McCormick messenger. (McCormick, S.C.) 1902-current, October 13, 1938, Image 6
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. In place of napkins, small
pieces of bread were used and
then thrown 9* the floor for the
dogs to eat r - —
I MINOR SKIN IRRHARORS
SNOW-WHITE PETROLEUM JELlV
Beauty Aids
A little love and converaatioB^
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