How many men were rescued in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in October 1918?
Charles White Whittlesey Lieutenant Colonel Charles White Whittlesey (January 20, 1884 – presumed dead November 26, 1921) was a United States Army officer and an American Medal of Honor recipient who led the "Lost Battalion" in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in October 1918 during the final stages of World War I.
Plan XVII Plan XVII (] ) was the name of a "scheme of mobilization and concentration" that was adopted by the French "Conseil Supérieur de la Guerre" (the peacetime title of the French General Staff) from 1912–1914, to be put into effect by the French Army in the event of war between France and Germany. Though it was not "a prescribed narrative for the campaign" or battle plan, the deployment made possible a prompt invasion of Germany and/or Belgium before Germany could mobilise its reserves, simultaneous to a Russian invasion of East Prussia. The plan was implemented from 7 August 1914, with disastrous consequences for the French, who were defeated in the Battle of the Frontiers (7 August – 13 September) at a cost of 329,000 casualties. The French northern armies were forced into a retreat as far as the Marne river, where in the First Battle of the Marne (5–12 September), the German armies were defeated and forced back to the Aisne river.