10-08-18, 04:04 PM
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#3305
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Silent Hunter 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: standing watch...
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october 8, 1918:
Corporal Alvin York, outnumbered and behind enemy lines, personally kills 25 German soldiers and captures another 132 to earn the Medal of Honor.
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In an October 8, 1918 attack that occurred during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, his battalion aimed to capture German positions near Hill 223 (49.28558°N 4.95242°E) along the Decauville rail-line north of Chatel-Chéhéry, France, York's actions during this engagement earned him the Medal of Honor.[17] He recalled:[18]
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The Germans got us, and they got us right smart. They just stopped us dead in our tracks. Their machine guns were up there on the heights overlooking us and well hidden, and we couldn't tell for certain where the terrible heavy fire was coming from ... And I'm telling you they were shooting straight. Our boys just went down like the long grass before the mowing machine at home. Our attack just faded out ... And there we were, lying down, about halfway across [the valley] and those German machine guns and big shells getting us hard.
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Under the command of Sergeant Bernard Early, four non-commissioned officers, including recently promoted Corporal York,[19] and thirteen privates were ordered to infiltrate the German lines to take out the machine guns. The group worked their way behind the Germans and overran the headquarters of a German unit, capturing a large group of German soldiers who were preparing a counter-attack against the U.S. troops. Early's men were contending with the prisoners when German machine gun fire suddenly peppered the area, killing six Americans[20] and wounding three others.[21] The loss of the nine killed and wounded put York in charge of the seven remaining U.S. soldiers.[22] As his men remained under cover, guarding the prisoners, York worked his way into position to silence the German machine guns. York recalled:[23]
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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... As soon as the machine guns opened fire on me, I began to exchange shots with them. There were over thirty of them in continuous action, and all I could do was touch the Germans off just as fast as I could. I was sharp shooting... All the time I kept yelling at them to come down. I didn't want to kill any more than I had to. But it was they or I. And I was giving them the best I had.
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During the assault, six German soldiers in a trench near York charged him with fixed bayonets. York had fired all the rounds in his M1917 Enfield rifle,[24] but drew his M1911 semi-automatic pistol[25] and shot all six soldiers before they could reach him.[26]
German First Lieutenant Paul Jürgen Vollmer, commander of the First Battalion, 120th Landwehr Infantry, emptied his pistol trying to kill York while he was contending with the machine guns. Failing to injure York, and seeing his mounting losses, he offered in English to surrender the unit to York, who accepted.[27] By the end of the engagement, York and his seven men marched 132 German prisoners back to the American lines. Upon returning to his unit, York reported to his brigade commander, Brigadier General Julian Robert Lindsey, who remarked "Well York, I hear you have captured the whole damn German army." York replied "No sir. I got only 132." His actions silenced the German machine guns and were responsible for enabling the 328th Infantry to renew its attack to capture the Decauville Railroad.[28]
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_York
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Last edited by Bilge_Rat; 10-09-18 at 10:46 AM.
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