The Lost Battalion

The Lost Battalion (2001) is an American war TV film you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Russell Mulcahy and starring Rick Schroder as Major Charles Whittlesey. The 92-minute film reconstructs one of the most documented episodes of American involvement in World War I.

October 1918, the Argonne Forest. Whittlesey pushes more than five hundred men of the 77th Division through a gap in the German line — and reaches the objective. Too far ahead: allied units on both flanks have fallen back, communications are gone, and supply drops are landing in enemy hands. Six days of encirclement follow, with ammunition running low, casualties climbing, and a German surrender demand that Whittlesey refuses twice.

Mulcahy keeps the film close and claustrophobic rather than sweeping it into epic territory. Schroder plays Whittlesey as a man whose composure under pressure starts to look indistinguishable from obstinacy — which is probably accurate. No heroic speeches, no clean resolution. For viewers interested in the human texture of a true military standoff rather than battlefield spectacle. Stream The Lost Battalion (2001) in full online on iFILM.