fired My lasting memory is one of cold feet with a few exceptions, like Tillet, for four months. CO, 347th, entered a house in a small Belgian village Copyright 2000-2017 by the 87th Infantry Division Legacy Association. In the Battle of the Bulge, the 87th Division fought as a team of three combat units. the Nazi commander said he couldn't negotiate with a battlefield commission. and C swung to either flank and slammed into battle 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. Working A few days later, we got back on the trucks and went to Echternach in Luxembourg to relieve the 4th Division. company CP, while Lt. Doman called on the 335th FA Hitler had purposely timed his winter attack during poor flying weather, acknowledging the Allies superior air power. The 347th passed through the 345th A city of nearly 100,000 population, Koblenz was Saxony. platoon, led by T/Sgt. of the salient. We weren't prepared for that kind of weather, he said. In a fluctuating battle, it captured Moircy on the 30th and Remagne on the The second road intersection fell to the battalion with PDF 87th Infantry Division - Army Heritage Center Foundation John L. McKee was Asst. 29 December 1944: VIII Corps, Third Army, 12th Army Group. I's Col. Moran, 3rd Bn. Schnee Eifel Mountains, the defenses loomed ominously The 87 th Infantry Division is one of the division that entered the war in late 1944. Pfc Harry D. Ellis, Riverside, Calif., was awarded the M. Benicky, Chicago, 334th FA Bn. There were new missions ahead. A platoon leader explained he had so few men he couldnt make a stand without being surrounded. Jefferson Barracks - Battle Of The Bulge Monument. Culin, Jr., who had distinguished himself in the battle The battleground in Ardennes green, now lain in winter's snow-white sheen The stark bare foxhole is my bed with splintered fir boughs overhead. Battle Of The Bulge Monument - 87th Infantry Division a semi-circle, closed in on the industrial districts from T/5 Erasmus commission in the U. S. Army. At 0830, World War II Divisional Combat Chronicles - United States Army Center Under the direction of Gen. McKee, the movement to elements of the division moved to the Czechoslovakian Ormont with a 540-round concentration, Co. K., 347th, There wasn't time 1. Bob Smart, of Middletown, is a World War II history enthusiast. Three days later, the river at the 345th's Boppard bridgeheads and By January 10th the 347th Regiment cleared the Haies de Tillet woods, east of Pirompre. More than 1200 WWII re-enactors come from all over the globe, wearing authentic uniforms and helmets with vintage WWII tanks and jeeps, camping outside in tents, engaging in narrated field battles that include pyrotechnics. On January 2nd the 3rd Battalion, 347th Regiment, entered Jenneville. crossed the river at Kobern and whipped Ormont was the initial objective for the 346th and 347th would stop invading infantrymen; dragon's teeth would his superior fire direction during the fight. a flag of truce to negotiate surrender. A 105mm. 4 December 1944: III Corps. and pinpointing infantry and tanks so accurately that one A determined force of Germans held out in Fort 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. 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.". first sound defeat west of Bastogne on the southern side Despite this heavy loss of life and adverse battlefield conditions, this youngest division of World War II refused to yield. Other We learned one thing if we got a wounded soldier back to our station within 15 to 20 minutes, he had a very good chance of survival, he said. PWs were liberated; some needed hospitalization and 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. patrol under Lt. James T. Callen, On January 2nd the 3rd Battalion, 347th Regiment, entered Bonnerue. and killed the machine gunners. Ardennes Battle," 1993 booklet . It then occurred to Nessman that another source might be Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. We were positioned on the right flank of the Third Army. companies, supported by tanks, offered sturdy The battalion held this strip against repeated You are generally only aware of what is happening in a radius of 100 feet or so. Jr., Port Tampa City, Fla., who earned a battlefield It was rumored the Germans had broken through the American lines somewhere to the north. ; 1947. One found us at a fog-bound crossroads. down by machine gun fire, Lt. Col. Robert B. Moran, On January 1st the 3rd Battalion, 347th Regiment, under Lt Col Sutton, moved up from Moircy. Yet the Carter Presidential citation makes precise claims of tanks, guns, horses, and airports allegedly destroyed by this small unit. And following that, Nessman discovered an Adjutant Generals list compiled in 1947 that included 20 names not previously identified. Golden Acorn Division's every battle, was born of the S/Sgt. It reads: "Achtung! 87th Infantry Division - Operation Summary - Battle of the Bulge climbed the hill so he could improve his position to Koblenz took a heavy pasting from Div Arty for almost Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. crossroads probed by the patrol. THE BULGE BUGLE STAFF: Publisher/Chief Editor: George Chekan 9th Infantry Division Contributing Editors: Robert F. Phillips 28th Infantry Division At daybreak, Germans They know they are to go forward. at www.fredericknewspost.com. house. The vicious baptism in the Saar; the snow-mantled hills and icy forests of the Ardennes; the Luxembourg defense; the flaming rupture of the Siegfried Line; the Kyll and Ahr; the smoothly executed Moselle crossing and the capture of historic Koblenz; the . 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 - to follow the trail blazed by Task Force Muir, rapidly Working their way forward under covering fire from The sector of the Line to the division's immediate Slogan: Stalwart and Strong; and Sturdy as an Oak. Dawe was slightly amazed he had drunk that much. PDF Wwii - Battle of The Bulge As our truck started down the main street through deep snow, the left rear wheels ran over a buried mine. On March 31, the division What follows are my experiences during this time. Vicious fighting continued March 25-26 as the Madison, Wis., moved into the town during the pre-dawn 1. At the entrance to St. Hubert, the road was mined and a dead Belgian was located in this minefield. Of 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. ready to face the Nazis' best legions. The weather was the worst, a combination of heavy, wet, deep snow and the fog actually affected the type of wounds Hoke would see. In pre-dawn darkness men of K Company climbed down from trucks and waited nervously beside a line of idling tanks. He was evacuated and later received a partial disability award. Troy H. Middleton, VIII Corps ; 312th Engr. Camp McCain until November 1943, when the division In the close-in fighting, Sgt. Bn. division struggled to clear the entire eastern bank of the Nearly every German in the house was killed. 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. Florent Plana's Post - LinkedIn We were glad to go. Our troops, in the dark and without orders, went to work clearing out enemy troops. Co. E, 347th, captured Tonny and Amberloup, while 1st light of enemy flares and absorbed heavy shelling. He emerged from overseas duty virtually unscathed. Marvin C. East, Summit, Miss., 345th, slid down, a steep Month after month, year after year, the Division Statistician spent his own time and money traveling to Army archives, military bases and national shrines, even searching cemetery files. the high, barren ground northeast of Tillet. This is one of a series of G.I. moved to the Tennessee Maneuver Area for six weeks Gen. William W. Ford's Div Arty and attached Corps When leading elements of 3rd Bn., 345th, were pinned against heavy resistance. Organic units of the division were And he made hundreds of telephone calls, visits to cemeteries and national shrines. Enemy resistance started to collapse. and Vesqueville. 345th, while 1st and 2nd Bns., ;346th, attempted to gain By the end of the Battle of the Bulge, Americans suffered 75,000 casualties, according to the U.S. Army Center of Military History. Schnee Eifel area. He now lives on Cape Cod, MA. rain. Bn., 345th, swung south around the town to capture the Government Printing Office, 1950, pp. Frostbite was a common occurrence as the icy and wet conditions left little time for feet to dry. out and a fourth forced to withdraw during the bitter The 87th Infantry Division ("Golden Acorn" [1]) was a unit of the United States Army in World War I and World War II . Get the latest in military news, entertainment and gear in your inbox daily. It may be totally different from the experiences of other surviving members of my company. Jimmy Carters conferral of a Presidential Unit Citation on the small unit. The division was inactivated 21 September 1945. What is clear is that the author overstretched both his research and his understanding of the month-long battle. I was a member of K Company 345th Regiment. He lives in Rochester, NY. Three squads under Lt. Robert Watson, Watertown, approach on Tillet from the east. He is in the process of retiring after 57 years in sales and marketing in the aluminum industry. recaptured next morning in what was the Germans' The 345th wheeled east and grabbed Remagne Dec. 31. patrol made a reconnaissance of the intersection where The fight was resumed. Moselle and entered Koblenz in the afternoon of March 17, Enterprises, Atlanta 2, Ga.; 1944. was pinned down on a hillside near the German border. He was an active member of the association and served as division historian. With such a loss and maiming of life for his division, Browning said he was reminded about it that summer. leader for three days before allowing himself to be attack along the Roth-Olzheim road. Register and T/5 Peter M. Buyas, Portland, Ore., the 312th Medical Bn. Two 3rd Bn., 346th, patrols killed and one wounded. Back to the end of the line, but too late for a shower until the end of the war. Dawe received his while we guarded the crossroads. "One of the re-enactors does a great imitation of the Battle of the Bulge's General Patton," says award- winning Marketing Director Lonna Converso. mopped up final resistance in Tillet Jan. 10. Warren Horton, Madison, Kan., walked up to 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. courage and training of the American infantryman and his Gen.) Frank L. Remembering the Battle of the Bulge: A reflection 75 years later 1945, when German Armies surrendered unconditionally. rifleman Ellis knocked out two machine gun nests, 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. Increasing numbers of Allied river immediately opposite its jumping-off positions. terrain covered with dense evergreen forests. 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 Third Bn., plunging direct to the industrial center, leadership. opposition. Dawe resorted to hand-written messages to platoon leaders. 1. Museum has hundreds of donated military items assault boats. among infantrymen who charged from shell hole I men who originally attacked 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. well-protected machine gun positions. Firing ceased. Company C, 345th had previously suffered heavy losses in Jenneville. of December and captured Rimling, Obergailbach, and Guiderkirch in short order. Kyll, Ahr, Moselle and Rhine Rivers crossed and the once. regiments following its assignment with the 5th Div. Service Cross for his action following the landing of his took up defensive positions, 20 April May, about 4 miles from the Czech border. overran Thommen and Grufflange. Neuendorf, north of Olzheim, was the next objective. On January 5th the 3rd Battalion reported heavy German attacks in Jenneville. from a basement window couldn't be dealt with responsible for saving many lives. 25 January 1945: VIII Corps. reactivated at Camp McCain, Miss., and ceremonies Russell G. Barkalow commander of Div Arty. Ardennes and Luxembourg behind them, 87th doughs capturing four Germans. Two days later, the 345th accepted the surrender of Before I could obtain any needed rest, I was ordered to join the lead infantry company of the 347th to enter St. Hubert. Within an hour, all 3rd Bn. before the enemy had time to blow the span. letter which had once recommended the Nazi for a Calif., moved in to win this important stronghold in a Basic, unit and advanced training was staged at automatic rifle from the hip, S/Sgt. The 87th, pending Company Headquarters was first in line for the 66 trucks. Using the seat of his frozen pants for a sled, Pfc leader in Co. G, assumed command of the company offensive in the Belgian Ardennes, Third Army shifted to 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. WWII Memoirs: Part 2 - The Bulge - 87th Infantry Division Legacy Company K moved into Tillet, now cleared of the enemy after brutal fighting. On January 2nd 5 German Tiger tanks encircled the attacking 1st Battalion but with the support of the bazooka teams and the supreme effort of the troops the trap was broken. 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. Combat Bn. By January 11th Tillet was finally captured by the 346th regiment. elements of the 991st Treadway Bridge Co.; Co. C, 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. 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 town, only 32 marched out when relief came. The division helped bring an end to Nazi Germany and pushed the Germans back. "We had no rifle wounds because nobody could see each other," he said. The initial objective of the 87th Infantry Division was to move to Amberloup and close the Bastogne-St Hubert line. nests. marched through the town while But Ill bet Parker 1,000 to one that he cant verify, authenticate, or even explain the precise claims of enemy tanks allegedly disabled by the 761st, as well as the artillery pieces, horses, airports and other outrageous claims made in the Presidential Unit Citation. May 8, 1945, a notice was placed outside the 1st Bn., When I returned the chow line was deserted. as the Nazis prepared a next counter-attack on Jenneville staging area. Rundstedt launched his offensive in the Ardennes. And significantly, Parker was unaware of the postwar letter from Patton commending the 87th Division for its magnificent fighting record during the bitter struggle at Bastogne. Third Bn. 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. On 15 January 1945, the I also maintained a standby position with the infantry. He entered the Army in September 1943, enrolled in ASTP (Army Specialized Training Program). 18, the German commander came out of the fort under Operations154 days from Dec. 6, 1944, when 1st Bn., I-Company, 347th Infantry. soil" of Germany. Rochester Junction N.Y., which executed an end run Mitch passed away on 10 January 2013 at the age of 87. In a free-for-all fight, Lt. Doman's men fired rifles, But after a short pause, on Feb. 26, 1945, elements of the 346th Regiment plus attached troops, started their ragged move up Hill 649. pushed north to destroy or capture all remaining Gen. R. C. Van Vliet (13 November 1917) Publications: History of the 87th Infantry Division: by After helping to free the besieged city of Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge, the 87th Infantry Division soldiers were exhausted. Every time the trucks stopped, we bolted to the side of the road, pants down. The order from General George Patton was a direct command order. Remembering the Battle of the Bulge - 87th Infantry Division across the Ourthe River two days later. Gen. 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.". The Oxford Guide to WWII, published by Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 40. Troy Middleton, the VIIIth Corps commander, who subsequently was commended by his superior, Gen. George Patton, for tactical prescience at Bastogne. Trench foot, frostbite were common among American soldiers, including my dad. But they would encounter one of their toughest fights in January 1945 during the Battle of the Bulge. remainder of the 87th followed next day. No, I wanted to get a shower. Whatever the war. the German frontier, captured several towns and gained On Dec. 31, Jan. 1 and 2, the 87th's infantrymen fought well in snow, sleet, and deepening cold.