be remembered, four rifle battalions still were retained on guard along the twenty miles of the division front south of the battle area. Also included are units of the 8th and 9th Army Air Forces. The failure to open the divisional bridges over the Sauer within the first twenty-four hours had forced the German infantry to continue to fight without their accustomed heavy weapons support even while American reinforcements were steadily reducing the numerical edge possessed by the attacker. Southern France 15 August - 14 September 1944 On 20 December there was savage fighting in the 4th Infantry Division zone despite the fact that both of the combatants were in the process of going over to the defensive. After two hours, and some casualties, a patrol bearing a white flag worked its way in close enough for recognition. 4th armored division battle of the bulge. Either these sets failed to function or the outposts were surprised before a message could get out. Unfortunately rain and snow, during the days just past, had turned the countryside to mud, and the tanks were bound to the roads. Intervention by elements of the 10th Armored Division on 18 December, as a result, was viewed only as the prelude to a sustained and forceful American attempt to regain the initiative. The right wing was held by the 99th Infantry Division, whose positions reached from Monschau to the V-VIII Corps boundary in the Buchholz Forest northwest of the Losheim Gap. Equipment, which had been in use since the Normandy landings, was in poor condition. The two, last of the Americans to come out of Echternach, made the run safely despite direct fire aimed by the German assault gun. In the meantime the 2d Battalion, 22 Infantry (Lt. Col. Thomas A. Kenan), had arrived in the 12th Infantry zone. were many seventeen-year-olds. Consdorf, the command post of the 2d Battalion, 12th Infantry, was left open to an attack from Mllerthal up the Hertgrund ravine. Then the German gunners laid down smoke and a bitter three-hour barrage, disabled some tanks and half-tracks, and drove the Americans to cover. and command messages in addition to its own calls for fire. The force available was insufficient to continue the attack. When the fire lifted the attack was resumed, but the enemy fought stubbornly for each house. Company G, now some forty men, and the last of Riley's tanks withdrew to the new main line of resistance. Although the evacuation of Berdorf was part of the 4th Division plan for redressing its line, the actual withdrawal was none too easy. The following night all three regiments assembled behind a single battalion which acted as a screen along the Sauer between Bollendorf and Ralingen, the prospective zone of attack. A few rocket projectors and guns were ferried over at the civilian ferry site above Echternach, and about the middle of the afternoon a bridge was finished at Edingen, where the 320th Regiment had crossed on 16 December. The tank commander offered to cover the withdrawal of Company E from the city, but Capt. Since any static linear defense was out of the question because of the length of the front and the meandering course of the two rivers, Barton instructed his regimental commanders to maintain only small forces at the river outpost line, holding the main strength, generally separate companies, in the villages nearby. Company C, 70th Tank Battalion, now had eight tanks in running condition and these were hurried to Breitweiler to reinforce the cavalry and engineers. The tanks rolled down the road from Scheidgen with. This team fought through some scattered opposition southwest of Lauterborn, dropped off a rifle platoon to hold Hill 313 (which commanded the southern approach), and moved through the village to the Company G command post, freeing twenty-five men who had been taken prisoner in the morning. 8th Cavalry Regiment; Canadian Army Trophy (CAT) Divisional Cavalry & Reconnaissance; Infantry Unit Pages. New. The division served as the first official military guardian of the gold vault at Fort Knox. Task Force Chamberlain had been placed in reserve the previous day, but it was not immediately feasible to withdraw the two task forces that were still engaged alongside the 4th Division for it would take General Barton's division a few hours to reorganize on a new line and plug the gaps left by the outgoing armored units. General Barton had warned his regiments at 0929 to be on the alert because of activity reported to the north in the 28th Division area, intelligence confirmed by a phone call from General Middleton. Orders were radioed to Company E (a fresh battery for its radio had been brought in by the tanks) to fight its way out during the night. December 1944, was a month that would be forever seared into John Schaffner's memory. Once in possession of these hills the 320th was to seize the two villages, then drive on to join the 423d. There were 20 Infantry Divisions, 10 Armored Divisions and 3 Airborne Divisions that received the Ardennes Credit. This was the last effort. On the morning of 17 December the 10th Armored Division (General Morris) had moved out of Thionville for Luxembourg, the first step (although at the time not realized) which General Patton's Third Army would make to intervene in the battle of the Ardennes. This idea caught on and other men started to serve the howitzers, awkward as the technique was, some firing at ranges as short as sixty yards. 16th situation map shows the front line in this sector thinly held by the U.S. Army VIII Corps comprised of the 106th Infantry Division, 28th Infantry Division, the reduced 9th Armored Division, and the 4th Infantry Division arrayed from north to south. . The American makeweight would have to be its armor. Battle of the Bulge. It was imperative that the line be held. Tanks pumped seven hundred rounds into the woods to shake the Germans there, but little time was left in the short winter day and the foot soldiers only got across the Mllerthal-Waldbillig road. antitank gun which had been placed here to block the gorge road. The replacements received, mostly from upper Bavaria, were judged better than the average although there. Leake's force had only one .50-caliber machine gun and a BAR to reinforce the rifles in the hands of the defenders, but the Germans were so discouraged by the reception given their initial sorties that their succeeding attempts to take the building were markedly halfhearted. Elsewhere on the VIII Corps front the enemy advance was picking up speed and reinforcements were rolling forward. And the division reserve, the 4th Engineer Combat Battalion and 4th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop, concentrated behind the 12th Infantry lines. By 1130 the remainder of Company G, armed with rifles and one BAR, was surrounded but still fighting at a mill just north of the village, while a platoon of the 2d Battalion weapons company held on in a few buildings at the west edge of Lauterborn. Initially activated in January 1918, the unit did not see combat during World War I and returned to the United States. Radio Luxembourg, the powerful station used for Allied propaganda broadcasts, was situated near Junglinster. What had been seen were troops of the 987th Regiment, the reserve regiment of the 276th Volks Grenadier Division, then attacking in the 9th Armored Division sector. General Barton, it may be added, had refused absolutely to permit the artillery to move rearward. Contact thus established, an assault was launched to clear Berdorf. While the American column moved in a northeasterly direction, a German column, probably a battalion in strength suddenly intersected the 2d Battalion line of march. The 9th Armored Division loaned a medium tank company from the 19th Tank Battalion, also to report to the 12th Infantry on the following morning. 4th Infantry Division troops dash across a Bailey bridge while under enemy fire near Moesdorf, Luxemborg, January 21, 1945. Despite the complete surprise won by the 212th on 16 December, it had been unable to effect either a really deep penetration or extensive disorganization in the 12th Infantry zone. On the final night (15-16 December) the division moved into the position for the jump-off: the 423d on the right, north of Echternach; the 320th on the left, where the Sauer turned east of Echternach; and the 316th in army reserve northeast of the city. Across these rivers lay a heterogeneous collection of German units whose lack of activity in past weeks promised the rest the 4th Division needed so badly. This OOB specifically, at a point near the end of the battle, which lasted from 16 December 1944 until 25 January 1945. The 42d Field Artillery Battalion in direct support of the 12th, though forced to displace several times during the day because of accurate counterbattery fire, had given the German infantry a severe jolting. This time the tanks deployed on the roads and trails south of Berdorf and moved in with five riflemen on each tank deck. About three hours before dawn, General Barton, concerned over his left flank, dispatched the 4th Engineer Combat Battalion and 4th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop to Breitweiler, a small village overlooking the wishbone terminus of the Schwarz Erntz gorge and the ganglia ravine roads which branched thence into the 12th Infantry flank and rear. Caveat: This Battle lasted more than a month, with assignments in considerable flux. Fighting on 17 December took place along the axes of three principal German penetrations: on the American left flank at Berdorf, Consdorf, and Mllerthal; in the center along the Echternach-Lauterborn-Scheidgen road; and on the right in the Osweiler-Dickweiler sector. As in the case of the 276th Volks Grenadier Division, there is no indication that the LXXX Corps expected to send the 212th into Luxembourg City, although the Germans knew that the 12th Army Group Headquarters and the advance command post of the Ninth Air Force were located there. It is probable that the Americans in Echternach were forced to surrender late on 20 December. His outfit would launch a gas filled balloon tethered to a ground-based winch. General Sensfuss told his superiors that the 212th had made little progress beyond completing the encirclement of Echternach. In any event the LXXX Corps commander decided on the night of 19 December to place his corps on the defensive, his estimate of the situation being as follows. By now the German artillery was ranged inaccurately. The 87th Infantry Division ("Golden Acorn" [1]) was a unit of the United States Army in World War I and World War II . Morale was good, bolstered superbly by the company cook who did his best to emulate the "cuisine soigne" promised in the hotel brochures by preparing hot meals in the basement and serving the men at their firing posts. Lacking tanks and self-propelled artillery, the 212th Volks Grenadier Division had to rely on the infantry. This force arrived on the scene shortly after the enactment of the German ambush fought a short sharp engagement, rescued some of the prisoners from Company C, and pushed on into Osweiler. When this little force reached Osweiler, word had just come in that Dickweiler was threatened by another assault. The plans to utilize these positions were briefed by General Barton to his commanders on the 13th. It was one of the first major engagements of the Korean War.An army of 140,000 UN troops, having been pushed to the brink of defeat, were rallied to make a final stand against the invading Korean . The original defenders had taken a large bag of prisoners the previous day; these were sent back to Herborn with a tank platoon. If you served in 8th Infantry Division, Join TWS for free to reconnect with service friends. 8th Infantry Division "Pathfinder Division" "Arrow Division" Its nickname is represented by the golden arrow piercing the white "8" on a blue shield. Two platoons from Company A, 19th Tank Battalion, which had just. Go to https://www.militaryvideo.com/ to purchase the entire video, or to see movie trailers of over 700 other military videos.This 9. Apparently the crews manning the rubber boats had trouble with the swift current, and there were too few craft to accommodate large detachments. Here the 2d Platoon (with twenty-one men and two artillery observers) held out in the stone farm buildings for four days and from this position harassed the Germans moving up the ravine road to Berdorf. The Germans withdrew to some woods about 800 yards to the north, ending the action; apparently the 320th was more concerned with getting its incoming troops through Echternach. On the night of 13-14 December the 212th commenced to strip its extended front in concentration for its part in the counteroffensive. . General Sensfuss had determined to erase the stubborn garrison and led the 212th Fusilier Battalion and some assault guns (or tanks) in person to blast the Americans loose. Toward the close of day Company C of the 12th Infantry took position on some high ground between and slightly south of the two villages, thus extending the line here on the right. 18th Infantry Regiment; 36th Infantry Regiment; 37th Armored Infantry Battalion; 48th Infantry Regiment; . Initially activated in Jan 1918, the unit did not see combat during WW-1 and returned to the USA. Thus both Osweiler and Dickweiler remained tight in American hands. Although the 212th was at full strength it shared the endemic weaknesses of the volks grenadier division: insufficient communications and fewer assault guns than provided by regulation (only four were with the division on 16 December). In the face of the German build-up opposite the 12th Infantry and the apparent absence of enemy activity elsewhere on the division front, General Barton began the process of regrouping to meet the attack. On the opposite flank things were temporarily under control, with Task Force Luckett not yet seriously engaged and the enemy advance thus far checked at Mllerthal. This is the order of battle of German and Allied forces during the Battle of the Bulge. In December, 1944, the gorge represented a formidable military obstacle, difficult of traverse for both foot troops and vehicles, capable of defense by only a few. Task Force Riley sent tanks carrying infantry into the edge of Echternach on the morning of 19 December. Each regiment, by standard practice on such a wide front, had one of the division's 105-mm. In like manner the enemy had failed in the quick accomplishment of one of his major tasks, that is, overrunning the American artillery positions or at the least forcing the guns to withdraw to positions from which they could no longer interdict the German bridge sites. The 109th Infantry, the 9th Armored Division, the 4th Infantry Division, and CCA, 10th Armored Division, had to win both the time and the space required for the assembly of the American counterattack forces. Company A, mounted on a platoon of light tanks, was ordered to open the main road to Lauterborn and Echternach which supplied the 2d Battalion (Maj. John W. Gorn). General support was provided by the division's own 155-mm. 1944. Accordingly, the 316th Infantry began to cross the Sauer, moving up behind the center of the parent division. They went overseas on 5 December 1943 where they trained in Ireland for the Invasion of Europe. General Beyer's orders for 20 December, therefore, called upon the 212th and 276th Volks Grenadier Divisions to crush the small points of resistance where American troops still contended behind the German main forces, continue local attacks and counterattacks in order to secure more favorable ground for future defense, and close up along a coordinated corps front in preparation for the coming American onslaught. Other elements of Task Force Riley meanwhile had advanced to the mill beyond Lauterborn where the command post of Company G was located. The cemeteries are in Belgium and Luxembourg. The 35-mile front assigned to the 4th Division conformed to the west bank of the Sauer and Moselle Rivers. About forty men were wounded, creating a problem for evacuation by this small force. By nightfall the Germans had been driven back some distance from Lauterborn (they showed no wish to close with the tanks), but the decision was made to dig in for the night alongside Company G rather than risk a drive toward Echternach in the dark. Later the 4th Infantry Division historian was able to write: "This German battalion is clearly traceable through the rest of the operation, a beaten and ineffective unit.". The first German assault here did not strike until about 1100, although Echternach lay on low ground directly at the edge of the river. The German attack through the 9th Armored sector beyond Waldbillig had been checked. When the day ended the relief force had accomplished no more than consolidating a defensive position in Lauterborn. Death dates are between Dec. 16, 1944, and Jan. 25, 1945, the period of the giant battle. The Germans had excellent intelligence of the 4th Infantry Division strength and positions. The division served in World War I, World War II, and Operation Desert Storm. On the second day of the battle both sides committed more troops. Companies A and G together now totaled about a hundred officers and men. The prospect must have brightened considerably at the 4th Division headquarters when the promise of this reinforcement arrived. On the left, Task Force Chamberlain (Lt. Col. Thomas C. Chamberlain) dispatched a small tank-infantry team from Breitweiler into the gorge. howitzer battalion and two additional medium battalions belonging to the 422d Field Artillery Group, but even this added firepower did not permit the 4th Division massed fire at any point on the extended front. The 8th Infantry Division, (" Pathfinder " [1]) was an infantry division of the United States Army during the 20th century. Sharp assault destroyed the German machine gun positions and the attack reached the ridge leading to Hill 329. 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