Question

feathered and fearless
toward the end of world war i (1914 - 1918),
battles were waged in some of europes
toughest terrain - a dense, hilly forest in
france along the western front. more than
a million american troops teamed up with
the french to clash with the germans along
the meuse river in the argonne forest in a
series of battles that came to be known as
the meuse - argonne offensive.
on october 2, 1918, one american unit (the
77th division) went a bit too deep into the
thick forest and found itself surrounded by german troops. these americans
ear ned the name \the lost battalion\ because they were cut off from
supplies and beyond the reach of radio contact.
to make matters worse, other american units began bombing the 77th
division inside the forest, not realizing their comrades were there. american
\friendly fire\ was quickly killing as many lost battalion men as the german
troops were.
major charles whittlesey fully understood the gravity of the lost battalions
situation, and he knew the only way to save his troops was to get a message
back to headquarters. but who could he send to safely deliver an sos
message over 25 miles (40 kilometers) through a bloody battle?
he turned to his most reliable, though admittedly old school, messengers -
homing pigeons, because they have a long history of making dependable
deliveries. some historians believe the first homing pigeons delivered
messages for ramses iii, a ruler of ancient egypt, conveying news of flooding
of the nile river. and during world war i, more than 100,000 pigeons relayed
messages for both allied and german forces with a phenomenal 95 percent

question 1
which sentence is most important to include in a summary of this
article?
a. captured german homing pigeons were marched through
allied city streets during victory parades.
b. troops strapped miniature cameras onto homing pigeons
to take aerial photographs of enemy positions.
c. the lost battalion emerged safely from the argonne
forest, thanks to homing pigeon cher ami.
d. the first homing pigeons delivered messages for ramses
iii, a ruler of ancient egypt.

Explanation:

The article is about the use of homing pigeons in World War I, specifically the role of Cher Ami in helping the Lost Battalion. Option D is about homing pigeons delivering messages for Ramses III (ancient Egypt), which is a historical fact but not relevant to the main focus of the article (World War I and the Lost Battalion). Option A is about German homing pigeons in Allied city streets, which is not mentioned in the article. Option B is about troops with miniature cameras on pigeons, not in the article. Option C directly relates to the key event in the article - the Lost Battalion being helped (emerging safely) due to homing pigeon Cher Ami.

Answer:

C. The Lost Battalion emerged safely from the Argonne Forest, thanks to homing pigeon Cher Ami.