Against the advice of his senior officers, Major General
John E. Dahlquist committed the 1st Battalion, 141st Infantry, to the engagement. The battalion was subsequently cut off by the Germans, and attempts by the 141st Infantry's other two battalions to extricate it failed.
P-47 Thunderbolt fighters from the
405th Fighter Squadron,
371st Fighter Group, airdropped supplies to the 275 trapped soldiers, but conditions on the ground quickly deteriorated as the Germans continued to repel American ground forces' attempts to reach the trapped unit. The final rescue attempt was made by the
442nd Regimental Combat Team, a segregated unit composed of
Nisei (second-generation
Japanese Americans). The 442nd had been given a period of rest after heavy fighting to liberate
Bruyères and
Biffontaine, but General Dahlquist called them back early to relieve the beleaguered 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 141st Infantry. In five days of battle, from 26 to 30 October 1944, the 442nd broke through German defenses and rescued 211 men. Company I went in with 185 men; 8 came out unhurt. Company K engaged the enemy with 186 men; 169 were wounded or killed. Additionally, the 442nd's commander sent a patrol of 50–55 men to find a way to attack a German road block from the rear and try to liberate the remainder of the trapped men. Only five men returned to the "Lost Battalion" perimeter; 42 were taken prisoner and were sent to
Stalag VII-A in
Moosburg, Bavaria, where they remained until the POW camp was liberated on 29 April 1945. The combined 100th/442nd is the most decorated unit in U.S. military history for its size and length of service, with the
100th Infantry Battalion earning the nickname "The
Purple Heart Battalion" due to the number of its soldiers injured in combat. ==Legacy==