Lost Battalion

Tasked with taking a sector of Argonne Forest from the Germans, the 77th U.S. Division attacked on October 2nd. From the first waves, things went wrong. 1st Battalion of 308th Regiment advanced on the extreme left, the rest of 308th …

1918-10-07

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Tasked with taking a sector of Argonne Forest from the Germans, the 77th U.S. Division attacked on October 2nd. From the first waves, things went wrong. 1st Battalion of 308th Regiment advanced on the extreme left, the rest of 308th stalled as did the 305th, 306th, and 307th Regiments. The 554 men of 1st Battalion, Major C. Whittlesey commanding, reached Gharlevaux Road, their objective. He stationed the men on a slope near the road. Orders had been to attack and hold. They dug in and waited. Soon a reduced company from the 307th got through to them. Then hell broke loose for five days, while the German 76th Reserve-Division surrounded them and pounded their little pocket just 300 yards wide. Cut off, decimated, out of food and water, and nearly out of ammunition, Whittlesey's survivors grimly hung on. On October 7th, the Germans tried a last attack with Stosstruppen and flamethrowers. Later that afternoon, outside U.S. troops finally broke through and relieved the “lost battalion”.

Argonne Forest, France

The Meuse–Argonne offensive was a major part of the final Allied offensive of World War I that stretched along the entire Western Front. It was fought from September 26, 1918, until the Armistice of November 11, 1918, a total of 47 days. The Meuse–Argonne offensive was the largest in United States military history, involving 1.2 million American soldiers. It is the deadliest battle in American history, resulting in over 350,000 casualties including 28,000 German lives, 26,277 American lives and an unknown number of French lives. U.S. losses were worsened by the inexperience of many of the troops, the tactics used during the early phases of the operation and the widespread onset of the global influenza outbreak called the "Spanish flu".

Wikipedia: Meuse-Argonne Offensive

German

American