WWII’s Battle of the ‘Lost Battalion’ has been hailed as one of the fiercest—and most heroic—ground battles in American military history. In October 1944, as Allied forces fought to expel the Nazis from France, a unit of Japanese American soldiers deployed on a seemingly impossible mission. Sent into the harsh terrain of the Vosges mountains of northeastern France—a region not breached militarily since the Roman Empire—they were ordered to extract a Texas National Guard unit trapped deep in the forest, surrounded by 6,000 Nazi troops.
The Japanese Americans, known as Nisei, served in the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team (442nd). A segregated unit under the command of white officers, the Nisei had faced intense racism and discrimination at home, especially after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor prompted the U.S. to imprison many of them and their families in wartime incarceration camps. During their French campaign, the 442nd included the 100th Infantry Battalion (a mostly Nisei unit from Hawai’i that had its own storied history before merging with the 442nd), the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion and the 232nd Engineer Company—all of which played crucial roles.
The Nisei men knew many wouldn’t return from the rescue mission. Previous attempts had failed, incurring heavy losses. The trapped Texans were running dangerously low on ammunition and rations. But the Nisei fought ferociously in close combat, slogging through the muddy forest and mine-laden roads in ugly weather, sometimes outnumbered four to one. When the mission was over, the 442nd had amply lived up to its chosen motto “Go For Broke,” becoming the most highly decorated regiment in U.S. military history for its size and length of service.
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Originally Posted by LittleLebowski
