Talk:Lost Battalion (World War I)

Explanation for article creation
This article was created because there are two seperate Lost Battalions: one in World War I and another in World War II. Ðysepsion † Speak your mind 06:39, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Edit request
"French advance had been stalled" should read "the French did not advance..." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.147.135.217 (talk) 08:24, 2 October 2015 (UTC)

No mention of artillary fire from own forces in 'History of 77th'
This reference describes the troop movements of the 77th division at the end of WWI, as well as describing the plan of the Argonne offinsive. It also has a section on the 'lost batallion'. There was no mention of artillary fire from friendly forces in this discription. However, the publication itself was put out by the army, and I'm sure it excludes details that reflect negatively on its own troops, and probably puts a positive spin on things. --74.46.103.222 (talk) 00:46, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
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German reports
A source with german reports would be nice, so I used "www.verdun14-18.de/the-lost-battalion/" as a source, but the reports dont exactly match with the given US reports in the article, so I dont really dont know what to with my text. So I park it here for future use:


 * With the capture of Bouconville by American troops, the Germans could no longer hold their main, fortified, line of defence and the Oberste Heeresleitung ordered on September 30 to shorten the lines and fall back. As part of this movement, elements of the 2nd und 3rd Bataillon of Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment 122 (LIR 122) were deployed to take positions near Binarville, securing the hills and ravines just east of the village, including Hill 198 and the mill in the Charlevaux-ravine.


 * On 1 October the Germans struggled to maintain the connection between their individual platoons east of Binarville. American patrols tried to penetrate the line and one breakthrough had to be stopped by a counterattack. Early on 2 October German units reported that an American unit had gotten through the lines using one of the ravines the night before. An offensive by American and French forces along the entire line on 2 October caused confusion on the German side and it took some time until the German command had established that the defences had mostly stayed intact and only minor breakthroughs had been suffered. The Germans began to stage reserves near the Charlevaux ravine to prepare for counterattacks. These reserves met rather unexpected with the US formation under Major Whittlesey, who had come up the ravine unnoticed by the Germans, achieving a full breakthrough, but without apparently realising it. In the following engagement the German formations partially lost contact which each other again and only late on 2 October the LIR 122 managed to regain the original line of defence, effectively encircling Whittleseys force.


 * On 3 October the Germans planned to attack the encircled US-Battalion, who’s position they had dubbed the "Amerikaner Nest". The Germans estimated to face only two company-sized elements and accordingly deployed formations of the LIR 122 and RIR 254 to attack at 12:30, who were heavily outnumbered by the defenders.


 * On 4 October the Germans had called in elements of Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment 252 and placed them to cover the ravine ("Teufelsgrund") to prevent the Americans from breaking through the thin german lines. Heavy artillery could not be used against the American Battalions position due to the close proximity of German and American troops. So the German fire support relied on Minenwerfer-mortars only, which they thought were less effective.
 * The Germans reported to have fought off three American attacks coming from the encirclement on 4 October. The Divisional Headquarter ordered the German troops to ask Whittlesey to surrender, but he refused.


 * A German attempt on 5 October to attack with hand grenades failed. American forces now attempted to free the "Lost Battalion" from the outside, launching three attacks on RIR 254. Supply drops by US aircraft landed in the German lines. The Armeeoberkommando had already decided to take back the entire German divisions left flank behind the "Teufelsgrund" which would have freed the "Lost Battalion", but the Regiments officers in the sector asked permission to crush the encircled American formation first.


 * To prepare an offensive on the "Amerikaner Nest" the Germans initiated a flamethrower attack which pushed Whittleseys troops into a smaller perimeter. Two companies of LIR 122 which had seen 10 days of continuous action were replaced by RIR 252 companies. On October 7 they planned for a total of three companies of RIR 252 and 254, supported by two "Trupps" of Stormtroopers with flamethrowers to attack Whittleseys from the North, but only 20 of the promised Stormtroops from "Sturmbataillon 2" showed up, so that the attack was of limited scale. American prisoners were taken, who reported that the supply situation was desperate and many men wanted to surrender. Confident by the news, the Regiments requested permission for another attack, but the Armeeoberkommando turned the request down and ordered the retreat to shorten the lines further to take pressure from the 2nd Reserve-Division, which was under heavy attack in a neighbouring sector. The German troops abandoned their position at night and had left by the next morning.

regards Alexpl (talk) 09:54, 29 July 2018 (UTC)