PFC James C Hanson- History search

[floydragsdale]

Hello Ruth:

Try this Web Site for information about your Dad's Ordnance outfit.
It will give you an indication of where he probable was in July 1944.

answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=324627.

Floyd

Please accept my condolences to you regarding the loss of a family member.

[upssfcc]

Floyd,

Thank you for the link I had actually stumbled across that on a first attempt of my search but now that I have more info the "timeline" is getting clearer. I just find it hard to believe that more information is not some where out there on that unit. I still am at a loss of his association with the 106th but maybe when I get his paperwork from the archives...

Ruth

(thank you for your condolences)

[upssfcc]

Connie,

Thank you for your kind words, loss is never easy.

I now have this new information and will get to checking on it seems like I think I am getting somewhere and then some new information takes me in a different direction. Now just getting the time to actually get some quality time to run down the leads....

Thanks again,
Ruth

[roger]

I know the 159th was attached when the 106th was handling German POWs. Jim's website can provide a great deal of info on that. I suspect Carl has considerable info as well.

[roger]

Follow up......David Wiswar's father was serving with the 159th at the time it was attached to the 106th. David had considerable info about the 159th.. I have lost track of him; perhaps he is an occasional visitor to this site.

[upssfcc]

Roger,

I will try and look for him on this site thank you so much!

Ruth

[upssfcc]

Jim,

I am hoping that the next time I go to visit my mom it will be under better circumstances. Thank you.

Anything I may find I will share it here in hopes of passing on any bit of history. It seems like too many people just don't see how important it is to keep our history alive, it is what make us who we are.

Many thanks to all of you!

Ruth

[floydragsdale]

Ruth:

I found the following message on the Web. I tried to send it yesterday but something (I don't know what happened) failed to get through.

The website is: answer.google.com

This should give you an idea where your father was in June, or July 1944.

Floyd

Here's the message:

I can't find any information on my uncle's WWII unit. He landed at
Normandy in early July, a month after D-Day and pushed through to
Cherbourg. He said he was, at least for one period, "captain and
company commander" of the (Army) 817th Ordnance Base Depot Company. He
was also in Paris and in Cardiff, Wales. His name is John J. Schwob,
the sweetest guy you could ever imagine, and I would appreciate any
help you can give me in tracing hs unit's history and whether there is
a way to seek members of his unit.
Gratefully, his niece, Gina Einig.

P.S. my Dad is gone now and this is the only veteran I can do this
service for in my family.

[connie]

Hi, All!

It's great to be part of an active conversation.

I just wanted to add that the 159th connection does not confuse the issue but helps clarify timelines, since the 159th Infantry Regiment did indeed become part of the 106th Infantry Division during their time in the ETO. I'll repeat the link to the little bits on this discussion board about the 159th: 106thdivision.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=unit&action=display&thread=796
This link gives links elsewhere, including one post on Jim West's Indiana Military site.

Sequence-wise what I'm seeing supports:
* 817th Ordinance Base Depot Company- beginning no later than Aug 11, 1943; includes the date of the first haircut; travel to England and time on the continent beginning in July 1944

* 106th Infantry Division /159th Infantry Regiment- If I'm reading the history correctly the 159th Infantry Regiment arrived in the ETO just past Mid March of 1945 and was immediately attached to the 106th Infantry Division to help replace the infantry regiments lost during the Battle of the Bulge. It would seem likely that any placement in the 159th from the 817th Ordinance Base Depot Company would have occurred during the 159th's time in the ETO with the 106th Infantry Division. If that's the case the transfer occurred on or after the middle of March 1945.

* 118th Infantry Regiment- beginning sometime in the summer or early fall of 1945 until he headed home

Does that fit with what you see, Ruth? Anyone else?

Connie

[upssfcc]

Connie,

I was really thinking along that same time frame. Seems to fit the bill with everything I have pieced together so far. I really wish I had asked more about it when my dad was alive but I tried to respect the fact that he didn't want to.

I hope that I can find some more on the units and maybe their rosters and such. Just seem funny that his paperwork only mentioned the 106th when it seem's like he was not part of it for much of his term, but I guess during a war things change quickly and paperwork would be the least of a priority.

Either way the fact is that I am one proud daughter of my father,proud wife of a a 20 year veteran (we married out of high school and joined together) I was proud to serve for 20, and a proud mother of a son who is now serving!

I am also very proud of all service members who have served and are serving now.

I just hope that the history is never lost.

Thank you Connie for all your help in this, and I hope to get some more information to fill in the "holes".

Ruth

[connie]

Hi, Ruth,

You are in good company when you state you "wish you had asked more." We probably number in the millions, me included. At least you were respecting your fathers wishes not to talk about it. I was pretty clueless.

As to the omissions on the discharge papers, I get the feeling they weren't even trying to be comprehensive. I believe Floyd said once that he got to choose from the units he had been in, which one he wanted listed on his discharge papers. (Do I have that right, Floyd)?

Connie

PS. I've posted a note in the Unit Specific Discussions under "before the 106th about the 817th Ordinance Base Depot. That links to this thread. 106thdivision.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=unit&thread=641&page=1#2895

I've also posted a note under "After the 106th" about your father's connection to the 118th Infantry Regiment: 106thdivision.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=unit&thread=633&page=1#2901

[upssfcc]

Connie,

Again I guess in hind site we wish we could go back and change thing sometimes. I just wish our "family" was closer and maybe a family member would have been of some help but that is not an option either so I will just keep on with my quest best I can.

I really appreciate others who are willing to help and point us newbies in the right direction.

I really hope on my next visit home I am able to find more.

Thanks Ruth

[floydragsdale]

Re: James C. Hanson & 817th Ord. Base Depot

I believe he stayed with the Ordnance Outfit through August 1944 and probably to at least January 1945.

In the Battle of the Bulge, the Army was losing 1,500 men a day on the front lines. Those Soldiers, for the most part, were Riflemen in Infantry Companies. Multiply fifteen hundred men a day times seven and it becomes 10,500 Soldiers a week.

There are less than 6,000 Riflemen in an Infantry Division. In one day during the Bulge Campaign, the 2nd Bn. Of the 424th Regiment, lost 50% of its’ men due to frozen feet and trench foot. I remember that day as if it happened last winter. There were days when our company strength was about fifty Soldiers out of 193 men.

To keep the story short, the Army was getting very desperate for men to replace the Infantry Soldiers that they were losing every day during the B.O.B.

I was witness to some of the replacements that G Company was getting. They had not been trained as Infantrymen. Some of them had been MP’s in London and many of them had been with Supply Outfits, to name a few Army organizations.

I think any time between January 1945 and March 1945 is when Ruth’s Father joined the 106th Division.

Keep these dates in mind while searching for information about your Father, Ruth.

Floyd

[floydragsdale]

Connie:

While being discharged from the Army in April 1946, I was given the choice of what outfit would be named on the separation papers, the 106th Division, or the Organization that I had been transferred into in August 1945.

Of course, I selected the 106th Division.

Floyd

[floydragsdale]

Hello Ruth

I believe the following information regarding the 159th Inf. Regiment will be of interest to you. - - - Floyd


HEADQUARTERS 159th INFANTRY
APO 408, U. S. Army
05/01/1945
SUBJECT: After Action Report (Routine Activities)
TO : Commanding General, 15th Army, ETO (Thru Channels) Attn: G-3

1. Having been attached to the 106th (Lion) Infantry Division by Letter Orders, the Regiment was called upon for 160 enlisted men Cadre to reconstitute the 422nd and 423rd Infantry Regiments of this Division. The Cadre selections, plus a fifty percent average, were submitted to Division for final selection. The Cadre was selected and published on SO #66, 106th Division, dtd 31 March 45 (see inclosure #1). Cadre departed via truck convoy to join their new organizations in the vicinity of RENNES, FRANCE on 3 April 1945.

2. Company "A" was alerted and left the Regimental area for St Valeri, France on 2 April 1945 at 2100 with the tactical mission of setting up a beach defense against possible enemy landings. The Company returned at 022400. This Defense assignment was ordered verbally by Camp Commander, Camp Lucky Strike.

3. The Regiment was ordered to move from the Camp Lucky Strike staging area to the vicinity of RENNES, FRANCE to join the 106th (Lion) Infantry Div. Field Order #2, 159th Infantry Regiment (incl #2) moved the Regiment via motor march and rail to join the Division. In this move the Advance Party departed 040400, first march serial Motor element at 060100, first train at 061600. The Regimental CP closed at Camp Lucky Strike 062130 and opened at the new area, the Air Port St Jacques, RENNES, FRANCE, 062130.

4. Training in preparation to take on a Combat Mission was begun by the Regiment under supervision of the 106th (Lion) Infantry Division, in accordance with Training Memorandum #10, Hqs 159th Infantry Regiment (Incl #3) dtd 9 April 1945.

5. Verbal orders, directing that guards on all Posts be doubled and that sentries keep all weapons loaded while on duty, were issued by Division on the 11 April 1945. Basic loads of ammunition were distributed to all units and all individuals began carrying their weapons at all times.

6. The Regiment was placed on a five hour alert on the 14 April 1945 for possible movement in the direction of enemy resistance pockets along the coast of France. THe 3rd Battalion was placed on a 3 hour alert status.

7. The Regiment was again alerted to move, this time the destination was to be in the vicinity of MAINZ, GERMANY. The move was to be combined motor and rail move. The Field Order #2 (incl #4) was issued 162330 and the Advance Party departed at 170400. The first march Serial order of the Motor element moved at 170600, while the first train departed at 171018. While enroute word was received from TCP at CHARTRES, FRANCE at 171630 that the Regiment's destination had been changed to the vicinity of Remagen, Germany. The XXXXXXXXX completed 211030 with the opening of the Regimental CP at 201600 in the vicinity of Sinzig, Germany on the west bank of the Rhine River.

8. The Regiment received a Warning Order 201700 that its mission would be to process and guard Prisoners of War.

One platoon (HMG) from each Heavy Weapons Company was alerted for the purpose of assisting in the quelling of any disturbance that might arise at the Remagen PWE.

The development and operation of a new PWE at Sinzig was definitely made the responsibility of the Regiment and the 3rd Battalion was given the assignment. Preliminary preparations were begun on the 22 April and the initial consignment of Prisoners started to arrive 241230. Since that time the Camp has grown in size to 60,000.

PWTE A-4 located in the vicinity of Buderich, Germany was assigned to the Regiment and further assigned to the 1st Battalion for operation by the Commanding General Adsec Com Z and their move commenced at 230800.

The 2nd Battalion established a CP in the vicinity of Namedy, Germany and given the assignment of providing assistance in guarding PWs at PWTE A-5 at Sinzig and also at PWTE A-2 at Remagen.

The Regimental CP was established in Bad Godesberg on 24 April 45 with an advance CP at Sinzig. The Regiment was made administratively responsible for the Remagen PWTE at 1600, 24 April by CG Adsec, this responsibility was lifted by CG 106th Infantry Division after the enclosure eas reorganized.

On the 28 April the 1st Battalion was given a Warning Order to the effect that they were to be relieved by the 3rd Infantry and would return to the vicinity of Sinzig for a further assignment.

9. During the early morning hours of 25 & 26 April 3rd Battalion guards at the south end of the Sinzig Enclosure reported being fired upon by someone from the east bank of the Rhine River, some 600-800 yards distant. Patrols from the i & R Platoon failed to disclose the location of these Snipers and interrogation brought forth no further information. On the 26 April, two enlisted men from an AA Organization on the east bank of the Rhine met two German youths, one of whom carried a rifle capable of being used. The youths were turned over to the district AMG Officer for disposition. No further action of this nature has been reported.

While firing was again noticed on 30 April by Sentries at the PWTE A-5 at Sinzig. This firing was coming from the high ground west of the enclosure. The regimental I & R Platoon reconnoitered the area and found several likely positions for Snipers but no leads as to who or exactly where the firing was being done. The area was kept under close observation by patrols during the night of the 30th April, with negative reports.

10. Personnel:
Gains
Officers none
Enlisted men none
Losses
Battle Casualties None
Non Battle Casualties None
Discharged None
Strength - Authorized
Officers 153
WO 5
EM 3,049
Present for duty
Officers 148
WO 5
EM 2,971

Change in Assignment:

Captain RUSSELL J. DARLING, ASN O 273135, SD to Hq 159th Infantry. Duty as Public relations officer in addition to his normal duties.

Captain LEONARD MATYNIAK, ASN O 402982, relieved of command of A/T Co 159th Infantry and detailed to SD with Hq, 159th Infantry as assistant I & E Officer.

Captain RAYMOND S PRICE, ASN O 406027, to command "I" Co, 159th Inf. Later placed on temporary duty as Liaison Officer with 15th Army.

1st Lt FRANCIS M COLLINS, ASN O 432514 relieved of duty as SX, A/T Co 159th Infantry to assume command.

1st Lt LAURIEN ? DuTRE??N, ASN O 1293732 assume command of "I" Co, 159th Infantry during temporary absence of Capt RAYMOND PRICE.

Key Officers in this Regiment:

KOTZEBUN, LEON L Colonel O 9700 Commanding
O'ORAZI, VICTOR W. LT Colonel O 364372 Executive
HEYER, ROBERT E. Major O 353768 S-2
HIGGINS, WILLIAM G Major O 382802 S-3
GAINOR, HUNTER D. Captain O 420861 S-4
LAKUSTA, WALTER Captain O 420861 S-1
SPITZBERG, RANDOLPH H Major O 411656 Regtl Surgeon
CHRDISTER, JOSEPH C Lt Colonel O 336349 CO 1st BN
WALSH, IRVIN H Major O 360900 CO 2nd BN
GIBBONS, ROBERT Major O 346826 CO 3rd BN


Attachments : To PWTW A-5, 6 - Off, 4 - Nurses, 51 - EM
Field Hospital....................... Co B, 81st Eng BN (Atched to 1st BN) BN, 2-Amb)

11. Equipment and materials: Theater of Operations weapons and T/O vehicles was assigned during the month as were some shortages in other T/E equipment.

12. The Regiment's efficiency as a Combat Regiment is considered to be excellent; as a PWTE Administrative Regiment much in the way of practical experience and education is to be done. The biggest problem confronting the Regiment is to supply and equipment the PWTE for which it is responsible and at the same time adequately feed and care for the daily increase in prisoners. The securing of adequate food, shelter and clothing creates the biggest problem because of the lack of separate sections in which to place the prisoners after segregation, but this is gradually being overcome as the enclosure is completed. The problem of Control and discipline is being met by the German Officers and their non-commissioned Officers themselves under our supervision. The health of these prisoners is being cared for by a Prisoner Operated Dispensary for minor ills and a U. S. Army Field Hospital for the more serious cases.

FOR THE COMMANDING OFFICER:


WALTER LAKUSTA
Captain, Infantry
Adjutant

Incls: 5

1 - Extract Copu SO #66, 106th (Lion) Infantry Division
2 - Field Order #1, 159th Infantry Regiment
3 - Training Memorandum #10, 159th Infantry Regiment
4 - Field Order #2, 159th Infantry Regiment
5 - Unit Journal, 159th Infantry Regiment

Distribution:
6 copies to 106th Infantry Division Hqs
1 for Regimental S-3 files
Provided by Roger Myers and David Wiswar.
Page last revised 07/13/2011

[upssfcc]

Floyd,

I am going to try this again didn't save my last reply.

As I was researching this is what I came up with.

I know that my dad was at Red River Texarcana TX and was with the 817th Ord Base Depot Company. On the back of a paper of the 817th he wrote a company of the 159th but in researching that he could not have been assigned to them because:

According to "Order of Battle: US Army World War II" by Shelby Stanton, the 159th was relieved from the 7th Infantry Division on 23 August 1943 and assigned to the Alaskan Department, and my dad didn't arrive in OUTC until 4 Sep 43 a month later. So when he got in country maybe the unit he thought he was going to be with was gone already and he was assigned else where but where is the big question. It does seem like he used the 817th as his unit because the v-mails dated Aug 44 - Feb 45 had that unit even though he may have been attached to a bigger Regiment or Division or Battalion. The Question is who. You would think that whoever it was would have a record but finding anything on the 817th is next to impossible.

As for the 118th I found this making me believe like you had stated before him getting enough points to leave country:

Then they returned to England on 1 May 1944, remaining there until they crossed the English Channel to France on 13 December 1944.
They were immediately assigned to defend a bridge across the Meuse River at Givet, France during the German Ardennes counteroffensive in Belgium.
They entered Germany on 26 May 1945, took up occupation duties, and returned to the New York P.O.E. on 14 January 1946.

My Dad's paperwork also had he returning stateside the 14th of Jan 46, I am not sure where because I don't have that paper in front of me but will check it out when I get home tonight.

Anyway that is all I know for now filling in the middle is going to be hard if I can't find a letter or something that might mention who or where he was at during certain times and can connect that to a Bn/Div.?

Again thanks for any thoughts anyone might have!

Ruth

[floydragsdale]

Hello Ruth:

I'm ashamed to have swamped you with useless information.

It appeared to me from data received about your Father is this:

A – He was in England with his Ordnance outfit in part of 1943 and until the summer of 1944.

B – He was still with the Ordnance outfit during the Campaign in Normandy, France and they remained there at least into the winter of 1945.

C – It was January 1945, during the Battle of the Bulge, that the Army was getting desperate for Infantry Soldiers to replace the huge losses of front line Soldiers during the B.O.B.

D – This time period is when I believe your Dad became involved with an Infantry Regiment; probably in the 106th Division.

E – It makes sense, because the 424th Regiment, at the time, was in Renne , France not too far from your Father’s Ordnance Outfit was, or had been situated.

Is my thinking about this wrong?


Floyd

P.S. What is “OUTC”?

[upssfcc]

Floyd,

No information passed on is useless had I had more info before that post I believe we both would have come to this conclusion. I do think as Spock would have said, it only logical that is how he was involved with the 106th.

I figure as a small unit with some Ordnance background he would have been attached to a larger Battalion of some sort but who there in France is the 100,000 dollar question. I would not think that all the specialty units that came from Red River would have been assigned according to need. I really wish I could find more information on that base but all I can seem to come up with is the storage part of them not anything to do with units or personnel. I am not sure if in that state there might be somewhere to research that so I am going to work on that and maybe it can give me some start point of where the units from there might have been assigned.

I am going back to my mom's this weekend and I am going to look around for some more information so wish me luck.

Thank you once again,
Ruth

PS not sure why I used that OUTC it was suppose to be ETO.

[connie]

Hi, Ruth, Floyd, etc.

In the not entirely unlikely event that I missed something crucial, you can ignore this post. But in the place where my head is at the moment I'm not ready to throw out all possibilities of some time in the 159th Infantry Regiment. Hear me out, on the off chance that I am actually onto a possibility.

Sequence-wise what I'm seeing still supports:
* 817th Ordinance Base Depot Company- beginning no later than Aug 11, 1943; includes the date of the first haircut; travel to England and time on the continent beginning in July 1944

* 159th Infantry Regiment / 106th Infantry Division- beginning sometime between Mid March and early April 1945
If PFC Hanson was pulled from the 817th in or slightly after Mid March he could have been assigned to this regiment within the 106th. The 159th was at that time attached to the 106th. Later in April when the missing units of the 106th were reconstituted, it is my understanding that some from the 159th took up the numbers of other infantry regiments within the division. But initially they were an attached unit. (Anyone with more knowledge of the 159th is welcome to chime in and shed more light on this subject)

* 118th Infantry Regiment- beginning sometime in the summer or early fall of 1945 until he headed home

Ruth mentioned finding the 159th Infantry Regiment address penciled on the back of a 4 page booklet on the history of the 817th Ordinance Base Depot Company. Floyd can help us out here, but I am picturing a booklet like the type given out to the men of the 106th. They were handed out sometime late in the war or post hostilities. I'm thinking PFC Hanson might have been given the booklet on the 817th at a similar time, perhaps even after he had left that unit. (It would be interesting to know the total time span covered in the history.)

The need of the badly mauled division for more men would, as Floyd observed, would have been a reason for taking a man from a unit already in the ETO. Hanson could have been transferred to the 159th between March and April 1945. That transfer would have been part of a transfer to the 106th Infantry Regiment, since as I understand it that is where the 509th was headed when they hit the ETO. Addresses did not give division number.

It's not necessary to the equation that your dad was in the 159th Infantry Regiment at any time. But I don't think the facts I see eliminate that possibility either.

As for finding rosters, etc. with your dad in them, that would be wonderful. But some of those records just don't exist . They are worth looking for, but... some of this stuff is still surfacing in sock drawers and attics. (That's where I found Dad's battery roster)!

I hope your trip home yielded something of interest...

Connie

[upssfcc]

Connie,

I think your assessment is more than plausible. I have tried looking further into the 159th but really haven't been able to as much as I would like. Things in the last month have not been going as planned so I have not had the chance to go back to my mom's. My son will be coming home on leave this coming weekend and we will go to visit her so hopefully that will allow me to check for more clues.

Right now the only thing I can say for sure is that in some way shape or form he was with the 106th otherwise I do not believe it would be on his paperwork. It just would be nice to be able to find out.

I have tried to check out the Illinois Court house to see if papers were filed but I just keep getting directed to other sites like ancestry.com.

Maybe my next trip will provide me with some more answers or may just more question LOL!

Thank you again for your thoughts,
Ruth

[connie]

Hi, Ruth,

Hope you have a pleasant time with your son.

Is there a county courthouse near your hometown?

Oh, you are so right! Much of the time these digs into the past seeking answers yield more questions. And the process seems ever so slow. But once and a while, when you least expect it, answers come. This board offers a good place to share the frustrations and celebrate the victories. Most of the people who post here have experienced both on similar quests...

Connie

[upssfcc]

Connie,

I am always glad to have my son to come for a visit and can't wait till he gets here. I guess his whole unit is taking leave as he said that they will deploy at the end of the year. I am not sure where yet but just knowing he will be gone out of country is sad for me but I do know the life of a soldier!

I will get to show him what I have been up too on checking on his grandfathers service in WW2. I really wish he got to know his grandfather but he passed when he was 3.

I have kept my search going but keep hitting walls, just seems like things were hard to keep track of during a War and I can fully understand that. I tried to research Red River more since I believe that is where he took training and was in the 817th to start out. But most of what I found only mentioned the fact it held ammo and stored items, nothing on the training going on there. I thought maybe I could contact the Chamber of Commerce in that area and could see if there was a "place" or "expert" I could contact in the area who might have some knowledge?

I also bought a book (a bit pricey) called WW2 Order of Battle revised edition by Shelby L Stanton. I hope maybe I can find something in there, if not maybe just gain some knowledge.

Other than that still working on where maybe my dad might have filed papers in Chicago when he returned home.

As always thanks to you and Floyd you have no idea how much your help has been.

Ruth

[floydragsdale]

Hello Ruth:

Whether you find the information you are seeking about your Dad’s Army record, or not, you already have a story that coincides with his service papers.

A significant piece of the story is why he was transferred from an ordnance outfit into the Infantry, or what triggered that transfer?

We (all of us) are involved in the making of history, yet most people cannot see the forest for the trees. We see a small portion of it, however not the big picture.

For decades this Soldier had a guilt feeling that we, the 106th Division let the U.S. Army down. Our combat losses were enormous, in a very short time period, compared to other Divisions who fought from the beaches of Normandy, France to the German Border.

There are two ways to view the Golden Lions situation on the Western front on 16 December 1944.

(1)) The 106th Division was in an incorrect place at the wrong time and got the hell kicked out of them.

(2) The 106th Division was a victim of circumstances, yet they were a Lion in the Way”. For a brief period of time in history, they held the future of our nation and the World in their hands. Their deeds and intestinal fortitude helped to expedite WWII in Europe to a speedier conclusion. - - - These words are not just my opinion however those of U.S. Army Historians.

For many years the quilt feeling of letting the U.S. Army down dwelt within me. Many years of research (digging for information) slowly removed that guilt-ridden feeling.

Finally, when I remembered the oath I pledged when entering the Army, to defend our country & protect its’ citizens the feeling of a release of a burden overwhelmed me.

Millions of us obeyed that oath, did what were ordered to do and still, many men of the 106th Division went above and beyond the call of duty. What more could be asked of a Soldier?

At last, after many years, my conscience was made clear and I could tell War stories to schoolchildren to be proud of.

Ruth, I’m going to post this for you to read & then will post the story next.


Floyd

[floydragsdale]

December 1944 & The WWII Situation in Europe

The German Army has been fleeing the Russians on the Eastern Front and the American and British Armies on the Western Front since D Day. Nazi Germanys’ Air power has been crushed. Allied air power has been bombing Germany at will. High Ranking American U.S. Army officers are betting the War in Europe will be over by Christmas; just weeks away. Some officials believe that Germanys’ Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, whose presence hasn’t been visible for weeks, may well be dead.

A new, untried, U.S. Infantry Division (106th) relieves the battle-wise veteran U.S. 2nd Division of its’ frontline combat posts. Soldiers of the 106th Division are advised by 2nd Division troops with these words, “You men are getting a piece of cake; there’s nothing going on up here. We (2nd Div.) haven’t lost a man in six weeks. This is a ghost front.

Golden Lion Division (106th) Soldiers are unaware of the fact that their Infantry Division is now spread out over 27 miles of battle-front, in a conspicuous position, which extends beyond the Belgium boarder, into Germany.

Yet, all is quiet on the Western Front except for the sounds of heavy vehicles (German) moving about after dusk, which was reported by 106th Div. men who were standing watch in their foxholes.

However, because the Division was a rookie (new) outfit on the frontlines, higher echelon staff people assumed that our imagination was playing tricks on us, or the Germans were playing phonograph records.

U.S. Army executive officers were in harmony with one viewpoint, with the idea that the German Army was, in no way, capable of launching a major offensive on the Western Front.

In the meantime, (mid October through late November) Germanys’ Chancellor, Adolph Hitler, was planning a bold offensive, with over a half a million Soldiers, containing twenty Infantry Divisions and ten Armored Divisions consisting of a new (King Tiger) 70 ton Tank. Intermixed with Hitler’s new Army were veteran German units that had served on the Eastern Front, in Russia.

The timing of this German offensive was to coincide with weather conditions that would ground Allied Aircraft for several uninterrupted weeks. With these circumstances, Hitler said to his Generals, “Our Panzer Divisions and Infantry Soldiers will smash their way to the English Channel, in several days, capture the Port of Antwerp, split the American/English Armies so they will sue for peace.

Thus, in the autumn months of 1944 Adolph Hitler’s new Army was amassed in complete secrecy (radio silence) not many miles from the Belgian/German Border.

Like a coiled snake, the new German Army remained there, just waiting for favorable weather conditions, ready to strike at its’ unsuspecting victim, the American Army

December 16, 1944, five American Infantry Divisions (ca. 80,000 Soldiers) were thinly spread out along an eighty mile front, from Luxembourg to the mid Belgian border.

At approximately 0500 hours in the morning a firestorm of artillery missals broke loose all along that entire front; aimed at American Battle stations. Almost four-hundred thousand German Soldiers were confronting less than eighty-thousand American troops.

The Battle of the Bulge, was launched by Hitler’s new Volks Grenadier Army. That conflict was to last forty-one days and nights. Front line American Infantrymen called that affair, “Forty-one days & nights of freezing hell.”

American Generals were most likely more stunned than the frontline troops who were busy fighting for their lives and too busy to be surprised.

Almost two weeks were to pass before American troops were able to halt the tide of battle and turn it around in their favor.

In the meantime, the President of the United States (Franklin D. Roosevelt), his Secretary of War and an Official of the Manhatten (Atomic Bomb) Project met in secrecy to discuss using the yet untried Atom Bomb on Germany, if the new German offensive could not be halted by our troops.

For a brief moment in history, American Infantry Soldiers held the destiny of the War and the World in their hands. Battle casualties during the Bulge Campaign per Division amounted to fourteen-hundred Soldiers a day. Ranks of Infantry Riflemen ca . 3,300 Troops in a Division were rapidly being depleted.

The Army was desperately searching for Soldiers to replace these losses. Suddenly, Cooks, MP’s, Ordnance Personnel, and Clerical Workers, found themselves assigned as riflemen in an Infantry Division up on the front lines.

Santa Claus provided American Troops a Christmas Present on the 25th of December 1944, the foggy misty weather was displaced by a clear, blue sky. On that day a familiar drone of engines broadcast to ears of the Troops that American planes were flying again.

One month later, Hitler’s new German Army was scampering back to Germany, soundly defeated and licking its’ wounds.

Nearly eighty-thousand troops were wounded and almost twenty-thousand American Soldiers gave their lives in the largest Battle ever fought and won by the American Army.

A number of months later Germany surrendered, unconditionally and the lights came on again, all over Europe.

The Belgian Ardennes Forest is silent these days - - - The battle smoke has long since fled. - - - Now, there are only memories and the dead.

From a Soldier who was there, survived it, researched the Battle of the Bulge and wrote his memories about it.

Floyd Ragsdale
Co. G, 424th Regiment
106th Infantry Division

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Floyd,

Your words spoke volumes. How proud I am of the soldiers who fought for our freedom, thank you so much for your service and keeping alive what our troops did for us.

Ruth

[floydragsdale]

Thank you, Ruth for your kind comments.

Probably, my words failed to make one thing clear!

Finger pointing, after the fact, is easy to do and much of it was done for a long time after the Battle of the Bulge was history.

In wartime, both sides are continually trying to discover what the “enemy” is up to, then those in charge, make plans and disperse their troops accordingly.

The German Army, in the fall months of 1944, had been retreating since the D Day invasion by Allied Armies. All indications were that Germany was about to become a defeated nation.

The front lines were spread out for a substantial amount of miles. Troops had to be dispersed to areas where they were needed the most.

The Ardennes Forrest in Belgium, according to our Army Generals, was no place to wage large-scale warfare. Therefore, they took an intentional calculated risk, and spread five U.S. Divisions out over an 80 mile stretch of front lines in that area.

Under normal circumstances five Divisions would face just 25 miles of battlefront. The 106th Division was spread out for 27 miles right


smack in the center of the Battle area.

Subsequently, the 106th and the other four U.S. Army Divisions were victims of those circumstances.

Battle plans are created in War Rooms, behind the frontlines. When the action begins, everything changes dramatically and it’s up to the individual Soldier to carry on. That is what the 106th Division men did.

Floyd

P.S. Here's hoping that you are having a wonderful visit with you son. Give him my best wishes for now and his future.

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Floyd,

I am going to try and attach a photo and if that works I will do the PDF that I can't get to attach (maybe too big it is 5 pages) and do it as a JPEG and just piece it together? Here it goes....

Ruth

Attachments:

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Floyd,

This is my second time trying to attach the History....

Okay will not in anyway shape or form let me attach the history the picture did fine and I did it the same way for the hisroty? Not sure what I am doing wrong, any thoughts?

Ruth

[connie]

Ruth,

If you can do a simple copy and paste on the document, that would be great. But I suspect it's a document that needs attachment... I'm not the best one to give advice on this. You seem to have been successful with the photo, as you noted. Carl gave directions for attaching photos and for attaching documents. These can be found under the "Site Questions and How To's" 106thdivision.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=help

For what it's worth, there is a different set of instructions for attaching documents than photos.

Connie

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Connie,

Thanks for the info I think the file is too big so I will try again in the morning to do it again! I am not a tech person so....

Ruth