Transcripts For CSPAN3 American Artifacts The Lost Battalion

Or through our social media feeds. The cspan, created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. For six days in early october 1918, more than 500 u. S. Soldiers were surrounded by germans in the argon forest in northeastern france. At the time, the story of the lost battalion became front page news back home and it continues to be remembered as one of world war is most dramatic stories. Up next, on american artifacts, we travel to france with a battlefield guide and a historian who explain what happened and show us century old trenches and a memorial to the lost battalion in the argon forest. Where are we standing . We are int the middle of the forest. Were standing close by to a mine crater. A big mine exploding here. You look at the size of the crater, its probably nowadays one century after world still around 25 feet deep and Something Like 80 feet wide. So such a big mine exploding here. We have to imagine cloud up in the air 50 meter high. You can see and probably feel the earth trembling miles around. And where are we on the front . Would troops have been here that would have suffered from the mine explosion . Well, that mine exploded in 1916. So at the time, the position was stabilized. French were right there. In fact, where mine is now, it was the french line. The german line is very close by, around 60, 70 yards from us. So here, it is very short and the french and german, they fought here side by side for around three years. So when the american come near 1918, they will see this mine crater and the landscape we discover here is the same. Of course, no grass growing at the time. But the mine there were no mine explosion when the american attacked. So they just see the landscape when they jump the lines. This is one of the starting point for the american 77 division. They start the offensive early in the morning on september 26 and then made the way north towards the german first line seshg second and third line and finally into the argon forest for several days. So this is a french trench for three years. And later on, it will be the one of the american starting lines. For the beginning of the offensive, september of 1918. Every 30 years, we have sen trance f entrance for mine tunnel like this one. There is french mine tunnel. It is clearly heading north. We find the german trench in the north. Soldiers realize theyre not able to go over the top to the enemy trench. They had the idea to dig a tunnel from their position under the enemy line. There is an explosive and that provoke a mine explosion from a distance. Then the enemy was killed or wounded in his trench. They will try to cross to capture that trench. And this is nomans land here. You see the ground everywhere. Just if you want to see how small it was, we have the german trench 30 meters from here. We cross nomans land. That was like 80 meter wide. And now we are inside the german french trench. I see barb wire that was all along the trench. And we have some barb wire left. Remains everywhere in the argon forest. That trench is still very deep after one century. We are very close by the french trench. But from the french trench we could not see. We could not see the french trench even if its very, very close by. Zig zag shape. That is quite typical shape of a trench. And we have the disturbed ground everywhere around. Crossing from time to time that leads to a second line and then the third and fourth line. So this is the first trenches, american troops had to make their way through defeating the germans here to then make their way further north. So there couldnt have been that many german troops here at that time, right . No. Only a small, like reserve infantry or whatever . Yes. And this is part of the argon war was quiet for the last 1 1 2, 2 years. And so germans were not expecting such a big battle on the first day. So this went quickly. The new yorkers moved through fairly fast. Yes. And thats pershings mine. We breakthrough the lines very quickly, as quick as possible. And then we have the supplies slowly coming. So that was taken within a few minutes. Here is a bullet that was fired by a rifle. Right there. You can see it was shot and hit something. So these are the remains we still find a lot especially after heavy rains. Here is one more. And this one was not shot. Its complete as you see. And its german. So that mouser one. We can see it for that part of the bullet that is very narrow for the french. This part is quite wide compared to the bullet itself. So thats a german one. So this is french trench. Its still quite deep. Its still around probably five to six feet deep. Zig zag shape a bit. So were standing in the front lines of where the 77th, the New York National Army Division jumped off on september 26, 1918 . Yes, exactly. In fact, that trench was dug by the french when the front line stabilized here. And then used by french and several light troops. But very last one using this trench to jump off the line are the american soldiers from the 77th. And theyre heading in this direction which is north . Exactly. Heading north, breaking through several german trenches to make their way through the forest. And then, of course, the famous story is in the first week of october, part of the 77th division which is the socalled lost battalion becomes cut off from the main division. Which direction would this have been . Same. North. About six miles away from here. So they made their way through several german lines, through the forest is not the easiest part, of course. Nomans land, were facing them without trees because they were damaged by all the war for three years. As soon as they progress several miles into the forest, they were in the deep forest, same as we see right now. And thats where the event took place around six miles north from us. All right. Lets head to the lost battalion site. Yes, perfect. Youre looking at the memorial for the last battalion. A story well detail right now. We are in the middle of the argon forest again. We moved a few miles north from the location when we were on the starting line. So german position was just there facing us in the hills that is just sunny right now. And american troops came from the south. As we said, theyre coming from south to north. The argon forest as we look to the distance, you see inside. It is steep hills, deep valley. Another steep hill to get to the top. And the germans fortified everything. So 77th division whose name is on the marker set foot from the first day of the battle. They broke through several german lines to finally end up to that position. And mitch is going to give us more detail about what happened during those days here. So the 77th division is a National Army division. Which means it was made up of drafted troops and enlisted troops. In this case, they were mostly out of the state of new york many of them from new york city. They were in this area and a battalion as they were noted later on became cut off from at the main body of the division. The division was 27,000 officers and men. In this case, there are 554 men who are cut off from the main body of the division. Theyre from two different regiments. 307th and 308th infantry and mixed companies. The theyre led by charles widdlesy. He was with a group of men a couple days before. And they had also been cut off and found. But this time they became trapped. The germans are surrounding them from the hills here and firing. His men take cover in an area that well walk down in a moment near what they call a mill. Meanwhile, the rest of the division cant reach them. On their flank are french troops. The germans are firing down with machine guns and artillery and the situation become perilous. It is an embarrassing moment for the army at this point. Things are not going well. In the end of the first week of october, its october 4th and the battle has slowed down. The wernl ather is horrible. Its rainy, chilly, men are getting sick. The casualty numbers are raising each day. General pershing is getting frustrated. He hears about this group of men that are trapped, that theyre cut off. Also hearing about this is a newspaper reporter who is looking for an angle, looking for a story. Manufacture t many of the reporters were embedded with the army at that time. The 77th is part of the first corps under the armys first under first army. The newspaper reporter sends word back to his editor in the United States and he coins the name the lost battalion. The truth of the matter is the 554 men were not lost. They knew where they were. The division commander, Major General alexander knew where they were. And they werent truly a battalion. Again, they were conglomeration of men. It was a difficult situation. And over the course of almost six days, they are losing men daily. The germans are firing on them. Some of the men leave to try to get water. They encounter some germans who give one of the men a note to bring back to major asking them to surrender. He refuses. He wants to hold out. ;ba they end up dropping the supplies over the line. So finally, the plane gets over the site where the lost battalion is and able to get them some supplies. And as hes heading back to the area near 77th Division Headquarters, german machine gun rakes the plane and it crashes killing both the pilot and his observer. Harold getler and irwin blekly. They become heroes of this event and both are posthumously awarded the medal of honor. At first corps headquarters, first corps is commanded by Major General hunter liget. They conceive an idea of how to rescue the lost battalion. They start bringing in troops surrounding the germans. And eventually penetrate through the woods and get to his men on october 6th. At this point out of the 554 men, less than 200 survived. All the others are either killed in action or had been taken prisoner. The event itself takes on a life of its own as one of the important stories of the muse battle and for the American Experience in world war i. But the story doesnt end there. The lost battalion, what men remain, continue on with the 77th and fight their way through the argon forest. They seek his help financially and trying to get benefits from the government. The fact he lost so many men weighed heavy on him. He would receive the medal of honor and he was selected to go on in november of 1921 and to carry the unknown soldiers at arlington cemetery. After that event, he boarded a ship on its way to cuba. He was seen one day at the bar drinking and talking and then later on he was noticed to be missing. He was never found. It was assumed he went up on deck and jumped over the ship. Meanwhile, many books have been written about the lost battalion. And one of the true heroes of the event was a pigeon by the name of sharon meek. Through the ordeal, as the 77th division is trying to rescue him, theyre firing artillery. But the range is off. Somethings wrong with the sighting. And his men are getting hit by friendly fire and theyre killed. He cant send a runner back to the division because they would get killed themselves or captured. Think relied on carrier pigeons. He has a few of those as part of his arsenal. He takes the message and writes on there, you know, telling the commander of the 77th division to reaim basically youre killing my own men. He puts the message in one pigeon. The pigeon flies away. Not in the direction of where the Division Headquarters is. He tries the same thing with the second pigeon. Same thing happens. Pigeon goes in another direction. Finally, hes got one last pigeon left. He takes again the note. He puts it in a metal canister. He places it. He straps it on the leg. And they lift the pigeon up. The pigeon flies around and lands on a tree. At least its in the area. Some of the other commanders get excited. Theyre jumping up and down and screaming at the poor bird. Finally, they get the bird to fly away and they notice that it is heading in it the direction of the Division Headquarters which is about 18 kilometers away. Later on about an hour or two later, the firing stops. Now the big question of this story is was it the pigeon that did make it back to the Division Headquarters where the pigeon coop was . Was it because the pigeon made tlit a it there and gave the note or did the division firing stop on time . That story has never been completely told and we never know the real issue. What we do know is that the pigeon was badly wounded. The lost a wing and won of his legs. Thankfully not the leg that was carrying the message. So at least she got back. Her life was celebrated after the war. When she passed away, she was stuffed and she sits gracefully this the collections of the Smithsonian Institution in the washington area. And here is the immortal pigeon on this monument thats relatively recently placed in tribute to the lost battalion. Why dont we take a walk down a path and see mostly where his men were captured. He can explain a little bit more about the terrain and what happened in that area. So among the people who fought and were in the pocket for six days, i think there was a famous baseball player, no . Youre right. Eddie grant who is what we call in america a journeyman player. He was on a number of different baseball teams. Okay. And including the cincinnati reds. He was among the men of widdlesys that were dead. He is immortalized in baseball fame. Another soldier who died was private henry chin who was of chinese dissent. I dont know the exact number of chinese either chineseamericans or direct immigrants in the u. S. Army. But it was certainly rare. And he was very much honored by the Chinese Community after the war as a certainly certainly as a war hero. Okay. So were now inside the pocket. In the valley. This is a pocket, a location where the socalled lost battalion was for six days around surrounded by the germans. When we look at the ground that was covered by the americans right there, this very steep slopes are coming from the south. That means this is where the american soldiers came from. So making their way up here then lying down along the slope and getting into that valley. They never expected that they will face very strong and heavy german resistance on the other hill which is as steep as the one we have around. So eventually they were hearing german facing them north which is normal. This is a direction of the offensive. But the germans were also on their west and eastern border. And at the end of the day, they were totally surrounded. So you can imagine how it was. Cold, october. Wet and rainy. A bit more than what we are having this year. In the argon forest six days with no possibility to be reached by your own comrades. Tonight on American History tv, the cspan cities tour explores the american story with a look at the Great Depression era. Hear stories and visit places around the nation related to this historic economic down turn. Thats followed by cities tour stops featuring the history of chapel hill, north carolina, amarillo, texas, san antonio, texas, and Brian College station, texas. Watch American History tv now and over the weekend on cspan3. In his new book talking to strangers, author Malcolm Gladwell details why he thinks people make inaccurate judgements about people they dont know. Can you step on now. I dont have to step out. Step out of the car. Im going to drag you out of here. Youre threatening to drag me out of my own car . Get out of the car. Shes imprisoned for resisting arrest and then three days later she hangs herself in her cell. You know, a tragic and unexpected result. But the whole that exchange that we saw which by the way goes on and on and on, we only saw a small part of it, is that was the kind of when i first saw that online, that was when i realized what i wanted to write about because if you break that exchange down moment by moment, you see multiple failures of understanding, of empathy, of a million things. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern on cspans q a. The president s affairs available now in paper back and ebook. Presents biographies of every president organized by their ranking, by noted historians, from best to worst. And features perspectives into the lives of our nations chief executives and leadership styles. Visit our website, cspan. Org thepresident s to learn more about each president a historian featured and order your copy today wherever books and ebooks are sold. Up next, historian Rudolph Daniels talks about his book the Great Railroad war United States Railway Operations during world war i. He says the strategy of moving troops, equipment and ammunition faster helped allied forces to win the war. The national wod