Western Front Association Milton Keynes Branch
Friday, 15th November 2024 at 7.30 pm
Wolverton Working Men’s Social Club, 49-50 Stratford Road, Wolverton MK12 5LS
Speaker: Jim Nicolson. With fish and chip supper.
On the 2nd October 1918, as part of a major American offensive in the Argonne Forest, Major Charles Whittesley of the 77th Division led his force of 442 men into the narrow, muddy Charlevaux ravine at least a mile in front of the main American force. That night they were cut off and surrounded by the Germans, and endured five days and nights of continuous assaults, resisting snipers and waves of German troops armed with hand grenades and flame throwers.
During this period war correspondents seized on the incident and dubbed the unit the ‘Lost Battalion’. On the 7th October the rescued 194 survivors stumbled out of the ravine into American military history and folklore.
(Email beforehand if you would like fish and chips.)