112th infantry regiment battle of the bulge

up positions north and east of the town. The half-track was demolished, but the field had been exploded and the covering infantry cleared away. Its pillboxes and supporting positions were occupied in greater strength as the LVIII Panzer Corps (Krueger) moved in. Hfen, along with the nearby town of Monschau, was strategically vital because it sat on elevated terrain overlooking an important road junction. For this reason the fight put up by the 112th Infantry on the north flank of the division had little or no effect on the operations of its sister regiment east of Bastogne. Battalion. When darkness finally came, the 44th withdrew with the assault guns into Wiltz, having lost four officers and 150 men. working on roads, and the like). The Fifth Panzer Army commander was bitterly opposed to that part of the plan which called for a tremendous opening barrage at 0800 and a two-hour artillery preparation before the attack jumped off. The 28ID is the oldest continuously serving division in the United States Army. The second battalion's Companies G and H lost a combined total of 200 men out of 230 when they were cut off at Fismette and fended off a frontal attack on their position by a thousand German soldiers. it to call on neighboring battalions, attacking Weiler, to help outflank Company A, 110th Infantry (Everett) and Company G, 110th Infantry (Altoona) unit were both mustered into federal service for World War II in February 1941. Colonel Fuller had ordered a platoon of the 2d Battalion to swing south and bar the road, but it was already dominated by the German armor. XLVII Panzer, Corps moved beyond it to the west.3 (Map IV). Nonetheless he advised Cota to withdraw the 110th back of the Clerf, that "under the circumstances it was necessary." German plans. effort to clear, and to Krueger's disappointment there was no assurance Next to the paved through highway via Clerf, the Wiltz valley offered the best avenue westward. with the aid of the dwindling tank force from the 9th Armored Division For nearly two hours enemy flares methodically picked out targets for mortar and bullet fire, while the Americans were so closely beset that the Bofors and murderous quad mounts could not retaliate without cutting down their own people. antitank gun in the path and crossed the bridge at the railroad station. Viewing, the ground in front of his right armored corps as especially difficult, Manteuffel would give Generaloberst Walter Krueger's LVIII Panzer Corps a fairly narrow front for the initial assault. Legacy : Acker, Lewis F. Lt Col CWS : . A radio message alerted the commander to the danger of a direct approach; so the platoon and some accompanying infantry entered Clerf by a secondary road along the river. With three divisions, and added corps troops, the XLVII Panzer Corps possessed a considerable amount of shock and fire power. 124th Infantry Regiment. Meanwhile the 39th Regiment, echeloned to the left Division. Nevertheless by midnight the 1st Battalion front had. On the morning of the 17th German tanks had set the town ablaze, but the few American Shermans had held them at bay. columns. During the morning the 26th Volks Grenadier Division engaged in desultory action, moving troops around to the north. On the ridges which look down over Wiltz more Germans appeared in the early evening, apparently. At 1839 the sergeant at the regimental switchboard called the division to report that he was alone-only the switchboard was left. Shortly before noon German pressure noticeably relaxed. Wrote one in his diary: "Nobody able to sleep and no hot meals, today. The capitulation of the gallant garrison at Hosingen, during the morning, removed this threat to the 902d supply road. Before noon five separate assaults had been made at Consthum, but all were beaten off by small arms, .50-caliber, and artillery fire. At the close of this first day the 112th Infantry remained in its positions east of the Our.16 The 2d Battalion had not yet been seriously engaged, although one company had been detached to reinforce the 3d. 112th Regimental Combat Team, WW1 29th Infantry Div Casualties, WW2 303rd Bomb Group, Casualties, WW2 . At l825 Colonel Fuller phoned the 28th Division chief of staff that his command post was under fire and that enemy tanks occupied the town. The 26th Volks Grenadier Division, which had allowed the 112th to go about its training program with only very minor interruption, marched south to join the XLVII Panzer Corps and take part in the attack for Bastogne. Then the enemy grenadiers encircled the American roadblock at Urspelt, The regiment was called to active federal service on 17 February 1941, 10 months prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. The 3d Battalion positions on the German bank were built around captured pillboxes, for here earlier American advances had pierced the first line of the German West Wall. The Our, in many places, was no more than forty feet wide and easily fordable, but the roads leading to the river made circuitous and abrupt descent as they neared its banks. Second Bn., 109th; 1st and 3rd Bns., 110th; 1st Bn., 112th, rocked most severely under the first blows, lashed back to ward off attacks, caused many enemy casualties. The defenders at Weiler would not be easily pushed aside. Col. Daniel Strickler, the regimental executive officer, who now had assumed command at Consthum, organized a perimeter defense of the town, set out mines along the approaches, and disposed his three effective tanks and three armored cars to watch for the enemy armor known to be on the road from Holzthum. Fuller, however, was able to get a warning message through to the 28th Division command post about 0900. Colonel Lauchert was worried about the slow rate of the 2d Panzer advance. For this reason the fight put up by the 112th Infantry on the north flank of the division had little or no effect on the operations of its sister regiment east of Bastogne. The massed guns and Werfers of the XLVII Panzer Corps which roared out at 0530 on 16 December gave the Americans their first warning. Manteuffel had two armored formations in reserve, the Panzer Lehr Division and the Fuehrer Begleit Brigade.1 These he intended to throw in behind the armored corps which made the first bridgehead at the Our. On orders, the three remaining assault guns went back to cover the wrecked structure. Company I (minus the platoon at Wahlhausen), a section of 81-mm. 1st Battalion held the northern section with Col. Donald Paul's command post at Urspelt: Company A held Heinerscheid. restored while the commander of the 1130th reported that his After the Germans captured the howitzers, a bazooka team of a company officer and a sergeant held the enemy tanks at bay, destroying two which ventured into the village. Battery B fired its few remaining rounds to cover the other batteries, the battalion assembling during the evening at a crossroad southeast of Harlange. Battle of Wilson's Creek, Civil War, North/South Becker County MN, WW2 KIA One battalion of armored infantry was given bicycles, and would move so slowly through the mud and over the hills that its function during the drive to the west was simply that of a replacement battalion, feeding into the more mobile units up ahead. Those who could left the road, scattering in small parties into the dark. 112th Infantry Regiment. But only the 1st (Lt. Col. Donald Paul) and 3rd (Major Harold Milton) Battalions of the 110th were on the line, while the remaining 2nd Battalion (Lt. Col. Ross C. Henbest) was held in division reserve at Doennange and Wiltz, eight miles to the southwest. Krueger was the elder of the two and lacked something of Luettwitz' dash. The ground east of the river was favorable to the defender, who was well entrenched as the result of careful planning and inspection by Nelson and his staff, and whose guns covered the few routes of mechanized advance. The 110th Antitank Company was in Hoscheid just to the west. This timing might seem to. It would be natural, therefore, for the Germans debouching from the Wilwerwiltz bridgehead to defile through the Wiltz valley. In the late afternoon of 15 December General Luettwitz gathered his division commanders in the XLVII Panzer Corps forward headquarters at Ringhuscheid for final instructions and introduction to the new commander of the 2d Panzer Division, Colonel von Lauchert, who had been selected at the last moment by the Fifth Panzer Army leader to replace an incumbent who was not an experienced tanker. Interviewees include company commanders, platoon leaders . It was his intention, however, to move the provisional battalion first, leaving the 3d Battalion to keep the escape exits open while the 44th Engineers acted as rear guard. In final form, the LVIII Panzer Corps' mission was to cross the Our River on both sides of Ouren, drive west on the Houffalize axis, and create a bridgehead over the Meuse River in the neighborhood of Namur and Andenne. As each company debarked it marched inland to the line of departure which the outpost force now held close to the American garrison points. The coat of arms was approved on 2 January 1930. At Weiler the Americans, with only a few rounds left, were completely surrounded and decided to fight their way out. The 2d Panzer Division advance guard had taken a bloody nose Considerable damage had been done the German assault forces. Panzer Army to receive the highly secret word of a great counteroffensive At dawn the Panther Battalion of the 3d Panzer Regiment came clanking into Clerf, after a night move from the Our River, and found tanks from the Mark IV Battalion playing cat and mouse with the Americans in the chteau. The bulk of his very limited reserve consisted of the 2d Battalion, 110th Infantry, and the 707th Tank Battalion. Rickards was promoted to brigadier general in 1919, and in 1921 he was promoted to major general and appointed Chief of the Militia Bureau, the first National Guard officer to hold the position. Despite the general dictum that defended towns would be bypassed, Manteuffel wanted St. Vith as a blocking position and so ordered Lucht to capture it. General Cota had been trying through most of the morning to reach Nelson. . Both flanks of the regiment, however, were in process of being uncovered by enemy thrusts against the neighboring units-although this effect may not have been immediately apparent. By noon the 2d Battalion, helpless against massed tanks and without artillery support, was held in check along the ridge running southwest from Urspelt to the Clerf road, only a thousand yards from its line of departure. [] On 15 July 1871, Sheridan Troop (Tyrone) was organized. This experience, events would show, had borne little fruit. In 1873, Company G, Monongahela Artillery (Everett) was renamed the Light Guards and then redesignated as Company A, 10th Pennsylvania Infantry. Luettwitz concluded that the Clerf River now would be crossed not later than the evening of the second day. Middleton had ordered the 44th Engineer Combat Battalion Crest: The crest is that of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. Roads and bridges, he reckoned, must be in shape to support the American troops east of the river. The latter was a hard-driving commander, daring and tenacious, and had a reputation of giving help to neighboring formations without debate. In 1914 the 2d Squadron was assigned to the 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry and Company L, 12th Pennsylvania Infantry was redesignated Troop L, 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry. 194 Glider Infantry Regiment Interrogation & Patrol Reports, Dec 1944-Jan. 1945 . Rocco J. The advance party of grenadiers had moved along the wooded draw between the two companies holding the 1st Battalion line. the story of the 112th Infantry Regiment of the 28th Infantry Division in the battle for Schmidt, Germany. The task of rebuilding the rifle companies, repairing battle damage, and training replacements was of necessity a slow one. On March 12, 1879, Governor Henry Hoyt signed General Order Number One appointing Maj. Gen. John Hartranft as the first division commander of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, and the most storied and renowned division in the history of the U.S. Army was born. August 1944 was a disastrous month for the Third Reich. Division likely to be encountered during the first hours of the attack The 112th Infantry Regiment was formed and officially designated as the 16th Infantry from . A Time for Trumpets: The Untold Story of the Battle of the Bulge. WW2 Army Unit Records Research. The Bofors crews belonging to the 447th Antiaircraft Artillery lingered on near Consthum as a rear guard, discouraging all pursuit with their fast, accurate fire. The assault company from the 156th was initially more fortunate in its advance west of Ltzkampen. Over 83,000 Americans were casualties during the battle which lasted from December 16, 1944 until January 25, 1945, and as a result, the battle occupies a prominent place in our collective minds. The areas selected by the two corps for their main efforts were some six to seven air-line miles apart-an indication of the weight to be thrown against the American 28th Infantry Division. The division advance guard from the 15th Parachute Regiment (supposedly on its way to capture Sibret) somehow became confused, wandered away northward, and about 1500 struck the 687th Field Artillery Battalion, whose batteries had displaced to a road angling southeast from the town.20 Battery A met the tanks leading the German column with direct fire, disabled or destroyed them, and briefly slowed the advance toward Wiltz. The assault gun platoon gave good support wherever the line was threatened, but by the end of the afternoon its fuel and ammunition were nearly gone and the gunners, after four days of nearly continuous action, were approaching complete exhaustion. The Lead-Up to the Battle of the Bulge. In the 110th Infantry sector this line ran through Lieler and Buchholz to Lellingen. It went onto the line on 4 July 1918, in the Second Battle of the Marne. The 3d Battalion commenced its withdrawal at 2200 under orders to pull back through Ouren. The Fifth Panzer commander seems to have been fairly optimistic, although he gave little ear to Hitler's promise of air support. Luettwitz and the army commander ran at least two map Volks Grenadier Division) had not fared too well in the attack The two heavy tank bridges were the Americans obviously were weakening, and the 2d Panzer Division had been able to move its tanks forward on the relatively good road in the northern part of the corps zone. Early in the afternoon of 18 December a radio message finally arrived at the division command post asking that the regiment be given instructions. This point was conceded when Hitler ruled that the artillery fires along the entire front would begin at 0530. Caveat: This Battle lasted more than a month, with assignments in considerable flux. The Huntingdon unit became Troop K, 3rd Battalion of the 104th Armored Cavalry and one of the Altoona companies became Howitzer Battery, 3rd Battalion 104th Cavalry. both the 26th Volks Grenadier Division and the 2d Panzer Division had crossed the river and taken some part in the fight. Sufficient trucks were available to motorize most of the division, but there was a shortage of tracked cross-country vehicles. 1st Battalion has worked [its] way back." As the enemy gun layers dropped their range back to the river and then to the American positions, the searchlights blinked on, searching out pillboxes and bunkers. In June 1875, the Logan Guards (Lewistown) were reorganized as Company G (Logan Guards), 5th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. Here about ten o'clock, Battery C of the 229th came under direct tank fire but stopped the tanks with howitzer fire at close range while Company C of the 447th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion used its quad mount machine guns to chop down the infantry following behind. Geilenkirchen intended to erase the salient retained by the Germans Only one battery of the 109th Field Artillery Battalion was firing during the morning and it ran low on ammunition. Beautifully illustrated with 200 photographs. The sector designated for the XLVII Panzer Corps breakthrough was held by the 1st and 3d Battalions of the 110th Infantry (28th Infantry Division), commanded by Col. Hurley E. Fuller. In September 2015 the Battalion was activated and deployed to, This page was last edited on 31 August 2022, at 16:23. on Sevenig, farther to the south its 1128th Regiment had seized The fall of Wiltz ended the 28th Division's delaying action before Bastogne. Since most of these works were "blind" the final protective line turned on foxholes and extensive patches of barbed wire which the battalion itself had constructed. Of the 1st Battalion, only a part of Company C retained its organization. This attack aimed at the bridges near Burg Reuland (in the 106th Division sector) and Oberhausen, in the rear of the positions manned by the left. By February, they were back on the offensive. 112th Infantry took up their posts in the . He was a prisoner of war at Stalag IV-B in the town of Mhlberg an der Elbe for six months. 15 About dark infantry from Ltzkampen attacked in close order formation against Company B. The 304th Regiment had suffered severely at American hands: the regimental commander was a casualty and one battalion had been badly scattered during the piecemeal counterattacks by the American tank platoons. 22 Mar - 11 May 45 Central Europe Campaign CD 2 36 Pages - PDF. While elements of the 26th Volks Grenadier Division were attacking on the north side of the Wiltz, detachments of the 5th Parachute Division struck the American perimeter on the south and southeast. The Americans had taken 186 prisoners and killed or wounded two or three times that number; the losses in the 1130th Regiment were "very high," said the enemy reports. For some reason the bridge was not blown. In the north, contact was maintained with the 106th Infantry Division at a point northwest of Ltzkampen. The presence of two panzer units on the 110th Infantry front was not suspected. his tanks and tank destroyers to block the roads west of the river. When this was refused the Germans systematically set to work to surround the village; by dark they had ringed Weiler. The units from Lewistown, Tyrone, Huntingdon, Everett, and Altoona were all mustered into federal service for duty on the Mexican border in July 1916. Battle of the Bulge CD 2 749 Pages - PDF . The American howitzers, south of Wiltz, also took a hand in slowing the German attack. At Heinerscheid, Company A had been overrun in This highway (known to the Americans as the Skyline Drive) and the garrison line paralleled the Our at a distance of one and a half to two and a half miles. XVII SS Corps on 6 December and moved with his staff to Kyllburg, Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for WW2 US 29th Infantry Regiment DUI Ribbon Bar Shoulder Cord Battle of Bulge Lot at the best online prices at eBay! The presence of enemy tanks in Ltzkampen constituted a distinct threat, even to infantry in pillboxes. The degree of tactical success achieved by the 112th Infantry and the fact that it was able to hold intact as a regiment may be explained by a number of factors. This unit now relieved the provisional Albright, Barry E. CPT, "Operations of the 2nd Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, in the Invasion of Normandy, 5-13 June 1944" (Normandy Campaign Alford, Truman MAJ , "Operations of the 6th Tank Destroyer Group, as part of Taks Force "A", in the march through Brittany Peninsula to Brest, France, 3-9 August 1944 . The stir and movement in the enemy lines during the two nights prior to 16 December was occasioned by troops moving in and troops moving out. The Americans had identified the 26th long since as the unit garrisoning the West Wall bunkers on the German bank. Snow blanketed the fields. The 44th was hit from the northeast and east by infantry armed with machine pistols charging in alongside single tanks. The camp was liberated by the Russian Army May 1, 1945. During December 1944, the 112th Infantry Regimental Combat Team was holding a 6-1/2-mile long sector which the Germans attacked with nine divisions.

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