Marine band in Europe at the “Battle of the Bulge”?
What Marines were in Europe other then the few on shipboard ?
I think it was a Marine brigade/battalion that took over Iceland garrison duty from the British in late 1940 or early 1941. (We weren’t officially in the war yet!) If I remember that right that’s the only Marine activity of any kind in Europe during WWII.
Public perception has long been that during World War II the Corps owned the war in the Pacific and the war in Europe belonged to the Army.
But the truth is that just as Army units followed the Marines on the Pacific campaigns, leathernecks were on the ground in Europe and North Africa.
They may have been overshadowed by their compatriots fighting on the other side of the world, but the Marines who served in the European theater of operations made important contributions, according to retired Lt. Col. Harry Edwards’ book “A Different War: Marines in Europe and North Africa.”
“These were not large Marine formations, but were, for the most part, individual Marines and small detachments assigned to guard duty at the barracks and naval operating bases established in the United Kingdom, or men assigned as ‘sea-going’ Marines in the detachments of the large fighting ships,” Edwards wrote.
Marines volunteered for service in the Office of Strategic Services, infiltrating European and North African countries occupied by the Germans to establish spy networks.
Marines helped fight fires as air raid wardens in London; a Marine born in Lebanon served as translator between President Roosevelt and a Saudi prince; and many Marines accompanied Navy ships in convoys and during amphibious invasions.
During the summer of 1941, the U.S. sent a detachment of Marines to Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, to protect U.S. shipping interests, according to retired Col. James A. Donovan’s book “Outpost in the North Atlantic: Marines in the Defense of Iceland.”
Marines also trained with the British Army and Royal Marines, marching long distances, practicing maneuvering down cliffs and learning to cross a stream by sliding down a zip-line tied between two trees on either bank.
Although most of the Operation Overlord invasion force comprised American, British and Canadian soldiers, Marines were part of the massive fleet off Normandy that supported it.
From 1942 to 1944, the Corps deployed leathernecks to the naval base in Londonberry, Northern Ireland, to help protect it from German attacks and sabotage attempts by militant members of the Irish Republican Army, according to Edwards.
After Berlin fell, the Corps changed the name of its detachment at the embassy to Marine Detachment, U.S. Naval Forces, Europe.
The unit ultimately earned the American Defense Service Streamer with a Bronze Star, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Streamer and the World War II Victory Streamer for its service during World War II.
Philip Ewing is deputy news editor of Navy Times. Michael Hoffman, a former Air Force intelligence officer, is deputy news editor of Marine Corps Times.
I was close:
The 28th Infantry Division Band distinguished itself during WWII. During the Battle of the Bulge, the divisional command post at Wiltz, Luxembourg, came under severe attack. Members of the 28th Infantry Division Band took up arms and fought as part of holding line around Wiltz to stop the German advance. The band put away their instruments, dug foxholes and picked up carbines. A clarinetist, Private First Class Collins, manned a bazooka and then drove a truck loaded with the band’s music. He was going to save the music, but 10 miles out of Bastogne the convoy was ambushed and all the music burned. Only 16 of the band’s 60 men survived the fighting in the Ardennes.
The 28th Infantry Division Band was not the only band involved in the Battle of the Bulge. The 101st Airborne helped hold on to Bastogne preventing it from falling to the Germans. The 82nd Airborne Division Band was caught in the battle after being sent to the Ardennes for R & R. The 82nd front line was stretched thin. The 82nd Airborne Band joined the depleted front line to hold off the German spearhead. The band helped hold off two German Infantry Divisions and a Panzer Division.