|
Posted on 09/20/2005 8:33:29 AM PDT by SAMWolf
|
|
 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
|
| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
|
|
Thunderbolt  Prelude: The accomplishments of the 11th Armored Division are told briefly in this little booklet. Its simple statements of fact will recall to you men of the Division the glorious accomplishments of your particular units. You tankers remember the horror of the days of Bastogne and the burning and exploding hulls of your comrades' tanks. You infantrymen remember your friends who caught it from a bunker in the Siegfried Line, so that you might go on. And you artillerymen know with what courage your buddies lent the support of their weapons to the attack. You hard-working men of the supply services who forced trucks through icy, traffic-laden roads of the Ardennes, all the way into tank-convoyed lanes in "Indian Country," remember those who paved the way with their lives so that the road could be opened. The Division dedicates this booklet to those whose lives were lost in keeping the Thunderbolt running. H. E. Dager Major General, U.S. Army, Commanding THE STORY OF THE ELEVENTH ARMORED DIVISION ....FIRST BLOOD  Dec. 30, 1944: The Nazis were bewildered. Intelligence had reported less than a week before: "The American 11th Armored Division has relieved the 94th Inf. Div. in the siege of the Lorient pocket." Yet, here was the 11th, 500 miles from Lorient, smashing into the enemy's crack 5th and 15th Panzer Grenadier Divisions, and holding the vital Neufchateau-Bastogne highway. Once again, the speed of American armor had baffled the Germans. The 11th was assigned to the Lorient Pocket on the day first elements of the division landed at Cherbourg. But that day was Dec. 16, when Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt unleashed his massive counter-offensive in the Ardennes. That scrapped original plans. Tanks, half-tracks, armored cars, peeps and trucks took off in a dash through the rubbled towns of Normandy, the Seine Valley, northeast through the Argonne to the banks of the Meuse River. Bitter cold, rain and snow made the march a rugged test of armored skill.  On the Meuse, elements of the division were tactically deployed for the first time. Assigned to the river from Givet to Verdun, Combat Command A, commanded by Brig. Gen. Willard A. Holbrook, Jr., was divided into two task forces for patrol activity. All bridges across the river were prepared for demolition in the event Germans broke through. In the meantime, the sole supply corridor to the embattled Americans in Bastogne was being threatened by German counter- attacks. Again the 11th changed its plans, turned the Meuse River defense over to the 17th Airborne Div., and on Dec. 29 roared 85 miles to an assembly area near Neufchateau. Without a pause, the division launched into its first action. Attacking abreast, CC A and Col. Wesley W. Yale's CC B jumped off at 0730 next day with the 41st Cav. Recon Sqdn. Within an hour, the drive ran smack into an enemy attack headed for the highway. The fighting was fierce and bitter. One CC B tank force punched its way into Lavaselle and seized high ground near Brul and Houmont. Despite a heavy artillery barrage that night, all gains were held.  Reserve Command, under Col. Virgil Bell, struck next day, grabbed key terrain southwest of Pinsamont. Pressing on to Acul, CC R doughs were pinned down by heavy enemy artillery and mortar fire. Twice, in the slugging battle, CC B armored doughs tried to seize the town of Chenogne but each time superior forces drove them off. The third and final assault was launched on New Year's morning. Tanks and artillery laid down massed fire while the infantry followed up. The town was completely secured by noon. While CC B regrouped, 13 artillery battalions hurled a paralyzing barrage of fire on the heavily defended Bois des Valets. Armored doughs penetrated the thick woods cleaned it out. Seizure of this key point doomed the German effort to cut the supply route. CC B next caught Mande St. Etienne in a pincers move Jan. 2, 1945, and held it against a powerful counter-attack. Screened by harassing artillery fire, the division was relieved the next day by the 17th Airborne Div. The Thunderbolt Division - 11th Armored -- had tackled two ace Nazi divisions, punched them back six miles in five freezing days, cleared 30 square miles of rugged terrain, liberated more than a dozen towns and ended the threat to the supply route. The division suffered heavy casualties in its combat baptism but it had inflicted greater losses on the enemy. After nearly two and a half years of training, the 11th had earned its spurs. Activated Aug. 15, 1942, at Camp Polk, La., the 11th Armored trained and maneuvered in the Louisiana woods for a year, then moved to Camp Barkeley, Tex. After advanced training, it prepared for overseas duty at Camp Cooke, Calif., undergoing tough desert maneuvers. Arriving in England Nov. 12, Thunderbolts readied for combat with two more months' training on Salisbury Plain. Two weeks after leaving England, the division, under Brig. Gen. Charles S. Killburn, was in the front lines. THE BIG PINCH Jan. 13, 1945: Von Rundstedt had lost his great gamble. The Bulge was shrinking under the hammer blows of Allied power. With the 11th as spearhead, Third Army's VIII Corps kicked off to drive a northbound wedge into the enemy line, contact First Army elements knifing southward in the vicinity of Houffalize. Attacking in column formation along the Longchamps-Bertogne highway northeast of Bastogne, CC A sparked the drive. Massed artillery fire adjusted by liaison planes pulverized an enemy counter-attack. Division engineers quickly breached a mine field that threatened to slow the advance. Farther east, CC B plunged through Foy and Recogne to Noville where the column was forced to halt before stiffening resistance. By-passing Noville on Jan. 15, CC B seized high wooded ground east of the town. Meanwhile, CC A cleared Pied Du Mont woods, captured 400 enemy prisoners. A sudden counterattack which knocked out nine tanks prevented further gains.  Elements of the 41st Cav. Recon Sqdn., commanded by Lt. Col. Herbert M. Foy, Jr., probed to the northeast in advance of combat commands, seeking contact with First Army patrols. Early Jan. 16 they met troops of First Army's 2nd Armd. Div. at Grinvet, on l'Ourthe River just west of Houffalize. Initial contact was followed by CC A's infantry, which battled artillery and sniper fire, blasted through road blocks. Furiously resisting Germans fired small arms, artillery and rockets at the advancing troops in a vain attempt to drive them out. Div Arty answered with a crushing barrage of 12,000 rounds. The linkup was secure. Enemy units attempting to withdraw from the huge trap were cut off and mopped up by supporting infantry. The way was paved for an all-out smash at the enemy's touted Siegfried Line. In the drive for Houffalize, there were numerous examples of heroism. Sgt. (then Cpl.) Wayne E. Van Dyke, Havana, Ill., gunner in Co. B, 41st Tank Bn., earned a Silver Star for his action at Noville. When his tank was knocked out by an 88, he was left in the town with a seriously wounded driver and bow gunner. The tank commander and loader went to the rear to direct other tanks around the town. Van Dyke pulled the driver and bow gunner from the tank, dragged them over to a church wall, played dead while German troops marched through the town. Van Dyke sprawled on the driver who was suffering from shock. Once, a curious German came over to the apparently lifeless group and looked at the bow gunner's wrist watch but didn't touch him. After lying in this position for two hours, Van Dyke brought the two men into the church and placed the driver, who was unable to go farther, near the altar. Having given him first aid, Van Dyke and the bow gunner crawled back to their lines. The driver, in the meantime, was treated by a German medic and next day was rescued by his own men when they pushed into the town.  Another Co. B, 41st tanker, T/5 (then Pfc) Herbert Burr, Kansas City, Mo., found himself the only one of his crew able to carry on after two 88 hits knocked out his tank just outside of Houffalize. With the tank commander and gunner dead, the loader wounded, driver evacuated, the turret burning, Burr remained in the assistant driver's seat and fired his machine gun at the enemy shielded by a haystack. After knocking out the crew, Burr pulled the wounded loader from the burning tank, crawled 200 yards through snow back to the CP, dragging his helpless buddy. Then he crept back to the tank, extinguished the fire and drove it back. Burr was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Capt. John F. Maggesin, Aurora, Ill., 42nd Tank Bn., won a Silver Star for leading his company against a counter-attack after his own tank was knocked out. Capt. Maggesin directed the assault from atop his tank, then rescued two wounded men under fire. Alone in a tank hit by enemy fire, Lt. William J. Kieffer, Rockford, Ill., an artillery observer, directed effective fire on anti-tank guns by radio. Lt. Kieffer also was awarded a Silver Star.
|
Combat Command A and Combat Command B and though I don't think it's mentioned there was Combat Command Reserve. Per Sam, that's the way they broke up armor commands during WWII.
Next month, Carlos. ;-)
Do you realize I've been here 1 and 1/2 years already? Time to move out of the apt to a house!
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!
Grrr. Sam, sharing a computer might not be fun but sign me off before you post!!
Wiesenthal was an excellent Nazi hunter. Thanks to your reminder we can be thankful to the 11th for him.
Thanks EMB. We really appreciate the current news and pics. Sam used to bring these to us but there just aren't enough hours in the day anymore. The thread itself takes so much time and we have the store to run now...so Thank You!
No problem. I've slacked off on posting the last couple of weeks because I've had a lot going on, but I try to post a few everyday.
Hubby says, "Holy cow!"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
