Luchtel, SSgt. Gilbert R., U. S. Army, Co. K, 382nd Inf., 96th Div., K.I.A. Nov. 12, 1944, Leyte Island. RIP Gib. I have a pic of him in uniform holding me as a baby. I was born in July, 44.
For the entire month of November 1944 a number of US Army divisions were getting slaughtered in The Hurtgen Forest. It’s a sad story of how pig headed American generals threw men’s lives away recklessly for no good reason.
Watched a documentary last night on AHC about a British commando raid on the dock for the Tirpitz. This dock was the only one that was big enough for the massive ship and the commandos rammed an old destroyer into it, and about 70 commandos disembarked and blew up the pump house and the gate machinery. After I think 9 hours the destroyer which was loaded with a few thousand pounds of explosives blew the dock up and killed about 100 Germans onboard. This raid prevented the Tirpitz from being completely readied for Atlantic cruising and she spent the next 2 years wondering around the fiords till the RAF blew her to bits.