Posted on 10/08/2021 9:19:06 PM PDT by UMCRevMom@aol.com
Alvin York- 10/8/1918
On Oct. 8, 1918, U.S. Corporal Alvin C. York was credited with killing 20 German soldiers and leading the capture of one hundred and thirty two more during the Meuse-Argonne offensive.
It was the final Allied push on the Western front of World War I. York and his battalion were to seize control of a German-held valley when his superior officer was killed by German machine guns. York took charge, returning fire and inspiring his men to do the same. Caught out in the open, York started picking off German soldiers one by one as they attacked him. About 100 German soldiers above him were firing on him as he began to run out of bullets.
Alvin York displays heroics in Argonne - 10/8/1918 [VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4829BGCvrI]
When the German line charged with bayonets from a range of about 25 yards, York pulled out his pistol and systematically picked off his attackers. Allegedly he continued to call out to the Germans, telling them they could surrender at any time.
Here’s York’s retelling of the events:
“And those machine guns were spitting fire and cutting down the undergrowth all around me something awful. And the Germans were yelling orders. You never heard such a ‘racket in all of your life. I didn’t have time to dodge behind a tree or dive into the brush, I didn’t even have time to kneel or lie down. I don’t know what the other boys were doing. They claim they didn’t fire a shot. They said afterwards they were on the right, guarding the prisoners. And the prisoners were lying down and the machine guns had to shoot over them to get me. As soon as the machine guns opened fire on me, I began to exchange shots with them.”
York and his men were so successful, the Germans overestimated the American forces and surrendered their garrison of ninety men.
By the time they returned to the Allied lines, York’s remaining squad of fewer than a dozen men had taken one hundred and thirty two German prisoners. Worse, they were behind enemy lines with the German front between himself and the Allies.
He was promoted to the rank of sergeant and awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
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Great movie starring Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan. Watched it a few months ago.
I love the movie. It is a great movie that honors traditional American life values & shares his military action on the field thru his lense of faith. I bought it for my boys :)
Great movie!
Gimme that ole time religion, gimme that ole time religion, gimme that ole time religion, it’s good enough for me.
It was a movie that boys growing up in America used to watch back when we was still a republic.
Me too. Still on my dvr to watch again
I think it was the summer of 1941 when the movie came to Nacogdoches, TX where I was spending the summer with my grandmother and other family relatives. I saw the movie three times over a couple of weeks at a cost of five cents a movie plus a nickle for the popcorn. Things were pretty cheap then.
Too bad he isn’t around now or we in could send him to the border so he could pick off a few hundred invaders. Just pretend they’re turkeys.
That’s such a great movie. I try to see it every time it’s on.
He was a newbie and was on Recon just as the Battle of the Bulge started. Towards the end of the battle he tells of going into a tavern by himself (red flag for a “story”) to check it out. Well, there were 6 German soldiers in there. All very young and they immediately surrendered to him.
“Well, we were recon, just eight(?) of us. We couldn't take any prisoners. So I told them to leave their guns and walk south until they met a group of English soldiers that we had passed and surrender to them!”
Towards the end of the interview he talks about how they finally took the surrender of the hard-core SS troops. "They gave up, but part of the surrender agreement was that they weren't going to just dump their weapons in a pile. We had to go up to each one of them and take their weapons from them." (This was once his recon group was with the main force.) Like I said, some interesting stories. They sounded believable, but...
From the movie:
York as a Hellraiser before enlistment, with a few buddies, drink up and the shoot a design in a tree outside of the church.
Member of congregation to his mother: “Look what your son has done!”
Mother: “Pretty good shootin’ for being drunk.”
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