When Hitler Took Cocaine and Lenin Lost His Brain by Giles Milton Read Free Book Online Page B

hidden on the high bluffs began firing downwards on Whittlesey’s exposed positions, picking off the men below. They had no chance of firing back because the rocky pinnacles were two hundred feet high.
    Whittlesey knew that any attempt to retreat would be tantamount to suicide. His men would be cut down by German machine guns. His only option was to sit tight until American forces could come to their aid.
    His wireless equipment was unable to function in the gorge and his only means of contacting battlefield headquarters was to use one of the three carrier pigeons he had brought with him. When he learned that three hundred of his men had been killed, he sent one of the pigeons to headquarters with the message: ‘Many wounded. We cannot evacuate.’
    The pigeon was immediately shot down by the Germans. They were determined to prevent additional troops coming to Whittlesey’s rescue.
    The major sent his second pigeon: ‘Men are suffering. Can support be sent?’ It was all to no avail: the second bird was also shot down.
    Whittlesey had just one pigeon left, his prize bird, Cher Ami. He now desperately needed to send a message, for as well as being attacked by the Germans, his men were also coming under friendly fire from American artillery.
    Whittlesey placed a note inside a canister and then attached it to Cher Ami’s leg. ‘We are along the road parallel to 276.4. Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heaven’s sake, stop it!’
    The men watched anxiously as Cher Ami began flying out of the ravine. He represented their last hope of salvation.
    He was scarcely above the line of trees when he was spotted by German gunners. There was a burst of gunfire as they turned all their weaponry on him, firing wildly in an attempt to bring him down.
    Cher Ami continued flying through the hail of bullets until disaster struck. The bird was hit and could be seen dropping to the ground. Major Whittlesey’s men were devastated. They now knew that they were destined to die in this Argonne hellhole.
    But no sooner had the gunfire stopped when there was a collective gasp. Cher Ami had struggled back into the air and was once again flying through the ravine. This time, he made it out alive.
    Sixty-five minutes later, divisional headquarters sighted a carrier pigeon approaching its loft. It was Cher Ami. When they went to look for the message, they discovered he’d been shot through the breast and was blinded in one eye. One of his legs, the one carrying Major Whittlesey’s message, was hanging from a single tendon. Divisional headquarters acted immediately and ordered an immediate halt to the bombardment.
    The troops in the ravine managed to hold out for a further four days before the Allies finally sent in a relief force. The Germans retreated and Whittlesey’s Lost Battalion, as it was already being called, was finally safe. Whittlesey returned to America a war hero. His stand in the Argonne became the stuff of legend.
    Cher Ami was also to become a national hero. One of six hundred pigeons used by the United States Army Signal Corps, he had already delivered twelve important messages at Verdun. Now, his rescue of the Lost Battalion was his finest hour.
    His leg was so damaged that it had to be amputated; a wooden leg was specially carved for him. And then he sailed back to America, with General John J. Pershing seeing him off personally.
    On arrival, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre medal with a palm Oak Leaf Cluster; he would later become an exalted member of the Racing Pigeon Hall of Fame.
    Cher Ami died on 13 June 1919, from wounds received in battle. He was stuffed by a taxidermist and placed on display in the Smithsonian, alongside another famous hero from the First World War, the mongrel dog Sergeant Stubby. Both of them remain there to this day.

 
    15
    Barking for Victory
    It was a most unusual way to join the US Army. But then again, he was a most unusual