battle of the bulge combat engineers

Fearing that the Germans would discover the weakness of his force, Major Yates tried to deceive the enemy.During the night, the six trucks of the engineer company repeatedly drove into Trois Ponts with their lights on and drove out with the lights off, simulating the arrival of reinforcements. The narrative on the 291st's actions in the Battle of the Bulge are particularly exciting to read as is the author's description of their building the first Allied bridge across the Rhine river. Thus, three of the divisions were new, full of green soldiers who had only recently arrived on the continent; the other two were recuperating from heavy losses suffered in the bitter fighting in the Huertgen forest farther north. By Bill McCalpin. On 17 December, the VIII Corps commander ordered his 44th Engineer Combat Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Clarion J. Kjeldseth to drop its road maintenance, sawmilling, and quarrying operations and help defend the town of Wiltz in Luxembourg. A soldier from the 51st Engineer Combat Battalion checks a TNT charge during the Battle of the Bulge Just a few miles to the southwest, engineers of the 35th Combat Battalion occupied positions blocking another cross-ing of the Ourthe River and, reinforced by an engineer base depot company, held off German tanks and infantry for most of the day. One .37-mm. 30. Army, 18 February 1945, as approved by the Commanding General, European The 300 th Combat Engineers Company A, Company B, Company C and it was their job blow up or to build bridges. machine gun squads, anti-tank rocket and grenade launchers, and were required to fight as infantry when needed. By evening, German tanks closed the road again and attacked the bridge at Ortheuville. Headquarters First United States Department of the Army Field Manual No. The platoon crossed the river and attacked the German flanks. Office of History.] The Germans marched their prisoners over 100 miles on foot to a railhead. After the breakout, Allied armies raced across France, liberated Paris, and headed toward the German frontier. The 600 men of the 44th joined a ragtag force consisting of some crippled tanks, assault guns, artillery, and divisional headquarters troops.Attacked by tanks and infantry on the 18th, the engineers held their fire as the tanks roared by and blasted the German infantry following behind. Private Michin, who regained his sight several hours later, received the Distinguished Service Cross for his bravery under fire.During the evening of the 19th and the morning of the 20th, the 101st Airborne Division, which had rushed to the defense of Bastogne, relieved the 158th and the 35th ECBs.German panzers and troops continued to push west and north of Bastogne, eventually surrounding the American defenders in the town. All images, stories and logos are copyrighted to their respective owners. Between these two fronts lay the Ardennes, a hilly, densely forested area of Belgium. The explosion which knocked out the tank blinded him. Alerted the previous evening to help defend the bridge, a platoon of the 158th arrived as German troops seized it. Its organic engineer combat battalion, the 81st, had begun road repair and snow removal in the division’s sector. : Situation 2400 hrs. When the Germans brought artillery to bear on the positions of the 35th, it retired under the cover of darkness, but only after imposing yet another delay on the German advance. In spite of mines the 158th had hastily planted on the road in front of the bridge, the tanks seized it. As he rolled into a ditch, he heard machine gun fire close by. While another detachment of the 291st wired one bridge south of the village, Company C, reinforced by an antitank gun and a squad of armored infantry, prepared its defenses. When the regiment moved into the village during that afternoon, Major Yates greeted its commander with, “Say, I’ll bet you fellows are glad we’re here!” American troops finally stopped and destroyed Peiper’s armored column a few days later; they had received invaluable assistance from the engineers who had delayed the Germans and forced them into costly detours.Farther south, engineers were also caught up in the massive German attack. Howard C. Speck ( d. 2011 ). The best general account of engineers in the Battle of the Bulge is the chapter on the Ardennes in Alfred Beck, et al., The Corps of Engineers: The War Against Germany, United States Army in World War II (VVashington, DC: Center of Military History, 1985).For a more detailed history of the battle, see Hugh M. Cole, The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge, United States Army in World War II (Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, 1965).Janice Holt Giles’ lively story of the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion’s exploits, The Damned Engineers, was originally published in 1970 and reprinted by the Office of History, Office of the Chief of Engineers, in 1985.The same office resurrected an account of another battalion’s activities, written shortly after the events, from the files of the National Archives and published it in 1988 as Holding the Line: The 51st Engineer Combat Battalion and the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945. Before he could complete his degree in psychology from Brooklyn College, Brooks was drafted into the Army to fight during World War II. 254th Engineer Combat Battalion In December 1944, the German offensive in the Ardennes known as the Battle of the Bulge came as a rude awakening to the American forces who believed the war to be all but won. By mid-December, American armies had reached the Roer River inside Germany and the West Wall along the Saar River in eastern France. August 1945. The engineers put chains on their single 4-ton truck and drove it back and forth through the village to create the impression that there were tanks in Trois Ponts. 11, WD, 1942), citation of J J J From D-day on, the Allies had swept quickly across Europe—sometimes getting too far By the next evening, the small American force was surrounded and running low on ammunition. Under the cover of winter weather, Hitler and his generals massed some 25 divisions opposite the Ardennes and planned to crash through the thinly held American front, cross the Meuse River, and drive to Antwerp. Reprinted with permission of the general editor, Dr. Barry W. Fowle. Shortly thereafter, numerically superior enemy infantry and armored columns This was before they went to France: https://www.backtonormandy.org/the-history/engineers/engineer-combat/support8772.html, They left at 23 March 1944, Arrived in England on 4 April 1944, entered France ETO 1 August 1944. The soldiers attempted to escape but few made it back safely. round wedged between the turret and the hull, and as the smoke cleared, the 51st saw the German crew abandoning the tank. In the meantime, engineers to the rear blocked roads using minefields, abatis, blown culverts, and felled trees. The massive German assault on 16 December quickly interrupted these routine tasks. Burke, James (299th Engineer Combat Battalion) Funf Mann: A book by James Burke of the 299th Engineer Combat Battalion, an account of his squad's action during the Bulge and subsequent ordeal as prisoners of war. Engineers (Builders and Fighters) in the Battle of the Bulge Hits: 43340 Although D-day gave the western Allies a beachhead in northern France, it took them almost two months of bitter fighting to break out of the Normandy hedgerows. A detachment of German tanks headed down the river looking for another bridge, while other tanks and infantry remained behind, across the river from the village. 9075 (sec. When the engineers attempted to demolish it, the bridge failed to blow up. Richardson vet served as a combat engineer in Battle of the Bulge. Each quadrangle sheet shows the position of the 12th Army Group and adjacent Allied Forces and of the German units for each day from D-Day (6 June 1944) thru 26 July 1945. and .50 cal. He also told us ( his sons and daughter ) that he was at the Battle of the Bulge ( among other actions ). Holding the line : the 51st Engineer Combat Battalion and the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945. During that march, Colonel Riggs lost 40 pounds. His route took him near the town of Malmedy and toward the villages of Stavelot, Trois Ponts, and Huy on the Meuse. Get this from a library! An unidentified soldier volunteered to flush out this tank and crossed the bridge with a bazooka and two rounds of ammunition. When Peiper’s tanks came into view, the engineers blew up the main bridge leading into the village. His name/rank was Master Sgt. Last stop in Europe was Allendorf Austria. The same was true for administration personnel including those in combat arms units. After a day of hard fighting, the Germans broke through the American front, surrounding most of an infantry division, seizing key crossroads, and advancing their spearheads toward the Meuse River, creating the projection that gave the battle its name. After Company C had been ordered to Trois Ponts, the rest of the battalion under the command ofLieutenant Colonel Harvey Fraser established barrier lines in the area of Rochefort, Marche, Hotton, and from there a few miles f&her north. Services such as engineers, ordnance, signal and others were considered to be supports for the combat arms. As they advanced, U.S. Army engineers who had been engaged in road maintenance and sawmilling suddenly found themselves manning roadblocks, mining bridges, and preparing defensive positions in an effort to stop the powerful German armored columns.A few examples will show how these engineers imposed critical delays on an offensive whose only hope for success lay in crossing the Meuse quickly.Lieutenant Colonel Joachim Peiper, a Nazi SS officer, led one of the armored columns racing toward the Meuse. Although the river separating Trois Ponts from the German column was shallow enough for infantry to ford, it was an effective barrier to tanks. Equipped with some mines and a bazooka, the detachment delayed the column for a few hours. Combat engineer battalions also fielded defensive .30 cal. 4-0, War Department Battle Honors–Citation of Units: GENERAL ORDERS WAR DEPARTMENT No. According to War Department General Order 114, December 7, 1945 there were approximately 2,000 units that received the Ardennes Credit, (The Battle of the Bulge). 1:41 PM on Dec 11, 2014 CST. officers and men of the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion stubbornly resisted all 291st Engineers during the Battle of the Bulge SSG Abdel D. Phipps This essay illustrates and identifies the contributions made by Engineers during the Battle of the Bulge. The 291st Engineer Combat Battalion was one of the most decorated engineering groups of the United States Army during World War II. This article is the first mention that I have found so far. After the breakout, Allied armies raced across France, liberated Paris, and headed toward the German frontier. The Germans had attacked France through this supposedly impassable region in 1940. No. [2] These spanned such diverse activities as construction, demolition, sanitation, map production, minefield clearing, and unit intelligence. As a combat engineer battalion the 291st was capable of providing a wide variety of combat support services essential to sustaining operating forces in the theater of war. A few small affrays occurred in the Osweiler-Dickweiler sector, but that was all. Holding the Line: The 51st Engineer Combat Battalion and the Battle of the Bulge Dec, 1944 to Jan, 1945 [Ken Hechler, Barry W. Fowle] on Amazon.com. The author was Ken Hechler, and Barry W Fowle added a prologue and epilogue. Thank you for posting this article. ARMY HISTORY THE PROFESSIONAL BULLETIN OF ARMY HISTORY PB-20-94-5 (No. On the 20th, however, the forward positions of the 51st along the Our-the toward La Roche came under German attack, and by early morning on the next day, enemy armor reached Hotton. In addition to two squads of engineers, Hodges’ small force included a 7th Armored Division tank, which the engineers discovered in a nearby ordnance shop. The delays that engineers helped to impose gave the Americans and British time to bring in reinforcements and seal off the German penetrations. Lately, I have been researching his involvements during WW2, but have been unable to find any information/mention of the 158 CEB. The determination, devotion to duty, and unyielding fighting spirit 9396 (sec. enemy armor and infantry on roadblocks and defensive positions and, in each Next he was assigned to the 1104th Engineer Combat Group in time to participate in the Battle of the Bulge (although he would later state that he was not at the center of the most heated action). As a Tiger tank approached the bridge, Private Ishmael engaged it with his .37-mm. On displayed by the personnel of the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion, in delaying and Battle of the Bulge The 254th/107th Engineers fight as infantry (Editor’s note: This article was written by the late BG (ret) Leonard C. Ward describing what the 254th /107th Engineer Battalion engineers experienced at the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge after … Minutes later, Captain Hodges heard an explosion that sounded like a bazooka round, and the German tank slipped into View between two buildings. They brought the first news of the Malmedy massacre in which Peiper’s troops murdered at least 86 captured American soldiers. The 291st Engineer Combat Battalion was one of the most decorated engineer combat battalions of the United States Army during World War II,[1] playing notable roles both in the Battle of Bulge and the Rhine crossing at Remagen. instance, were thrown back with heavy losses by the resolute and determined A soldier from the 51st Engineer Combat Battalion checks a TNT charge during the Battle of the Bulge. The Battle of the Bulge demonstrated that engineer initiative and training in defensive operations could make a major contribution to the outcome of an important campaign. Repeated attacks were made by Of the three army engineer battalions in the VIII Corps zone under the 1128th Engineer Group, one, the 299th Engineer Combat Battalion, already was in … At approximately midnight, 16 December, 1944, a message was received from the 1121st Engineer Combat Group that the Battalion was on a two-hour alert as infantry. The name Battle of the Bulge was appropriated from Winston Churchill’s optimistic description in May 1940 of the resistance that he … The combat engineer battalion deployed about two miles east of St. Vith along the outer edge of a pine forest fringing the ridge mask over which climbs the road from Schönberg. The 51st Engineer Combat Battalion defended this bridge over the Ourthe River, Hotton, Belgium. Another combat battalion, the 299th, had prepared the bridge for demolition; and one of its platoons, reinforced by some tank destroyers on their way to Bastogne, was defending the bridge when German troops attacked early on 20 December. He had said that he was in the 158th Combat Engineers Battalion with the 1st Army attached to 2nd Ranger Div.(?) The span made a material contribution in facilitating the U.S. Army's drive into central Germany.[1]. Both battalions found themselves fighting as infantry in a brave but ultimately futile attempt to stem the German offensive. Engineers sweep for mines in the snow during the Ardennes campaign. For its participation in this action, the 81st Engineer Combat Battalion received the Distinguished Unit Citation, which praised its “extraordinary heroism, gallantry, determination, and esprit de corps.”The capture of Colonel Riggs began an odyssey which eventually ended with his return to his battalion several months later. town itself. as public evidence of deserved honor and distinction. lt caught fire and its 105-mm. During World War II, U.S. Army combat engineers were at the spearhead of fighting in all theaters, whether the battlefield was North Africa’s desert sands, Normandy’s fire-swept Omaha Beach, the Ardennes’ snowclad forest, or the Pacific’s jungle-covered islands. He threw a grenade at the sound, which ceased, and struggled back to his platoon. Just a few miles to the southwest, engineers of the 35th Combat Battalion occupied positions blocking another crossing of the Ourthe River and, reinforced by an engineer base depot company, held off German tanks and infantry for most of the day. Having delayed the enemy advance for a day and allowed some more supplies to reach beleaguered Bastogne, the 158th retired to the west to establish still more barrier lines. Unsure of his target in the gloom, Private Bernard Michin waited until a German tank was only 10 yards away before firing his bazooka. By the time he he felt comfortable enough to relay his stories, he was unfortunately beginning to forget some details. 24f, April 6, 1945, 549th Engineer Light Ponton Company History, https://www.amazon.com/Damned-Engineers-Janice-Giles, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=291st_Engineer_Combat_Battalion_(United_States)&oldid=912183432, Engineer battalions of the United States Army, Military units and formations established in 1943, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Bridge (mobile, floating, fixed), rail, & road construction and maintenance, Conducting river crossings by ponton/raft, motor-powered assault boats, Placing/de-arming munitions, including mines. JUST TO THE south of the Elsenborn Ridge we left Obersturmbannführer Jochen Peiper camped just outside Stavelot on the night of 17–18 December.A town of about 5,000, Stavelot, like Malmedy and St Vith, had religious roots. Riggs was eligible for medical leave in the States, but he insisted on rejoining his old unit, now in Western France. Huertgen Forest, 1944: The Worst Place of Any General Related Links and constantly subjected to heavy enemy artillery, mortar, and small-arms fire, the However, historians have recorded that many supporting troops became combat troops during the Battle of the Bulge. (7) By the evening of 16 December, it was clear that the German attack was an offensive on a grand scale from Monschau in … The hierarchy given here is at a moment nearly at the end of the Battle. I have been looking for information concerning my father`s time in WW2 ETO. Operation Dragoon - Combat Studies Institute . FUSAG -- Situation 1200 hrs. The 51st, also part of the 1111th Combat Group, had received orders to defend the village and prepare its bridges for demolition. During that afternoon, a heavy German assault, led by tanks and accompanied by intense artillery, rocket, and mortar fire, overran the exhausted American defenders. Engineer officers, like Riggs, Pergrin, Fraser, and Yates, insisted on staying in their positions, even when other Americans fled to the rear: Relying on their training in defensive operations, engineer troops established roadblocks with whatever troops and weapons were at hand, blew up bridges, planted minefields, and succeeded, often at the cost of heavy casualties, in delaying the powerful German armored columns. Unfortunately, my father passed in 2011, and I have always been disappointed in myself for not taking some time to sit down with him to hear his experiences. The 291st received a Presidential Citation for its "outstanding performance of duty in action" for holding a defensive position against a German offensive from 17 December to 26 December in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge: As authorized by Executive Order No. Late one night, the Polish underground discovered him, and he joined a Russian tank unit when it captured the Polish village where the underground had taken him. duty in action against the enemy from 17 to 26 December 1944, in Belgium. The rapid pace of the advance placed a severe strain on Allied logistics, which, along with bad weather and stiffening German resistance, slowed the offensive. Although D-day gave the western Allies a beachhead in northern France, it took them almost two months of bitter fighting to break out of the Normandy hedgerows. It was their first news of him since St. Vith.Other divisional and nondivisional engineer units found themselves in situations similar to the 81st during the first few days of the German offensive. He had always been very reluctant to share his wartime experiences with us as we were growing up to protect us from the atrocities he had witnessed ( perhaps the worst of which was as a liberator of Dachau Concentration Camp ). It was also instrumental in building the first pontoon bridge across the Rhine at Remagen to take traffic pressure off the severely damaged Ludendorff Bridge before its tragic collapse. These included the deployment and operation of assault boats and the construction of various pontoon bridges,[5] including M1 treadways, and modular steel truss Bailey bridges. The Germans surprised and overwhelmed several units. In addition, the heavy demand for American troops in some sectors had forced Allied commanders to lightly man other portions of the front.After months of retreat, Hitler decided on a bold gamble to regain the initiative in the west. Reinforced by some tanks from the 7th Armored Division, elements of the two engineer battalions under Colonel Riggs held their position against determined German attacks until 21 December. These units vary in size from a small number of people up to and including an Army Group. 291st Engineer Combat Battalion was assigned the mission of establishing and Army. KVK: 78264294, Goudplevierstraat 34 8043JH Zwolle, NETHERLANDS, You are now being logged in using your Facebook credentials, Engineers (Builders and Fighters) in the Battle of the Bulge, This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site, https://www.backtonormandy.org/the-history/engineers/engineer-combat/support8772.html. 333, War Department, 1943, in the name of the President, of the United States 6 June 1944 HQ. By noon, the engineers and tank destroyers forced the enemy to withdraw. An American tank destroyer, which had slipped off the road and into the river a few days earlier, provided the artillery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/291st_Engineer_Combat_Battalion_(United_States) A company of armored infantry eventually reinforced the engineer roadblock, but this small American force was no match for the German panzers. effort, are worthy of high praise. If any content is not allowed to be published here, please contact the webmaster and the content will be removed. Indeed, the Battle of the Bulge was an important turning point in the war in the Allies’ favor, but it was not without its cost. When he learned on 17 December of the German breakthrough, the commander of the 1111th Group sent Lieutenant Colonel David E. Pergrin, the 27-year-old commander of the 291st, to Malmedy to organize its defense.Although most of the American troops in the area were fleeing toward the rear, Colonel Pergrin decided to hold his position in spite of the panic and confusion. After some time with the unit, Colonel Riggs joined a number of former Allied prisoners of war on a train to Odessa.From there, he went by ship to Istanbul and Port Said in Egypt, where he reported to American authorities. It is evident that the Infantry could not have succeeded without the support of the courageous and hardworking Combat Engineers. The battalion set up essential roadblocks and prepared hasty defenses. At 0700, the Germans began shelling Hotton, and German tanks pushed past a small 3d Armored Division force on the far side of the river. antitank gun, but Private Lee Ishmael of the 51st volunteered to man the weapon. Though greatly outnumbered resistance. The 7th Armored tank fired into the opening, destroying the panzer. the following unit in General Orders, No. After the American front in the Ardennes collapsed under the weight of the massive attack, few American units, except engineers, were prepared to resist. On the morning of 17 December, as German troops were cutting off and surrounding the regiments of the 106th, the division commander ordered Lieutenant Colonel Thomas J.Riggs, Jr., the commander of the 81st, to establish defensive positions east of the important crossroads at St. Vith. I, Bul. Behind the 81st was the 168th Engineer Combat Battalion (ECB), a corps unit, which had been operating sawmills and quarries. Battle of the Bulge, also called Battle of the Ardennes, (December 16, 1944–January 16, 1945), the last major German offensive on the Western Front during World War II—an unsuccessful attempt to push the Allies back from German home territory. Central Europe/Rhineland/Germany - (Battle of Bulge links below) Operation Northwind The Rhine River Crossings - mentions the 540th Combat Engineers Ardennes/Alsace - The US Army Campaigns of WWII The Rhineland Central Europe. US Army Battle of the Bulge 17 December 1944 to 5 January 1945 1st Army: Lt. General Courtney H. Hodges 526th Armored Infantry Battalion 99th Infantry Battalion 61st Engineer Battalion 158th Engineer Battalion 299th Engineer Battalion 300th Engineer Battalion 1278th Engineer Battalion Troop B, 125th Cavarly Reconnaissance Squadron moving in the direction of Malmedy were engaged. Holding the Line: The 51st Engineer Combat Battalion and the Battle of the Bulge Dec, 1944 to Jan, 1945 The 51st Engineer Combat Battalion continued to man roadblocks and hold bridges in the area until 3 January.Throughout the Ardennes, divisional, corps, and army engineer units on the front lines and in rear areas participated valiantly in a sometimes desperate attempt to stem the tide of the unexpected German counteroffensive. His name/rank was Master Sgt. Reinforced by the rest of the 158th under Lieutenant Colonel Sam Tabet, the engineers held open the road to Bastogne for a few hours and allowed supplies of fuel and ammunition to reach the town. The difficult terrain ofthe region and the belief that the German army was near exhaustion had convinced the Allied commanders that the Ardennes sector was relatively safe. They prevailed upon the crew to join in their defense of the bridge. In early December 1944, five American divisions and a cavalry group held the 85-mile-long Ardennes front. Date of situation printed on each sheet, e.g. Here forty men or so of the 81st Engineer Combat Battalion (106th Division) joined the 168th. 2 January 1945 Twelfth Army Group -- Situation as of 261200 July 1945. As the American front in the Ardennes collapsed, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and his subordinates redeployed their forces as quickly as they could to meet the German attack; but while these troops were moving into position, the American commanders had to rely on rear area troops already in the Ardennes. He escaped from the camp and headed for the Russian lines, surviving on snow and sugar beets. [3], The range of services provided included but was not limited to:[4]. More reluctant was the crew of a .37-mm. From the railhead, Riggs went to a prisoner of war camp northwest of Warsaw. enemy attempts to drive through their positions. 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