Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1918-10-11
YANKS ASKED To
SURRENDER; co
To HE'LL REPLY
Members of "LoSt Battalion
Make Emphatic Reply to
German Demands That They
Give Themselves Up,
Ia soRsiso JousaAL SPECIAL Ls.s1o w,esl

with the American Forces North
| west of Nerdun, Oct. . "wednesday
by the Associated Press. )-Thc bright
est spot in the heroic and amaZinl
story Of the now famous lost hattal
ion which belonged to the Seventy
! seventh division, was the climax TO tn
fourth day of the troops beleagur
ment in the Argnne forest.
When the men We're long foodles
and almost wholly without ammuni
ton and when many were weak from
| exhaustion, but not one deSpairing
| an American who had been takel
prisoner by the Germans suddenly ap
! peared at the little camp surrounded
in the valley.
The man had been sent blindfold
ed from the German headquarters
| with a typewriter note 10 Major
| Whittlesey reading
! Americans, you are surrounded OF
| all sides Surrender, in the name OF
! humanity. You will be we'll treated
Major Whittlesey did not hesitate {
| fraction of a second
eco to hell" he almost shouted
| Then he read the note to those around
! him and his men cheered so loudly
that the Germans heard them from
their observation posts.
Americans Fall Into Trap.
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 its eager
ness to catch up with the retreatnS
Germans, gradually spread out and
widened its ranks. This allowed the
Germans to infiltrate unseen behind
the Americans and they fell directly
into a cunning trap which the Ger
mans had set for them.
The enemy had planned to catch
the Americans in a hollow surround
ed on all four sides by heights, the
greatest of which was a steep hill di-
rectly ahead. The Americans who
were not accustomed to forest fight
ing and were filled with eagerness
dashed into this hollow without stop
ping to think that the enemy might
be awaiting them. The members OF
the battalion were at first checked
by their own artillery barrage which
had worked steadily forward. Never
theless, it had not worked as fast as
the troops themselves and the bat
talon proceeded half way up the
hill and there they waited for the
barrage to pass in front of them
Then they discovered that the Ger
mans on both sides had Jointly flank
ed them and had closed in upon their
rear.
Subjected TO Heavy Fire.
Sheltered only in shallow and has
tiIy constructed trenches. the men
were subjected to a grilling shipping
machine gun fire as well as a trench
mortar bombardment 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 sur
prise attacks.
The battalion had started with mea-
ger rations, expecting more to reach
them later. These, of course, could
no longer be transported to them. 1t
was the greatest good fortune that
they were fairly well supplied with
water.
Nightly and daily, too. they sent
back volunteer scouting parties, but
if these reached the positions in the
rear without being captured or killed
they could not tell, for none ever re-
turned
Daily American aviators searching
vainly for them flew overhead, but
no outcry the men could make
brought anything but a volley of
shouts and laughter from the Ger
mans in front and behind and to the
right and left of them.
Surrounded by Germans.
The beleaguered men discovered
there were German machine gun
81
feet or so and for a man to show
himself ever so briefly was the sig
nal for a sweeping rain of bullets. If
a man made an unusual noise trench
mortars pounded the vicinity vicious
~.
Just for diversion the enemy made
a practice of sweeping the whole
terrain-the hillside where the inn
provised trenches were located and
the valley in which men crawled to
get leaves and water-regularly and
then irregularly with machine guns.
Shippers were 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-
tlOn OF any one bul llle bti hidllo.
Americans Grew Emaciatcd
As the days passed the Americans
grew more and more emaciated and
more and more bearded, but they
never gave up hope. There was Moth
ing but grim determination to hold
out until the last man was finished.
There was not a man in the battalion
wounded or otherwise, hungry or
starved, but secuted the idea of sur
render. Their ammunition was de-
'pleted to a point where the few ma
chine guns in the outfit had but one
belt of cartridges apiece and the rifle
ammunition was running so short
that they had received orders not to
fire at any one attacking until with
in such short range that his death
or serious injury was almost newt
able.
Major Whittlesay, who is a well
known New Yorker had his entire
battalion behind him to a man, Cap
tain Leo Stromee of San Bernardino,
Calf. told the Associated Press His
rmen ieered at the idea of surrender
and the men who came out of the
four days siege are united in declar-
ding that they never would have CIV