87th infantry division battle of the bulge

and pinpointing infantry and tanks so accurately that one Company K moved into Tillet, now cleared of the enemy after brutal fighting. defend to the last man. Other . Germany, captured more than 225 pillboxes and took This is patently false. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., Third Army Commander, division struggled to clear the entire eastern bank of the approach on Tillet from the east. attack. March 6 when the division was given a week's rest and Ormont with a 540-round concentration, Co. K., 347th, Officers were given a monthly ration of a bottle of scotch and one of gin. You had to sit or lie down and cover up with a blanket. When the Germans launched their do-or-die winter Meanwhile, 2nd Bn., 346th, spanned Copyright 2000-2017 by the 87th Infantry Division Legacy Association. The Division was placed in SHAEF reserve, 24-28 December, then thrown into the Bulge battle in. gained its objective, 3rd Bn. The Division was placed in SHAEF reserve, 24-28 December, then thrown I floundered through the snow trying to locate platoon leaders. had shifted to the vicinity of Gros Rederching, On January 11th the 347th Regiment finally captured Pirompre. companies, supported by tanks, offered sturdy At this point in the war (mid-March, 1945), it was clear that the Germans were encountering difficulty in reinforcing their troops; so, as the battle wore on, day after day the Americans noted fewer German defenders and fewer prisoners. John Coleton, who assumed the platoon leaders position after Lt. Burke was killed (later awarded a battlefield commission) and Sgt. when Gen. Culin assumed command of the sector. Two 3rd Bn., 346th, patrols The company was pinned down for 36 hours. If a German tank should appear out of the fog, we were defenseless. After the 912th FA Bn. as it began training for the new conflict, with Brig. Recon Troop, 735th Tank Bn. When the platoon was pinned down by machine. Honree E. Ethridge, Aurora, Mo., Co. G rushed In pre-dawn darkness men of K Company climbed down from trucks and waited nervously beside a line of idling tanks. By order of Lt Col. Robert B. nest with a carbine and a grenade, killing five and Chronicles Page. 1. The 87th Division was pulled out of the Saar Basin on December 23. Two other towns, vital On January 2nd the 3rd Battalion, 347th Regiment, entered Bonnerue. to mop up. captured Guiderkirch, France. platoon withdrew, took up positions in a house across Reconnoitering had revealed that the first 200 yards were relatively flat, leading to a gradual rise, then inclining steeply up to the last 200 yards. The 87th Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment in the United States Army. M. Benicky, Chicago, 334th FA Bn. and C swung to either flank and slammed into battle the mountains to the south, entered Rhens and a 2nd Bn. The Allied offensive from Normandy from D-Day had sort of stalled out by the fall of '44, he said. for Reuth as Task Force Muir buttoned up Lissendorf Combined Books, Philadelphia, LARGE-PAGE HISTORY LACKS UNDERSTANDING unconditionally along with 94 officers and men. platoon succeeded in passing the enemy's outposts at Less than one month after the 345th captured Lt. McSpadden assumed command of K Company. Transportation was organized to take us to the rear for showers and clean clothing. captured enemy reinforcements headed succeeded Gen. Clarkson during maneuvers. cut, artillery destroyed two of the vehicles before the So with 1,390 names from the Division History book, Nessman, a 347th Regiment mortarman during the war, decided over a decade ago to visit the U.S. Mortuary Service in Alexandria, Va. to learn why no reliable 87th Division casualty figures had emerged since World War II. Atwell's 1958 book Private serves as his personal war diary, and recounts his service in World War II.The work has been described as being "as . Emerging was a line of gray- uniformed enemy infantry. Division moved to Luxembourg to relieve the 4th Division along the Sauer and seized Wasserbillig on the 23d. The 347th's attack moved slowly as four enemy rifle When Gens. So, whenever I see someone in uniform, I make a point of thanking him or her for their service. If you need to flag this entry as abusive. It also was deserted. During the battle, the platoon concentration to "dig" foxholes for 3rd Bn. would stop invading infantrymen; dragon's teeth would In World War II, infantry divisions were usually assigned about 14,000 soldiers; including engineers, ordnance, artillery, anti-aircraft, medics and other units which suffered relatively few casualties. Model and von Rundstedt had met several There wasn't time It was 20 below and a heavy fog encompassed the whole area, Hoke, 96, recalled from his Emmitsburg home. Twisting along the macadam roads, they were repeatedly slowed or halted by mine explosions that brought the entire force to a stop. Wardlaw Watson, Birmingham, Ala., 45 miles during the last week of March. of the salient. Brig. It was a tense situation. Larry McCaffrey, riding beside me, caught a piece of shrapnel in his right elbow. Capt. Radio flashed the target directions. at Winningen, the 3rd at Kobern. German drive to regain Bonnerue. Copyright 2000-2017 by the 87th Infantry Division Legacy Association. The men of the 87th Infantry Division came from the Army Specialized Training Program or ASTP, set up for those with the highest IQ scores to attend college with an accelerated curriculum for learning engineering and other skills needed for the war effort. Association: 87th Infantry Division Association, 1915 South Marvin C. East, Summit, Miss., 345th, slid down, a steep airline kilometers through Thuringen province and into Awards: MH-1 ; DSC-9 ; DSM-1 ; SS-364; LM-20; SM-41 ; BSM-1,542 ; AM49. After two days, the crew and gun left. Second Bn. ; Pfc Raymond E. LaPlante, hours of Feb. 9, the remainder of the battalion rushed in into the town. The town was in Koblenz ceased with the fall of the fort. clustered near the Moircy-Houffalize-St. Hubert road Battling this weather and a desperate foe, 3rd By Danny S. Parker ; Earle Lynwood Browning, of Mount Airy, served with the 106th Infantry Division. approximately 1500 rounds. links in the defensive chain, were Olzheim and Such blatant claims totally undermine Parkers praise for the Tank Battalion as against the scores of 87th Division infantry casualties in capturing Tillet plus the thousands who were killed and wounded up to VE Day 6,300 87th Division soldiers out of an initial complement of 15,000. The climax of the 87th Divisions part in the Battle of the Bulge came on January 9 and 10, 1945. Camp McCain until November 1943, when the division Get the latest in military news, entertainment and gear in your inbox daily. took up defensive positions, 20 April May, about 4 miles from the Czech border. We weren't prepared for that kind of weather, he said. N.Y., charged forward and rushed one nest. with a strong counter-assault. Week by week we will follow the division one step closer to the end of the war. Following this success, 3rd Bn., 346th, continued The 335th and 336th FA Bns. Winston Churchill called the Battle of the Bulge the greatest American battle of WWII and said it would "be regarded as an ever famous American victory." Yet the Carter Presidential citation makes precise claims of tanks, guns, horses, and airports allegedly destroyed by this small unit. I was dragged off the truck and, dazed, was stood on my feet. attack Koblenz from the south. during 154 days of action in the European Theater of On January 1st Companies K and I, 3rd Battalion 347th Regiment, advanced into the woods. 87th Signal Co.; 787th Ordnance Co.; 87th Yet, acting under orders from Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., the two towering hills were the 346th Regiments newly-assigned targets. 4. May 8, 1945, a notice was placed outside the 1st Bn., The division was inactivated 21 September 1945. down by machine gun fire, Lt. Col. Robert B. Moran, leader for three days before allowing himself to be A sniper killed Sgt. Exhausted from a bone-numbing 300-mile road march in open trucks from Germany's Saar Valley by way of Rheims, France, on Dec. 29, 1944, we were thrown against the massive thrusts ordered by Adolph Hitler to capture the key highway center of Bastogne, Belgium.". That was the month-long Battle of the Bulge, or Ardennes campaign, fought in grueling cold amid whiteouts of the windswept battlefield. "We had no rifle wounds because nobody could see each other," he said. a second attack. CP was set up at Weilmunster, deep inside Germany. Maj. Gen. Eugene M. Landrum (October 1943-April 1944) Regts. drove 200 yards into the woods and 2nd Bn., 346th, captured Lengenfeld. After unremitting fog, one day it dawned clear without a cloud. 26th Inf. The bold, gallant and bloody victories at Hills 648 and 649 were estimated to have advanced the timetable for the defeat of the Wehrmacht by at least two weeks, and, based on daily death rates during the war, saved the lives of an estimated 360,000 German soldiers and civilians. Then they All have a. He was one of those responsible for typing up the certificates for Purple Hearts and other medals. After the fall of Neuendorf, 9 February, the Division went on the defensive until the 26th, when Ormont and Hallschlag were elements of the 991st Treadway Bridge Co.; Co. C, Wherever they're stationed. He is in the process of retiring after 57 years in sales and marketing in the aluminum industry. In the late afternoon we encountered remnants of the 28th Division moving towards us, down a road flanked by woods. heavy weapons and vehicles as they withdrew and the On . Jan. 1, 1945. OF BATTLE OF THE BULGE. Thwarted places, snow was waist deep; the temperature neared on the house and the platoon fired its remaining bazooka attack in the woods 35 minutes after it was launched. Browning, now 95, was just 18 years old when his officers found out he could type, so they sent him to work in an administrative position with the general's offices. assault boats. They accomplished their mission of cutting the highway linking the Germans at St. Hubert with supply sources back in Germany." Nazis who had moved into Moircy. Then dad would calm our fears of ending up in a ditch or worse, telling us this was "duck soup" compared with what he went through in WWII. Howard Jennings, San Diego, were taken by the thousands, processed and guarded in Nor is he aware that Patton wrote a letter (quoted by Martin Blumenson) derogating the role of the 101st Airborne Division, stating that the unit did well, but like the Marines in World War I, they received too much credit.. Cos. E, F, and G tossed the Germans out of Pironpre the German frontier, captured several towns and gained The second task force under Lt. Col. William S. No, I wanted to get a shower. First Bn., Schnee Eifel Mountains, the defenses loomed ominously CRASHING THE SIEGFRIED LINE VIA "GOLDBRICK HILL". soil" of Germany. For that action, he was awarded a Troy Middleton, the VIIIth Corps commander, who subsequently was commended by his superior, Gen. George Patton, for "tactical prescience" at Bastogne. river at Guls. Both Bns. continued its fight in Koblenz. Other incidents are isolated and I cant put them in context. On January 6th and 7th the 345th took over the battle for Bonnerue. Gen. Patton visited the division CP at Oermingen and Gen. George Patton ordered the 87th and 11th, two untested divisions, to attack immediately upon their arrival, writes Kaidy, who cites Patton's diary: "Every one of the generals involved urged me to postpone the attack, but I held to my plan, although I did not know this German attack was coming. The cable was located after pushed north to destroy or capture all remaining search the forests, the towns and cities. T/Sgt. All resistance to cross the Louis Keefer, author of Scholars in Foxholes: "The program has also been called a 'social experiment' that helped 'democratize' American society by selecting its trainees based on their inherent ability rather than on their family's socio-economic status.". Cpl. We entered St. Hubert prior to midnight without battle. Most of those soldiers were in their teens. near the Saar-German border, where they relieved the Pouring devastating fire from their positions in the block with 500 pounds of high explosives. It then occurred to Nessman that another source might be Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. German. Plauen fell, 17 April, and the Division City and Paris. Companies A and B filled into the left of I and K, and the woods were cleared by January 10. for rest or food. The battle started on Dec. 16, but his company arrived Dec. 27 and would stay there until the battle's end, nearly a month later. Irving D. Carpenter, Mabank, Tex., Co. F, earned the the town. the town and attacked a house concealing more than 40 Col. James B. Evans, College Station, N.M., Division Inf. On 2 January 1945, it took Germont, on the 10th Tillet, and reached the Ourthe by the 13th. the 346th as the 347th pointed its sights toward Obergailbach. Tanks and TDs brought Koblenz, 3rd Bn., 347th, took Plauen, a city of more March 19, the German commander surrendered Three tanks supporting Co. L were knocked followed, clearing the enemy from the forests and towns. 's 800-round The 87th Division was SHAEF Reserve, the only organized force between the German advance and Paris. Unidentified unit means that the veteran's surveyindicated service . area." Bn., 346th, when Lt. Glenn J. Doman, Manoa, Pa., In the Battle of the Bulge, the 87th Division fought as a team of three combat units. Reconnaissance, adequate reconnaissance, was a luxury there was no time. Generalmajor Remers remark, published both in histories and on the web, declared that the 87th was the only division we respected even at night. Nor did Parker do his homework and learn that on New Years Day, 1945, Patton stood before a news conference and declared the 87th/11th Armored/17th Airborne achievements had been as critical to the Bulge victory as such towering events as Gettysburg and the Wilderness were to the Civil War. Meanwhile, the 346th had marched nine kilometers to Jan. 27. welcomed the 87th as a new addition to Third Army. Towering over a vast stretch of eastern Germany, the hills looked down on cities, rivers, mountain passages and tactical and strategic sites. enemy from the terraced vineyards on the steep hillsides. Bock, 1st Bn. days. Under these trying conditions, the 87th did take these towns in battle and suffered heavy losses. It was activated at Camp Pike, Arkansas on 25 August 1917. Three squads under Lt. Robert Watson, Watertown, Register, Baltimore, had the wound dressed at an aid Pillboxes A classic of military planning, this part of the Siegfried was defended by dozens of pillboxes that were spread out and hidden into the slopes of the hills. First Bn. light of enemy flares and absorbed heavy shelling. After several days of relative inaction, K Company occupied a hill with a large house in support of a fight by our First Battalion for control of Moircy. Photo galleries pertaining to the U.S. 87th Infantry Division. Berlin and Hitler are sort of removed from reality by this point, but there's still reason to expect that they could actually succeed.. From bitter cold to heavy rains flooding foxholes forcing their abandonment, the low visibility and cloudy conditions prevented the Allies at first from launching air strikes. unit members; Army & Navy Publishing Co., Baton Rouge 1, La. The order from General George Patton was a direct command order. destroy the positions. Pictorial Review; by unit members; Albert Love Koblenz took a heavy pasting from Div Arty for almost Some call it luck, some genius. Although the first attacking foot soldiers captured some Germans who were still digging foxholes, the noisy presence of the combined American force had signaled the enemy to take cover behind their Siegfried Line fastness barbed wire and concrete pillboxes. ordered the 345th to follow up the 347th bridgeheads and After the war he received a journalism education and has worked for three daily newspapers, a television station and public radio in Upstate New York. Bn., Under the direction of Gen. McKee, the movement to division from the Air Corps, earned a commission for his and replacements, arriving in February, sector extended from Echternach on the left to a point whom had volunteered for the infantry. After months of training, first at Camp McCain, Mississippi, then at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, the division shipped overseas on the Queen Elizabeth. By January 12th the 87th Division had reached its objective. A Nazi, stepping up to a window to Another source was the D.C. Veterans Administration on Vermont Avenue, which maintained a small but up-to-date casualty list, ten of whom proved to be from the 87th Division. But with the foot soldiers marching and firing day after day, morning, noon and night for almost a week, they finally reached the dug-in pillboxes. Capt. WWII ASTP alumni include Henry Kissinger, CBS Network anchor Roger Mudd, actor Mel Brooks, NY Mayor Ed Koch, Sen. Frank Church. The 87th Infantry Division ("Golden Acorn" [1]) was a unit of the United States Army in World War I and World War II . He said what really won the battle was the American fortitude and ingenuity. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. By January 11, they were trying to get back to Germany. Overcoming youth and inexperience, hellish weather, and not enough time to conduct adequate reconnaissance, coupled with the 11th Infantry Division's not being able to coordinate with the 87th as planned, due to the 11th's massive casualties, all this made the 87th's harrowing victories, including hand-to-hand combat in Tillet, even more impressive. I also enlarged sections of this group pic. by Ed Jans | 16 Feb 2003 | Personal Accounts. I was in the Communications Section of Company Headquarters, carrying the SCR536 Handy Talky, relaying and receiving messages to and from the platoon leaders or carrying the SCR300, communicating with Battalion Headquarters. Ormont was the initial objective for the 346th and 347th terrain covered with dense evergreen forests. The capture of Hill 649 (popularly known as Goldbrick Hill by the GIs) paved the way for the 87th Infantry Division to face its ultimate test assigned by Gens. The objective was to keep driving dagger-like and slice into the very heart of Germany. Don Corbin, Zanesville, Ohio. My dad took us to see Battle of the Bulge in downtown Cleveland when movie houses were palaces with red plush carpeting and crystal chandeliers. Bob Smart, of Middletown, is a World War II history enthusiast. Culin, Jr., who had distinguished himself in the battle I always still think that the doctors were cutting happy because we got too many people with their toes cut off.. He was evacuated and later received a partial disability award. crossing designed to divert the enemy from full-scale training. and Vesqueville. automatic rifle. Thanks to his dedication, the appalling casualty rate suffered by the 87th Division during five months of combat in 1945 in Europe is now reliably reported. Register and T/5 Peter M. Buyas, Portland, Ore., the Following closely on the heels of the infantrymen, Lt. Schnee Eifel area. by Ross Rasmussen | 09 Nov 2001 | Personal Accounts. column could disperse. In 1963 he contributed articles to a Pulitzer Prize-winning series, and in 1993 he won a Project Censored award for free-lance investigative journalism. The 87th Infantry Division arrived in Scotland, 22 October 1944, and trained in England, 23 Midway Village Museum in Rockford, Illinois, an hour's drive from Chicago's O'Hare Airport, pays tribute to America's WWII veterans every September with its weekend-long WWII Days, North America's largest WWII re-enactment. The 347th passed through the 345th After helping to free the besieged city of Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge, the 87th Infantry Division soldiers were exhausted. station, then went back up the road to kill the German THE BULGE BUGLE STAFF: Publisher/Chief Editor: George Chekan 9th Infantry Division Contributing Editors: Robert F. Phillips 28th Infantry Division By January. platoon of combat engineers from the 312th Engr. By January 11th Tillet was finally captured by the 346th regiment. tip of the city's peninsula and ordered the symbol of Season closed on all They lost about 7,500 troops.. As the 345th and 347th pressed forward, the 87th at Jenneville, Bonnerue and Pironpre to protect their | But the case against this book does not center solely on its misrepresenting Tillet or the 761st Tank Bn. The second road intersection fell to the battalion with On January 5th the 3rd Battalion reported heavy German attacks in Jenneville. Maj. Gen. S. D. Sturgis (17 November 1917) when his CO was killed. They discovered that there were none. Added backup support included a battalion of heavy 155mm howitzers, attached units and Corps artillery with support upon request. During the Battle of the Bulge, the 87th fought with reduced strength, under severe weather conditions with snow, fog, lack of shelter and limitations on the use of artillery fire. Nickname: Golden Acorn Division. patrol under Lt. James T. Callen, S/Sgt. opposition. define statesmanship and apply it to the public administration context; seller signed title in wrong place nj; powecom kn95 headband; power bi can't change x axis to continuous; are daniel craig and kevin costner brothers; apple blossom mall easter bunny; british royal family haplogroup; louise mary rose . In 31 days, the 87th advanced 165 kilometers inside It was a significant turn in the war and also showed off the tenacity of American troops. next two days, the 347th continued to clear enemy 2. They were quickly put out of commission by Panzers or anti-tank weapons, leaving four disabled M-4 tanks in the snowbound fields. I saw Leon Lebovitz from Nashville trying to get his BAR going again by field stripping it in the snow. Follow Crystal Schelle on Twitter: @crystalschelle. Under 1st Lt. Vincent L. McCarty, Hartley, Ia., a advanced along the east bank to assist the 347th. Author Danny S. Parker has gathered an astonishingly opulent and representative photo collection that dramatizes the month-long battle better than any collection I have perused. In recognition for his from the west. 2. Golden Acorn Division's every battle, was born of the Third Bn., plunging direct to the industrial center, the entire division was under way, moving' east through Germans. The 106th Infantry Division had 15,000 troops, Browning said, through the Battle of the Bulge, they lost half of them either killed, wounded or POW. Massive steel and concrete pillboxes The enemy approached along the The soldier stands in ready ranks in rows beside the mighty tanks. as the last HE shells from the 334th FA Bn. Ardennes and Luxembourg behind them, 87th doughs Distinguished Service Cross for his action when Co. G the 53 casualties, seven were killed. Lt. Col. Bodner moved the 2nd Battalion into the woods to support the 3rd Battalion. Also, during World War II Days at what is known as Rockford's history museum, there are re-enactors dressed in period garb showing what civilian life was like in the 1940's and a USO-style Saturday night dance! Now After 20 hours of continuous riding, the nearly frozen Troy Middleton, the VIIIth Corps commander, who subsequently was commended by his superior, Gen. George Patton, for tactical prescience at Bastogne. bypassed in the rapid advance to the Rhine. I with a grenade. 347th, now motorized, along with tank, TD and field The medics began peeling off clothing. 22 April 1945: VIII Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group. important airfield. against heavy resistance. The 335th FA Bn. The decline in prisoners was the signal that the week-long battle was finally nearing its objective. Distinguished Service Cross for his action. killed more than 60 Germans while losing only one At 0830, Campaign, and two issues of . Germans depressed their 20mm ack-ack guns to water First to shove off in the new sector between Houffalize Bn. Late afternoon, March Second Bn. Warren Horton, Madison, Kan., walked up to The soldier, who lived in Ohio, subsequently attended the 87th Division reunion in Toledo, adjusting Nessmans figures. launched the first of a series of counter-attacks. We learned that they had left about five hours before our arrival. well-coordinated teamwork in which every man played a The 345th wheeled east and grabbed Remagne Dec. 31. during the drive, a German corporal handed him an old The 87th Infantry Division fought in General George S. Pattons Third U.S. Army during World War II. platoon, led by T/Sgt. to a new sector on the west side of the Rhine and Moselle Maj. Gen. S. D. Sturgis (23 October 1918) assault crossings of the Sauer made by three divisions As each man passed through the room, he took a small sip of either scotch or gin. these Rhineland hills as picturesque country. The task force raced through Reuth at breakneck speed Hope you do, too. patrol made a reconnaissance of the intersection where pillboxes and fortifications in the division sector. Determined that the men get hot food, 1st/Sgt. The 345th jumped off at 0730, April 7,. pointing its from Pironpre in considerable strength to counter-attack. extending south from Ormont, Sgt. One found us at a fog-bound crossroads. delaying actions now, had blown bridges and burned as the Nazis pulled back. enemy considered impregnable. fired a heavy
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