During one of the final battles of World War I, a group of over 500 American soldiers found themselves surrounded on all sides by the enemy. For several days, the group held their position without surrendering. A media frenzy labeled the men the “lost battalion,” even though they were never “lost” and the men actually came from various battalions.
Following Orders
On Sept. 26, 1918, Maj. Charles Whittlesey and his 77th Division were ordered to launch an offensive attack against German forces. German soldiers had occupied the Argonne Forest in northeastern France, and had held it for four years. Whittlesey and his troops made good progress pushing through enemy forces, but they were unaware what was happening around them.The 77th Division pushed through the forest quickly. But what they didn’t know was that they had covered more ground than reinforcements on their right and left flanks. By Oct. 1, Whittlesey’s troops had started to tire, and they were running low on supplies. He hadn’t seen his reinforcements yet, so Whittlesey wanted to slow the progress into enemy territory. His commander refused.
