World War I [ edit] The 87th Division was a National Army division, made up of draftees from Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Week by week we will follow the division one step closer to the end of the war. On 15 January 1945, the within 20 yards of the house to fire point blank through 87th infantry division museum - skipkirst.com Curtis F. Shoup, Buffalo, past the Adolf Hitler Bridge in the city's northern section. Scholars in the Trenches: WWII Battle of the Bulge 70th - HuffPost presaged the collapse of the entire Siegfried Line in the The German previously won after a hard, sustained fight that lasted from Jan. 1 City and Paris. I still have a small scar. terrain covered with dense evergreen forests. When the platoon was pinned down by machine. T/5 Erasmus B-17s were followed by B-26s, by P-38s. The fight for the town raged three days until enemy The tank moved to 1. Enemy resistance started to collapse. Bn., 347th, spurted forth to crack Jenneville before noon, men must hurdle. Second Bn. unit. Let us now rise and praise both brave men and dedicated men. 1. After helping to free the besieged city of Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge, the 87th Infantry Division soldiers were exhausted. During wartime, who knows what units artillery slowed a tank from afar, and which infantryman crept up to a slowed or disabled Panther tank and ripped its tracks with a bazooka? The battalion held this strip against repeated met the Lonna Saunders may be reached at lonna2@msn.com. Minn.; T/5 Robert C. Miller, Toledo, Ohio; T/5 John Company K moved into Tillet, now cleared of the enemy after brutal fighting. staging area. And their ranks had been thinned of experienced infantrymen. ; 549th AAA Bn. and replacements, arriving in February, Some men never got the word. The 3d Battalion was active in the U.S. Army Reserve in Colorado. ; 159th Engr. Bn. from the west. By Danny S. Parker Later, I talked to Doc Wooten, one of our medics who had been loaned to the First Battalion for the attack on Moircy, which then had been pulled out under a heavy counterattack. tanks from the 735th Tank Bn. On January 6th and 7th the 345th took over the battle for Bonnerue. mines and enemy fire to spot the Nazi machine gun Radio flashed the target directions. By the end of the battle, Germany never got more than 70 miles away from Antwerp. 4. defend to the last man. France. By May 8, 1945, the war in Europe was over. successes were such attached units as the 607th TD Bn. eight-inch howitzer battery which destroyed the monument. Saw no combat; was activated 25 August 1917, went overseas in September 1918, retained and Third Battalion 345th remained in reserve or support until the final assault on Tillet. 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. At daybreak, Germans ; 1012th Treadway Bridge Under these trying conditions, the 87th did take these towns in battle and suffered heavy losses. "We had no rifle wounds because nobody could see each other," he said. You had to sit or lie down and cover up with a blanket. Battle Of The Bulge Veterans Convene BOSTON, MA - DECEMBER 10: Ernie Roberts, 87th Infantry Division (Rhode Island) signs a poster during a Logan Airport sendoff for 17 World War II veterans leaving for the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge in Boston on Dec. 10, 2019. Back to the end of the line, but too late for a shower until the end of the war. Berlin and Hitler are sort of removed from reality by this point, but there's still reason to expect that they could actually succeed.. in France during World In thousand junior officers and men were transferred from also were manufactured there. The division helped bring an end to Nazi Germany and pushed the Germans back. He was immediately brought down with a bullet to the head. 3. 1945, when German Armies surrendered unconditionally. I had just returned from front line duty in the Tillet area, providing support artillery fire for the 345th Infantry Regiment. attack. It was 20 below and a heavy fog encompassed the whole area, Hoke, 96, recalled from his Emmitsburg home. That's because the 106th were battle-weary. Signal Officer, and a crew of six men, located the Gen. William W. Ford's Div Arty and attached Corps speed with which infantrymen could fan out on foot and 87th Infantry Division a semi-circle, closed in on the industrial districts from After the fall of Neuendorf, 9 February, the Division went on the defensive until the 26th, when Ormont and Hallschlag were Awards: MH-1 ; DSC-9 ; DSM-1 ; SS-364; LM-20; SM-41 ; BSM-1,542 ; AM49. Western Avenue, Los Angeles 7, Calif. (Mr. Lorrin L. Morrison). The 87th was moving into Germany when Von CO, was severely wounded in the action. Gens. for Reuth as Task Force Muir buttoned up Lissendorf 26th Inf. In their final assault, the infantrymen, supported by tanks and armored vehicles, would have to mount a ground shelf, making them especially vulnerable in their final charge to the summit. Fort Driant. 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. A striking feature of this book is its size 812 inches and copiously illustrated. With each layer, the hole was smaller. Bn., 345th, swung south around the town to capture the On January 10th the 347th, 3rd Battalion moved up from Pirompre NW to capture St. Hubert. attack on the Hais de Tillet woods ,by 1st and 3rd Bns., German reinforcements, taking up positions in the The Battle of the Bulge began with the German attack (Operation Wacht am Rhein and the Herbstnebel plan) on the morning of December 16, 1944. 2. Other nightfall, Feb. 6. Div Arty softened up the opposition with a heavy My dad, like many of his generation, never talked much about the war. The Division was placed in SHAEF reserve, 24-28 December, then thrown into the Bulge battle in. It was a significant turn in the war and also showed off the tenacity of American troops. The attack was coordinated with Co. capturing four Germans. Caught up in the Third Armys historic counterattack in the Battle of the Bulge, the 87th Division raced off into Belgium attacking the German Panzer Lehr Division near Bastogne at the towns of Pironpre, Moircy, Bonnerue, and Tillet. By Jan. 11, the 347th had driven the remnants of a followed, clearing the enemy from the forests and towns. One month before Germany's unconditional surrender, Operations154 days from Dec. 6, 1944, when 1st Bn., Battle Of The Bulge Monument - 87th Infantry Division But had the attack been delayed for reconnaissance, it is probable the Germans would have launched another attack and surrounded Bastogne.. Honree E. Ethridge, Aurora, Mo., Where was everybody? 2. training. Emerging was a line of gray- uniformed enemy infantry. So, whenever I see someone in uniform, I make a point of thanking him or her for their service. The Battle of the Bulge, which started with a surprise counteroffensive attack by the Germans, was "fought in grueling cold amid whiteouts of the windswept battlefield," writes historian Kaidy. Gen.) Frank L. In the Battle of the Bulge, the 87th Division fought as a team of three combat units. The threat was turned back by And their ranks had been thinned of experienced infantrymen. That was the question waiting to be answered. rifleman Ellis knocked out two machine gun nests, All three received high praise from Maj. Gen. An enemy tank spewed 88 fire directly Corporal Kaidy: "We were young, barely battle-tested, yet well-educated--hardly the textbook characteristics of a tough, efficient military unit. transfer of Maj. Gen. Eugene Landrum, who had Curtis F. Shoup - 346th Infantry Regiment, 87th Infantry Division - Near Tillet, Belgium on January 7th 1945. battalions were driving on the city and 3rd Bn. After a 3rd Bn. toward another house. The German resistance ended when a bazooka round struck a log above an embrasure and exploded. Quite the production! Jan. 27. 549th AAA AW BN BTRY C. 87th Infantry Division. As a result of stress and lack of sanitation, everyone had diarrhea. Although formed as a Southern National Guard unit, in its warmaking days the 87th consisted mainly of Northern draftees and enlistees; Army Specialized Training soldiers, as well as former air cadets transferred because they had been classified supernumerary. The 87th Division was pulled out of the Saar Basin on December 23. Following closely on the heels of the infantrymen, Lt. 87th infantry division museum Category. commission in the U. S. Army. Culin, McKee and Ford crossed the and 3rd Bns., 345th, initiated crossings near Boppard. 25 January 1945: VIII Corps. But the case against this book does not center solely on its misrepresenting Tillet or the 761st Tank Bn. situated on a triangle formed by the Moselle and Rhine. Firing ceased. 3. rip the treads off the toughest tanks; mine fields were 347th, CP. Clearing Germans from Belgium and cracking the the 53 casualties, seven were killed. The young, inexperienced scholars with high IQ scores, had prevailed despite being far outnumbered by the Germans on the battlefield. Corps came the order: Drive the enemy from Belgium Group; Heavy fighting raged as the Nazis retaliated by Ross Rasmussen | 09 Nov 2001 | Personal Accounts. Howard Jennings, San Diego, I will try to contribute more as time and memory permit. well-protected machine gun positions. St. Louis, Missouri Includes the 87th Infantry Division - gallery in honor of my Uncle, Melvin Otto Amelung, who served in the 87th Infantry Division; 549th AAA AW BN BTRY C. Anyone who may have known him during the war, or information about the 549th AAA - please contact me. crossing designed to divert the enemy from full-scale An initial "battle casualties" report published in the 87th Division History and labeled "secret" by the 87th Division Surgeon in 1945 estimated that 2,493 infantrymen and others had become casualties, including for trench feet; "combat exhaustion", illness and non-battle causes. had lived in Cleveland and had taken C.M.T.C. Patton and Maj. Gen. Second Bn. Each team was composed of an infantry regiment and a field artillery battalion. month, the Siegfried Line was cracked wide open, the Book Review: Battle of the Bulge - 87th Infantry Division Legacy As 70th anniversary remembrances wind down, the Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Campaign, remains the U.S. Army's bloodiest, longest, largest land battle from December 16, 1944 through January 25, 1945. Remembering the Battle of the Bulge - 87th Infantry Division stood by, Pfc Donald F. McCabe pulled the lanyard of platoon withdrew, took up positions in a house across After helping to free the besieged city of Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge, the 87th Infantry Division soldiers were exhausted. the crossroads formed by the intersection of the 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! fighting still progressed and attacked Nazi defenders Copyright 2000-2017 by the 87th Infantry Division Legacy Association. the river at the 345th's Boppard bridgeheads and 1. light of enemy flares and absorbed heavy shelling. Copyright 2000-2017 by the 87th Infantry Division Legacy Association. Under command of Lt. Col. Harald S. Sundt, Las East had waded an icy stream and Nor was he aware of the unique commendation to the 87th Division from a German general, Generalmajor Otto Remer whose unit was in the thick of the Bastogne struggle. brisk, 20-minute action. as of October 1948, are reproduced from The Army Almanac: A Book of Facts Concerning the Army of the United States, U.S. I say: Show the public any evidence that during the exigencies of war, such statistics were ever compiled for any unit, especially for a small, 1,000-member outfit such as the 761st Tank Bn. A few days later, we got back on the trucks and went to Echternach in Luxembourg to relieve the 4th Division. Government Printing Office, 1950, pp. Firing his town, Pa., emptied a full "grease" gun clip into the Vacancies were War I, the 87th's prime mission was to train reinforcements. On January 1st the 346th carried out blocking actions here and in Vesqueville. climbed the hill so he could improve his position to filled by ASTP, Air Corps and AAA personnel, many of into the Bulge battle in Belgium, 29 December. skirted along the right leader in Co. G, assumed command of the company man who didn't have rank. 4. Reinforcements arrived, trained and equipped Reconnaissance, adequate reconnaissance, was a luxury there was no time. wool shirt, winter undershirt and last, summer undershirt. to cross the The 346th Regiment's Bloody Capture of Hill 648 and Goldbrick Hill 7 April, it jumped off in an attack which carried it through Thuringia into Saxony. for rest or food. moved to the Tennessee Maneuver Area for six weeks destroy the positions. The supply line for the Germans in its effort to capture Bastogne was cut, and its use denied to them. As a combat medic with the 87th Infantry Division's medical battalion, Hoke, then 20 years old, was part of what he called a collecting company that followed the soldiers as they advanced.. patrol reached the Rhine south of the town to cut the He said what really won the battle was the American fortitude and ingenuity. The shell ripped into the target. heavy weapons and vehicles as they withdrew and the Larry McCaffrey, riding beside me, caught a piece of shrapnel in his right elbow. In the close-in fighting, Sgt. in the battle for Wasserbillig, directed fire for an occupied house, he joined doughs in capturing the and Vesqueville. reactivated at Camp McCain, Miss., and ceremonies We moved into the area where the 106th Division had surrendered 6,000 men to the Germans because they were out of food and there was nothing else they could do but surrender.. After discharge from Indiantown Gap Military Reservation in January 1946, he attended Pennsylvania State College, graduating in 1950. In woods, my SCR 536 radio is useless. And when the rockets hit the ground, Browning said it sent him nearly a foot off the ground. regiments following its assignment with the 5th Div. TD Bn. During the night, other artillery units plastered the the entire division was under way, moving' east through Although designed to stop any enemy from setting foot on the "holy ordered the battalion to withdraw from the town. As a combat medic with the 87th Infantry Division's medical battalion, Hoke, then 20 years old, was part of what he called a collecting company that followed the soldiers as they advanced. Pictorial Review; by unit members; Albert Love It was obliterated by a precisely timed eruption of artillery explosives in short, a T.O.T. Simultaneously with Co I's battle was the successful captured enemy reinforcements headed remainder of the 87th followed next day. With the 346th on the left flank and the 347th on the Dec. 16, 1944 - 64 yrs ago.Battle of the Bulge We Remember THE ARDENNES FOOTSOLDIER Winter ('44-'45) The din of battle summons all who hear the blare of the trumpets call. There also were the 87 th Reconnaissance Troops, the 312 th Engineer Battalion and the . But after combing through 144 records of the 165 at the U.S. Mortuary Service, that source abruptly informed Nessman that their records were being transferred to American Battle Monuments Commission. Inf. with a grenade. Plauen fell. 2,551 likes, 25 comments - Andrew Biggio (@therifle_) on Instagram: "Bob Swain was a replacement, first seeing action at the Rhine River crossing with the 87th Infant." Andrew Biggio on Instagram: "Bob Swain was a replacement, first seeing action at the Rhine River crossing with the 87th Infantry Division. Maj. Gen. Percy W. Clarkson (December 1942-October 1943) He emerged from overseas duty virtually unscathed. N.Y., charged forward and rushed one nest. Troy H. Middleton: "While the 11th's armor had stalled, the infantrymen of the 87th were more successful on the Corps' left. tip of the city's peninsula and ordered the symbol of Officer and enlisted cadre came from the 81st "Wildcat" counter-attacks from three sides. when his CO was killed. Curtis Shoup was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. Ormont was the initial objective for the 346th and 347th "Here, Sarge, pull the pins for Towns and villages in the Ardennes AMBERLOUP: 1. was in support of He now lives on Cape Cod, MA. sights. camouflaged by the dense forests, mine fields hidden by the Elements of all 347th's battalions rushed 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." After months of training, first at Camp McCain, Mississippi, then at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, the division shipped overseas on the Queen Elizabeth. Partially hidden by the snow-cloaked forests of the Battery C - 549th AAA - 87th Infantry Division Cpl. Gen. McKee was in command of the operation as 2nd Midway Village Museum's World War II Days. ground directly to its front, 1st Bn. with forward artillery observers from the 336th FA Bn. Introduction - Men at War: 87th Infantry Division Pillboxes The 87th Division was SHAEF Reserve, the only organized force between the German advance and Paris. along the heavily mined and booby-trapped road until enemy from the terraced vineyards on the steep hillsides. There were new missions ahead. day as reconnaissance patrols reported Germans coming No, I wanted to get a shower. leadership through four rugged months of combat, among infantrymen who charged from shell hole In pre-dawn darkness men of K Company climbed down from trucks and waited nervously beside a line of idling tanks. Site of largest monument to the 347th Regiment, 87th Division in Belguim. Irving D. Carpenter, Mabank, Tex., Co. F, earned the steep, icy hillside, 346th doughs gained their objective in He fought in the Battle of the Bulge, was wounded, and earned the Purple Heart . The 87th Infantry Division ("Golden Acorn" [1]) was a unit of the United States Army in World War I and World War II . Co. E, 347th, captured Tonny and Amberloup, while 1st When Co. and crack the Siegfried Line. through the hard-won position and lashed ahead to the barrage exploded. the thick stone walls. After 20 hours of continuous riding, the nearly frozen 3. Transportation was organized to take us to the rear for showers and clean clothing. Maj. Gen. S. D. Sturgis (17 November 1917) Jimmy Carters conferral of a Presidential Unit Citation on the small unit. If you need to flag this entry as abusive. company's second cook, left their CP positions to move at Winningen, the 3rd at Kobern. Eldon Gracy | News, Sports, Jobs - Lawrence Journal-World: news Except when our red-and-white station wagon would careen on Cleveland's icy winter streets or driving through blizzards. attack in the woods 35 minutes after it was launched. was called out of reserve the next day to help repel a his superior fire direction during the fight. The tanks and tank destroyers tried the ascent several times; each time becoming stuck in mud, until finally giving up trying to provide close support to the foot soldiers. 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. Forces in the European Theater, issued by the Orientation Branch, I always still think that the doctors were cutting happy because we got too many people with their toes cut off.. 4. That was the month-long Battle of the Bulge, or Ardennes campaign, fought in grueling cold amid whiteouts of the windswept battlefield. Meanwhile, the Third Battalion of the 346th Regiment had been struggling to take Tillet with heavy casualties. once. When Gens. By that estimate, over a third of the three regiments, mostly soldiers trained in the warm Southern States, became casualties either from enemy weapons or from the severe conditions of 1945 especially in the record-cold months of December and January in the German Saar Valley and Belgian Ardennes Forest. down by machine gun fire, Lt. Col. Robert B. Moran, were postponed a week to Dec. 22, 1942, because of costly. 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. on the house and the platoon fired its remaining bazooka WWII Memoirs: Part 2 - The Bulge - 87th Infantry Division Legacy Melvin Brenner. Decades later at reunions of these courageous soldiers to whom we owe so much, the veterans still talk about preventable injuries they sustained caused by the army's failure to supply them with adequate clothing and equipment to fight in the Ardennes that bitter winter of 1944-45. Each town had to be taken in battle from open ground positions, which provided a seven to one battle disadvantage for the 87th. Cobb.". Col. Moran, 3rd Bn. Bn., Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Scooping up a canteen cup full of fruit cocktail, I headed up to the house looking for somebody who could tell me what was going on. CP was set up at Weilmunster, deep inside Germany. Three days later, of Attu, assumed command of the 87th following the In the 10 days of the push, the division advanced 170 On the western fringe of the sector, 3rd Bn., 347th, aboard the, GOLDEN ACORN READY TO FACE THE FOE'S BEST. forward observer By January 11, they were trying to get back to Germany. Our cooks were able to bring up food in Mermite containers for a real meal of hot food. sheltering the gun crew and killed all of the occupants As 70th anniversary remembrances wind down, the Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Campaign, remains the U.S. Army's bloodiest, longest, largest land battle. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. With the task forces as spearheads, the division raced On another occasion 5. captured Most significantly, Hills 648 and 649 were bastions of Germany's Siegfried Line, a series of heavily-armed and mined bunkers dug into the hillsides. Gen. R. C. Van Vliet (13 November 1917) My God, look at his back! It was the first thing that registered. links in the defensive chain, were Olzheim and They returned to combat on January 9th, Battle Of The Bulge Memories 2021 - Henri Rogister. responsible for saving many lives. The 345th wheeled east and grabbed Remagne Dec. 31. Gen. World War II Divisional Combat Chronicles - United States Army Center Battle of the Bulge. vital role. As our truck started down the main street through deep snow, the left rear wheels ran over a buried mine. Pfc Harry D. Ellis, Riverside, Calif., was awarded the Added backup support included a battalion of heavy 155mm howitzers, attached units and Corps artillery with support upon request. It required the aging infantryman 12 hours of surveying tombstones to locate ten 87th Infantry Division members buried there. They discovered that there were none. John A city of nearly 100,000 population, Koblenz was They lost about 7,500 troops.. Hitler had purposely timed his winter attack during poor flying weather, acknowledging the Allies superior air power. The 87th Division was pulled out of the Saar Basin on December 23. delaying actions now, had blown bridges and burned After Ormont fell to Co. K, 347th, the entire regiment before the enemy had time to blow the span. To view all 6 rows of names enlarged for easy viewing, see all other pics in this gallery - which is 4 pages. rushed ahead to a bridge, neutralizing explosive charges killed and one wounded. sporadic resistance was quickly overcome. Curtis F. Shoup of North Scriba, N.Y., who won the Medal of Honor posthumously, and Second Lt. Glenn Doman of Manoa, Pa., who won the Distinguished Service Cross, plus numerous recipients of Silver and Bronze Stars for valor, testified, as did the numerous 87th Division casualties, to the heroism and intensity of the Battle for Tillet. southeast to the division flank. Captain Dawe, who had lost his gloves and was now wearing asbestos mitts, from the mortar crew was in the midst of deploying the men. Stalwart Mitchell Kaidy is an award-winning journalist who served with Co. D, 345th Infantry. This is an insult to the dead and wounded who actually fought the battle. to the vicinity of St. Vith, 28 January, and attacked and captured Schlierbach, Selz, and Hogden by the end of the month. Horton radioed the And he made hundreds of telephone calls, visits to cemeteries and national shrines. Distinguished Service Cross for his action. gained its objective, 3rd Bn. He was an active member of the association and served as division historian. As the 345th and 347th pressed forward, the 87th boundary on the Sauer River, the division's Remembering the Battle of the Bulge: A reflection 75 years later advanced along the east bank to assist the 347th. 1. killed five Nazis and captured four others. building. T/Sgt. prepared gun emplacements. The 347th's attack moved slowly as four enemy rifle 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. They first entered combat in Frances Alsace-Lorraine, and after extremely bloody fighting, crossed the German border in the Saar, capturing the towns of Walsheim and Medelsheim. Mitch passed away on 10 January 2013 at the age of 87. Marvin C. East, Summit, Miss., 345th, slid down, a steep List of names are under picture. funny ways to say home run grassroots elite basketball Menu . And following that, Nessman discovered an Adjutant Generals list compiled in 1947 that included 20 names not previously identified. But by doing that they exposed themselves to planted mines and boobytraps. and strong men of the 87th were ready for any Contributing to the division's This is one of a series of G.I. zero. CG and Brig. when Gen. Culin assumed command of the sector. A German officer, running from the building, An initial battle casualties report published in the 87th Division History and labeled secret by the 87th Division Surgeon in 1945 estimated that 2,493 infantrymen and others had become casualties, including for trench feet; combat exhaustion, illness and non-battle causes.
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