#77th division

[thisdayinwwi]

May 11, 1919 #OnThisDay New York Times publishes this picture of the 1st or Famous Lost Battalion, 308th Infantry. 77th Division, after passing through the Victory Arch on Fifth Avenue, New York City

[twf100]

Lost Battalion Memorial, Binarville France, December 2018.

Full photo gallery online here.

Lost Battalion Memorial

On October 2 1918, US Major Charles W. Whittlesey of the 308th Infantry Regiment/77th US Army Division led nearly 700 men under their command into the Charlevaux Ravine. The objective was to take up a position along the Binarville-La Viergette Road and form a line with the 307th Infantry Regiment on their right and French forces on their left. The flanking forces had been unable to keep up and by nightfall Whittlesey unit was almost a kilometer ahead of the line. They dug into the northern slope of the ravine and created a positon that would become famously known as “The Pocket”.

By 10:00am the next morning German forces had surrounded The Pocket and began pounding the Americans with trench mortar and machine gun fire from the north and south. Whittlesey sent out a strong patrol to attempt a breakout but suffered heavy casualties. With carrier pigeons as the only means of communication, Whittlesey kept his Regimental Headquarters informed of the rapidly deteriorating situation as best he could. By the evening of October 3 all medical supplies had been exhausted and all food had been consumed. German machine guns kept the Americans away from Charlevaux Brook, the only available water supply, and 20% of Whittlesey’s forces had been killed or wounded. Whittlesey himself had been shot in the knee.

On October 4 the Germans continued their attack. American forces attempted to reach Whittlesey’s unit without success. The 152nd Field Artillery Brigade attempted to fire a “barrage of protection” around The Pocket to ward off the Germans. But an error in map coordinates resulted in artillery shells landing directly upon the trapped Americans. Whittlesey released his last carrier pigeon, named Cher Ami, with a plea:

We are along the road parallel 276.4

Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us.

For heaven’s sake stop it.

Whittlesey, Major 308

Twenty-two minutes later, missing an eye, a leg and shot through the breast, Cher Ami got through with the message. The artillery brigade had already realized their error and lifted fire, but 80 men had been wounded with 30 killed by the friendly fire.

By October 5 the men in The Pocket were out of supplies, fighting off continued German attack as well as infection and rain. Airplanes of the 50th Aero Squadron attempted to supply the Americans by air, the first such large scale endeavor in history. Back in the United States newspapers were already reporting the plight of “The Lost Battalion”, despite the fact that they were not lost and not a single battalion.

On October 6 the casualty rate at The Pocket was approaching 70%. Efforts to supply Whittlesey’s men by air would continue with three planes being lost to enemy fire. None of the supplies would reach The Pocket.

The final German assault on The Pocket began on October 7 at 5pm. The fierceness of the attack was matched by the stubbornness of defense, despite the exhausted state of Whittlesey’s men and ammunition. Battle farther up and down the line had put intense pressure on German troops and at 7pm the German’s abruptly withdrew from the area. Relief finally broke through to The Pocket shortly thereafter. Whittlesey was immediately promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He would also be awarded the Medal of Honor.

Of the 687 men that went into Charlevaux Ravine on October 2 only 194 were able to walk out on the afternoon of October 8.

Medal of Honor recipient Lieutenant Colonel Charles W. Whittlesey in 1918, photo Wikipedia

Three years to the month after the Armistice, Charles W. Whittlesey, a hero of the Great War but unable to cope with the torment of his memories, jumped over the side of a ship bound for Cuba. His body was never found. He had said to a friend prior “Not a day goes by but I hear from some of my old outfit, usually about some sorrow or misfortune. I cannot bear it much more.”

Cher Ami at the Museum of American History, photo Wikipedia

Whittlesey’s carrier pigeon Cher Ami was saved by Army medics that October day in 1918. She was awarded the Croix de Guerre Medal for heroic service and died in New Jersey on June 13 1919. She is currently on display at the National Museum of American History in Washington D.C.

It is simply not possible to walk around sites like this, especially as an American citizen, and not feel the weight of history.

October 2, 2019

[brandonraykirk]

World War I Recollections of Dr. Edwin M. Godby (1928)

World War I Recollections of Dr. Edwin M. Godby (1928) #WorldWarI #WW1 #Appalachia #WV #history #Logan #Huntington

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this recollection of World War I by veteran Edwin M. Godby of Huntington, WV, dated July 10, 1928:

LOGAN BOY OF LOST BATTALION LIVED THRU SIX DAYS OF HELL

Dr. E.M. Godby, Now of Huntington, One of 150 Survivors of An Outstanding Episode of World War—Graphic Account of Harrowing Experiences

It has been a little less than 10 years since the story of the…

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[apostlesofmercy]

An unlikely hero.

During the First World War homing pigeons were used widely to transport communications between front line units and commanders in the rear. When the United States Army landed in large numbers on the Western Front in the summer of 1918, British pigeon fanciers donated 600 birds to them, one of which was a hen, soon to be named Cher Ami - French for ‘dear friend’.

On 3 October 1918 she, with Major Charles Whittlesey and more than 500 men, became trapped in a small depression on the side of a hill as an offensive was halted by German forces. There behind enemy lines, in dense woodland, food and ammunition quickly ran low and friendly fire began to rain down from allied guns oblivious to their location. After the first day just 194 men remained alive. Two pigeons were sent up with messages for aid but both were quickly shot down by German soldiers atop the hill. With just Cher Ami left, the following note was attached to her leg and she was released with the lives of 194 men dependent on her survival:

We are along the road parallel to 276.4. Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heaven's sake, stop it.

Rising into the treetops she met a hail of fire, taking a round to her breast (her punctured sternum is shown on the left in the photograph) she began to bleed profusely. Another severed her the right leg leaving it hanging by a single tendon and yet another blinded her in one eye. She fell from the sky, only to pick herself back up and fly 25 miles in just 25 minutes. Her message was received and a push was made to rescue the 194 men of the lost 77th Division.

Army medics worked hard to save the life of Cher Ami and succeeded in doing so. A small wooden leg was crafted for her stump and once sufficiently recovered she was put on a boat to the United States, with General John J. Pershing personally seeing her off as she departed France. On 13 June 1919 she died at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey,  from the wounds she received in battle. She had been awarded the Croix de Guerre Medal with a palm Oak Leaf Cluster for her heroic service, delivering 12 messages during fighting at Verdun and also received a gold medal from the Organized Bodies of American Racing Pigeon Fanciers. She was later inducted into the Racing Pigeon Hall of Fame in 1931.

Throughout the 1920s and ‘30s Cher Ami was as well known to American school children as any human World War I hero. Her body mounted by taxidermists, she currently sits in the National Museum of American History's 'Price of Freedom' exhibit, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

[there-isnofate-but-whatwemake]

Far from their land as they made their stand A disregarded demand It's "Surrender or die" and the stakes are high Live or die, who can tell? There's no goodbye With a weapon in hand as they made their stand Still disregard the demand They would never comply, they would rather die They stood strong and their legend still lives on

Sabaton, “The Lost Battalion” (about the US 77th “Liberty”/”Metropolitan” Division, who were encircled in the Argonne Forest by German forces during World War I)