99th Infantry Division soldiers putting up a winterized squad hut. The German armor, with SS Panzergrenadiers riding on their decks, clattered down the icy roads of Rocherath and headed for Krinkelt, only a stones throw away. The 99th Infantry Division, the "Checkerboard" division, gained its nickname from the division's insignia. Although 3/395 had only 600 men to defend a large area, they had been told that the German army, or Wehrmacht, was no longer capable of major offensive operations and that their winter in the Ardennes would be a quiet one. A group From 21 December 1944 to 30 January 1945, the unit was engaged in aggressive patrolling and reequipping. As they did so, another German assault hit them, this time with support from 5 MKV Panther tanks. [6] On more than one occasion, BAR gunners would allow Germans to get within feet of their positions before opening fire, with the objective of increasing the odds of killing the attacking Germans. Butler was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 21 March 1944, and remained in command of the 395th until 30 April 1945, when he collapsed from exhaustion. Just south of Hfen, the lines of the 99th entered this forest, ran through a long belt of timber to the boundary between the V and VIII Corps at the Losheim Gap. It was redesignated with description updated, for the 395th Regiment on 7 June 1999. 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. So fierce in fact that the German commander pulled his tanks back for fear of running into a superior American force, deciding to hold his positions until the following morning. There Major Butler collapsed due to exhaustion on 30 April, and Lt. Col. J. Troops were fatigued by weeks of continuous combat, Allied supply lines were stretched extremely thin, and supplies were dangerously depleted. The Medal of Honor was awarded T/Sgt Vernon McGarity, Company L, 393rd Infantry, 99th Infantry Division, for actions taken near Krinkelt, Belgium, on 16 December 1944 during the opening phases of the Ardennes Offensive. Hfen, along with the nearby town of Monschau, was strategically vital because it sat on elevated terrain overlooking an important road junction. American artillery fired at pre-registered locations along the German route of advance, and along with support from in the knick of time arriving American armor halted and turned the German advance into a retreat. 3/395 greeted the Volksgrenadiers with a punishing hail of bullets, mortars, and artillery. The 99th Infantry Division received recruits from the ASTP program (Army Specialized Training Program, to make up for the personnel shortages in front line units during 1944. Notable. Asked why he thought so, he said, "Two reasons: one cold-bloodedness; two efficiency. Organization and training began in October but were not complete by the time the war ended in November 1918, so the division was demobilized in early 1919. Through their stories, we gain a glimpse into the challenges they faced, the horrors they endured, and the triumphs they achieved. The German assault caught the 99ers off guard initially, due to the heavy artillery bombardment, but the infantrymen and their supporting mortar fire were able to repel the initial assault at a murderously close range due to the proximity of the opposing tree line from where the enemy advanced. For their actions the battalion was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation which read, in part: outnumbered 5 to 1, [3/395] inflicted casualties in the ratio of 18 to 1. Against light resistance, it crossed the Dill River and pushed on to Krofdorf-Gleiberg, taking Giessen 29 March. The 99th was selected as one of these new regional support commands. It is believed that Delbert was transferred to the 395th Infantry Regiment at some point. 26 (Unit Commendations)", The 99th Infantry Division During World War II, "Battle Babies: The Story of the 99th Infantry Division", Office of the Chief of Military History Department of the Army, http://www.history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/cbtchron/cbtchron.html, Battle Babies: The Story of the 99th Infantry Division, Checkerboard, official publication of 99th Infantry Division Association, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=99th_Infantry_Division_(United_States)&oldid=1131083137, Infantry divisions of the United States Army, United States Army divisions during World War II, Military units and formations established in 1918, Infantry divisions of the United States Army in World War II, Military units and formations disestablished in 1945, United States Army divisions of World War I, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2015, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Any delay would jeopardize the plan to cross the Meuse River and advance on Antwerp before the skies cleared and the Allies regained their balance. The German pre-dawn artillery bombardment on December 16th destroyed 3/395s communication wires at Hfen, but the stunned soldiers soon witnessed an even more ominous sight: enemy searchlights, reflecting off the dense clouds, illuminated the snowy open ground east of Hfen. More often than not, the noises thought to have been heard arent anything at all, and the forest resumes its eerie silence. German Panzer tanks en route to the Ardennes. The 10 geographically-based RRCs, including the 99th, were inactivated and replaced with four regional base operations commands. On 25 October 1981, the entire platoon was recognized with a Presidential Unit Citation. The 5 th Infantry Division was moved from Saarlautern, Luxembourg to the area of south and southwest of Echternach. [14], The 99th as a whole, outnumbered five to one, inflicted casualties in the ratio of eighteen to one. Because of Major Butler's success in leading his battalion in successful night attacks during the war, which the U.S. Army handbook did not recommend, the French army later asked him to write a paper on battalion-size night attacks.[6]. [11], The area around Hfen and Monschau were critical because of the road network that lay behind them. By December 1944, Allied armies had reached the western border of Germany itself. The 99th battled on to the bridge at Remagen that was taken on March 7th. The Germans were counting on something else, toothey knew that this sector was thinly manned by untested troops. A second road ran parallel to the division center and right wing, leaving the Hfen road at the small hamlet of Wahlerscheid, and continued south through two very small villages, the twin towns of Rocherath and Krinkelt. The 99th RRC continued to provide command and control for assigned units and support for the ongoing deployments. The platoon members were not recognized for their courageous deeds for thirty-seven years. [17]:51, On another day, the 3rd Battalion took 50 Germans prisoner and killed or wounded more than 800 Germans, losing only five dead and seven wounded themselves. . ABMC Headquarters 2300 Clarendon Blvd, Suite 500 Arlington, VA 22201 Phone: 703-584-1501 At precisely 0530 hours, the forest erupted in an ear shattering German artillery barrage along a 100 mile front. [11] They continued to Linz am Rhein and to the Wied River. After clearing towns west of the Rhine, it crossed the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen on the 11th. Family lore, The 99th Infantry Division Artefacts Collection. From Camp Maxey they took a train to Camp Myles Standish outside Boston. At dusk on 16 December, after virtually no sleep during the preceding night and a full day of almost non-stop combat, with only a few rounds of ammunition remaining, about 50 German paratroopers finally flanked and captured the remaining 19 soldiers. [12] The 99th Infantry's after action report stated they found 1,500 Jews "living under terrible conditions and approximately 600 required hospitalization due to starvation and disease. Specific units were charged with penetrating Germany's West Wall. Up to that point, the Army had married a battalion of tanks to a battalion of infantry in support of the tanks. Butler said, "The biggest difficulty in carrying out a night attack is control, and having men who can coordinate well as a team in the dark. After failing to capture Monschau on the battles second day, the 326th Volksgrenadier Division turned its attention back to Hfen on December 18th. The division was destroyed near Vitebsk during the Soviet Vitebsk-Orsha Offensive of Operation Bagration in the summer of 1944. It was demobilized on 30 November 1918, but was later reconstituted on 21 June 1921 as a member of the Organized Reserves just like the 99th Infantry Division. [12] For their part, the German army was planning a seven-day campaign to seize Antwerp. The largest of the ghettos where Eastern European Jews were first confined and, later, deported to extermination camps by the Nazis was set up in Warsaw, Poland. The success of the defense of the twin villages would be short-lived if ammunition was not resupplied. In the event of an emergency, the battalion headquarters and company administrative personnel, including clerks and motor-pool staff, were to join the platoon, creating a small reserve force of about 100 men. Gen. von Manteuffel, commander of the 5th Panzer Army, stated in the address to his troops prior to the attack that "our ground mission must be continuous; otherwise we will not achieve our goal". A. Gallagher assumed command for the last few days of the war. Either short or completely devoid of ammunition, the defenders of Rocherath began to filter to the rear in the growing darkness that swallowed the battlefield. [14] The first town they were tasked with capturing was Bergheim, "the door to the Rhine." Sgt Harold Rutz, 395th Infantry Regiment, M Company. The division was reconstituted in the Organized Reserve on 24 June 1921 and assigned to the western half of the state of Pennsylvania. Attached below the shield a silver scroll inscribed "VIGILANS ET CELER" in Black letters.[21]. It was activated on 1 December 1939. Good luck with your quest. Crest The crest is that of the U.S. Army Reserve. Butler's great-grandfather, General John Alexander McClernand, commanded infantry during the Civil War. The thick forest was tangled with rocky gorges, little streams, and sharp hills. They were tasked with moving 10 miles (16km) behind the German lines and cutting the Autobahn to prevent the withdrawal of the Germans. The 3rd Battalion, 395th Infantry, led by Lt. Col. McClernand Butler and 2nd Lt. Col. Roy S. Groffy, occupied the area around Hfen, Germany, on the border with Belgium during early December. 394th Infantry Regiment Co. A, first platoon This is my Dad's story. The retreat turned into a route as the German tanks, two less due to a duel with two American Shermans, rolled unmolested down the street in the village. Originally planned as a Pennsylvania unit, Yet, despite their successful defense and reinforcement from the 2nd Division, the 395th was in a precarious position on the morning of the December 17. After fighting in the Ruhr area, the unit moved southward into Bavaria, where it was located at the end of the war. As many as half a million civilians remained in Stalingrad when the Germans approached in the late summer of 1942. It attacked toward the Monschau Forest, on 1 February, mopping up and patrolling until it was relieved for training and rehabilitation, on 13 February. EN. Originally planned as a Pennsylvania unit, the horizontal band of white and blue. On at least six different occasions the battalion was forced to place artillery concentrations dangerously close to its own positions in order to repulse penetrations and restore its lines . Battle of the Bulge Score: 4.8/5 (10 votes) . With ammunition supplies dwindling rapidly, the men obtained German weapons and utilized ammunition obtained from casualties to drive off the persistent foe. The program was called the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP), and it sought to give extra training and special skills to a select group of intelligent and able young men, most of whom were taken from America's colleges. A member of the 395th Infantry Regiment , the photographer captured an amazing scene through the lens of this camera in these images. TO: Division Surgeon, 99th Infantry Division I. The 395th Infantry, Organized Reserves, was organized in 1921. The 3rd Battalion, 395th Regiment had acquitted itself with valor, having held its lines despite the harsh winter weather, the enemy's numerical superiority and greater numbers of armored units. Unknown to the Allies, the Germans were preparing a surprise counter-offensive through the Ardennes with the goal of splitting the Allied armies and recapturing the Belgian port city of Antwerp. [16], After Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, 22 99th units deployed to Saudi Arabia, Europe, and other locations. Cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army for action at the Siegfried Line. Under the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress Sign up for our newsletter and receive the mighty updates! "[13] The division continued to attack without opposition to the Inn River and Giesenhausen until VE-day. The 99th Infantry's report stated that 1,500 Jews were "living under terrible conditions and approximately 600 required hospitalization due to starvation and disease.". The terrain was open and rolling, and over six weeks the 3rd Battalion prepared dug-in positions that possessed good fields of fire. On 1 November 1944, the 99th Infantry Division, comprising the 393rd, 394th, and the 395th Infantry Regiments, was put under operational control of V Corps, First Army. The other two regiments of the 99th Division had been beaten to a pulp by the initial German assault, and for the most part had been rendered ineffective, thus leaving the 395th dangerously exposed to a flank assault.
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