The Lost Battalion and the Meuse-Argonne, 1918

[usa2uk]

Hello Forum.

Has anyone read this book? Author is Micheal Clodfelter.

Really quite interested (for obvious reasons) in the Yanks involvement in the closing stages of the Great War, and have read some "introductory" books already - which mention & highlight the Lost Battalion - so I am keen to learn more specific detail.

Research pointed the way to this book, as well as another one entitled "Finding the Lost Battalion".

Just wondering if my £50.00 (which is what this book retails for) could be better spent honestly.

Any reviews welcome.

Thanks.

Jason

[BIFFO]

until recently I had never heard of the lost battalion,a chap I know lent me the dvd to watch,so ok I know its a film but how true to life was it,esp the end, abit like ZULU, warriors come back have a bit of a sing song then leave

BIFF

[SteveMarsdin]

Good afternoon All,

I'll start by saying I haven't read either book but........ There was a lot more to the US involvement in the Argonne than the story of the "Lost Battalion" which was only a very, very small part of it. The phrase does tend to grab the attention and if that is the point of its inclusion in the title and what you are buying covers the whole of the Meuse-Argonne offensive then it might be worth it; if it just covers that episide then I would search out a more wide-ranging book (I'm sure others will be able to recommend one !)

[Guest]

Other than the facts that:

1. It wasn't a battalion

2. It was never "lost"

The movie was close to the actual thing. (With certain Hollywood additions)

The American pilot who lost his life was killed, not locating the unit, but dropping supplies to the Germans who gleefully collected them.

The flamethrower attack actually took place.

The Capt was awarded the MOH and did have part of a potato masher grenade stuck into his back.

The companies in question were actually shelled by their own artillery. (I was the receipient of that in 'Nam when the battery was firing on a back azmith. Not fun and dead Marines were the result (Our colonel waived it off as "S##t happens" which I thought was really comforting to the families of the dead Marines.) Cher Ami, the pidgeon, survived with a wound and a shattered leg and was rewarded, after it died, by being stuffed for the Smithsonian.

The man who carried the surrender note to the C.O. was not an officer, but an enlisted man who was commended by the Germans for his bravery..

The C.O. did actually commit suicide by jumping off a cruise ship after the war.

Doc B

[usa2uk]

Thanks Chaps.

I have read an introductory book on the AEF involvement by Martin Marix Evans. And I am keen to learn more - so any recommendations would be welcome! There is quite a bit in his bibliography - but where to start?

It was actually a mixed detachment of 2 battalions that were essentially cut off from the rest of the attacking forces as they pushed so far ahead, on October 4th. A total of around 650 men.

They held-on until the rest of the division finally broke through on October 7th, with about 195 men remaining.

As DocB says, they also tried dropping supplies by airplane.

I know that there is a movie out, which has received great reviews everywhere I looked to buy it. And I understand, as DocB says, they stuck quite close to the truth.

I like reading books first and watching the movie second!

[Waddell]

Good afternoon All,

if it just covers that episide then I would search out a more wide-ranging book (I'm sure others will be able to recommend one !)

Jason,

I can recommend Ed Lengel's "To Conquer Hell" which covers the whole of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. It covers the Lost Battalion in some depth and Whittlesey's life after the war.

There is a thread on this book and a couple on the "lost Battalion" if you do a search.

Interesting reading.

Scott

[healdav]

Frankly, it isn't worth going to the site. There is a sign on an old road marker that points down the hillside and you have to climb over the crash barrier. Then there are lots of 'wonder if this a shell hole or a fox hole' places covered in leaves on the hillside, and that's it.

As they were being shelled by the US army quite why they sat on the south facing hillside, instead of moving to the north facing, where the Germans would have had to attack uphill, and their artillery would no doubt ave dropped most shells on the top of the cliffs there, is a mystery to me.

There is now a lake at the bottom of the hill with a memorial on the other side of the dam.

To Conquer Hell is an eye opener, especially the way Wilson treated Pershing and the way that, apparently Pershing made up all that business about 'an American army or we go home'

As usual, though, the maps don't have marked on them the places talked about in the text. Why do they always do it?

[usa2uk]

Jason,

I can recommend Ed Lengel's "To Conquer Hell"

Scott

To Conquer Hell is an eye opener....

Thank you very much chaps - To Conquer Hell it is then!

I have spent the last few years visiting Ypes, Arras & Somme battlefields. I have one more year there I think (2011) and then I will be "moving south" to Verdun and the AEF battlefields - so thanks for the tip!

Jason

[Guest]

The POTUS at the time, Wilson, was not enamoured of the US military as is obvious to any historian. Witness the dearth of medals awarded for WWI as comparied to the plethoria of stuff that is now awarded to the U.S.military. For WWI, the Victory Medal with engagement bars?

Now, you can receive a medal being made a prisoner.

There is also talk, God help us, of yet another award to be given for "cautious restraint." Forgive me for being somewhat befuddled, but when I was on active duty, the object in war as to kill the enemy and destroy things that the bad guys owned.

However, in this fantasy world of PC and other nauseating occurrances, we should start thinking in the "New World' fashion and ignore the other such junk as fighting wars to win. We must be careful to include "surgical strikes" "collateral damage," the sacred State Department "Rules of Engagement" and other such nonsense, lest an innocent be rendered hors de combat .

Rant finished. (Here come the moderators!)

Doc B