Profiles of American Service: The “Lost Battalion” of World War I

Written by Janet Holsinger, History Associates Incorporated

Surrounded for five days in the Argonne Forest, beleaguered American infantrymen survive through grit, determination—and the heroism of a carrier pigeon.

As part of the American offensive, General Pershing ordered elements of the 77th Division to attack the German lines between the Argonne Forest and the Meuse River. On October 2, 1918, Major Charles Whittlesey led the under-strength and exhausted 308th Infantry’s First Battalion into the Argonne Forest.  Whittlesey’s troops, along with Captain George McMurtry’s Second Battalion, faced heavy German fire along a ravine, halting their advance.  After altering their course, Whittlesey’s and McMurtry’s men broke through the German line, the only successful attack that day along the Argonne front.

Their success, however, did not last.  Reserve units advanced through the Argonne that night, but only one company under Captain Nelson Holderman located Whittlesey’s position.  The Germans, meanwhile, moved reinforcements forward and surrounded the 308th.  Isolated and without reinforcements of their own, the Americans quickly ran out of rations and low on medical supplies, and German machine gun and trench mortar attacks bombarded their position, killing or severely wounding one third of Whittlesey’s force.

On October 4 a patrol from the 308th found a gap in the German lines, but to retreat meant leaving the wounded behind, something Whittlesey refused to do.  The 308th would hold out for reinforcements, but first Whittlesey’s men would have to be found.  Communication with the main American command post was difficult at best.  Without telephones, the 308th relied on runners who faced slim prospects for survival, and carrier pigeons that transported messages on slips of paper attached to their legs.  Whittlesey sent two of his four carrier pigeons to headquarters, requesting additional supplies and support.  German riflemen shot them from the sky.  Then disaster struck, in the form of American artillery and bombs, which exploded in the American pocket for over two hours.  A desperate Whittlesey sent his last pigeon, Cher Ami, to Headquarters with the message, “Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us.  For heaven’s sake, stop it.”

The German riflemen found their mark once again.  Cher Ami was struck through the chest by a bullet, and Whittlesey’s last hope for a reprieve seemed to be gone.  But Cher Ami was not to be deterred.  Severely wounded, he somehow managed to fly on.

By the time he reached American lines, Cher Ami was in bad shape.  One of his legs had been shot away, he was blinded in one eye, and he was losing blood from the severe chest wound.  Yet the message he carried arrived intact, and the shelling ceased.  Not only had Whittlesey’s remaining men been saved, but the Army knew the unit still survived behind enemy lines.

Full relief did not come immediately.  Allied planes dropped food and ammunition the next day, but it landed behind German lines.  Nine men crawled across the German line in search of the missing food and ammunition packages, only to be captured.  The Germans sent one man back with a surrender proposal, but Whittlesey and McMurtry refused to acknowledge the surrender request, despite a fifty percent casualty rate and being surrounded without food or supplies.

On the evening of October 7, the weak and exhausted troops of the “Lost Battalion” finally greeted a patrol from the 307th Infantry.  The five-day siege was over.  The next morning, less than 200 of the men trapped in the pocket walked back through the valley to headquarters.  Another 200 were seriously wounded, with over 100 dead and 60 missing.  Following the battle, Whittlesey, McMurtry, and Holderman received the Congressional Medal of Honor, and the Army decorated numerous others under their command.

Cher Ami, who had carried Whittlesey’s final message, got the best medical treatment the Army could provide.  Medics even fashioned a prosthetic leg, and before long the famous pigeon was able to return to the U.S., personally escorted by General Pershing.  Sadly, he died of his wounds in 1919.  Cher Ami received the Croix de Guerre with Palm for heroism in action.  He is preserved at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, in the exhibition “The Price of Freedom: Americans At War.”

Above Left: Lt Col Charles W. Whittlesey receives the Congressional Medal of Honor, Dec 24, 1918. NARA, Photo 111-SC- 95781

Above Center: Cher Ami.  http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=10

Above Right: Men from the “Lost Battalion” of the 308th Inf., 77th Division, a few weeks after being trapped by the Germans.  NARA, Photo 111-SC-42759