Western Front Association - U.S. Branch - Movie Review of the Lost Battalion

LOST BATTALION (2001). This DVD was made for TV as a true World War I story of a famous incident. ASIN: B00005U8F4. It was released by A&E Entertainment in 2002; available from Amazon.com for about $20; starring Rick Schroder (1970- ), who was a former child star lately appearing in the movie "Crimson Tide" and the TV series of "NYPD Blue." Running time is 100 minutes. This film was reviewed by Rick Belcourt, who rated it:

1/2, and Jim Minnoch, who rated it

for students of the Great War. They can be reached at jemcam@comcast.net.

Major Charles Whittlesey (Schroder) is the commanding officer of the 308th battalion of the U.S. Army's 77th Division, who found his unit surrounded by German troops in the Argonne Forest on October 2, 1918. It was just weeks before the war ended. He was ordered by Division General Alexander to hold his position as per the attack plan even though the French forces on his left and the U.S. Army on his right were not in place. In a low-laying, arena-like position, they fought off the German attacks for five days until they were finally rescued. During this time, they were out of food and water, and were running low on ammunition. In the end, the General declared that the "losses were acceptable", even though most of the battalion had been killed.

All in all, we found little out-of-place, historically speaking: in the first sequence, we noticed that the men in their trench ready to attack the woods, about 400 yards away over open ground, fixed bayonets, then placed the scabbards over them as they charged. There was a Luger pistol that was using a World War II magazine. A flamethrower canister was quite different from those actually used by the Germans. Member David Homsher said, correctly, that the gas bags were worn backwards, i.e. with the flaps facing outwards, when they properly would have the flap-side against their chests to prevent infiltration of clogging material into the mask itself. Also, a German officer was lighting a cigarette with a Zippo lighter, which was first made in 1931; later, a butane lighter appeared to light an American's cigarette.

Survivors of the Lost Battalion

We feel that there might have been more explanation as to why this event occurred in the first place. The conviction, dedication and discipline of the fighting men are convincing; the equipment was factual, the tactics impressive, and the setting (topography, woods, etc.) was marvelously consistent with the actual site of the incident. The difficulties of fighting in a forest are strikingly revealed. The acting seemed flawless. We highly recommend this movie to all students of the war.

A final victim of this tragic event was Major Whittlesey himself, troubled as he was after the war, who committed suicide by going overboard from the steam ship TOLOA in route to Cuba in March 1921 (he had left letters). Besides Whittlesey, two other soldiers in the battalion were awarded the Congressional Metal of Honor.

Created: 12 April 2004