The 1st Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division, Texas National Guard, was surrounded by German forces in the Vosges Mountains of France on 24 October 1944 after spearheading an attack against retreating Germans in eastern France on 23 October 1944, a commitment ordered by Major General John E. Dahlquist against the advice of his senior officers. The Germans had captured a map showing the 36th Division's battle plans and launched a swift counterattack that cut off 275 men two kilometers behind enemy lines. Two rescue attempts failed, and for the next six days the battalion fought repeated attacks by German Grenadier Regiment 933. A third rescue attempt was carried out by the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment, a unit made up of Japanese Americans, which fought from 26 October to 30 October 1944, broke through German defenses, and rescued 211 men while sustaining 814 casualties. The 442nd Infantry Regiment became the most decorated unit in U.S. military history for its size and length of service, the 100th Infantry Battalion earned the nickname the Purple Heart Battalion, and the fighting left only 80 survivors from the 3,000 soldiers of German Grenadier Regiment 933, reflecting the battle's brutality and the heroism of the surrounded battalion and its rescuers.