In this unique history of the Lost Battalion of World War I, Alan D. Gaff tells for the first time the story of the 77th Division from the perspective of the soldiers in the ranks.
On October 2, 1918, Maj. Charles W. Whittlesey led the 77th Division in a successful attack on German defenses in the Argonne Forest of northeastern France. His unit, comprised of men of a wide mix of ethnic backgrounds from New York City and the western states, was not a battalion nor was it ever lost, but once a newspaper editor applied the term lost battalion to the episode, it stuck.
Gaff draws from new, unimpeachable sources such as sworn testimony by soldiers who survived the ordeal to correct the myths and legends and to reveal what really happened in the Argonne Forest during early October 1918.