The "Lost Battalion" and the 77th "Liberty" Division, Argonne Forest - 100 Years

Started by ArizonaTank, October 04, 2018, 05:03:43 PM

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ArizonaTank

The "Lost Battalion", October 2 – 8th, 1918

A week after the start of the Meuse Argonne offensive, a battalion sized jumble of infantry companies from the 307th and 308th Infantry Regiments of the US 77th Division, were cut off and surrounded in a heavily wooded ravine in the Argonne Forest.

The units had been part of an October 2nd push north into the forest. The thickly wooded, hilly terrain was some of the worst that AEF faced during the Meuse Argonne Offensive. But that did not stop the American leadership chain from putting heavy pressure on units to advance without regard to flanks. The group of Americans lost contact with French units to the their left, and the US units to their right. German troops from the German 76th Reserve Division, and 2nd Wurttemburg Division, infiltrated behind and cut the Americans off.

This is a US Army Center for Military History Map of the 2nd Phase of the Meuse Argonne Offensive. The 77th's sector is on the far left. The small blue oval in the forest, represents the Lost Battalion "pocket"


For more than five days, the men held out against repeated German attacks. The 77th Division tried desperate attacks to break through and rescue the surrounded men, sometimes as many as five attempts in one day. But the terrain made these attempts very difficult to coordinate.

The troops in the pocket, had some access to fresh water, but risked sniper fire to get it. They had no food or ammunition resupply. US aircraft from the 50th Aero Squadron flew missions to resupply them with aerial drops, but the supplies mostly fell into German hands, or into German fields of fire. The German war diary reported the German soldier's "pure joy" at receiving the "gifts" of tobacco and chocolate, 

The "Lost Battalion" also suffered the tragedy of friendly fire from US artillery who were trying to blow open an escape corridor. The senior officer in the "Lost Battalion" was a former New York lawyer, Major Charles Whittlesey. As friendly shells crashed down on his position, Whittlesey sent his last carrier pigeon back to the 77th division headquarters, to stop the fire. The pigeon was 'Cher Ami', who lost a leg and was wounded in the chest, but still delivered the message in time to save American lives. Cher Ami, was awarded the Croix de Guerre and became part of the Smithsonian collection.

Cher Ami in the Smithsonian: I remember seeing his stuffed remains many years ago during a childhood trip to the Smithsonian.
It also seemed to me, that when I was young,  every school book explaining US involvement in WWI had a picture of 'Cher Ami.'




This is the Smithsonian page dedicated to 'Cher Ami'.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_425415

On October 6th, the Commander of the German 245th Regiment sent Whittlesey a note offering to allow the Americans to surrender.  Whittlesey reportedly replied:  "Go to Hell" (some accounts have him giving a much less caustic response).  The Germans then launched their fiercest attack, including the use of flame thrower teams. Whittlesey's command somehow held on.

The 77th was clearly not up to the task of rescuing the men in the pocket. On October 7th, the 82nd Division was inserted off to the East flank of the German's line, and the "All American" Division attacked to relieve pressure on the 77th. This flanking maneuver caused the Germans to start a well disciplined withdraw. 

Finally, on October 8th the 307th infantry broke through, and the ordeal was over. Of the 690+ soldiers in the "Lost Battalion", 493 were either killed or wounded. Five of them received the Medal of Honor, including Whittlesey, who's calm approach, gave his men faith in his leadership when it was needed most. 

During the ordeal, some clever newspaper man called them the "Lost Battalion" and the name stuck.  In fact, they were never "lost" and they were not a "battalion", but a good newspaperman wasn't going to let those facts get in the way of a good moniker.

In the military history of the last 100 years, there are many cases of "lost battalions." In WWII for example, there were at least two US "lost battalions", one in the Pacific and one in European Theater. But the original was Major Charles Whittlesey's ad hoc unit in the depths of the Argonne in October, 1918.

After the war, Charles Whittlesey was not comfortable with the fame the incident brought him. He was also probably suffering from PTSD. In 1921, he jumped overboard while on a passenger ship to Havana. His body was never found. 

Google Street View of The Lost Battalion Memorial: this memorial is pretty far from the actual site. But has easy access.
https://www.google.com/maps/@49.2507562,4.9063579,3a,68.4y,112.14h,94.01t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sotbJTcBzoP6BkP427Yga9g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Google Street View of the path to the actual site. Note the stone marked "Lost Battalion" and arrow pointing down into the ravine.
https://www.google.com/maps/@49.2514969,4.9150879,3a,51.1y,191.47h,63.46t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sT0E6hC9rYlVx0uJ4IsKE6A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

This is a great discussion of the "Lost Battalion", and the effect of the terrain.  This page is from the American Battle Monuments Commission.
https://www.abmc.gov/learning-resources/lesson-plans/teaching-and-mapping-geography-meuse-argonne-offensive-geography-war

The 77th "Liberty" Division

The 77th Division was a National Army division, made up mostly of draftees from Manhattan and the Lower East Side. Many of these troops were new immigrants. There were so many new Italian immigrants for example, that German listening posts in the Argonne Forest overheard the 77th's troops talking and reported in their war diary that they were facing an Italian unit (In 1915 the French had deployed the Garibaldi Legion in the Argonne, an all Italian regiment within the Foreign Legion).

The Liberty Division was somewhat seasoned, and had already seen some action. The 77th trained with the British after they arrived in France in April and May, 1918.  In June, they were then assignment to a "quiet" sector in the Vosages, and finally they had participated in the French counter-attack to the Vesle river in August.

There was some attempt to change to division's moniker to the "Metropolitan Division", but the large number of immigrants in the unit preferred the "Liberty Division" after the Statue of Liberty, and the later name stuck.

This is a helmet with the "Liberty Division" insignia.


The "Lost Battalion"

The "Lost Battalion" itself was actually made up of a jumble of companies from the 308th Infantry Regiment, 307th Infantry Regiment and the 306th Machine Gun Battalion. Most of the men came from the 308th, and the senior officer was Major Charles Whittlesey who was the Commander, 1st Battalion of the 308th. In all, there were about 690 men. The exact number fluctuates depending on the source. This is probably because the "Lost Battalion" had such fame, that after the war, everybody who was even close, wanted to be counted as a member.

Lost Battalion Movies

1919:  The movie industry has been taking advantage of popular military heroes and events since the beginning. This is a fascinating full length silent film made in 1919 about the "Lost Battalion". Many of the actors are the actual participants. It gives some interesting insight to combat. But it also has the Germans wearing strange helmets. They look like standard stahlhelms with the visor cut off. Perhaps so we can see the actor's faces?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF7a-370JeE


2001:  A much more recent, A&E movie, "The Lost Battalion" was released in 2001.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0287535/



307th Infantry

After the war, Captain W. K. Rainsford, Commander of Company L of the 307th, wrote "From Upton to the Meuse", a history of the 307th Infantry Regiment (available for download from archive.org)

He wrote about how skillfully the German troops were able to infiltrate behind Maj Whittlesey's group.

The amount of enemy initiative and efficiency
displayed by this infiltration of small groups
of light machine-gunners and snipers, appar-
entirely independent of officers, into the gap be
tween the two brigades, is worthy of note and
considerable admiration. In the opinion of the
writer it is doubtful whether many of the
American troops, in spite of all that has been
written about their acquiring the art and skill
of the Indian in forest warfare, could
have been counted on to do as well.
For the discovery of a gap in a hostile line,
the percolation through it, in small and isolated
groups, to a depth of over a kilometer, harass
ing an open flank while the harassing is good,
and then at the last moment skillfully with
drawing to one's own lines, all represent a
grasp of the general situation, a knowledge of
the terrain, and a self-confidence of individuals
which are not easily come by


He also describes some of the desperate attacks to break the "Lost Battlion" out:

"L," as directed by Colonel Stacey of the
308th, assaulted the heights to the left under
a fire from their front, right, and rear. There
was no artillery preparation other than of
counter-battery fire. By dusk they had
reached the crest of the plateau, but with the
loss of the battalion commander, all three of
their company officers, and an unknown num
ber of their men. Lieutenant Rogers, the last
of the three to be hit, had crawled forward
alone some two hundred yards along a shallow
ditch, in an effort to locate the enemy machine
guns, and in so doing had passed over the bod
ies of two others who had apparently died in
the same endeavor. Within thirty yards of a
machine-gun in action his knee was half shot
away by a sniper even nearer to himself; and
under this point-blank fire he managed to free
himself from his pack, get a tourniquet on his
leg, and crawl backward to the company, which
he outposted and put in position for defense.
A lieutenant from the 308th was then put in
command of the company, but was in turn
wounded by morning. Captain Grant of "H"
Company, being after the first half-hour the
senior officer left in the battalion, started for
ward to assume command of it, but, before
reaching the front, was killed upon the railroad
track by a shell, which also mortally wounded
his only lieutenant. Lieutenant Jenkins, in
command of "E" Company, found himself also
in command of the Second Battalion, and al
most its only officer, together with, at least tem
porarily, such elements of the 308th as were
on that ground. A precarious footing had been
gained on the edge of the western plateau, fac
ing a strong line of wire and trenches to the
north, and almost all available reserves had
been already engaged. During the night the
troops huddled into such shelter as they could
find, while the enemy artillery blasted the val
ley from end to end.

Toward noon of October 5th the brigade
commander, coming up on the ground, found
the troops withdrawing from a seemingly hope
less position upon the left, and ordered another
general assault along both sides of the valley.
The companies and battalions were by now
thinned and merged beyond definition. New
lieutenants, coming up from the rear as re
placements, were put in charge of whatever
elements were at hand and launched upon
whatever attack was under way. Few who
took part in those continuous assaults can give
any consecutive account of them. Officers re
turned wounded to hospital never knowing
with what troops they had fought, and the men
moved to obey their orders half-drugged with
exhaustion.
The attack on the east of the valley ran foul
of the acres of wire where "I" and "F" had
vainly struggled two nights previous, and it
got no further. That on the west regained
their former positions, but could not better
them. The main hope lay in an infiltration up
the track, where a platoon of "E" was sent,
crawling in single file along the ditch. When
the last had disappeared around a slight bend
in the way, the battalion commander followed
to watch their progress. They all lay in sight
of him, and one was yet alive, shot through the
legs and returning with his rifle the fire of
a machine-gun in position upon the tracks, till
another burst of fire from it tore him to pieces.
So the attack failed.










Johannes "Honus" Wagner
"The Flying Dutchman"
Shortstop: Pittsburgh Pirates 1900-1917
Rated as the 2nd most valuable player of all time by Bill James.

JasonPratt

And yes, as you might expect, there's a Sabaton tribute to them!



And yes, Minniva and her crew did a cover!  :smitten:

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ArizonaTank

Quote from: JasonPratt on October 04, 2018, 05:27:18 PM
And yes, as you might expect, there's a Sabaton tribute to them!

And yes, Minniva and her crew did a cover!  :smitten:


Wow, fairly accurate description of events...as far as songs go...particularly from a Swedish band
Johannes "Honus" Wagner
"The Flying Dutchman"
Shortstop: Pittsburgh Pirates 1900-1917
Rated as the 2nd most valuable player of all time by Bill James.