|
'Perfect'
Describes 30th Fight
with the Thirtieth Infantry
Division in Germany, Nov. 26 (AP).
Staging what Nineteenth Corp
Headquarters praised as "the perfect infantry attack" the
Thirtieth Division snatched two villages away from outwitted German
defenders in a matter of minutes in opening its part of the United
States Ninth Army Rhineland drive.
After tantalizing the
Germans for a month with dangling dishpans the boys scored the success
in seizing the towns of Euchen and Mariadorf before the startled Germans
knew what was happening.
"We fooled them by omitting the artillery barrage which normally preceded
our attacks," said Lt E. J. Kerrigan of Aberdeen, S. D.
"Seeing no artillery fire the Huns didn't think we would
attack."
"We didn't start the artillery until the infantry was charging a
half mile across open fields to the towns. Before the Jerries
could do anything about it, we'd taken our objectives."
Some Nazis Caught Asleep.
A number of Germans were caught sound asleep. They were on the night shift that had been digging trenches. The wily doughboys who arrived shortly after noon had to wake them up to capture them. The perfect coordination of the daring attack was achieved through several weeks of careful planning and briefing and study of the terrain.
Me doughboys tore across the fields and the German artillery fell behind them, If they had
walked instead of taking off on the double they would have been hit. As it was casualties from shells and small arms f ire were few.
One unit hit a minefield, but kept moving and took its objective. Heroes cropped up by the dozen. One Yank whose foot was blown off by a mine had the courage to wisecrack, "for seven years I had a corn on that foot - now it won't bother me any more."
The 117th Regiment, which took Mariadorf on the Aachen-Julich road, had been tantalizing the Germans for some time before the attack by waving a red comforter at them when their shells missed. This regiment, commanded by Col. Walter Johnson of Missoula Mont., captured intact the vital Miriadorf bridge under which the Nazis had placed 400 pounds of demolitions.
All the enemy bad to do was to press a button to blow Vie bridge up-but they didn't have time.
Attack on Wurselen
Renewed.
While the 120th Regiment, commanded by Col. Branner P. Purdue of Fayetteville Ark.
was taking Euchen, the 119th renewed its attack on the Germans in Wurselen - the town they
had shared with the enemy for a month.
During this period the 119th commanded by Col. Edwin Sutherland of San Francisco, annoyed the Germans by rigging up a daisy chain of dishpans and rattling them by remote control at night. The Germans wasted a lot of
ammunition on the foolish targets. The hard opening blows of the Thirtieth,
coordinated with attacks of the Twenty-ninth Infantry and Second Armored Divisions in adjoining sectors to the north, gave such momentum to the Ninth Army drive that It rolled 10 miles in 10 days against the most desperate kind of opposition.
Since landing in Normandy on June 15, the Thirtieth fought its way across France and Belgium and Holland, and, with the Second Armored Division, breached the Siegfried line on Oct, 2.
MEDICS
GIVEN 'BONUS' of $10
Medics attached to the companies of the 117th Inf., Second Bn. and the Anti Tank Co. will have an additional ten bucks in their pockets next pay day as a token of appreciation from their fighting comrades.
The infantrymen of these 30th Div. outfits, who receive an extra ten dollars a month combat pay feel that the aid men who travel with them, suffer the same
hardships and danger and, moreover, risk their necks to aid them when they fall are as deserving of
a ten-dollar-month increase as they. Therefore, they started a fund to make up the difference.
Anti-Tankers started the ball rolling and their top kick. First Sgt Chandler Wilson, of Sevierville Pike, Knoxville, Tenn,, soon had the fund for the Anti-Tank medics
over-subscribed. It will go to Pvt Garret J. Darland, of 611 S. Garfield Ave., Champaign, Ill., Pvt. Nicholas D. Andrea, of 305 McBride Ave., Paterson, N.J., and Pvt. John H. Mahler of 70 Washington Ave., San Lorezo, Cal.
Men from these outfits said this was to be a permanent plan.
A
Salute To 30th Fighting Soldiers
Within this 30th Infantry Division there are all types of individuals, all types of personalities. Heroes, sung and unsung; characters, funny and sad; but all fighting American soldiers. It is a typical representation of the cross-section of America.
So, also, this compilation of data is a cross-section of recorded happenings, -but a very small cross-section. For every act recorded, dozens of similar acts, by other individuals, have been accomplished. This should be kept in mind by all who read, whether they be soldiers of the division, mothers, wives, sweethearts or friends.
The history of the 30th Infantry Division in this present war is replete with incidents of bravery, pathos, strength, and a belief in a just cause.
Pride of unit has been built upon the brave actions of individual officers and men. The division has successfully met every demand made upon it. All success has been based on sound training, alertness and aggressiveness, basic discipline, and courage.
As Division Commander, I say that we can well be proud of all accomplishments, and join with the reader in a salute to the fighting soldiers of the 30th Infantry Division.
L. S. Hobbs
Major General, U. S. Army
Commanding
Dinah Shore Is 30th Trouper
Dinah Shore inaugurated the 30th Division's first "Nashville and Winchester GI Hour" at a song-and-dance frolic a few days ago. "Any of you all from Nashville?" she asked the thousands of doughboys sitting in front of her. They all assured the vocalist that Nashville was practically their only stamping ground and
the party moved off with a song. S/Sgt. Claude Bess, of Nashville, with an "I told you so" look, talked with Miss Shore for a long time after the program. It seems Bess and Dinah were schoolmates, but skeptical GIs were doubtful before the songstress arrived.
THE STARS AND STRIPES
Sept. II,_ 1944
30th
BAGS MANY TANKS
First Army Headquarters, on the Western Front - (AP)
The 30th Division in the thick of the fighting in the Stavelot and La Gleize area knocked out 92
tanks and 360 vehicles, captured 337 prisoners and buried 117 German dead while serving as the wall
stemming the German offensive.
In the Stavelot area alone, the 30th's supporting artillery killed 2,000 Germans and destroyed 200 vehicles.
One prisoner -said, "We know you - you're Roosevelt's shock troops.
You always show up where the going is toughest." The 30th Division is the Old Hickory Division and many men are from Tennessee. It
went into battle after a 48-mile march.
The 30th is commanded by Maj. Gen. Leland S. Hobbs, Washington, D. C., a
graduate of West Point in the class of 1915, General Hobbs has held several important commands.
CO Greets Men 'Taking Town'
When troops of the 30th Infantry Division entered Evreux, they found that the FFI had done a thorough job of chasing out the Germans and that city officials, were busy proclaiming a new French government. They also discovered that Lt. Col. Walter M. Johnson, of Missoula, Mont., and 1/Lt. Arne Nielsen, of Oakland, Cal., were waiting for them, having entered the town earlier to see how well the FFI had done.
THE STARS 'AND STRIPES Sept. 13, 1944
DOUGHS FIGHT
SNOW AND FOE
WITH THE UNITED STATES 1ST ARMY SOUTH OF MALMEDY, Jan.
15-(AP)
Fighting through four-foot snowdrifts that frequently bogged down their armored support, doughboys of the 30th Infantry Division drove into the streets of
Thirmont, seven miles north of St. Vith, fell back under a heavy counterattack, and went in again to capture half of the town late last night.
After three days of slow, costly attack, the Americans had chopped about 5000 yards off the corner of the salient and front reports said German resistance was stiffening hourly. The approaches to St. Vith were said to be ringed by more than 60 dug-in tanks and interlocking trenches, crisscrossing the wooded ridges around that highway center.
NO YIELDING BY 30THMEN
WITH THE 30th INFANTRY DIVISION, Nov. 8.
It was a case of misunderstanding around, but as a result eight Germans lay dead and one was taken prisoner.
A 119th infantry platoon commanded by Lt. Sylvester Shutter, of Cleveland, was moving through a Siegfried Line town from which the Germans were supposed to have been cleared. But the Yanks bumped into about 40 Nazis.
Each group eyed the other with consternation. Each thought the other would surrender.
"Throw up your hands and we won't shoot," the German commander called.
When the shooting was over eight Germans, including a captain, were dead and a lieutenant was captured. Not an American was scratched.
STARS AND STRIPES
DOG GETS A
HERO'S RITES
They buried "Duke" and they put a cross bearing his name and description on the grave. Of all the men of Hq. Co., First Bn., 119th Inf., who were at the burial, S/Sgt. H. A. Davidson Looked the saddest.
Duke had been killed by a boobytrap that might have killed Davidson if the dog hadn't run into it first.
The battalion motor pool was setting up in a German village. Sgt, Davidson and Duke went hunting for a water pump in the cellar of
an abandoned house. There was a blast and Davidson was thrown against a wall.
Seconds later, uninjured but dazed from the explosion, Davidson went looking for Duke and found the dog in another part of the cellar, badly mangled and lying across a boobytrap trip wire.
Davidson brought Duke back to headquarters, but there was nothing that could be done for the dog. except to put him out of his misery
Duke had belonged to a German soldier before the company adopted him when the Jerry was taken prisoner. But they put an American cross on his grave.
THE STARS AND STRIPES Dec. 26, 1944
30th
AIDED AT AACHEN
By William Strand
(Chicago Tribune Press Service)
WITH THE U. S. 1ST ARMY IN GERMANY, Oct. 29.
The famed United States Fighting
1st Division supported by the 30th-Old Hickory--stormed and took, the city of Aachen after 13 days of some of the hardest fighting in this war.
Altho it was the 1st that actually took the city, driving from the east;
and northeast and fighting thru streets block by block, the 30th played a vital role too. The doughboys of the 30th were the ones who drove around from the north to close the pocket behind Aachen, cutting off the garrison, and rendering the Nazi position inside the city hopeless.
And it was the job of the 30th to clean up enemy resistance in the northern outskirts of Aachen. The
1st had the mission of reducing town proper, all of which released troops holding the perimeter in the Aachen bulge for use elsewhere, while straightening our line in this sector.
Within the space of 24 hours Old Hickory division, withstood five German counter-attacks with the aid of the air force and massed artillery fire of the
1st Army's biggest guns.
The division is commanded by Maj. Gen. L. S. Hobbs. It is remembered for its spectacular dawn crossing of the Vire river on July 7 as well as for the St. Lo breakthru, which opened the way for armor movement across France.
TRAP
NAZIS IN La GLEIZE
U.S. First Army Headquarters, Western Front, Jan. 5 - (AP.)
One of the most spectacular jobs in stopping the German drive north-, ward when Field Marshal von Rundstedt opened his Dec. 16 offensive was done by the 30th (Old Hickory) Infantry Division.
This Division in which Tennessee-born mountaineers are liberally sprinkled, is commanded by Major General L. S. Hobbs, Washington, D.C.
The Hickorymen, who reached the battle front after a 48-mile march from the Roer River south of Julich, first halted the Nazis before they could filter through the Malmedy bottleneck and then kicked them out of Stavelot.
It trapped a sizeable armored force west of Stavelot and in dozens of clashes destroyed 92 German tanks and hundreds of other
supply vehicles and self=propelled guns-probably more than any other division.
It took 324 prisoners, buried 117 German dead and ran enemy casualties into 'the thousands.
Earlier the division participated in beating off some of the heaviest German counterattacks when the enemy tried to cut American armies in half at Mortain and St. Barthelmy in Normandy, and spearheaded the American drive through the Siegfried Line north of Aachen. It has been in action continuously since nine days after the invasion of Normandy.
After stopping the German drive at Stavelot, the 30th continued in a hot spot as the Germans attacked again and again in a frantic effort to gain control of a vital road network leading to Liege.
In support of the 117th Infantry Battalion under Lt. Col. Robert E. Frankland of Jackson, Tenn. (whose brother Walter is a lieutenant colonel on the division staff), the 118tb Field Artillery Battalion claimed the destruction of 200 vehicles and killing of 2,000 of the enemy in a
three-day battle.
The 119th Regiment, after taking up a defensive position when it met more than 30 German tanks east of Stoumont, became part of a task force under Brig. Gen. William K. Harrison, Jr., of Pulaski, Tenn., and figured along with elements of a veteran armored
division in the cleanup of La Gleize.
The 120th Regiment under Col. Branner P. Purdue of Fayetteville, Ark., held firm in the Malmedy sector where it fought off repeated German attacks along a main approach to Liege.
The 117th Infantry Regiment under Col. Walter M. Johnson of Circle W. Ranch, Ovando, Mort., was one of the first units in the line for the 30th.
After a 48 mile march under almost constant harassment from German fighter planes the 117th moved into Malmedy, thrust on to Stavelot, held part of the town and
beat off two attacks in less than a day and half after being alerted.
Grenade Is
The Clincher
A 30th
Inf. Div. weapons platoon came upon remnants of a German battalion one night and tried to talk the Jerries into surrender. Someone heaved a grenade. There was a mad scramble for the ditches. Then all was quiet.
Daybreak found Yanks and Nazis lying side by side. Eventually, every one got untangled and the Germans went along to a PW camp.
THE STARS AND STRIPES
Nov. 9, 1944 |
