Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

XV" THE SUN, NEWBERRY, S. C., FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1938 Siege of "Lost Battalion" Was World War's 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." C Western Newspaper Union. By ELMO SCOTT WATSON O 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, trfemped wearily across Charlevaux valley in the Argonne Forest in .France. They were march- jing to the rear, to brigade re- 1 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 ol this epic event, the au thors di/1 a thorough, and pains- "talong job of research. They con sulted sll the army refcords 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 Maj. Charles Whittlesey (left), commander of the “Lost Battalion,” and Major McKinney, commander of the First battalion of the 907th infantry, which relieved the “Lost Battalion.” (Photo by the United States Army Signal Corps.) [CAPT. GEOBGE G. McMURTRY Second-in-command of the “Lost Battalion” fmore 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 ths 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 Binqi-viUe^,, 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 3%-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 f 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- seventh division’s pigeon loft. Cher Ami, its breast-bone shat tered and a leg and an aye 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 command, including two lieuten ants, Leak and Harrington. Left alone for a few minutes, the pris- mers fabricated a tale that prob- saved the Lost Battalion froh* 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 Battalion was saved! In regard to the “go-to-hell" legend, the authors of “The Lost Battalion” say: “Major Whittlesey never said ‘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 bete; demobilized, was a painful one. He was naturally a rather mod est and retiring individual; nat- BBIG. 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 scandal and made people think him in sane. Still more would a word of bis real convictions as to the episode for which he was being honored; he thought it fortuitous and futile. Not merely the de sire 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 upoh him more undesired hon ors, more elements of a career not of his own choosing.” < The result was that about two /reeks after the dedication of the .omb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington—a ceremony which he, with some 30 others who had re ceived the Congressional Medal of Honor could not avoid attend ing—he boarded a steamer for a vacation in Cuba. That night he went out on deck and jumped over the rail. WHO’S NEWS THIS WEEK By LEMUEL F. PARTON N EW YORK.—G. Ward Price, British war correspondent, who is Adaff Hitler’s friend and support er,: land who has traveled, lunched, w dined and visited Hitler Bare* with him off and Hi* Soul to on for years, is Mail Scribe England’s most authentic news source as to Der Fuehrer’s plans. Lord Rothermere’s paper, the Lon don Daily Mail, which employs Mr. Price, has been scooping the ears off the other London sheets on Hitler stories. Mr. Price previously has related how he and Lord Rothermere were two of four guests at Mr. Hitler’s first formal dinner party after he seized power. That was December 19, 1934. It was about this time that Lord Rothermere, reaching 80 per cent of the British reading public, through his newspapers and press associations, began his unceasing campaign for fascism in England. A third guest at the dinner was E. W. D. Tennant, of the Anglo-German fellowship, a fellowship which Lord Rothermere and Mr. Price have dil igently fostered, with their Apologia Fascisms. Mr. Price, educated at Cam bridge university, is a seasoned and ricbly garlanded British war correspondent. As foreign cor respondent of the Daily Mail, he was with the Turkish army in the first Balkan war; he was an official correspondent at the Dardanelles, he was with the British army at Salonika. He t has long been a quasi-official re-' porter for the British empire. He writes concisely, clearly and expertly, with a keen alertness for revealing little human touches and with little concern for the dry imponderables of po litical or economic theory. His book, "I Know These Dicta tors,” published in this country last year, was, in the view of this writer, big news, and should have stirred up a lot of excitement. Principally about Adolf Hitler and Benito Mus solini, it builds out of intimately ob served minutiae of their minds and persons a synthesis of virtue, charm and heroism. Mr. Price, in this book, reports that Adolf Hitler is genteel, humor ous, courageous, chivalrous, abste mious, profoundly intellectual, kind ly, forgiving, unselfish, tender, a clever story-teller, and loves dogs and children. • • • r\R. NORBERT WIENER chal- lenges Milton, or Pope or who ever it was that observed, “Chaos umpire sits, and by decision more _ . . embroilsthefray.” Scientist* Can At last, says this Now Predict famous savant of Way of Chao* the Massachusetts Institute of Tech nology, scientists “can now predict what will happen in states of com plete confusion.” As Dr. Wiener explains the new outreach of the calculus, at the fourth international congress for ap plied mechanics at Cambridge, it seems to clock everything, from a case of hiccoughs to Adolf Hitler, just so long as it is “pure” chaos and not a mere adulteration. That ought to let in most of Europe. He read English at the age of three and Latin at five, and en tered Tufts college at the age of 11, finishing in the class of 1910. He took his master’s degree in 1912 and his doctor’s in 1913, both at Harvard. At the age of 19, he was an as sistant professor at Harvard, lectur ing on “The Theory of Knowledge.” Dr. Wiener has kept on steadily gathering laurels in the groves of Academe. • • • C' VENTS of the last few weeks ^ have, of course, flushed many half-pint Hitlers in Europe, chief among them being young Leon De- . „ ... . grelle, of Belgium. A Petticoat Counted out last Putsch I* year, he now New Threat bounces back with some show of pow er; enough, at any rate, to make a martial stir of men and horse in Brussels, with word that he might start delivery on the “terror” which he has been promising for several years. Thirty-two years old, of the type of a healthy.and husky high-school lad, he is the best looking of all the Hitler appren tices, and there’s no knowing but that he might start the world’s first great petticoat putsch. Comely young women have flocked to his banner in shoals, and much of his support has come from women. He has both allure and showmanship and few of the stigmata of the paranoiac, unless it be his apparent deter mination to scare everybody to death. He tried to seize Brussels in Oc tober, 1936, stirring up considerable violence. His party is the “Rexist.” • Consolidated News Feature*. WNU Service. Star Dust ★ Themes From News ★ G-Man in Nursery ★ Sabu Transformed By Virginia Vale I F YOU’RE interested in writ-, ing—or learning to write— for the movies, take a tip from Hal Roach, who certainly ought to know what he is talking about. He recently conducted a Purvey, as a result of which he announces that 72 per cent of the themes of current films have been taken di rectly from newspaper clippings. Here is his report: General news (including aviation, maritime disas ters, divorce court proceedings, de pression stories and natural catas trophes) 46 per cent; crime news, 9 per cent; letters to editor, 4 per cent; love-lorn columns, 3 per cent; editorial columns, 2 per cent; sports, 2 per cent; comic strips, 1 per cent. Mr. Roach, at present, is filming story called “There Goes My Heart,” which concerns an heiress, (played by Virginia Bruce) who CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT OPPORTUNITY MAN OB WOMAN In each community can make money *“ your epare time. A clean propoalUoo. DKL-ZO CO., l**j* FORSYTH 8X7 S. W., ATLANTA, GA. Crochet Doilies for Every-Day Pleasure ■HL VIRGINIA BRUCE runs away from the Riviera in her grandfather’s yacht, arrives in this country and goes to work in her own department store; Fredric March is the reporter assigned to cover her story. Here you have, says Mr. Roaeh, a romantic eomedy, not a straight drama, and it combines general news, society news and lovelorn col umn material. Better study it with that in mind, if you’re interested in seeing how film stories are put to gether. —*— Remember Corinne Griffith, you old-timers? Not that your memo ries need go so very far back; it’s not so long since she was a pop ular star. Corinne is one of the few really happy retired stars. Her hus band, George Marshall, owns one of the big professional football teams, and he and she travel with the team during the season. And she has those two little girls whom she adopted a few years ago, taking them from an orphan asylum, and taking two when she’d meant to adopt just one because they were sisters. Needless to say, she’s bringing them up beautifully—or thought she was, until she discov ered that their favorite game is “G- man”; that, when left to themselves, they make the nursery ring with “You won’t talk, then—you rat! Take that—and that!” —*— Pattern 5998. Indulge your love of luxury with these lovely doilies. Whether it’s your buffet or your luncheon table that you want to dress up, this pat tern will do it effectively. The three sizes (15 by 28, 12% and 5% inches in string) are most practical and lend themselves to many uses. Use a gner cotton for smaller doilies. Pattern 5998 contains instructions for making the doilies; an illustration of them and of stitches; photograph of doily; materials needed. To obtain this pattern, send 15 cents in stamps or coins (coins preferred) to The Sewing Circle, Household Arts Dept., 259 W. 14th Street, New York, N. Y. Please write your name, ad dress and pattern number plainly. Another young devotee of gang ster life is Sabu; remember him in “The Elephant Boy”? This young Indian arrived in New York from London for the opening of his latest picture, “Drums,” the new Alexan der Korda release. When Robert Flaherty discovered him in India, while searching for a youngster to play the title role in “Elephant Boy,” he was just one more young Indian, an orphan, poor; you should see him now! He loves American slang, which he picked np from the Hollywood technicians in the English movie studio where he worked. And he is wild aboot the movies, especially American gangster pictures. His enthusiasm also includes war films and any method of traveling fast, particularly planes. And three years ago he was riding elephants and liking it! —*— Seth Parker, with “Ma” and their Jonesport neighbors, is back on the air on Sunday evenings; people all over the country feel v as if old friends had returned to them. Phil lips Lord, who is “Seth,” plans to re vive many of his first successes— tho old-fashioned singing, wetaool among them. And, of course, there are the Sunday night gatherings in which the Parkers and the neigh bors sing hymns. *— Fathers all over the country are turning the radio on late in the after noons so that their sons can listen to “Dick Tracy”—and not admitting that they did it because they want ed to listen themselves. For “Dick” has returned to the air, more energetic than ever in his battle against criminal activities. —X— ODDS AND ENDS—When Fred War ing finished making “Varsity Show" in Hollywood with his band and returned east he had practically no band left; his singers (Priscilla and Rosemary Lana), his arranger and his hot trumpet, Johnny "Scat" Davis, had abandoned him for movie-making, and others just dropped out on the way home . . . Bert Lahr is spending his spare time trying to look like a lion; has to play the Cowardly Lion in “The Wisard of Os" without benefit of animal skins or heavy makeup. C Western Newspaper Union. Bryan’s Brevity Likely Influenced the Opinion William Jennings Bryan, silver- tongued orator, used to enjoy tell ing of a comment which he once overheard about himself during a Chautauqua season. A local speaker preceding Mr. Bryan had talked for one hour and a half. So when Mr. Bryan finally got the floor, he simply raised his hands and pronounced the benediction. Later two old fellows were dis cussing the program. “That was a great speech Mr. Blank made, even if it was too long,” remarked one. “Yep,” agreed the other. Then, after a pause, he added: “That last feller that followed him was pretty good, too.”—Boston Globe. weak eyes are made strong by Leonardi’s Eye Lotion. Inflammation is cured without pain in one day. No other eye remedy so pure and healing. Keeps tne eyes in working trim. LEONARDI’S GOLDEN EYE LOTION MAKES WEAK EYXS STRONG 3S* * all Nsw Lara* Sat wet Dropfr-SO ctats S. B. Lwwaril V Ga, MawRadnUs, N. T.. Time for Courtesy Life is not so short but that there is always time for cour tesy.—Ralph Waldo Emerson. 4»idiet$^ For Me Coin or ■QBP Mi AUm Stadsfc, Ktamia. CaM. WNU—7 41—38 PILE RELIEF GUARANTEED In 24 Hows or Money Refunded Thouaandi of users have found this new. easy tn use preparation works almost like mask: after Karins suffered for years. SPECIAL—da tkis ad and print mnr nnaan plainly an skast of pnpar and sand taaatW wkk S1.00 far Cash. F. O. Manay Order. Chock or Stempo to Jottn’s Pile RoSof.Boa 1254. Wilndnaton. DoL. with. in tea days and a reanlar $2.50 complete treatment win ho seat yoahy rotorn moil Don’t delay another minute. If you are not delishted and amazed at reauks In 24 hours your money wiM be refunded.