Five Days in October.

Five Days In October

Robgert H. Ferrell

University of Missouri Press 

2910 LeMone Boulevard, Columbia, MO 65201

0826215947 $19.95 1-800-828-1894 www.umsystem.edu/upress

Five Days In October: The Lost Battalion Of World War I by Robert H. Ferrell (Professor Emeritus of History, Indiana University, Bloomington) is the incredible story of five hundred American soldiers comprising elements of two companies from the 77th Division who were entrapped on the side of a ravine in the Argonne Forest by superior German forces from October 2 to 7, 1918. The courage displayed against overwhelming odds as they fought under siege in the midst of rifle, machine gun, mortar, and artillery fire both day and night, with nothing to eat after the morning of the first day, and with water that was highly dangerous to obtain, is among the finest examples of the American troops under fire as is recorded in the annals of American military history. With Five Days In October, Professor Ferrell offers new material that was previously unavailable in earlier treatments of this event and reveals what really happened during those horrific days in the Argonne Forest. Although "Lost" is not an accurate description because American high command knew where the men were, during the five days the men were on their own Five Days In October will elaborate striking details of the ordeal, and includes the findings of court-martial records and 77th Division files that contain full accounts of the taut relations between the Lost Battalion's brigade commander and the 77th Division commander providing the most complete account now available. Five Days In October is an impressive work of scholarship and a welcome contribution to the growing library of World War I Military History.