World War I, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) com-

[Pages:5]GEN John J. Pershing leads the victory parade past the Arc de

Triomphe on Bastille Day, July 14, 1919, the last time the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) marched in Paris. First Lieutenant William J. Cunningham carries the general's standard and is followed by MG James C. Harbord, AEF chief of staff.

n assessing the reasons for the Allied victory during World War I, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) commander GEN John J. (Black Jack) Pershing noted that "upon the young commanders of platoons, companies and battalions fell the heaviest burden." Deeds of daring, to use Pershing's phrase, were legion during the war, and there were many whose heroic services had been recognized over

By COL Cole C. Kingseed

U.S. Army retired

November 2010 I ARMY 45

National Archives

A memorial marks the valley in the Argonne Forest in Binarville, France, where the "Lost Battalion" of the 308th Infantry, 77th Division, led by MAJ Charles

W. Whittlesey, held off surrounding Germans for a week until relief arrived.

the course of the war. In his memoirs, however, Pershing mentioned only three soldiers whose battlefield exploits he deemed particularly extraordinary and representative of the fighting spirit of the AEF.

Best typifying the spirit of the rank and file of the AEF were a Reserve officer, a draftee from the mountains of northern Tennessee and a Regular Army man. Of the more than 2 million soldiers who composed the American Expeditionary Forces over the course of the war, Pershing singled out MAJ Charles W. Whittlesey, who refused to surrender the "Lost Battalion" of the 77th Division; CPL Alvin C. York of the 82nd Division, who singlehandedly killed 25 enemy soldiers and captured 132 Germans; and LT Samuel Woodfill from the 5th Division, who personally attacked a series of German machine-gun nests near Cunel, France, and killed the crews of each in turn until reduced to the necessity of assaulting the last detachment with a pick, dispatching them all. All three soldiers fought in the Meuse-Argonne offensive that began the last week of September 1918 and continued until the armistice on November 11.

Few legends from the Great War have endured as long as the story of the Lost Battalion. In reality, MAJ Charles W. Whittlesey's 1st Battalion of the 308th Infantry, 77th Division, was never lost, nor was the Lost Battalion a single battalion. What became known as the Lost Battalion was actually seven companies from two separate infantry battalions and two machine-gun sections from the 306th Machine Gun Battalion. From October 2, 1918, until the surrounded doughboys were relieved a week later, Whittlesey was the senior commissioned officer of the besieged defenders. CPT George G. McMurtry, an old Rough Rider, commanded Whittlesey's sister battalion from the same regiment.

Whittlesey lacked the military presence of a Pershing or a Woodfill. A "slender bespectacled New Englander, a man of manners, a practicing lawyer in New York" is how doughboy historian Laurence Stallings describes him in his book The Doughboys: The Story of the AEF. Not a professional soldier, Whittlesey had earned his commission

COL Cole C. Kingseed, USA Ret., Ph.D., a former professor of history at the U.S. Military Academy, is a writer and consultant.

MAJ Lillian Pfluke, USA Ret.

through one of the Plattsburgh, N.Y., camps designed in the American preparedness movements in 1916. His previous wartime experiences had been unremarkable.

By October 1, 1918, Whittlesey's 1st Battalion positioned itself on the front line within the Argonne Forest, under orders to continue the attack the following morning toward Charlevaux Mill, with McMurtry's 2nd Battalion in direct support. Due to the attrition during the previous week's combat, the fighting strength of the combined battalions was less than 700. To their front was a deep ravine that separated the left flank companies from the main body.

At precisely 0630 hours, Whittlesey plunged forward under cover of an intense artillery bombardment. The assault across the corps front failed immediately, but by early afternoon on October 2, the division commander renewed the attack. Whittlesey somehow discovered a gap in the enemy defense and penetrated the German line to a half-mile. McMurtry's 2nd Battalion was hot on his heels. Casualties, however, had reduced their combined strength to approximately 550 men. Awaiting reinforcements, Whittlesey assumed direct command of the survivors and relayed his position to battalion headquarters. Alone in the Argonne since his flanking elements had failed to match his advance, Whittlesey established a defensive posture and waited for the inevitable German counterattack. He did not have to wait long. By midafternoon, the Germans had recovered from their initial surprise and began penetrating Whittlesey's perimeter. Whittlesey dispatched two of his eight carrier pigeons to the division commander, requesting resupply of ammunition and giving his approximate position. MG Robert Alexander, commanding the 77th Division, ordered a rescue attack on October 3, but the relief effort failed due to heavy fog and determined German resistance that reduced the assaulting Americans by 50 percent. Whittlesey was now hopelessly surrounded with little expectation of relief. By the end of the day, he had lost 222 men, 82 of them killed. October 5 proved the worst day of the battle. Friendly artillery descended on Whittlesey's troops and wiped out one platoon. Now subject to enemy artillery and mortar fire, Whittlesey released two more carrier pigeons in an attempt to halt the fratricide. McMurtry was badly wounded, and the Lost Battalion was under repeated infantry and hand grenade assault. To make matters worse, aerial resupply was totally ineffective. The next day produced no relief as the Lost Battalion again held their position by the skin of their teeth. On October 7, nine soldiers from McMurtry's battalion

46 ARMY I November 2010

attempted to escape the encirclement, only to be killed or Not that far from where the Lost Battalion was rescued,

captured by the enemy. Later that afternoon, one of the York's company moved forward to the vicinity of the vil-

prisoners, PVT Lowell R. Hollingshead, under protest de- lage of Chatel-Ch?h?ry, France, near the edge of the Ar-

livered a surrender demand from the German commander gonne along the Aire River. On October 8, Company G

to Whittlesey. The letter read in part, "The suffering of moved forward without artillery support. Instantly the

your wounded men can be heard over here in the German company encountered stiff enemy resistance, and the at-

lines, and we are appealing to your humane sentiments to tack stalled. At that point, Danforth decided to send a

stop. A white flag shown by one of your men will tell us small detachment of men from the 1st Platoon around the

that you agree with these conditions." Whittlesey treated left flank of the company line. CPL Bernard Early com-

the surrender demand with utter contempt and sent no re- manded the platoon-size detachment, with York com-

ply. Hearing nothing from the Americans except cries of manding one of three infantry squads. Within minutes,

profanity, the Germans attacked the

Early's force ran into heavy machine-

Lost Battalion with increased inten-

gun fire and was reduced to 17 men.

sity.

Moving through the dense under-

Down to their last rounds of ammu-

growth, the doughboys came across

nition and dying from thirst, Whittle-

two German stretcher bearers who

sey's Lost Battalion repelled the final

fled as soon as they saw the American

German assault. That same afternoon,

platoon. Early followed and soon

an American battalion from the 307th

stumbled upon an encampment of 25

Infantry Regiment finally reached

German soldiers, whom they promptly

Whittlesey's beleaguered troops and

captured. As Early rounded up the

provided rations, medical supplies

prisoners, a German officer hollered a

and ammunition. Whittlesey waited

command, and two concealed ma-

until the afternoon of October 8 to

chine guns started firing on the Amer-

withdraw his troops. By that time, the

icans. Early fell with five bullets in his

Lost Battalion had captured the imagi-

body. Six doughboys died instantly,

nation of the American high com-

and another two were wounded in

mand. GEN Alexander himself visited

addition to Early, leaving York and

Whittlesey in the Argonne and congratulated him on his spirited de-

MAJ Charles W. Whittlesey

seven others unharmed. Now the senior noncommissioned

fense. Only 194 of the original 554

officer, York seized command. Leav-

doughboys who started the attack on October 2 stood un- ing the remnants of his command, he crawled to a position

wounded.

where he could draw a bead on the enemy machine-gun

The Army promoted Whittlesey to lieutenant colonel fol- nests. "In order to sight me or swing their machine guns at

lowing the relief of the Lost Battalion and pulled him from me," he later explained, "the Germans had to show their

the front line. On December 5, Whittlesey was honorably heads above the trenches." Every time a gunner appeared,

discharged from active service. The next day he was York picked him off, emptying three clips of ammunition

awarded the Medal of Honor. A civilian once again, Whit- in the process. Just then, a German officer with six men

tlesey returned to his law profession where he served as an with fixed bayonets charged York from 25 yards away.

associate for a prestigious law firm from 1919?1920; but he York promptly killed each with a carefully aimed shot,

never adjusted to civilian life--always haunted by the starting with the rear soldier and working his way for-

deaths that he had witnessed in the Argonne Forest.

ward.

Having disposed of the enemy to his immediate front,

About the time that the Lost Battalion was finally rescued, acting CPL Alvin York of Pall Mall, Tenn., experienced his personal rendezvous with destiny. York was the unlikeliest of heroes. Drafted in November 1917, this Tennessee mountaineer proved a natural hunter whose marksmanship was already

York led the prisoners to the rear. En route to the American lines, he encountered several additional machine-gun positions and directed that his senior prisoner order them to surrender, too. With a single exception, the Germans descended the hill and surrendered to York. One of the enemy soldiers tested York and tossed a grenade at his cap-

legendary. Upon receipt of his draft notice, York immedi- tors. York immediately shot him through the heart. The

ately submitted his paperwork as a conscientious objector, remainder of the prisoners got the message and marched

but the District Board rejected his request. Twenty-nine off to captivity.

years old when the United States entered the war, York By this time, York had captured more than 100 enemy

was assigned to 1st Platoon, Company G, 328th Infantry soldiers, and he was afraid that his detachment would be

Regiment, 82nd Infantry (All-American) Division. Com- fired on by his own artillery. How many enemy dead he

manding York's company was CPT E.C.B. Danforth, an of- had left on the ridge was anyone's guess. Fortunately, a re-

ficer whom York came to admire.

lief squad sent to aid CPL Early met York as he neared

November 2010 I ARMY 47

SGT Alvin York receives the Medal of

Honor. He was later awarded the

French Croix de Guerre with palm.

American lines. Reporting to the battalion adjutant, York relinquished more than 130 prisoners. He left at least 25 enemy dead on the battlefield. When GEN George B. Duncan, newly assigned commander of the All-American Division, later asked York how many he thought he had hit, York replied, "General, I would hate to think I missed any of them shots; they were all at pretty close range--50 to 60 yards."

Not surprisingly, Pershing judged York the outstanding civilian soldier of the AEF. Allied Supreme Commander Gen. Ferdinand Foch concurred and awarded York the Croix de Guerre with palm, adding, "What you did was the greatest thing accomplished by any private soldier of all the armies of Europe." As for Alvin York, he stated in 1926 that he had rather it be said that he gave his life toward aiding his fellow man than to be remembered as a warrior who had capitalized on his fame as a fighter.

As remarkable as were York's achievements in the Argonne, in Pershing's estimation they were second to those of acting CPT Samuel Woodfill, an ex-sergeant from the Old Army. To Pershing, Woodfill was the outstanding figure in the AEF, America's "doughboy of doughboys." Born in Indiana in 1883, Woodfill joined the Army at the time of the Philippine Insurrection at the onset of the 20th century. A natural marksman, he served a combat tour during the Philippine Insurrection and then reenlisted for the first of four hitches with the 3rd Infantry Regiment in Alaska, where he became the only American soldier to outshoot the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. From the Arctic, Woodfill was transferred to the Mexican border in 1916 during the crisis following Pancho Villa's raid on Columbus, N.M.

Wearing six hashmarks on his sleeve by the time Congress declared war on Germany in April 1917, SGT Woodfill accepted an appointment as a Reserve lieutenant, one of many battle-hardened noncommissioned officers to join the

Signal Corps U.S. Army

commissioned ranks. It was a smooth transition. As Woodfill later stated to reporter Lowell Thomas, the NCO Corps "had been as good as captains for years because during the frequent absences of their company commanders they had run the outfit."

Now with Company M, 60th Regiment, 5th (Red Diamond) Division, Woodfill barely survived the St. Mihiel offensive in September 1918 and then moved his company to a railroad line east of Cunel in the Argonne Forest. Woodfill's battalion was scheduled to attack on October 14, 1918, but a day earlier, Woodfill's commander directed him to conduct a combat reconnaissance to identify the enemy's main line of resistance within the Bois de la Pultiere, several hundred yards to their front. No sooner had they crossed the line of departure when Woodfill's company encountered several machine-gun nests that inflicted horrific casualties on Woodfill's lead platoons. The enemy fire seemed to be coming from three directions. One gun was to Woodfill's right in an abandoned stable, another was to his front, and the third was from the church tower in a little village, about 250 yards to Woodfill's left. Unable to maneuver his command, Woodfill directed his company to remain in position as he crawled forward to ascertain the location of the first machine gun. Working his way around the flank of the machine-gun nest, Woodfill fired four carefully aimed shots, killing four members of the machine-gun crew as each attempted to sight the gun. The remaining German soldier attempted to escape, but another shot from Woodfill's Springfield brought him down as well. Woodfill then moved forward to examine the position. As he approached the gun, a German officer sprang toward Woodfill. Woodfill and the officer fought hand-to-hand until Woodfill subdued his opponent and killed him with his pistol. As Woodfill's company resumed their advance, a second machine gun opened fire on them. With his company dispersed throughout the woods, control was virtually impossible. Woodfill described the ensuing action as "every man for himself." The enemy gun was in a shallow dugout, with the head and shoulders of the gunner in plain sight. With a five-cartridge clip, Woodfill dispatched him and several other enemy soldiers with carefully aimed shots. Continuing his advance, a third machine gun opened fire on the assaulting Americans. Crawling on his stomach to get closer to the enemy, Woodfill located the enemy position in the woods on the edge of a trench that ran back into the enemy lines. Though his eyes were burning with mustard gas, he picked off five men with a single clip of ammunition. Running forward to inspect the machine-gun nest, Woodfill discovered another German soldier whom

48 ARMY I November 2010

he promptly dispatched with his Colt

sey, York and Woodfill stood together.

automatic.

Two weeks after the ceremony, Whit-

For once Woodfill let his guard

tlesey booked passage on the S.S.

down, thinking he had wiped out the

Toloa, a steamship bound for Havana,

entire machine-gun nest. Before he

Cuba. Prior to coming aboard, he had

could respond to a noise from the

put his affairs in order and paid the

side, a German soldier rushed Wood-

next month's rent in advance. On No-

fill from behind around a turn in the

vember 24, Whittlesey walked to the

trench, rifle in hand. Woodfill pulled

rail and jumped overboard. When

the trigger, but his Colt jammed.

Woodfill heard of Whittlesey's death,

Grabbing a long-handled pickax stuck

he guessed that those four days in the

into the side of the trench, Woodfill

Argonne Forest must have put too

crashed the pick down on the enemy's

heavy a strain on the former comman-

head. He then wheeled just in time to

der of the Lost Battalion.

miss a bullet in the back from one of

York returned to Tennessee follow-

the wounded Germans. With another

ing the war and worked a farm given

blow of the pick, Woodfill finished

to him by the state of Tennessee in

him off as well. Within the span of a

recognition of his wartime heroics. He

few hours, Woodfill had captured

later established an agricultural insti-

three machine guns and killed more

tute in the Valley of the Three Forks of

than 11 Germans.

the Wolf and enjoyed a brief resur-

gence of fame when Hollywood beck-

ow well within the enemy lines

Nand under intense fire, Woodfill requested reinforcements from his battalion commander, who instructed him to return to their former position. When he

oned in 1941 to tell the story of his life, with Gary Cooper portraying the softspoken York. The subsequent years proved difficult for York. As LIFE magazine described York in a special issue in 1997, "This exemplar of the

reported to the command post, Wood-

American fighting man died in 1964,

fill's battalion commander asked him

all but forgotten" by the nation he had

what he had been doing to the Ger-

served so well.

mans. "I got a few," Woodfill re-

Following the war, Woodfill re-

sponded. "Yeah, I know you did," the

verted to his NCO status to preserve

commander responded. In his mem-

his tenure of service, since as a Re-

oirs, Woodfill described his action as

serve officer, he would have lost his

"a frontiersman stalks machine guns."

military benefits. That reduction in

The armistice found Woodfill recu-

CPT Samuel Woodfill

rank seemed appropriate, stated his-

perating in a hospital, suffering from

torian Stallings, because Woodfill

pneumonia resulting from repeated gassings during the served as "the eternal sergeant of Black Jack's esteem."

Argonne offensive. Within weeks Woodfill received orders Woodfill died alone on his farm in 1951 and was buried at

to Chaumont, France, Pershing's headquarters, where he Arlington National Cemetery, not far from the Iron Com-

received his Medal of Honor from Pershing himself. mander himself.

Among the 16 other recipients was CPT McMurtry from It has been four score and 12 years since the guns fell

the Lost Battalion.

silent along the Meuse River and the Argonne Forest. Why

Fate would finally bring Whittlesey, York and Woodfill write of Whittlesey, York and Woodfill now? The Great War,

together three years later when Congress authorized the more than the Spanish-American War, ushered the United

burial of an unidentified American soldier from World War States onto the world stage, and that awesome projection of

I in the plaza of the new Memorial Amphitheater at Arling- military power was borne on the backs of the American

ton National Cemetery. A War Department committee re- doughboys who fought in France in 1918. GEN Douglas

viewed 3,000 wartime citations and narrowed the search MacArthur, himself one of the most highly decorated com-

for pallbearers to 100 soldiers for Army Chief of Staff Per- manders from that conflict, said it best in his final address

shing to review. Without hesitation, the "Iron Comman- to the U.S. Corps of Cadets: "His [the American soldier's]

der" selected York, Whittlesey and Woodfill. President name and fame are the birthright of every American citi-

Warren G. Harding presided over the interment ceremony zen. ... From one end of the world to the other, he has

on November 11, 1921. Also in attendance were former drained deep the chalice of courage." Representing the 2

presidents William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson.

million soldiers of the AEF, Charles Whittlesey, Alvin York

The interment was the first and only time that Whittle- and Samuel Woodfill most certainly would agree.

(

50 ARMY I November 2010

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download