395th infantry regiment 99th infantry divisioncommon last names for slaves in the 1800s
In March 1945, the 99th advanced into the Rhineland, crossing the Rhine River at Remagen on March 11. It was like a golf course, so I used the night for concealment."[6]. The silver and bronze star medal of Col. Alexander John Mackenzie, Regimental Commandor of the 395th Infantry Regiment. . 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.". The 99th RSC was awarded the Army Superior Unit Award on 9 May 2016 by the US Army Human Resources Command for its role in the relief support after Hurricane Sandy, from 29 October 2012 thru 31 March 2013. The other two regiments of the 99th Division had been beaten to a pulp by the initial German assault, and for the most part had been rendered ineffective, thus leaving the 395th dangerously exposed to a flank assault. 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. Told it was the 3rd Battalion, 395th Infantry, he said, "It must have been one of your best formations." The platoon members were not recognized for their courageous deeds for thirty-seven years. The division was chiefly manned with graduates of the ROTC programs of the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Duquesne University. 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. The 395th Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment of the United States Army, part of the 99th Infantry Division during World War II. Asked why he thought so, he said, "Two reasons: one cold-bloodedness; two efficiency. 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. It was activated on 1 December 1939. On 1 November 1944, the 99th Infantry Division, comprising the 393rd, 394th, and the 395th Infantry Regiments, was put under operational control of V Corps, First Army. Harold was . Category: 395th Infantry Regiment Lt. Col. Henry B. Koon Sr. Special Troops They then crossed the Wied River, where they joined up with the 7th Infantry Division. 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 "Checkerboard" or "Battle Babies" division landed at the French port of Le Havre and proceeded northeast to Belgium. Pennsylvania State College, and the Pennsylvania Military College. Hfen remained in American handsfor now. The 99th Infantry Division, the "Checkerboard" division, gained its nickname from the division's insignia. Motto VIGILANS ET CELER (Vigilant and Swift). Formerly nicknamed the "Checkerboard Division," which referred to its shoulder patch, in late 1944 having not yet seen battle, the division was nicknamed the "Battle Babies. Butler attended, but did not graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. On 3-4 May, the division liberated two labor camps and a "forest camp" (Waldlager) related to the Mhldorf concentration camp, a sub-camp of Dachau. 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. Richard V. Horrell WW 2 Connections, Aug 6, 2010 #6 Buten42 Member Joined: Jun 27, 2009 Messages: 1,287 Likes Received: 210 Location: Washington State [6][17]:vii. Lieutenant Colonel McClernand Butler, commander of 3/395. . Seth Paridon was a staff historian at The National WWII Museumfrom2005 to 2020. On 28 April the 14th Armored Division, commanded by MG Albert C. Smith, crossed the Danube River at Ingolstadt, and passed through the 86th Infantry Division, which had established a bridgehead on the previous day, with the mission of securing crossings of the Isar River at Moosburg and Landshut. The Germans would never take Hfen, nor most of their other ambitious objectives in the Ardennes, due in large part to the soldiers of 3/395 and the 99th ID as a whole. The breakout from Saint-L, France was accomplished far more rapidly than Allied planners had dared hope, and American units plunged through the French countryside with undreamed of rapidity, far in advance of operational plans. [2]:33 On at least six occasions they called in artillery strikes on or directly in front of their own positions. . It had its headquarters at Franklin, Pennsylvania, and drew its personnel from Pennsylvania. [12] For their part, the German army was planning a seven-day campaign to seize Antwerp. While the supply situation improved in October, the manpower situation was still critical. The regiment helped to capture the Ruhr Pocket, where thousands of German troops and hundreds of German vehicles were captured. At the end of the day, the veterans of the 26th Infantry still held their groundand looked out on a battlefield strewn with destroyed German armor and scores of enemy dead. It attacked toward the Monschau Forest, on 1 February, mopping up and patrolling until it was relieved for training and rehabilitation, on 13 February. The 393rd, 394th, and 395th Regiments were put on line, each unit protecting approximately 11 kilometres (6.8mi) of front, roughly equivalent to one front-line infantry man every 91 metres (299ft). The 197th Infantry Division (German: 197. Byers, Carl F. MAJ, "Operations of Company G, 395th Infantry, 99th Division, in the Reduction of a Fortified Position of the Siegfried Line, West of Schleiden, Germany, 14-15 December 1944". By December 1944, Allied armies had reached the western border of Germany itself. The division insignia is a three lined checkerboard design of blue and white squares centered on a black shield. 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. The 10 geographically-based RRCs, including the 99th, were inactivated and replaced with four regional base operations commands. The regiment arrived at Camp Van Dorn in early December. Through their stories, we gain a glimpse into the challenges they faced, the horrors they endured, and the triumphs they achieved. The Medal of Honor was awarded T/Sgt Vernon McGarity, Company L, 393rd Infantry, 99th Infantry Division, for actions taken near Krinkelt, Belgium, on 16 December 1944 during the opening phases of the Ardennes Offensive. General Eisenhower and his staff chose the Ardennes region, held by the First Army, as an area that could be held by as few troops as possible. In the northern sector opposite the 99th, this included more than 4,000 deaths and the destruction of 60 tanks and big guns. Mission of the 395th Infantry Regiment I. They continued to fight even as the American press trumpeted the rapid crumbling of German resistance. The division was destroyed near Vitebsk during the Soviet Vitebsk-Orsha Offensive of Operation Bagration in the summer of 1944. The combination of no ammunition and heavy German armor caused the American lines to fold, like a dam bursting. squares centered on a black shield. Although 3/395 had only 600 men to defend a large area, they had been told that the German army, or Wehrmacht, was no longer capable of major offensive operations and that their winter in the Ardennes would be a quiet one. 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. Encountering paltry resistance at first, the Germans launched an attack on the towns and initially met with success, pushing into Rocherath with a clear path beyond. The success of the defense of the twin villages would be short-lived if ammunition was not resupplied. 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]. Those who survived the initial onslaught and did not manage to flee, had to eke out a living on a battleground ravaged by incessant bombardment and street fighting. There Major Butler collapsed due to exhaustion on 30 April, and Lt. Col. J. The town of Kuckhof cost the battalion dearly, with more than fifty casualties inflicted on one company alone (I Company). 2nd and 3rd Battalion cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army for action in the Ardennes. Any delay would jeopardize the plan to cross the Meuse River and advance on Antwerp before the skies cleared and the Allies regained their balance. . His World War II story. A group Many members of the 99th Infantry Division had participated in the Army Specialized Training Program or ASTP, derisively nicknamed "all safe 'till peace;" in February 1944, the program was drawn down, and the majority of its members were assigned to later-deploying divisions such as the 99th. American artillery fired at pre-registered locations along the German route of advance, and along with support from in the knick of time arriving American armor halted and turned the German advance into a retreat. Even the most hardened veteran occasionally thinks he hears twigs snap, boots crush snow or other odd noises that can cause nerves to fray. The citation read: During the German offensive in the Ardennes, the Third Battalion in the 395th Infantry, was assigned the mission of holding the Monschau-Eupen-Liege Road. Put under operational control of V Corps, First Army, it moved to Le Havre, France on 3 November and proceeded to Aubel, Belgium, to prepare to enter the front lines. From Camp Van Dorn they were transferred to the more established Camp Maxey in Paris, Texas for additional training. American troops from the 290th Regiment near Amonines, Belgium. Fourteen of the 18 platoon members were wounded, while only one soldier, a member of the artillery observation team, was killed. [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. Over 83,000 Americans were casualties during the battle which lasted from December 16, 1944 until January 25, 1945, and as a result, the battle occupies a prominent place in our collective minds. To make circumstances worse, just beyond the bloodied-but-not-beaten Volksgrenadiers waited the tanks of the 6th Panzer Army. After clearing towns west of the Rhine, it crossed the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen on the 11th. Butler was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 21 March 1944, and remained in command of the 395th until 30 April 1945, when he collapsed from exhaustion. Although cut up and surrounded in part, the 99th was one of the only divisions that did not yield to the German attack, and held their positions until reinforcements arrived. Here it held firmly against violent enemy attacks. The men carried out missions without orders when their positions were penetrated or infiltrated. "[13] The division continued to attack without opposition to the Inn River and Giesenhausen until VE-day. The division insignia is a three lined checkerboard design of blue and white [1] After defensive patrolling, the 99th probed the Siegfried Line against heavy resistance on 13 December. The blue and white are taken from the coat of arms for William Pitt for whom Pittsburgh was named. [16] The accurate fire from the 12 3-inch guns of A Company, 612th Tank Destroyer Battalion, was instrumental in keeping German tanks from advancing. The 99th Infantry Division, on December 12, . 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. While the 99th was fully involved in this large mobilization, the headquarters moved to Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. 99th Infantry Division vehicles en route to the battle zone. 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. ", The 99th Infantry Division, outnumbered five to one, inflicted estimated casualties on the Germans in the ratio of eighteen to one. The ferocious assault caught the Allies off-guard and the rapid German advance famously caused a bulge on Allied maps. "[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. Category: 395thIR On this page, we honor the memory of the men of the 99th Infantry Division and pay tribute to their extraordinary contributions to the war effort. So fierce in fact that the German commander pulled his tanks back for fear of running into a superior American force, deciding to hold his positions until the following morning. The three regiments of the 99th IDthe 393rd, 394th, & 395th Infantry Regimentswere thinly spread across this frigid but quiet portion of the front. of William Pitt for whom the city of Pittsburgh was named. Just south of Hfen, the lines of the 99th entered this forest, ran through a long belt of timber to the boundary between the V and VIII Corps at the Losheim Gap. Many of the 99th Division's best soldiers were products of the ill-fated ASTP program. The 393rd, 394th & 395th were the Infantry Regiments of the 99th Infantry Division. The buck's head was used to indicate the allocation of the organization to the mountainous section of Pennsylvania, where deer abound. In early December, much of the Allied forces were established in a general defensive line from the North Sea to the Swiss border.
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