Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-11-19
COL cW#TTkEsEY BACK
Rero Of the Lest Battalion Re.
turns TO New York
TOLD tM, BuEs TO GO TO BELL

comnhahdsr OF Brave Americana Con-
fitms ma story of Their Splendid
Conduct when Surrounded by Ger
mans in the Forest of tho Arsonne.
Lieut.. Col. Charles W. W'hittleSsy.
/ leader Of The Lost Battalion" Of 700
surrounded by thousands OF
q, lmanS in the Arsonnc Forest. who
Held out for five days until relief came.
arrived in New YorK from France
Wednesday. Seated in the Williams
Club at No. f9l Madison Avenue We'd
ne sday night, Col. Whittlesey narrated
to the reporters Or tho newspapers a
tnle Of bravery that has had few par
allels in this war Of splendid achieve
nrents . .'-
Cut on from their fellows, without
and raked day and night
by whitening Bce&e- machine gun
fire. with hundreds OF Germans at
tacking with hand grenades and howl.
ing hke,1o.O 600 wild devils all day."
Whirrlesey's plucky little band had de-
cdcd to die fighting gloriously. They
faced starvation, had given up hope
of reinforeements arriving In time
TO save them.
Refused to Surrender.
Then. Oct. I. the FIFTH day that we
had been hemmed in the rayine, with
the Germans firing down at us from
the hills" Col. Whittlesey said, there
came a German, bearing a white flag.
He brought us a typewriter mes
sage. which ran about as follows:
We have heard the cries OF your
wounded. It is impossible for you to
escape. Why do you not surrender
in the name of humanity? Send back
your reply by messenger carrying a
white fiag."
I'VE did not know that reinforce
ments were. near at hand. and we
we would all die Of starvation.
We had made up our minds never to
but to die as men. so. when
I yelled Go to He'll all Of the men
roared 'Righto! Stick, boys! Never
say die.' and gritted their teeth to
face the death they felt was nevt-
tnhie." ...I ....
And then, with q rush and an ex-
,ilting shout. fellow Americans swept
the enemy from their strongly en-
trenched positions overlooking the de-
tachment of Whituesey's men. OF the
700 men originally in the battalion,
not more than one-third were alive and
and even, these few were
so weak from living on leaves and
tobacco" that many collapsed.
Col. Whlttiesey is six feet three, and
built In proportion. He is about
thirty Aye, years old and, a graduate
% llama EaliesSt He yss hFnssm hFnsm; J;
be-! h!Tf q the law firm OK Whittlesey &
Fruyn, at No. 2 Rector. street, when
the first training camp opened at
Plattsburg. There ne won his commits
sion as captain, and went to Camp Up
ton with the 3OSth infantry. cornpos-
cd of New York and Western boys.
He soon gained further promotion.
To- day he leaves for Camp Dix to
train men.
Col Whfttlesey said there was moth
ing too fine to say about the New York
boys. 60.
Drove Onward In Night.
I'VE advanced deep into the Ar
gonne Forest" he said. THE under
brush was so thick that we could not
see ten feet ahead. Ny command was
made up Of the 1st and 2nd Battaiions
Of the 3oSth' Regiments, and Company
X Of the 307th. Fresh provisions were
brought UP, but the order to advance
was given before we had time to hand
them around. Each man bearing 2z0
rounds of ammunition We pushed
ahead all night. 'rnr .' ..'.' O.
"Fhe next day our course lay along
a deep ravine. with hHls. 200 feet high
rising abruptly! On top Of these halls
the Germans had planted machine
guns, which they usod to cruel advan-
tase: | sent Company A.: against one
hill and all the officers and most OF the
men, were wiped, out. The next day.
leaving two companies to, cover our
rt.ar we went forward short. dis
tancc and stretched out line running
along a hillside. g. .l.... ...... e
we occupied a strip Of ground per-
fiaps, 800 yards long. There was a
swamp. back OF us, fortunately where
we crawled for muddy water at night,
Machine gun, bullets splashed our faces
while. we drank. Lieutenant Wilhelm
of Co. E. attacked, a strong German
nosition on our west. but his command
OF ninety men was surrounded and
almost all died. Runners had sent
out to bring reinforcements returned
ON the third day and reported that
they we're cut or, 50 then we UNDER
stood that we were Surrounded.
.Tt was a hhbrrIblel ordeal. Before
each attack. the Germans fired trench
mortirs at us; and then approached
within len yards and buried hand gre
nades, causing great tess Of life! we
lost iO7 men and more than twice that
number werei wounded. II was I'M
uossible for us to bury the dead"then.
SO we placed them all on a rocky hill
side and Inferred them later
German Losses. Heavy.
"Of course, I don't know how many
Germans we got rid. Of, but / judge
their losses Ear surpassed ours. They
buried their. men at night, but later
we. found many bodies in the UNDER
brush. The fierce fire from the Ger
man trench mortars bad smashed nine
Of the eleven machine guns we had
and there were, only five boxes OF ma
chine gun ammunition left. And MOTH
ing to eat for four days" =. q.
Col. Whittlesey then, broke on IN
praise. OF the men under him. He
failed to tell the story of what he was
doing when the rescuing force ar
rived, but the Stars and Stripes. after
calling his deed "the most gallant OF