"On the morning of October 8, [1918] Corporal York was one of a body of sixteen men in the battle of the Argonne who were ordered to put certain enemy machine guns out of action. The guns they were after were on the other side of a slope. To gain their objective, the Americans were forced to climb a hill, exposed a part of the time to enemy fire from other positions. They accomplished this without loss and began to descend on the other side, their object being to advance upon the enemy from the rear. Presently they found themselves in a cuplike valley among the hills where they spied two Germans ahead of them. One of these surrendered and the other disappeared. Anticipating battle, the detachment went into skirmish order and continued to push forward. Arriving at a small stream, the Americans discovered on the other side some twenty or thirty Germans, among them several officers who were apparently holding a conference. The Americans fired, with the result that the entire body of Germans surrendered. Just as they were on the point of departure with their prisoners, dozens of enemy machine guns, hidden on the steep slope of the hill facing them not over thirty yards away, [Hill 223] opened up on the American detachment. Captors and captured immediately dropt flat on their stomachs, but not before six Americans had been killed. Three men were wounded, among them the sergeant in command. York and seven privates remained. Of these one had taken refuge behind a tree raked on both sides by enemy fire so he could not get away, and the others were guarding the German prisoners. Hence York was left to fight an entire machine-gun battalion alone." (excerpt from 'The Literary Digest', June 14, 1919)
Advancing in the Argonne Forest
"You never heard such a clatter and racket in all your life." "I couldn't see any of our boys. Early and Cutting had run along toward the left in front of me just before the battle started, but I didn't know where they were." "If I'd moved I'd have been killed in a second. The Germans were what saved me. [The prisoners they had captured earlier were laying on the grond in front of Alvin.] I kept up close to them, and so the fellers on the hill had to fire a little high for fear of hitting their own men. The bullets were cracking just over my head and a lot of twigs fell down." "Well, I fired a couple of clips or so — things were moving pretty lively, so I don't know how many I did shoot — and first thing I knew a Boche got up and flung a little bomb at me about the size of a silver dollar. It missed and wounded one of the prisoners on the ground, and I got the Boche—got him square."
"Next thing that happened, a lieutenant rose up from near one of them machine guns and he had seven men with him. The whole bunch came charging down the hill at me." "I had my automatic out by then, and let them have it. Got the lieutenant right through the stomach and he drops and screamed a lot... Then I shot the others.... At that distance I couldn't miss." "As soon as the Germans saw the lieutenant drop, most of them quit firing their machine guns and the battle quieted down. I kept on shooting, but in a minute here come the major who had surrendered with the first bunch. I reckon he had done some shooting at us himself, because I heard firing from the prisoners and afterward I found out that his pistol was empty." "He put his hand on my shoulder like this and said to me in English. 'Don't shoot any more, and I'll make them surrender.' So I said. 'All right'; and he did so, and they did so."
The German Major of the prisoners had providentially lived in Chicago for a time, and spoke English well. Thus, Alvin was able to give demands that normally would have required a translator. "I called for my men, and one of them answered from behind a big oak tree, and the others were on my right in the brush. So I said, 'Let's get these Germans out of here.' One of my men said, 'it is impossible.' So I said, 'No; let's get them out.' So when my man said that, this German major said, 'How many have you got?' and I said, 'I have got a-plenty,' and pointed my pistol at him all the time."
York, a noncommissioned officer, is correctly depicted in the movie as carrying and firing a sidearm. In the movie, it's a P-08 Luger 9mm German semiautomatic pistol. In the Argonne Campaign, York actually carried a Model 1911 .45 caliber APC semi-automatic pistol, the same one those who served in the U.S. Army, or Marines remember firing in training. The problem was that Hawks could not find any .45 caliber APC blank ammunition when it came time to film the battle scenes for "Sergeant York". So Gary Cooper used the 9mm Luger instead.
Over thirty machine guns had been aimed down Hill 223, less than thirty yards away from Corporal Alvin York. Alvin later remarked upon revisitng the site later that day, "I noticed the bushes all around where I stood in my fight with the machine guns were all cut down. The bullets went over my head and on either side. But they never touched me." "So you can see here in this case of mine where God helped me out. I had been living for God and working in the church some time before I come to the army. So I am a witness to the fact that God did help me out of that hard battle; for the bushes were shot up all around me and I never got a scratch. So you can see that God will be with you if you will only trust Him; and I say that He did save me. Now, He will save you if you will only trust Him."
Casualties Being Carried Out of the Argonne Forest
"After the Armistice was signed, I was ordered to go back to the scene of my fight with the machine guns. General Lindsey and some other generals went with me. We went over the ground carefully. The officers spent a right smart amount of time examining the hill and the trenches where the machine guns were, and measuring and discussing everything. And then General Lindsey asked me to describe the fight to him. And I did. And then he asked me to march him out just like I marched the German major out, over the same ground and back to the American lines. Our general was very popular. He was a natural born fighter and he could swear just as awful as he could fight. He could swear most awful bad.
York on the Argonne Forest hill where, with the aid of 17 men, he captured 132 German prisoners on Oct. 8, 1918.
And when I marched him back to our old lines he said to me, 'York, how did you do it?' And I answered him, 'Sir, it is not man power. A higher power than man power guided and watched over me and told me what to do.' And the general bowed his head and put his hand on my shoulder and solemnly said, 'York, you are right.'
There can be no doubt in the world of the fact of the divine power being in that. No other power under heaven could bring a man out of a place like that. Men were killed on both sides of me; and I was the biggest and the most exposed of all [Alvin was six foot tall]. Over thirty machine guns were maintaining rapid fire at me, point-blank from a range of about twenty-five yards."
The next day found twenty-eight Germans dead; just as many shots Alvin said he had fired. Every bullet he fired had found it's target. "Practically unassisted, he [Alvin] captured 132 Germans (three of whom were officers), took about thirty-five machine guns, and killed no less than twenty-five of the enemy, later found by others on the scene of York's extraordinary exploit." (excerpt from 'the official report made by officers of the Eighty-Second Division to General Headquarters')
82nd - All American Division Patch - WWI
On November 1, "I was made a sergeant just as quick as I got back out of the lines."
On April 24, at St. Silva, Marshal Foch pinned the French Croix de Guerre on him, and called his exploit "the greatest thing accomplished by any private soldier of all the armies of Europe." Upon talking with Alvin, Brigadier General Lindsey said, "Well, York, I hear you have captured the whole German army." Alvin replied modestly, "No, I only have 132."
Additional Sources:
www.whatsaiththescripture.com
www.worldwar1.com
Alvin C. York Institute
mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk
www.tennesseehistory.com
www.homeofheroes.com
www.whitehousecyberlib.org
freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~worldwarone
history.amedd.army.mi
www.movieactors.com
