The 99th Infantry's report stated that 1,500 Jews were "living under terrible conditions and approximately 600 required hospitalization due to starvation and disease.". A U.S. Army World War II division was configured as a Triangular division, with three regimental maneuver elements. The division lost about 20% of its effective strength, including 465 killed and 2,524 evacuated due to wounds, injuries, fatigue, or trench foot; German losses were much higher. Your organization gave ample proof of the fact that it is a good hard fighting division and one in which you and each and every member of your command can be justly proud[16], Major Butler was decorated with the Silver Star, the French Croix de Guerre, the Belgian Fourragre, the Belgian Order de la Couronne, and the Bronze Star Medal with the Oak leaf cluster. Captain Ned Nelson, veteran of 3/395 and the battle at Hfen. The success of the defense of the twin villages would be short-lived if ammunition was not resupplied. Motto VIGILANS ET CELER (Vigilant and Swift). [17]:51, On another day, the 3rd Battalion took 50 Germans prisoner and killed or wounded more than 800 Germans, losing only five dead and seven wounded themselves. . The enemy was moving through large gaps in the lines, and Americans were either being captured or killed in enormous numbers or retreating in disarray and panic. During the battle to come, if the Germans succeeded in taking Hfen, their ranks would be swelled rapidly, and the 99th and 2nd Infantry Divisions would be outflanked and could be attacked from the rear. 99th Infantry Division Historical Society 99th Infantry Division Battle Babies The 99th Infantry Division, nicknamed "Battle Babies" and compromised of the 393rd, 394th, 395th Infantry Regiments and supporting units, spent approximately 151 days in combat during World War Two. A 105mm artillery piece from the 2nd Infantry Div. And while the defense of the crossroads of hell was gallant to be sure, it was not the back breaker that most people assume it to have been. History | AMEDD Center of History & Heritage In the 12 years he was Manager of Research Services, Seth and his team increased the oral history collection from 25 to nearly 5,000 oral histories. A few miles to the east lay the Siegfried Line, the enemys final defensive line guarding the German heartland. The black background
Butler's great-grandfather, General John Alexander McClernand, commanded infantry during the Civil War. 395th Infantry Regiment (United States) | Detailed Pedia [2]:33 On at least six occasions they called in artillery strikes on or directly in front of their own positions. 99th Infantry Division (United States) | Military Wiki | Fandom The regiment assumed occupation duties in Hammelburg and Bad Brckenau until it was shipped home in the summer of 1945. There are nine white squares and nine blue ones, signifying the number 99. 395th Regiment | Lineage and Honors | U.S. Army Center of Military History The 395th Infantry Regiment was a unit of the United States 99th Infantry Division.It was organized with the rest of the 99th on 16 November 1942 at Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi. The Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon, 394th Infantry Regiment, 99th Division was the most decorated platoon for a single action of World War II. [14] The first town they were tasked with capturing was Bergheim, "the door to the Rhine." "In two cases, the enemy fell in the BAR gunners' foxholes. This page was last edited on 11 March 2022, at 19:44. "[13] The division continued to attack without opposition to the Inn River and Giesenhausen until VE-day. 197th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) - Wikipedia 395th Infantry Regiment (United States) - Wikiwand Was the 5th infantry at the battle of the bulge? This did not turn out to be true. Originally planned as a Pennsylvania unit, the horizontal band of white and blue. The sudden infusion of new men caused some friction with the old hands in the short term, but the long-term effects were generally positive. But the infantry often bore worse casualties than the tanks did and had to be replaced and reinforced more quickly. When hostilities ceased on 7 May 1945, the regiment had during six months of fighting experienced 300 percent turnover due to casualties. It had its headquarters at Franklin, Pennsylvania, and drew its personnel from Pennsylvania. Sgt Harold Rutz, 395th Infantry Regiment, M Company. The 99th Infantry Division, comprising the 393rd, 394th, and the 395th Infantry Regiments, arrived in England on 10 October 1944. On 5 March 1941, as the United States began to mobilize for the possibility of war, McClernand Butler became a second lieutenant in the Regular Army. [8], That is three to four times wider than recommended by Army textbooks. Wendell Clark - 99th Infantry Division A group of photos from his wartime, unfortenately we have not been able to. From Camp Van Dorn they were transferred to the more established Camp Maxey in Paris, Texas for additional training. The remainder of the battalion reached the Rhine River on that same day and crossed the Remagen Bridge which four days after being captured was still being shelled by German artillery. As they did so, another German assault hit them, this time with support from 5 MKV Panther tanks. The 3rd Battalion of the 395th Infantry Regiment (3/395), commanded by Lieutenant Colonel McClernand Butler, occupied the town of Hfen on the German border. The 395th Regiment's success earned it many difficult assignments. The war was over six days later.[6]. The blue and white are taken from the coat of arms for William Pitt for whom Pittsburgh was named. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, MIGHTY NETWORKS, 2023 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, Artificial Intelligence just flew an F-16 Fighting Falcon for the US military, WWII vet finally receives Silver Star for heroism at Battle of the Bulge, This is the massive Nazi sneak attack at the Battle of the Bulge, Rarely seen footage from the Battle of the Bulge, The first tank to break into Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge was almost lost to history. Originally planned as a Pennsylvania unit,
After the Gulf War, the 99th ARCOM became the 99th Regional Support Command (RSC). 99th Infantry Division soldiers putting up a winterized squad hut. The Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) in the European Theater was one of Americas bloodiest campaigns. The 12th SS pushed through the woods and probed the villages at around 1100 hours. They inflicted disproportionate casualties on the Germans, and were one of the only units that did not give ground during the Battle of the Bulge. 99th Infantry Division used the relatively quiet period to prepare an extensive defensive system, including redundant lines of communication, precise positioning of weapons to provide interlocking grazing fire, and aggressive patrols that kept the Germans off guard. Inactivated: 15 October 1945, Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 99th Infantry Division Artillery, 99th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized), Headquarters, Special Troops, 99th Infantry Division, Headquarters Company, 99th Infantry Division, 99th Counterintelligence Corps Detachment, 20 December 1944: Attached, with the entire First Army, to the, 7 January 1945: Relieved from attachment to the 2nd Infantry Division and assigned to V Corps, First Army (attached to the British 21st Army Group), 12th Army Group, 18 January 1945: V Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group, This page was last edited on 2 January 2023, at 13:21. History | AMEDD Center of History & Heritage - United States Army represents the iron district of Pennsylvania. In the event of an emergency, the battalion headquarters and company administrative personnel, including clerks and motor-pool staff, were to join the platoon, creating a small reserve force of about 100 men. Below are the top five veteran research questions, where to go for further resources, and how to begin your search. Score: 4.8/5 (10 votes) . The 3rd Battalion of the 395th Infantry Regiment (3/395), commanded by Lieutenant Colonel McClernand Butler, occupied the town of Hfen on the German border. 395 th Regiment Constituted 23 July 1918 in the National Army as the 395th Infantry and assigned to the 99th Division Demobilized 30 November 1918 Reconstituted 24 June 1921 in the. The 395th Regiment became an active unit as part of the 99th Infantry Division on 16 November 1942 at Camp Van Dorn, Missouri, along with its brother regiments, the 393rd and 394th. There Major Butler collapsed due to exhaustion on 30 April, and Lt. Col. J. Subscribe to 394th Infantry Regiment, 99th Infantry Division Footer menu. Peipers right flank had to be secured and the Americans in that region had to be destroyed. The 395th Infantry had mostly held their lines, and now with the battle hardened 2nd Infantry Division on the way to back them up, the lines of defense near Elsenborn appeared to be significantly harder to pierce. This northern shoulder of the American line where the 99th ID was entrenched would be the hinge on which the German assault would pivot northwest toward Antwerp. It was not just the lives of 3/395 at stake; a German breakthrough here would have enabled the Sixth Panzer Army to outflank the 2nd ID and 99th ID and achieve a direct route to the Meuse River. The division headquarters was organized in November 1921. Several photos from the private collection of, THE EARLY YEARS Joseph Richard Evans (Dick) was born on October 17, 1920 to Charles E. Evansand Wenonah (nee Muirhead/Miller)in, Source: family of Raymond J. Willaredt. Butler said, "The biggest difficulty in carrying out a night attack is control, and having men who can coordinate well as a team in the dark. For their actions the battalion was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation which read, in part: outnumbered 5 to 1, [3/395] inflicted casualties in the ratio of 18 to 1. After fighting in the Ruhr area, the unit moved southward into Bavaria, where it was located at the end of the war. It was like a golf course, so I used the night for concealment."[6]. On at least six different occasions the battalion was forced to place artillery concentrations dangerously close to its own positions in order to repulse penetrations and restore its lines . Notable. In a long fight with about 500 men of the 1st Battalion, 9th Fallschirmjaeger Regiment, 3rd Fallschirmjaeger Division, the 18 men of the platoon along with four artillery observers inflicted between 60[6][7] to more than 100[8] casualties on the Germans. Location of the 99th ID sector (red box) on a map of the Bulge. Shield The 395th Infantry, Organized Reserves, was organized in 1921. Because of Major Butler's success in leading his battalion in successful night attacks during the war, which the U.S. Army handbook did not recommend, the French army later asked him to write a paper on battalion-size night attacks.[6]. At dusk on 16 December, after virtually no sleep during the preceding night and a full day of almost non-stop combat, with only a few rounds of ammunition remaining, about 50 German paratroopers finally flanked and captured the remaining 19 soldiers. [16], On 23 Dec. 1996, the 99th RSC mobilized the first of six units for deployment to Operation Joint Endeavor in support of peacekeeping missions in Bosnia. Hfen-Monschau was vital to the operations success because the nearby road junctions would enable rapid movement of tanks. These two German divisions directed their fury against the 395th early on the morning of the December 17. On 25 October 1981, the entire platoon was recognized with a Presidential Unit Citation. The stiff American defense prevented the Germans from reaching the vast array of supplies near the Belgian cities of Lige and Spa and the road network west of the Elsenborn Ridge leading to the Meuse River. This required the corps commander to draw on an infantry battalion from another division, and because of the reputation the 395th had earned at Hfen, it was transferred often to various divisions, including the 9th Infantry Division, the 3rd Armored Division, and the 7th Armored Division. [18], As the battle ensued, small units, company and less in size, often acting independently, conducted fierce local counterattacks and mounted stubborn defenses, frustrating the German's plans for a rapid advance, and badly upsetting their timetable. A. Gallagher assumed command for the last few days of the war. "[7]:24, Two Distinguished Service Crosses and several Silver Stars were awarded to members of the battalion for valorous actions against the enemy during this battle. Despite fatigue, constant enemy shelling, and ever-increasing enemy pressure, the Third Battalion guarded a 6,000 yards (5,500m)-long front and destroyed 75 percent of three German infantry regiments. Shield Argent, a buck's head attired of ten tynes couped Proper. The division lost about 20% of its effective strength, including 465 killed and 2,524 evacuated due to wounds, injuries, fatigue, or trench foot. Staff Sergeant, Service Company, 395th Infantry Regiment, 99th Infantry Division, ETO, participated in the Battle of the Bulge, the Ruhr Pocket, and the Occupation of Germany, recipient of the Bronze Star. Specific units were charged with penetrating Germany's West Wall. The 99th RSC's mission was to provide command and control and full-service support for assigned units and facility management. The buck's head was used to indicate the allocation of the organization to the mountainous section of Pennsylvania, where deer abound. The 14th Armored Division and the Liberation of Stalag VIIA The 395th received the following campaign streamers: The entire regiment was recognized with the following unit decorations: A silver color metal and enamel device .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}3732 inches (2.94cm) in height overall consisting of a shield blazoned: Argent, a buck's head attired of ten tynes couped Or. On 17 September 2008, the 99th Regional Support Command was activated at Fort Dix, N.J. Hfen, along with the nearby town of Monschau, was strategically vital because it sat on elevated terrain overlooking an important road junction. The 99th Infantry Division, on December 12, . A written commendation was received from Maj. Gen. Leonard T. Gerow, V Corps Commander: I wish to express to you and the members of your command my appreciation and commendation for the fine job you did in preventing the enemy from carrying out his plans to break through the V Corps sector and push on to the Meuse River. The 394th Infantry Regiment was established on 23 July 1918 as the 394th Infantry and assigned to the 99th Division as a member of the National Army. I never dreamed that we would have a defensive position of this size without any backup or help from our division or regiment. The 99th Infantry Division was the first complete division to cross the Rhine. [7]:3 American press reports from the European theater foretold the imminent fall of the Third Reich, and many men in Lt. Col. Butler's battalion thought that the war just might be over before they got there. Lieutenant Colonel McClernand Butler, commander of 3/395. Butler's regiment crossed the Erft Canal near the Rhine and enlarged the bridgehead, taking that town with a night attack without losing a single man. and the situation was desperate. In the opening days of the Battle of the Bulge, Robert's regiment was on the front lines in the Losheim Gap. The division insignia is a three lined checkerboard design of blue and white squares centered on a black shield. When three hours later a third SS assault hit the defenders, it too was stopped. He began his career conducting oral histories and research for HBOs miniseries The Pacific and holds the distinction of being the first historian hired by the Museums Research Department. Despite fatigue, constant enemy shelling, and ever-increasing enemy pressure, [they] guarded a 6,000-yard front and destroyed 75 percent of three German infantry regiments.. Two months later, when the 99th Division was transferred to VII Corps under Maj. Gen. Walter E. Lauer, the commanding officer of V Corps, Maj. Gen. Clarence R. Huebner, wrote him: The 99th Infantry Division arrived in this theater without previous combat experience early in November 1944. Due to the dwindling attendance over the years, the decision was made to hold the final convention in 2011. On the east lay a section of the Monschau Forest. The real crusher to the German offensive plans in the Ardennes occurred 46 miles north east of Bastogne, in a small area consisting of a copse of small villages and a piece of high ground called Elsenborn Ridge. Butler attended, but did not graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. During the first day of the Battle of the Bulge, the 3rd Battalion took 19 prisoners and killed an estimated 200 Germans. The Germans, moving across illuminated open ground without cover, fell by the hundreds against the murderous American fire. [2] Historian John S.D. . The regiment arrived at Camp Van Dorn in early December. April 13th, 1945 - 99th Division, 395th Infantry Regiment, in the Ruhr Earl Denzil Reese April 13th, 1945 - A combat engineer snapped this series of photos while riding on back of a truck during the Battle of the Ruhr Pocket. It attacked toward the Monschau Forest, on 1 February, mopping up and patrolling until it was relieved for training and rehabilitation, on 13 February.