Betrayal at Little Gibraltar: A German Fortress, a Treacherous American General, and the Battle to End World War I

by William Walker

Overview

A vivid, thrilling, and impeccably researched account of America’s bloodiest battle ever—World War I’s Meuse-Argonne Offensive—and the shocking American cover-up at its heart.

The year is 1918. German engineers have fortified Montfaucon, an elevated fortress in northern France, with bunkers, tunnels, and a top-secret observatory capable of directing artillery shells across the battlefield. Following a number of unsuccessful attacks, the French have deemed Montfaucon impregnable. Capturing it is the key to success for General John J. Pershing’s 1.2 million troops and his plan to end the war. But a betrayal of Americans by Americans results in a bloody debacle. In his masterful Betrayal at Little Gibraltar, William Walker tells the full story for the first time.

After a delay in the assault on Montfaucon, thousands of Americans lost their lives while the Germans defended their position without mercy. Years of archival research show the actual cause of the delay was a senior American officer, Major General Robert E. Lee Bullard, who disobeyed orders to assist in the direct assault on Montfaucon. The result was the unnecessary slaughter of American doughboys during the assault. Although several officers learned of the circumstances, Pershing protected Bullard—an old friend and fellow West Point graduate—by covering up the story. The true and full account of the battle that cost 122,000 American casualties was almost lost to time.

A "military history for all libraries" (Library Journal), Betrayal at Little Gibraltar tells of the soldiers who fought to capture the giant fortress and push the American advance. Using unpublished first-person accounts—and featuring photographs, documents, and maps—Walker describes the horrors of combat, the sacrifices of the doughboys, and the determined efforts of two participants to solve the mystery of Montfaucon. This is compelling history, important to be told, an "as valuable account as Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August" (Virginian-Pilot).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501117916
Publisher:	Scribner
Publication date:	04/11/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	913,368
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

An educator and writer with a lifelong fascination for military history, William Walker grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, exploring the Civil War forts surrounding the city. After a forty-year career in college teaching and administration, he returned to his first love of military history to investigate a pivotal incident in America’s largest and bloodiest battle, World War I’s Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Betrayal at Little Gibraltar is his first book.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Words Tongned with Fire xi

Part I The Stakes

Chapter 1 "Horrors from the Abyss" 3

Major Harry Parkin's Affidavit 15

Chapter 2 Little Gibraltar of the Western Front 19

Chapter 3 "Do You Wish to Take Part in the Battle?" 37

Chapter 4 "This Appalling Proposition" 57

Chapter 5 "Feeling Like Crusaders" 73

Chapter 6 Training for Disaster 89

Chapter 7 "An Ominous, Dread-Inspiring Place" 107

Part II Battle and Betrayal

Chapter 8 Toward Montfaucon and into a Trap 129

Chapter 9 "The 79th Is Holding Up the Entire First Army" 147

Chapter 10 "Bayonet and Rifle Butt, Pistol and Trench Knife" 163

Chapter 11 "All America Is Behind Us" 187

Chapter 12 "Regardless of Cost" 201

Chapter 13 The Cost of "Regardless" 215

Chapter 14 Relief and Disgrace 229

Chapter 15 Into the Cyclone … Once Again 243

Chapter 16 Redemption on Corn Willy Hill 265

Chapter 17 Making Good … at Last 285

Part III The War After the War

Chapter 18 Controlling the Narrative 305

Chapter 19 Bullard, Bjornstad, and Booth 323

Chapter 20 Betrayal at Little Gibraltar 343

Chapter 21 Denkmal: Remembering the Doughboys 365

Epilogue "Some Could, Some Could Not, Shake Off Misery" 379

Appendix 389

Acknowledgments 391

Notes 395

Bibliography 417

Photograph Credits 431

Index 433

Editorial Reviews

"How strange that the Meuse-Argonne campaign in the last weeks of World War I is not better remembered: to this day it remains the largest and costliest battle American troops ever fought. William Walker's Betrayal at Little Gibraltar should help dispel this national amnesia, for he has given us both a propulsive, closely observed war narrative and an engrossing murder mystery. The victims are thousands of needlessly killed American soldiers, the perpetrator a vain, glory-hungry general whose motives Walker artfully uncovers in a tale of low selfishness and high courage that casts fresh light on the timeless snares of military command while righting a tremendous century-old wrong."
—Richard Snow, author of A Measureless Peril and I Invented the Modern Age

"William Walker's Betrayal at Little Gibraltar provides evidence of a deliberate misinterpretation of orders and of an army cover-up afterward. The cast of characters, from men like Pershing, Bullard, and Kuhn to common soldiers like novelist James A. Cain and Harry Parkin, is compelling. The tale of conspiracy and cover-up, with consequent human suffering on a large scale, makes for an exciting read."
—Edward G. Lengel, author of To Conquer Hell, Thunder and Flames, and General George Washington: A Military Life

"Walker’s reconstruction of the details of the battle is nicely balanced with the stories of individual participants....A military history for all libraries."
—Library Journal

"Fascinating...a detailed, fact-filled history....For the military professional or civilian history buff, this book is an essential addition to a credible collection. Its readability is superb; maps and photos are well-chosen and expertly placed, and arcane terminology is patiently explained....As invaluable an account as Barbara Tuchman's "The Guns of August" and similar seminal works, and certainly a more fast-paced, less intimidating read."
—Virginian-Pilot

“Well-written, impeccably researched, and lavishly illustrated...gripping...compelling...[a] masterful account....Betrayal at Little Gibraltar goes far to right an almost-forgotten wrong that took place almost 100 years ago.”
—Knoxville News Sentinel

"This is one of the best new AEF books I've read. I highly recommend it."
—Peter Belmonte, Roads to the Great War: A Journal of World War I

From the Publisher

2016-03-01
An attempt to identify the true culprit behind the excessively bloody taking of a German fortress by green American forces at the tail end of World War I. In his debut history, military historian Walker aims to settle a disputed incident in American military history that took place at the beginning of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in 1918. The 79th Division, which "had completed less than six weeks of the prescribed twelve weeks of combat training," was given the difficult task of taking Montfaucon, a fortified butte serving as a valuable observation post for German artillery and known as "the Little Gibraltar of the Western Front" for its impenetrability. The battle-hardened 4th Division, by contrast, was given a relatively easy sector of the German lines to penetrate. Walker marshals exhaustive evidence suggesting that American planners intended to execute a "turning maneuver": while the inexperienced 79th held the veteran defenders' attention, the 4th would encircle the strong-point and force its surrender. The author argues that Maj. Gen. Robert E. Lee Bullard ignored this order, hoping to win glory by leading his corps, which included the 4th Division, further into German territory than any other American unit. Unfortunately, this "betrayal," while undoubtedly of interest to soldiers of the 79th and military historians, seems insufficiently consequential to interest casual history buffs. Walker never fully demonstrates that capturing Montfaucon was as crucial to the (arguable) failure of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive as other factors mentioned by the author, including the American soldiers' inexperience, sophisticated German defenses, and outdated tactics encouraged by American commanders who "still worshiped the rifle and bayonet." Furthermore, Walker leans too heavily on military history clichés, comparing the combatants to "depleted boxers" and quoting heavily from excellent but well-mined sources such as historian John Keegan. A competent piece of historical detective work that is less satisfying as popular history.

Kirkus Reviews