His commanding officer ordered the remaining allies to infiltrate the German lines and take down their machine guns. They managed to do just that and got the drop on the Germans who surrendered. York and just 17 Doughboys found themselves guarding more than 100 Germans. Another group of German troops arrived at the position and seeing what was happening open fire on York and his men. Several were killed and wounded and the German prisoners hit the deck to avoid the crossfire.

How He Did It

When the exchange of bullets began, Alvin had no time to duck or cover from the enemies’ artillery. So he was just there exposed and open while he picked off the German soldiers who showed themselves one by one using his pistol. As mentioned above, he didn’t want to kill people, so while he was out there taking out the Germans one by one, he was also yelling for them to just surrender. Here’s what happened as narrated by Alvin York himself based on his recollection of what happened:

In the middle of the fight, a German officer and five men jumped out of a trench and charged me with fixed bayonets. They had about twenty-five yards to come, and they were coming right smart. I only had about half a clip left in my rifle, but I had my pistol ready. I done flipped it out fast and teched them off, too.

I teched off the sixth man first; then the fifth; then the fourth; then the third; and so on. That’s the way we shoot wild turkeys at home. You see, we don’t want the front ones to know that we’re getting the back ones, and then they keep on coming until we get them all. Of course, I hadn’t time to think of that. I guess I just naturally did it. I knew, too, that if the front ones wavered, or if I stopped them, the rear ones would drop down and pump a volley into me and get me.

Then I returned to the rifle and kept right on after those machine guns. I knew now that if I did keep my head and didn’t run out of ammunition, I had them. So I done hollered to them to come down and give up. I didn’t want to kill any more’n I had to. I would tech a couple of them off and holler again. But I guess they couldn’t understand my language, or else they couldn’t hear me in the awful racket that was going on all around. Over twenty Germans were killed by this time–and I got hold of the German major. After he saw me stop the six Germans who charged with fixed bayonets, he got up off the ground and walked over to me and yelled, “English?”

I said, “No, not English.”

He said, “What?”

I said, “American.”

He said, “Good —–!” Then he said, “If you don’t shoot anymore, I will make them give up.” I had killed over twenty before the German major said he would make them give up. I covered him with my automatic and told him if he didn’t make them stop firing, I would take off his head next. And he knew I meant it. He told me if I didn’t kill him, and if I stopped shooting the others in the trench, he would make them surrender.”

And so, the Germans dropped their weapons and surrendered. He ordered them to line up and carry the wounded American soldiers, for as he said, “I wasn’t a-goin’ to leave any good American boys lying out there to die. So I made the Germans carry them. And they did.”

Alvin survived the war and was awarded the Medal of Honor, the most prestigious decoration that a soldier could receive. He tried to re-enlist in World War II but was denied due to his age and health condition. So instead, he toured training camps to inspire and boost the morale of the troops.