The Magnificent Infantry of WW II

Self | November 11, 2019 | Self

[Retain Mike]

The Army deployed 65 infantry divisions for the Second World War. Each was a small town with its own equivalents for community services within eight categories of combat arms. Units such as artillery, engineering, and heavy weapons engaged the enemy directly. Yet of all categories, the foot soldier faced the greatest hazard with the least chance of reward.

These civilians become warriors confronted the most dismal fate of all whose duty was uninterrupted by missions completed or a fixed deployment time. The infantryman was enveloped within a most deranged, barbaric, and brittle existence against a resolute enemy where victory often required actions pushing beyond prior limits for impossibility. Except for the Purple Heart and the coveted Combat Infantryman’s Badge, recognition often eluded these common men become citizen soldiers because, so few came through to testify to the valor of the many.

Omar Bradley said, “Previous combat had taught us that casualties are lumped primarily in the rifle platoons. For here are concentrated the handful of troops who must advance under enemy fire. It is upon them that the burden of war falls with greater risk and with less likelihood of survival than any other of the combat arms. An infantry division of WW II consisted of 81 rifle platoons, each with a combat strength of approximately 40 men. Altogether those 81 assault units comprised but 3,240 men in a division of 14,000…..Prior to invasion we had estimated that the infantry would incur 70 percent of the losses of our combat forces. By August we had boosted that figure to 83 percent on the basis of our experience in the Normandy hedgerows.”

Nearly a third of the 65 divisions in the Pacific and European theaters suffered 100% or more casualties. However, their regimental staffs saw frontline units obliterated three to six times over. To deal with this problem there were never enough infantrymen coming from the states, though large numbers were transferred from Army Service Forces and Army Air Forces to Army Ground Forces. Replacement centers overseas continually reassigned artillerymen, machine gunners, cooks, and clerks to infantry duties. The situation in Europe became so severe that rear area units in France and Great Britain were tasked to supply soldiers for retraining as infantrymen. Those suffering battle fatigue came off the line for a few days for clean uniforms, bathing, hot food, and sleep. However, scarcity compelled their repeated return until crippling wounds, mental breakage, death, or victory brought final relief.

For example, the 4th and 29th Infantry landed on D-Day and suffered about 500% battle casualties in their rifle platoons during the eleven months until VE-Day. Added to these numbers were half again as many non-battle human wrecks debilitated by trench foot, frost bite, pneumonia, hernia, heart disease, arthritis, etc. Many never returned to duty. In the jungles of the Pacific, non-combat losses often exacted a greater price. But somehow the infantry crossed Europe and the Pacific and always remained in the forefront of attacks.

Ernie Pyle said of them, “The worst experience of all is just the accumulated blur, and the hurting vagueness of being too long in the lines, the everlasting alertness, the noise and fear, the cell-by-cell exhaustion, the thinning of the surrounding ranks as day follows nameless day. And the constant march into the eternity of one’s own small quota of chances for survival. Those are the things that hurt and destroy. But they went back to them because they were good soldiers and they had a duty they could not define.”

Partial bibliography: A Soldier’s Story by Omar N. Bradley

Brave Men by Ernie Pyle (the quote named Tommy Clayton, but was generalized here because Ernie Pyle saw him as an example of the infantrymen he loved.)

Crusade in Europe by Dwight D. Eisenhower

The U.S. Infantryman in World War II by Robert S. Rush

Foot Soldier by Roscoe C. Blunt, Jr.

Links for Listings of United States Divisions during WW II http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Army_divisions_during_World_War_II http://www.historyshots.com/usarmy/

Army Battle Casualties and Non-battle Deaths in World War II http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/Casualties/index.html

3rd 'Marne' Infantry Division http://www.custermen.com/ItalyWW2/Units/Division3.htm Total casualties greater than 34,000

National 4th Infantry (IVY) Division Association http://www.4thinfantry.org/content/division-history Total casualties of 34,000

29th Infantry Division http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/29th_Infantry_Division_(United_States)

45th Infantry Division http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/45th_Infantry_Division_(United_States)

Remembering the Thunderbirds – Oklahoma’s 45th Infantry Division http://www.baptistmessenger.com/remembering-the-thunderbirds-oklahomas-45th-infantry-division/ Total casualties of 62,640 When Gen. George S. Patton described the 45th Infantry Division, he said it was “one of the finest, if not the finest infantry division in this history of modern warfare.”

Churchill, Ike, & The "Epic Human Tragedy" Of The First Wave At Omaha https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-06/churchill-ike-epic-human-tragedy-first-wave-omaha

A D-Day Survivor Story https://biggeekdad.com/2019/05/a-d-day-survivor-story/

[Retain Mike]

A few months ago, I attended a memorial service for Chuck Roth, who I had known since the 70’s. He was the oldest living graduate from the University of Oregon Army ROTC program. He graduated in June 1944 and went with the 10th Mountain Division into Italy where it reached the front January 20, 1945. The Army made continuous use of its special capabilities causing this 16,000-man division to incur 25% casualties in the 102 days until the German surrender on May 2.

However, in its rifle platoons, casualties exceeded 80%. In his company he was the only one of eight officers to make it all the way to May 1945. He was never injured but received two Silver Stars for valor. He served again in Korea and returned home to become a banker. He and his wife were married for 72 years.

I knew so many men like him as I grew up and through the years. I post this essay annually on Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day to remember them.

[2banana]

Excellent

[KierkegaardMAN]

And these courageous and dedicated souls shed their blood to rid the world of the very evil that today has infested our schools, universities
and government here in the good ol
USA.

[PGR88]

Reminds me of a neighbor on our street in the 1970s, Mr. Pitney. He had a gentle German shepherd and we kids would gather on his porch to pet the dog, or play tug-of-war with a stick or something. Mostly Mr. Pitney would just sit quietly, smoking his pipe like a character out of Norman Rockwell painting. Slowly though, we would get stories about being a Marine in the Pacific. Stories were about the food, weather, bugs, etc... or general history of the time. Never any gruesome details. I learned later he was at both Tarawa and Saipan.

[yarddog]

My Father was in the combat engineers in WWII.

He always admired the infantry and also armor. From what I have read, they returned the feelings.

[Vermont Lt]

It’s interesting that the GEOT is such a non traditional war that I have several classmates who have received Purple Hearts and who were under fire every day for months—and yet they never qualified for the CIB; they got the CAB.

No, they were not infantry—I understand the qualifications and why they are set up that way. But these guys were literally under the same rifle, rocket, and mortar attacks as the Infantry—standing next to them.

I was alway under the impression that the CAB was thought of as the unimpressive little brother to the CIB. But the Purple Hearts are equal.

[The Great RJ]

A good friend after his father, a WW-II vet, died found a letter awarding his father the bronze star. His father grew up in a German speaking family in South Dakota. When his infantry unit captured a German soldier he interrogated him and learned the German unit in front of them might be pursued to surrender. This very brave US infantryman, went unarmed to the German lines and convinced the German unit to surrender. For this heroic action he was awarded a bronze star. My friend said his father never talked about the incident and was surprised when he found that citation.

[SES1066]

I am a son of the 45th ID (Thunderbirds). My Dad joined the Oklahoma National Guard when its shoulder patch was still a vertical gold swastika on a red background. This was using a longtime American Indian good-luck symbol for the four component states that the 45th drew from; Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. For obvious reason it was changed to the gold Thunderbird on a red background based on a design submitted by Woody Big Bow, a Kiowa Nation citizen.

For a good read on the 45th's actions in Europe, I recommend "Rock of Anzio" by Flint Whitlock and "The Liberator" by Alex Kershaw. These civilian soldiers showed the world that they could fight the best of the enemy and win!

[kabar]

Johnny I Hardly Knew You
The Clancy Brothers

When goin’ the road to sweet athy, hurroo, hurroo
When goin’ the road to sweet athy, hurroo, hurroo
When goin’ the road to sweet athy
A stick in me hand and a drop in me eye
A doleful damsel I heard cry
Johnny I hardly knew ye

With your drums and guns and guns and drums, hurroo, hurroo
With your drums and guns and guns and drums, hurroo, hurroo
With your drums and guns and guns and drums
The enemy nearly slew ye
Oh darling dear, ye look so queer
Johnny I hardly knew ye

Where are the eyes that looked so mild, hurroo, hurroo
Where are the eyes that looked so mild, hurroo, hurroo
Where are the eyes that looked so mild
When my poor heart you first beguiled
Why did ye run from me and the child
Oh Johnny, I hardly knew ye

With your drums and guns and guns and drums, hurroo, hurroo
With your drums and guns and guns and drums, hurroo, hurroo
With your drums and guns and guns and drums
The enemy nearly slew ye
Oh darling dear, ye look so queer
Johnny I hardly knew ye

Where are the legs we looked you run, hurroo, hurroo
Where are the legs we looked you run, hurroo, hurroo
Where are the legs that looked you run
But first you went to carry a gun
Indeed your dancing days are done
Oh Johnny, I hardly knew ye

With your drums and guns and guns and drums, hurroo, hurroo
With your drums and guns and guns and drums, hurroo, hurroo
With your drums and guns and guns and drums
The enemy nearly slew ye
Oh darling dear, ye look so queer
Johnny I hardly knew ye

Ye haven’t an arm, ye haven’t a leg, hurroo, hurroo
Ye haven’t an arm, ye haven’t a leg, hurroo, hurroo
Ye haven’t an arm, ye haven’t a leg
Ye’re an armless, boneless, chickenless egg
You’ll have to be left with a bowl out to beg
Oh Johnny I hardly knew ye

I’m happy for to see ye home, hurroo, hurroo
I’m happy for to see ye home, hurroo, hurroo
I’m happy for to see ye home
All from the island of sulloon
So low in flesh, so high in bone
Oh Johnny I hardly knew ye

With your drums and guns and guns and drums, hurroo, hurroo
With your drums and guns and guns and drums, hurroo, hurroo
With your drums and guns and guns and drums
The enemy never slew ye
Oh darling dear, ye look so queer
Johnny I hardly knew ye

[JoeFromSidney]

My father was already in his forties when he was drafted into the Navy in 1943. He was stationed in CA at an amphibious training base, preparing for the invasion of Japan, when Hiroshima was bombed. I always figured The Bomb saved his life.

I entered the Naval Reserve in 1948, hoping it would get me into Navy ROTC, since I saw no other way of paying for college. I failed the Navy's eye test, but the Air Force ROT C was willing to accept me despite my wearing glasses, but I was barred from flight training. I spent 22 years on active duty, including a tour in SEA 1962 - 1963, as an electronics engineer. Spent some time in Viet Cong territory carrying a then-experimental AR-15, but never fired a shot in anger, nor came under fire. Just as well,from my standpoint. I was much happier designing bomb sights than I would have been getting shot at. Still, it was a very formative part of my life.

[sodpoodle]

So many wonderful stories of courage and commitment. My son served in the Gulf war and God bless - he came home safe and sound.

Most enlisted guys (and gals) retain their sense of humor so I am adding these for the many FReepers who are Veterans:

When the sergeant told our new commander that his driver could not participate in an upcoming field maneuver because she was pregnant, the enraged commander demanded to know just how pregnant she was.

The sergeant’s reply: “Completely, sir.”
...................................................

The average age of people living in our military retirement community is 85. Recently, a neighbor turned 100, and a big birthday party was thrown. Even his son turned up.

“How old are you?” a tenant asked.

“I’m 81 years old,” he answered.

The tenant shook her head. “They sure grow up fast, don’t they?”
..........................................................

“Next time I send a damn fool, I go myself.”

—Sgt. Louis Cukela, reportedly said at the Battle of Belleau Wood during World War I

[buckalfa]

Well said. May I *borrow* your staement?

[Rockingham]

I too grew up knowing many WW II combat veterans among relatives, family friends, and the fathers of friends.

Only with reluctance and humility if at all did they talk of combat, and when they did, they emphasized the bravery of others and the chances and experiences that enabled them to survive. For example, a dive bomber pilot who flew against the Japanese in the South Pacific, attributed his survival to years of flight experience before the war, including work as an instructor. He survived because he learned to dodge at the exact moment when pursuing Jap fighters were poised to shoot, thereby making their bursts of gunfire miss.

A lieutenant in the first wave at Omaha Beach on D-Day got ashore only because he pulled his .45 and threatened to shoot the British sailor who was piloting their landing craft. Otherwise, as Saving Private Ryan showed, he and his heavily-laden men would have drowned after being dumped into water too deep to wade ashore. I know of that story because his son gave my brother a copy of a letter from his father telling him that going away to college was not so bad compared to what he had gone through at the same age.

As I have gotten older, I usually spend Veterans Day thinking of these men and other combat veterans I have known and of the millions of others who fought for our country. I know well that our security and freedom have come only at considerable cost.

[SES1066]

I am going to bring forward one thing that makes the infantry experience in battle almost unique. In almost every other combat role (except perhaps fighter combat), the participants live and die as a team. In the Infantry, even though the team is there as a platoon, death is capricious but leaning towards inexperience. The longer one is in battle, the greater the knowledge on how to be a difficult target. However that makes new troops, even the best trained, seem like bullet magnets.

This was well portrayed in the biopic of the most decorated American soldier of WW2, Audie Murphy - "To Hell and Back". In one scene, some newbies are griping about how they are being coldly treated by Murphy as their sergeant. They are made to think when one of the grizzled vets gives them the cold hard facts. No one wants to make friends with someone who will likely die in the next week!!! If the newbies live past that, then the others will be more friendly. A fact of battle life!

[jmacusa]

To my late Uncle Fred, 335th Infantry Regiment, 3rd. Battalion. I Company, 84th. Infantry Division. Wounded on January 3 ,1945 Marche Belgium. Made it home ok. Thanks Unc. God bless you.

[Bringbackthedraft]

Combat is an all in involvement. Its not the Infantry alone, its the CS units that go with them. You will find field Hospitals and communication centers along with Supply and transportation. The other troops should have combat badges for signal, medic,S&T MPs, Engineers if they come under fire direct or indirect. An Infantry Div. takes their 05 Charlies right into the action, along with their 92Bs.

[colorado tanker]

In one of the Band of Brothers interviews one of the guys is quite candid about not wanting to get to know replacements because they tended to die so fast.

[SaxxonWoods]

My father was in WWII, 3rd Army, 2nd Armored Division. May I recommend a excellent first hand account of infantry fighting also under Patton:

Amazon.com: Visions From a Foxhole: A Rifleman in Patton’s ...
https://www.amazon.com/Visions-Foxhole-Rifleman-Pattons-Ghost/dp/0891418504
Now, in Visions from a Foxhole, Foley recaptures that desperate, nerve-shattering struggle in all its horror and heroism. Features the author’s artwork of his fellow soldiers and battle scenes, literally sketched from the foxhole

[combat_boots]

Thanks for your dad.

[taxcontrol]

I served in the 1st Bn 52nd Infantry in the 80’s in Germany.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/52nd_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)

During WW2, the 52nd fought at St Vin, Bastone and captured the critical bridgehead at Ramagan. They wer some tough bastards.