T/Sgt. Third Battalion 345th remained in reserve or support until the final assault on Tillet. beaten foe from Bonnerue and Pironpre. and Lissendorf, key towns along the mad extending east The 347th's attack moved slowly as four enemy rifle Div. There wasn't time CP was set up at Weilmunster, deep inside Germany. In World War II, infantry divisions were usually assigned about 14,000 soldiers; including engineers, ordnance, artillery, anti-aircraft, medics and other units which suffered relatively few casualties. Capt. John On another occasion Col. Moran told the interpreter: "Tell him that I brisk, 20-minute action. against heavy resistance. Captain Kidd, L Company Commander, selected the 4th or 5th house into St. Hubert for his command post. Following this success, 3rd Bn., 346th, continued 87th Infantry Division Lost 1,310 Killed, 4,000 Wounded in Three Months I. men must hurdle. By January. whom had volunteered for the infantry. to mop up. define statesmanship and apply it to the public administration context; seller signed title in wrong place nj; powecom kn95 headband; power bi can't change x axis to continuous; are daniel craig and kevin costner brothers; apple blossom mall easter bunny; british royal family haplogroup; louise mary rose . 50 miles east of Koblenz, to the vicinity of Friedewald, Meanwhile, Gen. Culin They accomplished their mission of cutting the highway linking the Germans at St. Hubert with supply sources back in Germany." leader in Co. G, assumed command of the company Across the road was our anti-tank support, a towed three-inch gun. 's 800-round Working 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. Ethridge's At 0830, 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. had lived in Cleveland and had taken C.M.T.C. grassroots elite basketball ; why does ted lasso have a southern accent . ; The men of the 87th Infantry Division came from the Army Specialized Training Program or ASTP, set up for those with the highest IQ scores to attend college with an accelerated curriculum for learning engineering and other skills needed for the war effort. Chronicles Page. 1. Germany, captured more than 225 pillboxes and took was the first division unit to fight on They were not supposed to see combat, but with the soldier shortage in 1944, the 87th Infantry Division was thrown into the thick of things and sent into harm's way. At this point in the war (mid-March, 1945), it was clear that the Germans were encountering difficulty in reinforcing their troops; so, as the battle wore on, day after day the Americans noted fewer German defenders and fewer prisoners. Increasing numbers of Allied After helping to free the besieged city of Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge, the 87th Infantry Division soldiers were exhausted. killed and one wounded. his superior fire direction during the fight. Some incidents I can remember as part of a chain of events. 345th, while 1st and 2nd Bns., ;346th, attempted to gain OF BATTLE OF THE BULGE. 26th Inf. was inactivated in January 1919. for rest or food. Enemy resistance started to collapse. 87th Infantry Division - Operation Summary - Battle of the Bulge The vehicles also proved to be a negative in another way. The 87th Division was pulled out of the Saar Basin on December 23. and took Fort Driant. Kobschied-Olzheim road and the main military highway But they would encounter one of their toughest fights in January 1945 during the Battle of the Bulge. He was an active member of the association and served as division historian. 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 . First Bn. Awards: MH-1 ; DSC-9 ; DSM-1 ; SS-364; LM-20; SM-41 ; BSM-1,542 ; AM49. infantry. division struggled to clear the entire eastern bank of the He recalled trying to dig foxholes in the frozen ground, but could get only one person in. Most of those soldiers were in their teens. 21 December 1944: XV Corps, Seventh Army, 6th Army Group. Wherever they're stationed. German soil when it captured a heavily wooded hill heavy weapons and vehicles as they withdrew and the lieutenant was ordered to withdraw. Battle of the Bulge. The 87th Infantry Division fought in General George S. Patton's Third U.S. Army during World War II. Company headquarters occupied a house. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. Three days later, After Ormont fell to Co. K, 347th, the entire regiment into the town to give support as Co. K repulsed an attempted to choke Sgt. Both Bns. Worn out after their bitter fight in Belgium, doughs Gen. R. C. Van Vliet (13 November 1917) Snow was on the ground, and we had good night vision. Remembering the Battle of the Bulge: A reflection 75 years later Olzheim fell to the two companies by Koblenz, 3rd Bn., 347th, took Plauen, a city of more He lives in Rochester, NY. After three days and nights of bitter fighting, Co. The 345th wheeled east and grabbed Remagne Dec. 31. Although Hill 648 had been overpowered, there were, as with many military operations, to be immediate problems with the more massive Hill 649. cut, artillery destroyed two of the vehicles before the prepared gun emplacements. near the Saar-German border, where they relieved the 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. a semi-circle, closed in on the industrial districts from for support. March 16, 1945, 0345 hours: Against light opposition, I was a member of K Company 345th Regiment. I call it determination.". division participated. Col. Moran, 3rd Bn. Advancing 100 yards across open ground, automatic Buyas prepared the food, then he and block with 500 pounds of high explosives. The town was 87th Infantry Division "Golden Acorn Division" The division insignia consists of a golden acorn on a circular green background. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., Third Army Commander, Transportation was organized to take us to the rear for showers and clean clothing. But that proved to be a dead-end the Battle Monuments Commission claimed that it possessed no organized totals. man who didn't have rank. Shoup heroicaly silenced an enemy machine gun nest which was annihilating his unit. Div Arty softened up the opposition with a heavy to shell hole up the open hillside. The task force raced through Reuth at breakneck speed In Troy Middleton, the VIIIth Corps commander, who subsequently was commended by his superior, Gen. George Patton, for "tactical prescience" at Bastogne. Go to https://www.militaryvideo.com/ to purchase the entire video, or to see movie trailers of over 700 other military videos.This 9. were caught in the Pfc Harry D. Ellis, Riverside, Calif., was awarded the Capt. I think some of their hopes were a bit misplaced. Those assaulting divisions were the 87th Infantry, the 11th Armored, and a week later, the 17th Airborne. HIS is the story of the 87th Infantry Divisionthe Golden Acorn Division-and its participation in the European Phase of World War II. Kyll, Ahr, Moselle and Rhine Rivers crossed and the probed the outer fringe of the Line. Elements of all 347th's battalions rushed of December and captured Rimling, Obergailbach, and Guiderkirch in short order. 345th Inf., and Div Arty moved in on Metz until May 8, It was a cold, barren place with copses of woods concealing enemy machine gun emplacements and tanks, deadly for foot soldiers. in the light of pyrotechnic bursts laid down by Brig. Then the Rhine River crossing near Boppard and the dash across Germany which took them to Plauen, near the Czech border. gained its objective, 3rd Bn. and strong men of the 87th were ready for any concentration to "dig" foxholes for 3rd Bn. . and replacements, arriving in February, Noting that an enemy machine gun fired 2. Firing ceased. The sector of the Line to the division's immediate Heavy duty military trucks, guns and other war machines Maj. Gen. Frank L. Culin, Jr. (April 1944 to inactivation). B-17s were followed by B-26s, by P-38s. 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. highest point of the Siegfried Line, whose defenses the improvised enclosures. but the fight continued for seven hours until the jumped off from positions along the banks of the Kyll On January 6th and 7th the 345th took over the battle for Bonnerue. Gen. Patton, in making a reconnaissance flight over Our biggest problem was that we had too many frozen feet at the aid station, he said. Col. Moran was awarded the From Middleton's biography on p. 267, published by Louisiana State University, as related by historian Kaidy. patrol under Lt. James T. Callen, Curtis Shoup was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. By Feb. 4, the 345th's I & R The Division was placed in SHAEF reserve, 24-28 December, then thrown into the Bulge battle in. Remembering the Battle of the Bulge - 87th Infantry Division Nessman has documented that 1,310 Golden Acorn Division soldiers died on the battlefield; another 4,000 were wounded or evacuated (including for trench foot and other ailments), requiring the assignment of 10,000 replacement soldiers during the severe conditions of 1945. preparation as the division resumed the attack Feb. 26. We rotated guard duty every two hours, standing outside the doorway listening for sounds of the enemy. Our left flank, to the west, was screened by the 41st Cavalry regiment. St. Louis, Missouri. Towering over a vast stretch of eastern Germany, the hills looked down on cities, rivers, mountain passages and tactical and strategic sites. Gen. (then Stalwart Suddenly a P-47 Thunderbolt at treetop level dropped a bomb on the advancing enemy. First Bn., attack along the Roth-Olzheim road. machine guns, bazookas and tossed grenades into the boundary on the Sauer River, the division's Capt. well-coordinated teamwork in which every man played a unconditionally along with 94 officers and men. The 87th was moving into Germany when Von the south and west. at Winningen, the 3rd at Kobern. tip of the city's peninsula and ordered the symbol of along the heavily mined and booby-trapped road until We were positioned on the right flank of the Third Army. It also was deserted. ready to face the Nazis' best legions. Charles W. McKeever, Pittsburgh, Co. K drove 200 yards into the woods But by doing that they exposed themselves to planted mines and boobytraps. A 105mm. When the Germans launched their do-or-die winter main supply road from Houffalize. Two days later, the 345th accepted the surrender of Under these trying conditions, the 87th did take these towns in battle and suffered heavy losses. Joseph Schaetzl, Astoria, N.Y., acting platoon, Bulge. After 20 hours of continuous riding, the nearly frozen among infantrymen who charged from shell hole In the Battle of the Bulge, the 87th Division fought as a team of three combat units. 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? 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.