Dallas Williams 83rd Infantry Di

Sixty-five years ago this month, Dallas Williams was seeking refuge from whizzing bullets and mortar rounds in a field somewhere in the French countryside near Orleans.

He was dodging in and around German lines as a battalion messenger, relaying strategic plans and correspondence back and forth to Allied commanders.

It is also plausible to believe that he was scurrying from the sound of German sniper fire, which pinned down Allied forces in the weeks following the Normandy invasion, known simply by historians as D-Day, a day that reversed the tide of WWII and ultimately led to the liberation of the French people and much of central Europe.

Although six decades have past since Williams fought alongside his brothers in arms in the most destructive war of the 20th century, he still remembers it like it was yesterday. Williams received his draft notification in the fall of 1942 at the ripe age of 21 and received basic training at Camp Atterbury, IN. He became part of the infamous 83rd Thunderbolts, a division that was re-activated on Aug. 15, 1942.

During basic training, Williams along with other soldiers learned basic foot soldier maneuvers such as how to creep and crawl under barbed wire and through trenches, how to shoot as well as bayonet. Tutorials on digging fox holes were given, a skill that Williams would use all too often behind the hedge rows of Normandy as he and other allied troops used as a safe haven from German artillery fire and other aerial bombardments.

Following relocation to Camp Breckridge, KY, Williams and his division were given deployment orders for overseas. They had no idea where they were being sent. Everything, as Williams remembers, was top secret. On April 6, 1944, the 83rd Division set its course for England from New York Harbor. Following a tumultuous eleven day journey, Williams finally arrived in Liverpool, England and received additional training in Wales.

After much preparation, Allied commanders finally gave the go ahead for troops to cross the English Channel and prepare for the invasion of the French beachhead.

Mother Nature was not on the allied forces’ side on the morning of June, 12 1944. Low visibility, wind-driven rain, and thrashing seas wreaked havoc on troops as they attempted to land on Omaha and Utah beaches. Anxiety and fear continued to grow within Williams as the massed Allied forces drew closer to the hour of battle.

When Williams’ landing craft dropped him off on the beaches, he was met with a hail of gun fire. The jeep he was driving nearly drowned out in the sea water when he hit beachfront, and it had to be hooked onto by another vehicle before he could advance any further. In his first moments during his division’s invasion of the beach front, Williams distinctly remembers every emotion that overwhelmed his heart and soul during those dire circumstances.

“My mouth was dry, my legs quaking and my eyes out of focus. Being shelled was the most unbearable of combat experience. You wanted to scream, sob and to cry, you just got to learn to live with fear,” Williams said. “There were very few fearless men. Men who fight together in combat develop particularly strong bonds and watching comrades die deeply affect the fighting men.” After building a foothold in the Normandy beachhead, Williams’ division finally broke through the hedgerows on July 25. Williams remembers the hedgerows as a formidable foe themselves. In some places, the hedgerows measured eight feet tall by six feet in width. Most tanks could not penetrate the vegetation without difficulty and exhaustion.

Williams’ division later joined Gen. George Patton and the Third Army in their quest to march into the heart of France. Williams remembers this as being “strictly a thunderbolt show” as they were able to capture St. Malo, Dinard, and the Isle de Cezembre. Along their way, the Thunderbolts and the Third Army also captured 20,000 German prisoners.

The Thunderbolts were met with fierce resistance by the German forces in almost every French town they liberated. In Carentan, Williams remembers how German sniper fire from church bell towers and steeples sent troops diving for cover. After suffering significant casualties from the barrels of German sharpshooters, it became common strategy to take out these sniper safe havens right off the bat in each village they encountered.

With their valor in liberating countless French villages and towns, the Thunderbolts along with other American divisions were well received by the French people.

“As we broke out of Normand into Brittany what a reception we drew from the newly liberated French,” Williams would later write. “Many of the fair sex was crying with joy as we went by. The French kissed us threw their arms around us, shook our hand, threw flowers. Here was a freedom loving country saying “thanks” in their own way to the men who helped liberate them after four long years under the Nazi yoke.”

Periods of jubilation and celebration rarely interrupted long periods of heavy combat during which the time Williams’ division would sustain heavy losses. During the European campaign, the Thunderbolts lost 3,275 fighting men, not including 11,000 wounded. Despite the staggering numbers incurred in battle, the Thunderbolts inflicted heavy damages of their own.

It is believed by Williams that the 83rd was responsible for destroying 480 German tanks, 61 planes, and 29 supply trains. They have also been credited with securing 82,146 enemy POW’s.

After months of grueling combat, the 83rd finally crossed over into Luxemborg sometime around Sept. 23 where they would clear additional German pockets. Perhaps Williams’ worse experience in combat came during the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium from Dec. 26 to Jan. 9, 1944. The Thunderbolts fought in frigid conditions at best. At times, the temperature hovered at 25 degrees below zero. Williams remembers the icy air penetrating to the air. His feet felt frozen. Even the automatic weapons would no longer fire due the extreme winter conditions.

Following the excruciating winter months in the Belgium forest, the 83rd would later become the first troops to reach the Rhine River. In a desperate attempt to thwart American invasion plans, German forces blasted the river’s bridge, forcing troops to cross on a makeshift pontoon bridge.

The fast moving Thunderbolts would eventually cover 215 miles of enemy territory over the Weiser, Leine, and Elbe rivers in a span of 13 days. Gen. Patton would later praise the 83rd for their courage and strength in the face of adversity.

“He bragged on us a good bit,” Williams said. “It really made us feel good about what we did.”