ca nadian pigeon man, nervously clipped the message to the leg of the last pigeon, Cher Ami, and tossed the bird in the air, start ing it on the hazardous journey back to Corporal George Gault who was in charge of the Seventy- BattaUon.” (Photo by the United seventh division’s pigeon loft. Cher Ami, its breast-bone shat tered and a leg and an eye miss ing, arrived at the headquarters loft shortly before four o’clock. By that time the bombardment had ceased, but the damage al ready had been done. Whittle sey found that 80 of his men had been killed or wounded in the “friendly barrage.” Later in the afternoon, the Ger mans captured several of the commwnd, including two lieuten ants, Leak and Harrington. Left alone for a few minutes, the pris oners fabricated a tale that prob ably saved the Lost Battalion from complete extinction. Each man, cross-examined in turn, gave the same answers to the en emy questioners: that the be leaguered American battalion consisted of 1,500 men well equipped with ammunition and food. Those inspired lies, the au thors 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 not having the proper co-ordi 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 tlesey noticed that the morale of his men was breaking down. The runners he had sent back for re lief apparently had been cap tured or killed. “There was a shortage of writ ing materials^ particularly of pa per. A few men wrote final mes sages to loved ones on scraps of bandage or pieces of shirttail whacked off with pocket knifes, with blood for ink, not in a ges ture of melodrama, but out of necessity.” A Demand for Surrender. Later in the afternoon the crumbling morale was revived when the German letter asking immediate surrender was re ceived. Lowell R. Hollingshead, 18-year-old private who had been captured by the Germans, bore the letter back to Major Whittle sey. The popular legend has Major Whittlesey shouting “Go to hell!” to the enemy. Major Whittlesey’s story is that there were no Ger mans near for him to shout that to, so he just folded up the let ter, put it in his pocket and said to Hollingshead, “Go back to your post.” In his written report the major said simply, “No re ply 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 runners got through to the 154th brigade and the First battalion of the 307th infantry, led by Ma jor McKinney, smashed through the German lines and reached the “pocket.” The Lost Battalioo was saved! , <.j?ard to the “go-to-hell” legend, the authors of “The Lost Battalion” say: “Major Whittlesey never sail Go to hell!’ 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 artist’s painting, and even by a fake photograph al legedly snapped by one of the Lost Battalion. “The myth probably originated in the headquarters of the Seven ty-seventh division. Thence someone sent an official report giving the text of Lieutenant Prinz’s surrender letter and the concluding line: ‘The reply to the above was “go to hell!” back to Lieut. E. Kidder Meade at First Corps headquarters. “A day or two later, on a visit to the Seventy-seventh division headquarters, the co-author of this volume, Thomas M. Johnson, asked General Alexander, “ ‘What did Whittlesey tell ’em?’ “ ‘What WOULD he tell ’em?’ General Alexander retorted. ‘He told ’em to go to hell.’ “Shortly afterward, Mr. John son asked Major Whittlesey the same question. The major re plied: “ ‘We told them nothing.’ “He and Captain McMurtry wrote into their official report that: ‘No reply seemed neces sary.’ “But typewriter, cable and linotype—to say nothing of head line writer—had done their work; millions of Americans were throwing down their newspapers to give three rousing cheers for ‘Go-to-hell Whittlesey’ and the ‘Lost Battalion’ that had not lost its nerve. Whoever invented that story was a genius at wartime propaganda. He could have put into the mouth of the New Eng land lawyer no words that would more endear him and his men to average Americans—or more in flame their war spirit.” In this hero worship, according to Johnson and Pratt, lay the main reasons which caused Whit tlesey later to commit suicide. They write: “His whole position, on being demobilized, was a painful one. He was naturally a rather mod est and retiring individual; nat- BRIG. GEN. ROBERT ALEXANDER urally he had always been acute ly uncomfortable in the presence of anything that savored of per sonal publicity or personal dis play. He had an acute sympathy with the forgotten man and want ed 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 of the ‘three outstanding heroes of the A. E. F.’ and he was the only one resident in New York and in« stantly available for all kinds of speeches and ceremonies. His of« fice became a rendezvous for job- hunting ex-soldiers—‘Not a day but I 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 where a word about his real convictions on war as a bloody and unneces sary business (which do not ap pear to have changed) would have caused a violent scanda] and made people think him im sane. Still more would a word of his real convictions as to tha episode for which he was being honored; he thought it fortuitous and futile. Not merely the de* siye to avoid publicity such a word would entail, but also his sense of social duty—in this case, duty to his old comrades of the A. E. F., many of whom had given lives to an ideal he regard ed with suspicion—forbade him to speak; forbade him publicly to question any detail of the offi» cial version . . . Yet every day saw him forced deeper into his false position, every event forced upon him more undesired hon ors, more elements of a careei not of his own choosing.” The result was that about twq weeks after the dedication of th« tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington—a ceremony which he, with some 30 others who had re ceived the Congressional Meda! of Honor could not avoid attend ing—he boarded a steamer for « vacation in Cuba. That night he went out on deck and jumped over the rail. A Slim Waist for Glamour LJERE are two charming new * designs that give you the tiny, Victorian waistline — almost an hour-glass effect—that’s so fash ionable right now. Both accentu ate it, too, with perked-up sleeves and full skirts. Both give you a most feminine and appealing look! And it’s so easy to make these carefully simplified designs. Each includes a detailed sew 1*98 m * 1617 chart that carefully explains ev ery step of the way. Hearthside Coat. You can relax so thoroughly in this charming design. It will give you the inward peace that comes of knowing you look particularly pretty. The fitted-in waistline, the sweep of the full skirt, are too flattering for words! Make it of taffeta, flannel, challis, moire or velveteen—choosing colors that do nice things to your eyes and hair. This pattern is perforated for short length, too. Daytime Dirndl. Of course you want a fall-into winter version of the flattering dirndl—and here’s the way to make it. With a tailored collar, big buttons down the bodice, Vic torian sleeves and (a highlight of charm!) the shirred waistline that looks so delightful on young and supple figures. For this. Uncle Phil^ Sau5: But It's Difficult to Know One may disregard a prejudice if he knows it to be such. To determine upon attainment is frequently attainment itself. People sometimes have to be lieve a pessimist, although they hate to. Hustle to Make Their Own Those who become famous do not study too long the footprints of others in the sands of time. Ambition is a balloon which car ries no parachute. Absent-mindedness is no help to forgetting things you want to choose challis, silk print, taffi or cashmere—^preferable in soi of the new, rich, warm, live! colorings. The Patterns. 1498 is designed for sizes 14, 16, 18, 20, 40, 42 and 44. For long coat, size 16 requires 4% yards of 39 inch material. For short, 4Y4 yards. 1% yards grosgrain ribbon to trim. 1617 is designed for sizes 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20. Size 14 requires 3tt yards of 39-inch material. % yard for contrasting collar, if desired. 1% yard braid to trim. U4 yard ribbon for sash belt. Fall and Winter Fashion Book. The new 32-page Fall and Win ter Pattern Book which shows photographs of the dresses being worn is now out. (One pattern and the Fall and Winter Pattern Book—25 cents.) You can order the book separately for 15 cents. Send your order to The Sewing Circle Pattern Dept., Room 1020, 211 W. Wacker Dr., Chicago, I1L Price of patterns, 15 cents (in coins) each. <E> Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service. WWW WWW WWW WWW wAsk Me .Another A A General Quiz 1. When are lunar rainbows most likely to occur? 2. What is the term of an orig inal copyright? 3. The age of only one woman is, given in the Bible; whose age is it? 4. How was the statue of Lib erty paid for? 5. Were napkins used in the days of the Greeks? The Answers 1. After showers on nights when the moon is bright but low. 2. Twenty-eight years (with 28 years additional if a second term is applied for). 3. That of Sarah, half sister of Abraham, 90 years old (Genesis 17:17.) 4. By popular subscription by the people of France. It was pre sented to the U. S. in 1886. 5. 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