The Lost Battalion and the Meuse-Argonne, 1918: America's Deadliest Battle

On April 6, 1917, Congress declared war and the United States joined the great conflict that had engulfed Europe since the assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand in 1914. The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) took the better part of a year to train and mobilize and their first major battle did not take place until the following May. The real challenge for the American troops came in September 1918. It was then that the 47-day battle of the Meuse-Argonne began. Encompassing seven weeks, a 25-mile front and more than one million American troops, the Battle of the Argonne Forest averaged 558 deaths per day, a human cost exceeding any America has paid in battle before or since. Despite the carnage and death, a mixed unit (from one machine gun and three infantry battalions) and their commander, Charles Whittlesey, rose to the rank of legend. Eclipsed by more publicized--yet no more deserving--tales of military valor, this final American offensive of the Great War and the heroic tale of the "Lost Battalion" remained largely obscure in the annals of American history, until now. This volume, with exhaustive on-site research, details America's last major offensive, the Battle of the Meuse-Argonne, which took place from September 26 through November 11, 1918. It examines the movements and countermovements that comprised the still unequaled conflict of the Argonne Forest. The main focus of the work is the five-day isolation and besiegement of the so-called "Lost Battalion." From October 2 to 5, Major Charles Whittlesey and 554 men were cut off from all other U.S. units and attacked by German forces in an area known as "The Pocket." Written with a view toward bringing this legendary tale to a more personal level, the work creates a vivid picture of the men who lived, fought and died in the final, all-consuming battle of World War I.