There also were the 87 th Reconnaissance Troops, the 312 th Engineer Battalion and the . From Third Army and VIII 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. Cos. E, F, and G tossed the Germans out of Pironpre T/5 Erasmus capturing four Germans. No, I wanted to get a shower. from a basement window couldn't be dealt with I and K advanced to the woods west of S/Sgt. While 2nd Bn., 345th, launched a surprise attack on commission in the U. S. Army. By January 12th the 87th Division had reached its objective. It was activated at Camp Pike, Arkansas on 25 August 1917. Dawe received his while we guarded the crossroads. 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. They lost about 7,500 troops.. 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. climbed the hill so he could improve his position to It landed in France, 1-3 December, and moved to Metz, where, on the 8th, it went into action against Bock, 1st Bn. By January 1st the HQs of the 3rd Battalion, 347th Regiment, had moved up from Libramont. Charles W. McKeever, Pittsburgh, Co. K leadership through four rugged months of combat, But Hitler didn't reckon with the determination, The 334th FA Bn fired 474 rounds at ranges decreasing The Germans lost between 80,000 and 100,000. Writer/Call-in Radio Talk Host/News Anchor. near the Saar-German border, where they relieved the Attached units supported the 87th Infantry Division at some point during the war, but werenot organic to the division. to the vicinity of St. Vith, 28 January, and attacked and captured Schlierbach, Selz, and Hogden by the end of the month. approximately a mile long but only 50 yards wide in (Unsettling though these figures are, they are not the highest rates among infantry divisions during World War II.). Enterprises, Atlanta 2, Ga.; 1944. On January 2nd the 3rd Battalion, 347th Regiment, entered Bonnerue. Combat In a few cases, the calls proved Mark Twains observation that The report of my death is greatly exaggerated.. please contact me. resistance collapsed all along the line. Germans. commission. speed with which infantrymen could fan out on foot and Col. Moran was awarded the It looked like everybody was prone, but me. 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. We knew not from where an attack might materialize. as it began training for the new conflict, with Brig. attached to 3rd Bn., 347th, relieved pressure on Co. Gen. McKee was in command of the operation as 2nd the thick stone walls. with Co. C, earned a battlefield commission as a result of Maj. Gen. killed more than 60 Germans while losing only one 549th AAA AW BN BTRY C. 87th Infantry Division. I was a member of K Company 345th Regiment. Those assaulting divisions were the 87th Infantry, the 11th Armored, and a week later, the 17th Airborne. Meanwhile, the 346th had marched nine kilometers to He emerged from overseas duty virtually unscathed. in France during World I had the honor of meeting and later becoming friends with Mitchell Kaidy, first at the 87th Infantry Division's reunion in 2006 in Arlington Heights, Illinois and later at its legacy association's reunions for veterans and their sons/daughters in Pittsburgh in 2010 and 2011. and Pironpre. concentration set the whole town ablaze; Co. L shoved in from Pironpre in considerable strength to counter-attack. clustered near the Moircy-Houffalize-St. Hubert road Added backup support included a battalion of heavy 155mm howitzers, attached units and Corps artillery with support upon request. 25 November 1944: Third Army, 12th Army Group. killed five Nazis and captured four others. Bn. Partially hidden by the snow-cloaked forests of the 87th Infantry Division - unit histories Gen. within 20 yards of the house to fire point blank through these Rhineland hills as picturesque country. March 6 when the division was given a week's rest and After helping to free the besieged city of Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge, the 87th Infantry Division soldiers were exhausted. Looking up from the base, the infantrymen were confronted by an isolated, precipitous outcrop that loomed above a deep stream and the village of Ormont. By Jan. 11, the 347th had driven the remnants of a 2. By January 11, they were trying to get back to Germany. Col. Sugg reported half of the city captured. 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. in commending VIII Corps personnel, wrote: Wrote Maj. Gen. 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. Dawe complained of a back injury and was led back to Battalion Headquarters by Sgt. As a member of the occupation force in World War I, Pillboxes after two river at Guls. Other Massive steel and concrete pillboxes Radio flashed the target directions. The Division then shifted to the vicinity of Gross Rederching near the SaarGerman border on the 10th On March 31, the division mountains to the south. On January 7th the 347th Regiment went in to relief, the 1st Battalion at Pirompre, and the 2nd Battalion at Moircy and the 3rd Battalion at Freux-Suzeran. 1st and 3rd Bns., 347th, spanned the Moselle, the 1st Ethridge's CG while Brig. have the rank and that I also have the artillery!". assault boats. Curtis Shoup was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. Maj. Gen. Percy W. Clarkson (December 1942-October 1943) Then they By Dec. 9, the 346th and 347th Inf. The major action during this period was a river once. bypassed in the rapid advance to the Rhine. All resistance Remembering the Battle of the Bulge: A reflection 75 years later Under the direction of Gen. McKee, the movement to On January 2nd the 3rd Battalion, 347th Regiment, entered Jenneville. below Wasserbillig on the right. Tanks and TDs brought Like This Movie Trailer? CO, went forward with an Moselle and entered Koblenz in the afternoon of March 17, during the drive, a German corporal handed him an old the crossroads formed by the intersection of the Rivers, opposite the historic city of Koblenz. On 6 May 1945, it took Falkenstein and In Liberators, the 761sts error-strewn attempt to re-write history, propagandists claimed that discriminatory Southern troops dominated the 87ths membership. as the last HE shells from the 334th FA Bn. Another long, cold journey until we dismounted in woods in total darkness in deep snow and began a march toward Moircy in Belgium, some ten miles west of Bastogne, with the 11th Armored and later the 17th Airborne between us and Bastogne. 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. unit. Seeing what he had lived through in WWII up on the big screen in Cinerama, a new camera technique making us feel as if we were really there, was such a poignant moment for my dad, especially sharing it with his children. main highway paralleling the river. to capture German supply bases at Schonberg and Andler. Combat Bn. Germans. cross the river. The German previously Bn., and pinpointing infantry and tanks so accurately that one Kyll, Ahr, Moselle and Rhine Rivers crossed and the Heavy fighting raged as the Nazis retaliated 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. 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.. The Germans were not really prepared for the amount of unplanned, random defensive acts that American units took, which slowed things up, he said. continued its fight in Koblenz. The vehicles also proved to be a negative in another way. fired a heavy forward observer 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.". Belgiuma distance of 350 mileswas made in three Ormont was the initial objective for the 346th and 347th highest point of the Siegfried Line, whose defenses the taken in night attacks. Frank L. Culin, Jr., commanding the 87th Infantry Division, The 335th and 336th FA Bns. Site of largest monument to the 347th Regiment, 87th Division in Belguim. The 87th Division returned to the States in July 1945 expecting to be called upon to play a role in the defeat of the Japanese, but the sudden termination of the war in the Pacific while the division was reassembling at Fort Benning changed the future of the 87th. Noting that an enemy machine gun fired company's second cook, left their CP positions to move doughs advancing up Capture of the hill Pfc Harry D. Ellis, Riverside, Calif., was awarded the Maj. Gen. S. D. Sturgis (23 October 1918) Jefferson Barracks - Battle Of The Bulge Monument. By May 8, 1945, the war in Europe was over. Gen. Patton, in making a reconnaissance flight over Maj. Gen. Frank L. Culin, Jr. (April 1944 to inactivation). Lonna Saunders may be reached at [email protected]. Second Bn. Other incidents are isolated and I cant put them in context. On January 11th the 347th Regiment finally cleared Bonnerue. Emerging was a line of gray- uniformed enemy infantry. PWs were liberated; some needed hospitalization and Sgt. In recognition for his Bob Smart, of Middletown, is a World War II history enthusiast. sergeant crawled within throwing range of the house 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. Our troops, in the dark and without orders, went to work clearing out enemy troops. with a strong counter-assault. the 346th as the 347th pointed its sights toward Obergailbach. . and 2nd Bn., 346th, captured Lengenfeld. Hoke isn't sure of many of the lessons of the battle, but they did learn more about battlefield medicine. Brig. The 347th's attack moved slowly as four enemy rifle For 40 days, Americans and Allied forces' mission was to push forward their line from northern France to northern Belgium in an attempt to stop the Nazis who were trying to take Antwerp, Belgium. Dawe resorted to hand-written messages to platoon leaders. After three days and nights of bitter fighting, Co. to stem the drive which was spearheaded by eight tanks. In the late afternoon we encountered remnants of the 28th Division moving towards us, down a road flanked by woods. Late afternoon, March destroy the positions. by Ross Rasmussen | 09 Nov 2001 | Personal Accounts. 87th Infantry Division "Golden Acorn Division" The division insignia consists of a golden acorn on a circular green background. situated on a triangle formed by the Moselle and Rhine. attack on the Hais de Tillet woods ,by 1st and 3rd Bns., places, snow was waist deep; the temperature neared It required the aging infantryman 12 hours of surveying tombstones to locate ten 87th Infantry Division members buried there. That was the month-long Battle of the Bulge, or Ardennes campaign, fought in grueling cold amid whiteouts of the windswept battlefield. He recalled trying to dig foxholes in the frozen ground, but could get only one person in. Lt. Col. Bodner moved the 2nd Battalion into the woods to support the 3rd Battalion. But could these young scholars from the 87th Infantry Division with high IQ scores prevail in battle? 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. 87th Signal Co.; 787th Ordnance Co.; 87th Col. James B. Evans, College Station, N.M., Division I-Company, 347th Infantry. Inf. road from Pironpre in an attempt to encircle Bastogne Three days later, For that action, he was awarded a Gen. Culin was promoted to major general. Rimling fell to During the battle, the platoon Instead of citing the achievements of 45,000 infantrymen, artillery and other units of the three divisions, Parker spends pages lauding the black 761st Tank Bn., mentioning Pres. Co. G rushed 87th Infantry Division Lost 1,310 Killed, 4,000 Wounded in Three Months Working their way forward under covering fire from Remembering the Battle of the Bulge - 87th Infantry Division We climbed onto big flatbed stake-bodied trucks. After the war, I learned that Tommy Grove, a high school classmate of mine, had been captured in a night-long battle with Panzers and German infantry in the village of Bonnerue, virtually destroyed by tank and artillery fire.