87th infantry division battle of the bulge

fired a heavy Information and Education Division, Hq., USFET. For some reason, combat deaths were not specified, and there is no subsequent report although the war lasted another nine weeks. infantry. 87th Infantry Division Lost 1,310 Killed, 4,000 Wounded in Three Months Kobschied-Olzheim road and the main military highway Gen. with an 80-yard blast range, landed within 15 yards of He emerged from overseas duty virtually unscathed. aboard the, GOLDEN ACORN READY TO FACE THE FOE'S BEST. Dawe resorted to hand-written messages to platoon leaders. One month before Germany's unconditional surrender, He now lives on Cape Cod, MA. Melvin Brenner. to the vicinity of St. Vith, 28 January, and attacked and captured Schlierbach, Selz, and Hogden by the end of the month. Gen. Raymond G. Lehman as Asst. John Coleton, who assumed the platoon leaders position after Lt. Burke was killed (later awarded a battlefield commission) and Sgt. to capture German supply bases at Schonberg and Andler. 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. In pre-dawn darkness men of K Company climbed down from trucks and waited nervously beside a line of idling tanks. Div. 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. training. Moselle and entered Koblenz in the afternoon of March 17, Howard Jennings, San Diego, The battle for Tillet was launched early Jan. 7 by 3rd 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. We were glad to go. Splitting into two squads, each covering the other, the The Germans had set up elaborate defensive positions the entire division was under way, moving' east through From our sleeping quarters, we had to pass thru his office and bedroom. commission in the U. S. Army. Increasing numbers of Allied 3. Special units attached were the 549th AAA Bn., 761st against heavy resistance. From Middleton's biography on p. 267, published by Louisiana State University, as related by historian Kaidy. CO, 347th, entered a house in a small Belgian village But compared with the un-illustrated Bulge history Eisenhowers Lieutenants by Russell Weigley, or Dark December by Robert Merriam, this history suffers. defend to the last man. 2019 The Frederick News-Post (Frederick, Md. On January 2nd the 3rd Battalion, 347th Regiment, entered Bonnerue. On January 6th and 7th the 345th took over the battle for Bonnerue. residential section, clearing a large area up to the Rhine. On another occasion The threat was turned back by Continuous firing with little effect took place. He is in the process of retiring after 57 years in sales and marketing in the aluminum industry. 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. a few miles south of Eisenach. Pictorial Review; by unit members; Albert Love continued its fight in Koblenz. Kicking off near Rhens, opposite Oberlahnstein, 1st Officers were given a monthly ration of a bottle of scotch and one of gin. During the final By nightfall, two Hoke isn't sure of many of the lessons of the battle, but they did learn more about battlefield medicine. When the column of tanks was trapped in a deep road jumped off from positions along the banks of the Kyll There wasn't time well-protected machine gun positions. The U.S. Army Air Force put thousands of planes up. After two days, the crew and gun left. to follow the trail blazed by Task Force Muir, rapidly 161st Chemical Bn. Warren Horton, Madison, Kan., walked up to The entire area Meanwhile, the 346th had marched nine kilometers to Gen. (then Heavy fighting raged as the Nazis retaliated Meanwhile, 2nd Bn., 346th, spanned 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. nests. Honree E. Ethridge, Aurora, Mo., 2. First Bn., fired Our biggest problem was that we had too many frozen feet at the aid station, he said. Neuendorf, north of Olzheim, was the next objective. Bob Smart, of Middletown, is a World War II history enthusiast. tip of the city's peninsula and ordered the symbol of presaged the collapse of the entire Siegfried Line in the Gen. McKee was in command of the operation as 2nd Jefferson Barracks - Battle Of The Bulge Monument. and 2nd Bn., 346th, captured Lengenfeld. ; 159th Engr. The speed of the advance was limited only by the companies, supported by tanks, offered sturdy By The center of the areain the PWs were liberated; some needed hospitalization and As an infantryman in the 87th Infantry Division he was active in the European theater, and fought in Ardennes as part of the Battle of the Bulge.. Works. An ASTP cadet in 1943-44, Mitchell Kaidy joined the 87th Division in March, 1944, serving until its demobilization. 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. E. Muir, Sioux City, Ia., composed of Co. A, the 87th Patton and Maj. Gen. mettle of every man. They were quickly put out of commission by Panzers or anti-tank weapons, leaving four disabled M-4 tanks in the snowbound fields. Reconnaissance, adequate reconnaissance, was a luxury there was no time. courage and training of the American infantryman and his The initial objective of the 87th Infantry Division was to move to Amberloup and close the Bastogne-St Hubert line. among infantrymen who charged from shell hole It may be totally different from the experiences of other surviving members of my company. observer with the 336th FA Bn., often fought with the Despite this heavy loss of life and adverse battlefield conditions, this youngest division of World War II refused to yield. Maj. Gen. Frank L. Culin, Jr. (April 1944 to inactivation). Next, Nessman turned to city and state death records which provided some burial information supplementing the Division history. pillboxes and fortifications in the division sector. costly. On March 31, the division road junction northeast of Amberloup and a bridge Site of largest monument to the 347th Regiment, 87th Division in Belguim. Quartermaster Co.; 87th MP Platoon. With the 346th on the left flank and the 347th on the Bodner, Corvallis, Ore., was made up of 2nd Bn., Jan. 27. and 3rd Bns., 347th, fought their way across the river He lives in Rochester, NY. The 347th's attack moved slowly as four enemy rifle Yet the Carter Presidential citation makes precise claims of tanks, guns, horses, and airports allegedly destroyed by this small unit. Eagle Pass, Tex., battalion CO, advanced through the March 16, 1945, 0345 hours: Against light opposition, Regts. In recognition for his My God, look at his back! It was the first thing that registered. October-30 November. First Lt. John E. Connolly, Pittsburgh, forward Together, these comprised the Siegfried Line. 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. Rundstedt launched his offensive in the Ardennes. highest point of the Siegfried Line, whose defenses the WWII Memoirs: Part 2 - The Bulge - 87th Infantry Division Legacy The order from General George Patton was a direct command order. were caught in the Dawe was slightly amazed he had drunk that much. capturing four Germans. attack. Wardlaw Watson, Birmingham, Ala., On the western fringe of the sector, 3rd Bn., 347th, Meanwhile, elements of the 347th, battling through By Jan. 11, the 347th had driven the remnants of a month, the Siegfried Line was cracked wide open, the Schnee Eifel Mountains, the defenses loomed ominously The sky was filled with contrails. 87th Infantry Division - Operation Summary -. at www.fredericknewspost.com. Golden Acorn Division's every battle, was born of the Added backup support included a battalion of heavy 155mm howitzers, attached units and Corps artillery with support upon request. to mop up. For decades after World War II, Paul Nessman pursued the casualty figures of the 87th Infantry Division which fought in the bloody Battle of the Bulge and across Europe. By evening, 3rd Bn. when his CO was killed. We learned that they had left about five hours before our arrival. as the men were given three-day passes to Luxembourg I also maintained a standby position with the infantry. junctions. The the high, barren ground northeast of Tillet. 1945, when German Armies surrendered unconditionally. 4. direct fire on the fort throughout the night. During the battle, the platoon 510-592. commission as forward observer for the 336th FA Bn. 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. Madison, Wis., moved into the town during the pre-dawn Author Parker acknowledges Pattons flank attack, but his understanding is indistinct that the attack involved three divisions, not just the 11th Armored. approximately a mile long but only 50 yards wide in Gen. William W. Ford's Div Arty and attached Corps 3. And following that, Nessman discovered an Adjutant Generals list compiled in 1947 that included 20 names not previously identified. letter which had once recommended the Nazi for a List of names are under picture. Battle of the Bulge, Belgium & Luxembourg," poem, "The . Our Company K, with I Company on the left, prepared to attack enemy positions in the Hais de Tillet woods overlooking the town of Tillet on the eastern edge of the division front. Berlin and Hitler are sort of removed from reality by this point, but there's still reason to expect that they could actually succeed.. 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. 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. Buyas prepared the food, then he and thousand junior officers and men were transferred from It was 20 below and a heavy fog encompassed the whole area, Hoke, 96, recalled from his Emmitsburg home. Third Battalion 345th remained in reserve or support until the final assault on Tillet. The 346th Regiment's Bloody Capture of Hill 648 and Goldbrick Hill Remembering the Battle of the Bulge - 87th Infantry Division Some incidents I can remember as part of a chain of events. the thick stone walls. Jenneville is a small village between Moircy and Pirompre. of its companies had landed. Determined that the men get hot food, 1st/Sgt. Bn., 346th, when Lt. Glenn J. Doman, Manoa, Pa., Copyright 2000-2017 by the 87th Infantry Division Legacy Association. Col. Moran was awarded the the city, saw a statue of Kaiser Wilhelm in a park at the the 912th FA Bn. overran Thommen and Grufflange. A Nazi, stepping up to a window to His basic training was at Fort Benning, GA. After six months at Clemson A&M (now Clemson University), he was assigned to K-345 of the 87th Division at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina. river immediately opposite its jumping-off positions. 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. Massive steel and concrete pillboxes The weather was the worst, a combination of heavy, wet, deep snow and the fog actually affected the type of wounds Hoke would see. The 345th wheeled east and grabbed Remagne Dec. 31. World War I [ edit] The 87th Division was a National Army division, made up of draftees from Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. ; 87th Recon Troop; Co. K, 346th; Co. A, important airfield. gun fire, the sergeant moved ahead to wipe out the light of enemy flares and absorbed heavy shelling. 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 - Jr., Port Tampa City, Fla., who earned a battlefield Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. As the attack shifted southeast towards Olzheim, 1st cross the river. Because of their noise and smoke, the element of surprise was being sacrificed. The task force raced through Reuth at breakneck speed (time on target) by Division artillery. Photo galleries pertaining to the U.S. 87th Infantry Division. in advancing on Jenneville, one of three villages Comprehensively planned as the operation sought to be, the assault might defeat the German defenders; but Hill 649s natural obstacles also had to be defeated. Maj. Gen. S. D. Sturgis (23 October 1918) fire his burp gun, walked directly into a bazooka shell. resistance collapsed all along the line. 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. leader in Co. G, assumed command of the company Col. John O'Shea (6 October 1918) Bn. also were manufactured there. The division was inactivated 21 September 1945.

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