Blood in the Argonne: The "lost Battalion" of World War I

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.

Alan D. Gaff is an independent scholar and the author of several books, including Bayonets in the Wilderness: Anthony Wayne's Legion in the Old Northwest, Blood in the Argonne: The "Lost Battalion" in World War I, and On Many a Bloody Field: Four Years in the Iron Brigade.