New Britain herald., 1918-10-11
PREFERRED TO DIE
UNDER OLD GLORY
go to HE'LL" Message From 'LOSt
Battalion" to Germans

in the heroic and amazing story OF the
now famous lost battalion" which
belonged to the 18th division, as yet
untold, was the climax to the fourth
day of the siege of the troops in Ar
come Forest.
When the men had been for a long
time without food and almost wholly
without ammunition, and when many
were weak from exhaustion, but not
one despairing, an American who had
been taken prisoner by the Germans
suddenly appeared at the little camp
surrounded in the valley
The man had been sent blindfolded
from the German headquarters with a
typewriter note to Major Whittlesey,
reading:
Americans, you are surrounded on
all sides. Surrender in the name OF
humanity You will be we'll treated"
Major Whittlesey did not hesitate a
fraction of a second.
go to he1l!' he shouted. Then he
read the note to those around him,
and his men, despite their WEAKNESS
! and hunger and in imminent danger
every monet, cheered so loudly that
| the Germans heard them from their
observation posts.
None of the battalion could know
that relief could come within twenty
four hours; none felt very sure that
it could come at all before it was too
late; but the same spirit animating
them to plunge ahead in the forest to
| their perilous position maintained
them at that moment, and every man.
wounded or well in the battalion en-
Enthusiastically approved Major Whit
| tlesey's abrupt answer when the news
| Of it was circulated throughout the
| position.
A composite story cleaned from a
| dozen recitals, reveals that the bat
| TALON when ordered to advance last
! Friday, pushed its way rapidly ahead
! through the forest, and, in it's eager
-, ness to catch up with the retreating
| Germans, gradually spread out and
| widened its ranks. This allowed the
| Germans to infiltrate unseen behind
| the Americans and they fell directly
| into a trap which the Germans had
| set for them
The enemy had planned to catch the
| Americans in a hollow surrounded on
t all four sides by heights, the greatest
| of which was a steep hill directly
| ahead. The Americans, who were not
accustomed to forest fighting and were
|
! hollow without stopping to think
that the enemy might be awaiting
| them. The battalion was first check
| ed by the American artillery barrage
! which had worked steadily forward.
| Nevertheless it had not worked as fast
as the troops themselves and the bat
TALON proceeded half way UP the hill
! and there waited for the barrage to
/ pass in front. Then they discovered
that the Germans on both sides had
jointly f1anked them and had closed
! in upon their rear
! Sheltered only by shallow and hast
) ily constructed trenches, the men were
: subjected to a shipping machine gun
fire as we'll as a trench mortar bonn
bardment every time they showed
! themselves Only with the greatest
! difficulty and with extreme caution
could they move from place to place
and keep guard against surprise at
/ tacks The battalion had started
with meagre rations expecting more
to reach them later. These OF course
could no longer be transported to
them. It was the greatest good for
tune that they were fairly supplied
! with water
Nightly and daily, too, they sent
whether these reached the positions in
the rear without being captured or
killed the beleaguered forces could not
tell for none ever returned.
Daily American aviators, searching
vainly for the battalion, flew overhead,
but no outcry the men could make
! brought anything but a volley of
sh outs and laughter from the Germans
in front and behind and to the right
and left of them. The beleaguered
men discovered that there were Ger
man machine gun nests all around
them, every fifteen feet or SO, and for
a man to show himself ever SO briefly
| was the signal for a sweeping rain of
! bullets If a man made an unusual
noise, trench mortars pounded the vi
cnity viciously.
Just for diversion the enemy made
| a practice of sweeping the whole ter
! rain--the hillside where the impro-
I vised trenches were located and the
: valley in which the men craWled to
! get leaves and Water-regularly, and
then irregularly, with machine guns.
Shippers We're constantly on watch,
German IT'S pounded the locality, and
hand grenades also were hourly in
evidence The Americans had no
! rockets or other signals, and they
were powerless to attract the atten-
ton of any one except the Germans.
AS the days passed the Americans
grew more and more emaciated but
they never gave up hope. There was
nothing but a grim determination to
hold out until the last man was finish
ed. There was not man in the bat
TALON, wounded or otherwise, hungry
or starved, but secuted the idea of
surrender. Their ammunition was
depleted to a point where the few ma
chine guns in the outfit had only one
belt of cartridges apiece and the rifle