re machine-gun nests all about them and if a man showed himself
ever so little or made any loud noise, he brought upon all of them
volleys from the guns and from the trench mortars. At regular
intervals all the machine guns would sweep the place with a rain of
bullets. Snipers were also constantly on the watch for the exposure of
the smallest part of a man's body.

They had carried little food with them, for they expected it to follow
them along their line of communication. There was water in the swampy
little creek in the ravine, but to attempt to reach it by day meant
certain death. At night the enemy covered it with machine gun fire,
making it almost impossible for the Americans to crawl down and back
again. Many did make the venture, and some returned with their
canteens full, which they shared with their comrades. Others were
found afterward by the stream where they had fallen under the enemy's
fire.

At regimental headquarters it was known, even before Lieutenant McKeogh
got through, that the battalion was surrounded in the forest, unless it
had been exterminated or had surrendered. So daily, American aviators
flew over the forest attempting to locate the men. They dropped
carrier pigeons in boxes hoping some of them might fall into Major
Whittlesey's hands and that by them he might send his location to the
colonel. They also dropped boxes of food, but neither the pigeons nor
the food reached the "lost battalion."

Major Whittlesey had no rockets to send up to give his location, and
his men could not yell loud enough to make the aviators hear them and
locate them, but their yells did help the Germans to get better range
for their trench mortars and machine guns.

As the days passed the Americans grew more and more exhausted, but
their courage and hope continued strong. All would rather die than
surrender. Their ammunition was getting so low that the Germans were
able to come closer to them, for Major Whittlesey ordered his men only
to fire when the Hun was near enough so that they were sure not to miss
him.

After five days of this terrible exposure and strain, the battalion was
rescued by a relief party. Of more than six hundred men at the
beginning, three hundred and ninety-four survived at the end of the
five days' fighting and suffering. All were completely exhausted, and
many wounded. Many were so weak they had to be carried to the rear
where warm blankets, warm food, and drink awaited the