Post by floydragsdale on Jul 28, 2010 11:50:02 GMT -5
This 106 Division Veteran joined the discussion group for a unique reason.
The division didn’t win the Battle of the Bulge; yet on the other hand the 106th didn’t lose it either.
From the first week of June 1944, during WWII, the American Army was accustom to success on the battlefield. Units of our Army participated in a victory parade down a famous Paris Blvd, Champs Elysees, in August 1944. These were days for the American Service Men and Women to be proud U.S. Citizens. They were breaking Adolph Hitler’s iron like grip on France.
In December 1944, troops of the 106th Infantry Division relieved the 2nd Infantry Division troops of their front line positions. We were advised, by veteran 2nd Division G.I.’s, that this was a ghost front. “You people are getting a piece of cake up here”, they said to us.
That was true from the 11th of December to early in the morning of the 16th of that week.
Then it seemed as if all hell was unleashed upon us. The very foundations of the earth shook, as thousands of German artillery shells and rockets rained down on American troops all along an eighty- mile front. Soldiers of the 106th Division were thinly spread over 27 miles of that eighty mile front.
Unknown to 106th Division men, German Soldiers outnumbered them by ten to one. The front lines were whatever direction an American infantryman faced. The American press labeled this skirmish as the Battle of the Bulge. G.I. Joe, on the front lines, named this struggle as forty-one days and nights of freezing hell.
Before the end of the third day of that campaign, two of our Regiments were surrounded; out of ammunition, food and water, they had to surrender. It was a very humiliating time for the troops in those Regiments and also for the surviving 424th Regiment.
From that time on, many men of the 106th Division had a feeling of guilt; a feeling that we let the Army down.
Yet, as one soldier in, the combat wise, Big Red One (1st Division) stated, “Men of the Lion Division (106th) were introduced to the art of warfare faster than any Division in the United States Army.
Nevertheless, even after being discharged from the Army, the majority of 106th Division G.I.’s carried a guilt feeling home with them. Veterans of the 106th Division had battle scared memories and a guilty feeling to go with those memories.
This was enough ammunition for me to read and do much research about the Forty-one Days and nights of freezing Hell. (The Battle of The Bulge). My conclusion about it is this, “For a brief moment in history" the 106th Division Soldiers held the fate of the world in their hands; the results were awesome; in 41days Adolph Hitler’s Army was crushed. We did not fail the Army, or our Country, in spite of all the odds against us. No, the 106th battle scared G.I,'s didn't win that battle; yet, they dien't lose it either.
History has recorded the event as “The greatest battle ever fought by the American Army”. Being one who participated in it, I don’t doubt that statement one bit. There is nothing for the 106th Division men to be ashamed of and, much to be proud of.
I intend to be of help to this discussion group anyway that I can.
Floyd - -- 424 Regiment, 106th Division
.
The division didn’t win the Battle of the Bulge; yet on the other hand the 106th didn’t lose it either.
From the first week of June 1944, during WWII, the American Army was accustom to success on the battlefield. Units of our Army participated in a victory parade down a famous Paris Blvd, Champs Elysees, in August 1944. These were days for the American Service Men and Women to be proud U.S. Citizens. They were breaking Adolph Hitler’s iron like grip on France.
In December 1944, troops of the 106th Infantry Division relieved the 2nd Infantry Division troops of their front line positions. We were advised, by veteran 2nd Division G.I.’s, that this was a ghost front. “You people are getting a piece of cake up here”, they said to us.
That was true from the 11th of December to early in the morning of the 16th of that week.
Then it seemed as if all hell was unleashed upon us. The very foundations of the earth shook, as thousands of German artillery shells and rockets rained down on American troops all along an eighty- mile front. Soldiers of the 106th Division were thinly spread over 27 miles of that eighty mile front.
Unknown to 106th Division men, German Soldiers outnumbered them by ten to one. The front lines were whatever direction an American infantryman faced. The American press labeled this skirmish as the Battle of the Bulge. G.I. Joe, on the front lines, named this struggle as forty-one days and nights of freezing hell.
Before the end of the third day of that campaign, two of our Regiments were surrounded; out of ammunition, food and water, they had to surrender. It was a very humiliating time for the troops in those Regiments and also for the surviving 424th Regiment.
From that time on, many men of the 106th Division had a feeling of guilt; a feeling that we let the Army down.
Yet, as one soldier in, the combat wise, Big Red One (1st Division) stated, “Men of the Lion Division (106th) were introduced to the art of warfare faster than any Division in the United States Army.
Nevertheless, even after being discharged from the Army, the majority of 106th Division G.I.’s carried a guilt feeling home with them. Veterans of the 106th Division had battle scared memories and a guilty feeling to go with those memories.
This was enough ammunition for me to read and do much research about the Forty-one Days and nights of freezing Hell. (The Battle of The Bulge). My conclusion about it is this, “For a brief moment in history" the 106th Division Soldiers held the fate of the world in their hands; the results were awesome; in 41days Adolph Hitler’s Army was crushed. We did not fail the Army, or our Country, in spite of all the odds against us. No, the 106th battle scared G.I,'s didn't win that battle; yet, they dien't lose it either.
History has recorded the event as “The greatest battle ever fought by the American Army”. Being one who participated in it, I don’t doubt that statement one bit. There is nothing for the 106th Division men to be ashamed of and, much to be proud of.
I intend to be of help to this discussion group anyway that I can.
Floyd - -- 424 Regiment, 106th Division
.
