GEN John J. Pershing leads the
victory parade past the Arc de
Triomphe on Bastille Day, July 14,
1919, the last time the American
Expeditionary Forces (AEF) marched
in Paris. First Lieutenant William J.
Cunningham carries the general’s
standard and is followed by MG
James C. Harbord, AEF chief of staff.
n assessing the reasons for the Allied victory during
World War I, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) commander GEN John J. (Black Jack) Pershing noted that
By COL Cole C. Kingseed
“upon the young commanders of platoons, companies
U.S. Army retired
National Archives
and battalions fell the heaviest burden.” Deeds of daring, to
use Pershing’s phrase, were legion during the war, and there
were many whose heroic services had been recognized over
November 2010 ■ ARMY
45
A memorial marks the valley in the
Argonne Forest in Binarville, France,
where the “Lost Battalion” of the 308th
Infantry, 77th Division, led by MAJ Charles
W. Whittlesey, held off surrounding
Germans for a week until relief arrived.
MAJ Lillian Pfluke, USA Ret.
the course of the war. In his memoirs,
however, Pershing mentioned only
three soldiers whose battlefield exploits he deemed particularly extraordinary and representative of the fighting spirit of the AEF.
Best typifying the spirit of the rank
and file of the AEF were a Reserve officer, a draftee from the mountains of
northern Tennessee and a Regular
Army man. Of the more than 2 million
soldiers who composed the American
Expeditionary Forces over the course
of the war, Pershing singled out MAJ
Charles W. Whittlesey, who refused to
surrender the “Lost Battalion” of the 77th Division; CPL
Alvin C. York of the 82nd Division, who singlehandedly
killed 25 enemy soldiers and captured 132 Germans; and
LT Samuel Woodfill from the 5th Division, who personally
attacked a series of German machine-gun nests near Cunel,
France, and killed the crews of each in turn until reduced
to the necessity of assaulting the last detachment with a
pick, dispatching them all. All three soldiers fought in the
Meuse-Argonne offensive that began the last week of September 1918 and continued until the armistice on November 11.
ew legends from the Great War have endured as
long as the story of the Lost Battalion. In reality,
MAJ Charles W. Whittlesey’s 1st Battalion of the
308th Infantry, 77th Division, was never lost, nor
was the Lost Battalion a single battalion. What became known as the Lost Battalion was actually
seven companies from two separate infantry battalions
and two machine-gun sections from the 306th Machine
Gun Battalion. From October 2, 1918, until the surrounded
doughboys were relieved a week later, Whittlesey was the
senior commissioned officer of the besieged defenders.
CPT George G. McMurtry, an old Rough Rider, commanded
Whittlesey’s sister battalion from the same regiment.
Whittlesey lacked the military presence of a Pershing or
a Woodfill. A “slender bespectacled New Englander, a man
of manners, a practicing lawyer in New York” is how
doughboy historian Laurence Stallings describes him in his
book The Doughboys: The Story of the AEF. Not a professional soldier, Whittlesey had earned his commission
F
COL Cole C. Kingseed, USA Ret., Ph.D., a former professor of
history at the U.S. Military Academy, is a writer and consultant.
46
ARMY ■ November 2010
through one of the Plattsburgh, N.Y.,
camps designed in the American preparedness movements in 1916. His
previous wartime experiences had
been unremarkable.
By October 1, 1918, Whittlesey’s 1st
Battalion positioned itself on the front
line within the Argonne Forest, under
orders to continue the attack the following morning toward Charlevaux
Mill, with McMurtry’s 2nd Battalion
in direct support. Due to the attrition
during the previous week’s combat,
the fighting strength of the combined
battalions was less than 700. To their
front was a deep ravine that separated
the left flank companies from the
main body.
At precisely 0630 hours, Whittlesey
plunged forward under cover of an
intense artillery bombardment. The
assault across the corps front failed
immediately, but by early afternoon on October 2, the division commander renewed the attack. Whittlesey somehow
discovered a gap in the enemy defense and penetrated the
German line to a half-mile. McMurtry’s 2nd Battalion was
hot on his heels. Casualties, however, had reduced their
combined strength to approximately 550 men.
Awaiting reinforcements, Whittlesey assumed direct
command of the survivors and relayed his position to battalion headquarters. Alone in the Argonne since his flanking elements had failed to match his advance, Whittlesey
established a defensive posture and waited for the inevitable
German counterattack. He did not have to wait long.
By midafternoon, the Germans had recovered from their
initial surprise and began penetrating Whittlesey’s perimeter. Whittlesey dispatched two of his eight carrier pigeons
to the division commander, requesting resupply of ammunition and giving his approximate position. MG Robert
Alexander, commanding the 77th Division, ordered a rescue attack on October 3, but the relief effort failed due to
heavy fog and determined German resistance that reduced
the assaulting Americans by 50 percent. Whittlesey was
now hopelessly surrounded with little expectation of relief.
By the end of the day, he had lost 222 men, 82 of them
killed.
October 5 proved the worst day of the battle. Friendly artillery descended on Whittlesey’s troops and wiped out one
platoon. Now subject to enemy artillery and mortar fire,
Whittlesey released two more carrier pigeons in an attempt
to halt the fratricide. McMurtry was badly wounded, and
the Lost Battalion was under repeated infantry and hand
grenade assault. To make matters worse, aerial resupply
was totally ineffective. The next day produced no relief as
the Lost Battalion again held their position by the skin of
their teeth.
On October 7, nine soldiers from McMurtry’s battalion
Not that far from where the Lost Battalion was rescued,
attempted to escape the encirclement, only to be killed or
captured by the enemy. Later that afternoon, one of the York’s company moved forward to the vicinity of the vilprisoners, PVT Lowell R. Hollingshead, under protest de- lage of Chatel-Chéhéry, France, near the edge of the Arlivered a surrender demand from the German commander gonne along the Aire River. On October 8, Company G
to Whittlesey. The letter read in part, “The suffering of moved forward without artillery support. Instantly the
your wounded men can be heard over here in the German company encountered stiff enemy resistance, and the atlines, and we are appealing to your humane sentiments to tack stalled. At that point, Danforth decided to send a
stop. A white flag shown by one of your men will tell us small detachment of men from the 1st Platoon around the
that you agree with these conditions.” Whittlesey treated left flank of the company line. CPL Bernard Early comthe surrender demand with utter contempt and sent no re- manded the platoon-size detachment, with York comply. Hearing nothing from the Americans except cries of manding one of three infantry squads. Within minutes,
Early’s force ran into heavy machineprofanity, the Germans attacked the
gun fire and was reduced to 17 men.
Lost Battalion with increased intenMoving through the dense undersity.
growth, the doughboys came across
Down to their last rounds of ammutwo German stretcher bearers who
nition and dying from thirst, Whittlefled as soon as they saw the American
sey’s Lost Battalion repelled the final
platoon. Early followed and soon
German assault. That same afternoon,
stumbled upon an encampment of 25
an American battalion from the 307th
Infantry Regiment finally reached
German soldiers, whom they promptly
Whittlesey’s beleaguered troops and
captured. As Early rounded up the
provided rations, medical supplies
prisoners, a German officer hollered a
and ammunition. Whittlesey waited
command, and two concealed mauntil the afternoon of October 8 to
chine guns started firing on the Amerwithdraw his troops. By that time, the
icans. Early fell with five bullets in his
Lost Battalion had captured the imagibody. Six doughboys died instantly,
nation of the American high comand another two were wounded in
mand. GEN Alexander himself visited
addition to Early, leaving York and
Whittlesey in the Argonne and conseven others unharmed.
MAJ Charles W. Whittlesey
gratulated him on his spirited deNow the senior noncommissioned
fense. Only 194 of the original 554
officer, York seized command. Leavdoughboys who started the attack on October 2 stood un- ing the remnants of his command, he crawled to a position
wounded.
where he could draw a bead on the enemy machine-gun
The Army promoted Whittlesey to lieutenant colonel fol- nests. “In order to sight me or swing their machine guns at
lowing the relief of the Lost Battalion and pulled him from me,” he later explained, “the Germans had to show their
the front line. On December 5, Whittlesey was honorably heads above the trenches.” Every time a gunner appeared,
discharged from active service. The next day he was York picked him off, emptying three clips of ammunition
awarded the Medal of Honor. A civilian once again, Whit- in the process. Just then, a German officer with six men
tlesey returned to his law profession where he served as an with fixed bayonets charged York from 25 yards away.
associate for a prestigious law firm from 1919–1920; but he York promptly killed each with a carefully aimed shot,
never adjusted to civilian life—always haunted by the starting with the rear soldier and working his way fordeaths that he had witnessed in the Argonne Forest.
ward.
Having disposed of the enemy to his immediate front,
York
led the prisoners to the rear. En route to the American
bout the time that the Lost Battalion was finally rescued, acting CPL Alvin York of Pall Mall, Tenn., ex- lines, he encountered several additional machine-gun posiperienced his personal rendezvous with destiny. tions and directed that his senior prisoner order them to
York was the unlikeliest of heroes. Drafted in No- surrender, too. With a single exception, the Germans devember 1917, this Tennessee mountaineer proved a scended the hill and surrendered to York. One of the ennatural hunter whose marksmanship was already emy soldiers tested York and tossed a grenade at his caplegendary. Upon receipt of his draft notice, York immedi- tors. York immediately shot him through the heart. The
ately submitted his paperwork as a conscientious objector, remainder of the prisoners got the message and marched
but the District Board rejected his request. Twenty-nine off to captivity.
By this time, York had captured more than 100 enemy
years old when the United States entered the war, York
was assigned to 1st Platoon, Company G, 328th Infantry soldiers, and he was afraid that his detachment would be
Regiment, 82nd Infantry (All-American) Division. Com- fired on by his own artillery. How many enemy dead he
manding York’s company was CPT E.C.B. Danforth, an of- had left on the ridge was anyone’s guess. Fortunately, a relief squad sent to aid CPL Early met York as he neared
ficer whom York came to admire.
A
November 2010 ■ ARMY
47
Signal Corps U.S. Army
SGT Alvin York receives the Medal of
Honor. He was
later awarded the
French Croix de
Guerre with palm.
American lines. Reporting to the battalion adjutant, York
relinquished more than 130 prisoners. He left at least 25
enemy dead on the battlefield. When GEN George B. Duncan, newly assigned commander of the All-American Division, later asked York how many he thought he had hit,
York replied, “General, I would hate to think I missed any
of them shots; they were all at pretty close range—50 to 60
yards.”
Not surprisingly, Pershing judged York the outstanding
civilian soldier of the AEF. Allied Supreme Commander
Gen. Ferdinand Foch concurred and awarded York the
Croix de Guerre with palm, adding, “What you did was
the greatest thing accomplished by any private soldier of
all the armies of Europe.” As for Alvin York, he stated in
1926 that he had rather it be said that he gave his life toward aiding his fellow man than to be remembered as a
warrior who had capitalized on his fame as a fighter.
s remarkable as were York’s achievements in the Argonne, in Pershing’s estimation they were second to
those of acting CPT Samuel Woodfill, an ex-sergeant
from the Old Army. To Pershing, Woodfill was the
outstanding figure in the AEF, America’s “doughboy of doughboys.” Born in Indiana in 1883, Woodfill joined the Army at the time of the Philippine Insurrection at the onset of the 20th century. A natural marksman,
he served a combat tour during the Philippine Insurrection
and then reenlisted for the first of four hitches with the 3rd
Infantry Regiment in Alaska, where he became the only
American soldier to outshoot the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police. From the Arctic, Woodfill was transferred
to the Mexican border in 1916 during the crisis following
Pancho Villa’s raid on Columbus, N.M.
Wearing six hashmarks on his sleeve by the time Congress declared war on Germany in April 1917, SGT Woodfill
accepted an appointment as a Reserve lieutenant, one of
many battle-hardened noncommissioned officers to join the
A
48
ARMY ■ November 2010
commissioned ranks. It was a smooth
transition. As Woodfill later stated to
reporter Lowell Thomas, the NCO
Corps “had been as good as captains
for years because during the frequent
absences of their company commanders they had run the outfit.”
Now with Company M, 60th Regiment, 5th (Red Diamond) Division,
Woodfill barely survived the St. Mihiel offensive in September 1918 and
then moved his company to a railroad
line east of Cunel in the Argonne Forest. Woodfill’s battalion was scheduled to attack on October 14, 1918, but
a day earlier, Woodfill’s commander
directed him to conduct a combat reconnaissance to identify the enemy’s
main line of resistance within the Bois
de la Pultiere, several hundred yards
to their front.
No sooner had they crossed the line of departure when
Woodfill’s company encountered several machine-gun
nests that inflicted horrific casualties on Woodfill’s lead
platoons. The enemy fire seemed to be coming from three
directions. One gun was to Woodfill’s right in an abandoned stable, another was to his front, and the third was
from the church tower in a little village, about 250 yards to
Woodfill’s left. Unable to maneuver his command, Woodfill directed his company to remain in position as he
crawled forward to ascertain the location of the first machine gun. Working his way around the flank of the machine-gun nest, Woodfill fired four carefully aimed shots,
killing four members of the machine-gun crew as each attempted to sight the gun. The remaining German soldier
attempted to escape, but another shot from Woodfill’s
Springfield brought him down as well. Woodfill then
moved forward to examine the position. As he approached
the gun, a German officer sprang toward Woodfill. Woodfill and the officer fought hand-to-hand until Woodfill subdued his opponent and killed him with his pistol.
As Woodfill’s company resumed their advance, a second
machine gun opened fire on them. With his company dispersed throughout the woods, control was virtually impossible. Woodfill described the ensuing action as “every man
for himself.” The enemy gun was in a shallow dugout,
with the head and shoulders of the gunner in plain sight.
With a five-cartridge clip, Woodfill dispatched him and
several other enemy soldiers with carefully aimed shots.
Continuing his advance, a third machine gun opened
fire on the assaulting Americans. Crawling on his stomach
to get closer to the enemy, Woodfill located the enemy position in the woods on the edge of a trench that ran back
into the enemy lines. Though his eyes were burning with
mustard gas, he picked off five men with a single clip of
ammunition. Running forward to inspect the machine-gun
nest, Woodfill discovered another German soldier whom
sey, York and Woodfill stood together.
Two weeks after the ceremony, Whittlesey booked passage on the S.S.
Toloa, a steamship bound for Havana,
Cuba. Prior to coming aboard, he had
put his affairs in order and paid the
next month’s rent in advance. On November 24, Whittlesey walked to the
rail and jumped overboard. When
Woodfill heard of Whittlesey’s death,
he guessed that those four days in the
Argonne Forest must have put too
heavy a strain on the former commander of the Lost Battalion.
York returned to Tennessee following the war and worked a farm given
to him by the state of Tennessee in
recognition of his wartime heroics. He
later established an agricultural institute in the Valley of the Three Forks of
the Wolf and enjoyed a brief resurgence of fame when Hollywood beckoned in 1941 to tell the story of his life,
ow well within the enemy lines
with Gary Cooper portraying the softand under intense fire, Woodspoken York. The subsequent years
fill requested reinforcements
proved difficult for York. As LIFE
from his battalion commander,
magazine described York in a special
who instructed him to return to
issue in 1997, “This exemplar of the
their former position. When he
American fighting man died in 1964,
reported to the command post, Woodall but forgotten” by the nation he had
fill’s battalion commander asked him
served so well.
what he had been doing to the GerFollowing the war, Woodfill remans. “I got a few,” Woodfill reverted to his NCO status to preserve
sponded. “Yeah, I know you did,” the
his tenure of service, since as a Recommander responded. In his memserve officer, he would have lost his
oirs, Woodfill described his action as
military benefits. That reduction in
“a frontiersman stalks machine guns.”
CPT Samuel Woodfill
rank seemed appropriate, stated hisThe armistice found Woodfill recutorian Stallings, because Woodfill
perating in a hospital, suffering from
pneumonia resulting from repeated gassings during the served as “the eternal sergeant of Black Jack’s esteem.”
Argonne offensive. Within weeks Woodfill received orders Woodfill died alone on his farm in 1951 and was buried at
to Chaumont, France, Pershing’s headquarters, where he Arlington National Cemetery, not far from the Iron Comreceived his Medal of Honor from Pershing himself. mander himself.
Among the 16 other recipients was CPT McMurtry from
It has been four score and 12 years since the guns fell
the Lost Battalion.
silent along the Meuse River and the Argonne Forest. Why
Fate would finally bring Whittlesey, York and Woodfill write of Whittlesey, York and Woodfill now? The Great War,
together three years later when Congress authorized the more than the Spanish-American War, ushered the United
burial of an unidentified American soldier from World War States onto the world stage, and that awesome projection of
I in the plaza of the new Memorial Amphitheater at Arling- military power was borne on the backs of the American
ton National Cemetery. A War Department committee re- doughboys who fought in France in 1918. GEN Douglas
viewed 3,000 wartime citations and narrowed the search MacArthur, himself one of the most highly decorated comfor pallbearers to 100 soldiers for Army Chief of Staff Per- manders from that conflict, said it best in his final address
shing to review. Without hesitation, the “Iron Comman- to the U.S. Corps of Cadets: “His [the American soldier’s]
der” selected York, Whittlesey and Woodfill. President name and fame are the birthright of every American citiWarren G. Harding presided over the interment ceremony zen. … From one end of the world to the other, he has
on November 11, 1921. Also in attendance were former drained deep the chalice of courage.” Representing the 2
presidents William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson.
million soldiers of the AEF, Charles Whittlesey, Alvin York
The interment was the first and only time that Whittle- and Samuel Woodfill most certainly would agree.
✭
he promptly dispatched with his Colt
automatic.
For once Woodfill let his guard
down, thinking he had wiped out the
entire machine-gun nest. Before he
could respond to a noise from the
side, a German soldier rushed Woodfill from behind around a turn in the
trench, rifle in hand. Woodfill pulled
the trigger, but his Colt jammed.
Grabbing a long-handled pickax stuck
into the side of the trench, Woodfill
crashed the pick down on the enemy’s
head. He then wheeled just in time to
miss a bullet in the back from one of
the wounded Germans. With another
blow of the pick, Woodfill finished
him off as well. Within the span of a
few hours, Woodfill had captured
three machine guns and killed more
than 11 Germans.
N
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ARMY ■ November 2010