The Cub

"Somewhere in Indiana - May 5, 1944

Biggest Show, Almost, Coming to Dazzle Us

The GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH - well, the BIGGEST show ever dreamed up on this post - at any rate, the very largest and most astounding carnival to ever see the inside of Service Club #2, is going to be unveiled to the goggling eyes of the 106^th on June 3-4.

3 Silver Stars Pinned on Chests in the 106^th

Three Silver Stars and one Soldier's Medal were awarded to men of the 106^th Division during the past week. The first soldier to be honored was Cpl. John Duggan, Co. B, 423^rd Inf., whose home is in New York City. He had participated in a bayonet assault upon a large enemy force in North Africa, captured their position, and held it despite heavy enemy fire, until relieved by reinforcements. The presentation was made by Col. C. C. Cavender, commanding officer of the 423^rd. The citation was read by Capt. Warren G. Stutler, Adjutant for the 423^rd.

Three from the 106^th

The 422^nd Infantry furnished the other three heroes. They are Pfc. Luther E. Bingham, Co. B, 422^nd Inf., of Franklin, N. C., S/Sgt. Carlos D. Webber, Co. A, 422^nd Inf. of the Bronx, New York City, both of whom received the Silver Star, and Pfc. Albert H. Kath, Anti Tank Co. 422^nd Inf., of Janesville, Wisconsin.

General Receives Division Officers

Major General Alan W. Jones, Commanding Officer, held a reception for all officers of the Division at the Officer's Dance held in Officers Mess No. 2 last Saturday. This was the first official social function for officers of the Division since arriving at Camp Atterbury.

In the receiving line were: Gen. Jones and Mrs. Jones; Brig. Gen. H. T. Perrin, Assistant Division Commander; Brig. Gen. L. T. McMahon, Division Artillery Commander; Col. W. M. Modisette, Post Commander and Mrs. Modisette; Col. W. C. Baker, Chief of Staff; Col. W. Murray, Commanding Officer, 422^nd Infantry Regiment; and Col. J. L. Gibney, Commanding Officer, 424^th Infantry Regiment.

Music for the dance was provided by the 106^th Infantry Division Band.

 
106^th Pilots Tell How the Liaison Planes Are Used.
1^st Lt. C. W. Lauman, 592^nd F. A.; 2^nd Lt. F. G. Josten, of Division Artillery Hq., and S/Sgt Jack Gray, 590^th F. A. Bn. S/Sgt Gray is shown taking off in one of the flying jeeps.

Lions to Open Tomorrow, Air Corps the Foe
After two weeks of spring training at Division Field, the 106^th Lions will open their 1944 baseball season on the road tomorrow afternoon, tangling with the Freeman Army Air Field nine at

How They Stand
Indiana Service League

Fort Harrison -----2W 0L
Camp Atterbury -----0W 1L
Stout Field ----- 1W 1L
106^th Division ----- 0W 0L
Freeman Field ----- 0W 0L
Bunker Hill ----- 0W 0L

Results to Date: Fort Harrison, 4; Camp Atterbury, 1; Fort Harrison, 9; Stout Field, 0.

"Somewhere in Indiana - June 15th, 1944
Only pages 5 thru 8 were available from this issue, supplied by the 106th Historian, Mr. Sherod Collins

106th Soldier Lauds Wacs; Wins Cash
S/Sgt. Edwin P. Morgan received $10, the 1st prize in a Camp Crier letter writing contest. Second prize went to another 106th soldier, Pvt. William Walsh.

Company Mascot is Stripe-Happy
Sam is mighty proud of his 1st Sgt. stripes. Point to them and he will wag his tail like mad.

589th Pastry Cook Knows His Cakes
Pvt. James H. Jacobs of Hq. Btry., 589th FA has a sweet tooth.

Division Men Fire Memorial Salute
A group of soldiers from I Co. of the 423rd Inf., traveled over 60 miles to Liberty, Indiana, to fire a final salute to William Cherry who was shot down in a B-25 over Holland.

Camp Atterbury, Indiana, July 27, 1944
The CUB is distributed free to men of the 106th Division. When you read it, pass it on.

Lt. Gen. Lear Ground Force Commander
Succeeding Lt. Gen. Leslie J. McNair

Allies Start New Push in Normandy
Bloody Purge as Reich Reels

Lt. Col. Descheneaux Heads 422nd; Maj. Brock in the New Division G-3

Lt. Col. George L. Descheneaux, Jr., former Division Plans and Training Officer (Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3) assumed command of the 422^nd Infantry regiment this month. He replaced Col. William Murray, who left the division several weeks ago.

The new commander of the 422^nd brings to his new post a long and varied military experience. He is a graduate of both the United States Military Academy at West Point (1932), and the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Ga. (1937).

He has also attended the Adjutant General’s School, Washington, D.C., and the Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kas.

Every Level of Command

Colonel Descheneaux has had practical experience at almost every level of command from a company to an Army headquarters. He served as a company commander and as an aide to the commanding general of the Atlantic Sector of the Panama Canal Department.

During 1940-42 he was with the 6^th Division. He served, in turn, as a company commander, battalion executive officer, battalion commander, and regimental plans and training officer of the 3r^d Infantry Regt. While with the 6^th Division, he also held the post of assistant adjutant general.

After a short period as assistant G-3 of the 2^nd Army Headquarters, Col. Descheneaux was assigned to the 106^th Division as assistant chief of staff in charge of the G-3 section shortly before the division was activated. He held this post until his recent transfer to the 422^nd infantry.

Served in Italy

At the time when the Yanks and their allies hurtled across the bloody Volturno river in Italy at end of 1943, Col. Descheneaux was with the 5^th Army.

As a War Department observer he served in the capacity of a liaison officer between the 5^th Army Headquarters and the front line divisions. He returned from this battle experience much impressed with the importance of small unit training.
"Much of combat action in this war," he points out, "is made up of semi-independent, and often isolated operations on the part of small units. A great deal depends on how well these units function. I am convinced that the greatess stress should be placed on individual and small unit training and on the development of small unit leaders.

 
Lion Division Parades in Cleveland and Indianapolis

Division Soldiers See Air-Ground Demonstration; Observe Fire Power

No Hit Game Hurled by Frank Beatty

106th Division Boxing Finals Slated Soon

Volunteers for the Infantry Join the Ranks of 106th Division
Approx. 450 enlisted men from non-infantry units who have volunteered for Infantry duty have now joined the ranks of the 106th.

Private & 8 Officers Draw Sunday Detail

When no enlisted men could be found to repair a Camp Atterbury road on a hot Sunday afternoon, Major William L. Mowlds "found" Lt. McArdle, Lt. McGuire, Lt. Wood, Capt. McNeil, Lt. Squires, Lt. Thomas and Lt. Willis to assist Pvt. Steiner.

Division Band Gives First Service Club Show
The first military band concert ever held in Service Club No. 1, was presented Tuesday night by the 106th Division Band, under the direction of WO Herbert L. Snyder.

Foto-Tour of Infantry Division in Action
Pages 6 & 7 contain 8 pictures of the 106th Infantry Division in training at Camp Atterbury, when they were visited by Major General Alan W. Jones, Under Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson, and Brigadier General Leo T. McMahon

 
Heavy Hitting Twins. Hays and Mays Copeland of Co. D, 424 Infantry

Picture Books Go To Press Soon - Delivery of Division Books Promised for Late Next Month

Camp Luck Strike, Sunday, September 16, 1945, Vol. 2, Number 7

Belgian Mother's Tribute to Golden Lion Soldiers

A Belgian mother's own account of a few of the 81st Engineers at her home, a favorite part-time billet of the engineers near Vien-Anthisnes, Belgium, The writer's name is Madame Gene Banquet.

Largest POW Job in History

The 106th Inf. Div. was assigned the mission of guarding POWs in Germany in April as part of the 15th Army. POW enclosures in the vicinity of Buderich, Remagen, Bad Kreuznach and Mannheim, containing 165,272 POWs.

They Broke Through First

The first group of Lionmen to break through the German's encirclement in December were members of the I & R Platoon, 423d Inf. Their first rest after 6 days of travel through enemy lines came at St. Vith, Belgium

Dervish Colors

The Regimental Colors of the 424th Infantry were among the Missing in Action in the furious swift-moving fighting in the Ardennes. In May, a soldier in the 2d Inf. Div., advancing in Czechoslovakia, recovered the Colors from a captured Nazi. The Colors were brought to Bad Ems, and rededicated in a stirring ceremony.

Occupation in Karlsruhe Area Ends Lionmen's History in ETO

On July 10th, General Stroh finally turned over the Division's Bad Ems installations to the French 10th Inf. Div. On the 17th, the Division assumed command of the Bruchsal-Karlsruhe Landkreise.

We Found A Home, Camp Atterbury, Indiana

(This is the last part of a large article detailing the beginnings of the 106th, with basic training at Ft. Jackson, N.C. to the POE (Point of Embarkation).Snow ushered us into Atterbury, but the camp to us looked bee-yout-iful:

New, gleaming white buildings that didn't bear that kennel appearance old barracks convey: that was Atterbury.The first night nearly everyone in our barracks wound up sleeping on the floor. It was hard getting used to being indoors. You were always burning up with heat indoors. But with customary GI fortitude we quickly adapted ourselves to the hardships of living inside.

We were near a big city: Indianapolis.

Wives Move In

Our camp was right outside of Edinburg and near to Franklin and Columbus, Indiana, all three nice little towns. The fellows whose wives had wind of the move had already moved into the three towns and other wives came later. Many 106th men later married Edinburg, Franklin, Columbus, and Indianapolis girls.

Affecting the personnel of the 10th Division at this time was the Battle of Cassino, which taught that you have to have plenty of infantry if you're going to win a war. The WD had found out that there were more spare men in the Air Force than in the Infantry so they started shipping air corps GI's in to us. We also got 1,000 EM from ASTP schools.

The mub-daubbed, web-footed Lion Division vets up from Tennessee stood at windows as the new kids rolled in and made life hell for the arrivals for a couple of weeks. But the new kids took it and gave it back. And we learned that they were plenty smart, caught on fast, and fitted in beautifully. They made wonderful soldiers.

Same Song; 2d Verse

Training began all over. A large number of tests were conducted; basic medical tests, physical fitness, air ground and FA firing tests, platoon combat firing and intelligence training. During June and July members of the Division received training in combat swimming. In August two regimental combat team problems were held. They consisted of a day movement to position, attack and defense as parts of large forces (assumed) and work as Infantry-Artillery and Infantry-Tank Destroyer teams. From Sep. 5 - 16, problems centering around storming fortified areas were the order of the day.

There were lots of parades. The people of Indianapolis took the Lion Division "unto their bosoms". It's a fact that the first pamphlet in tribute to the 106th achievement in battle was collected and published of it own free will by the Indianapolis Star and titled "The Heroic 106h".

Passes Frequent

Another thing we remember with pleasure about Atterbury was that 3-day passes were frequent and we got a furlough at the end of our stay there.

On the Fourth of July we sent delegations to Indianapolis and Cleveland to put on parades. Both units trooped by traffic-locked streets and cheering spectators. Let nobody tell you that a parade doesn't do something to your throat and that a march band won't lift you right off the ground. Because it can and did.

Yes, Atterbury with its green, well-trimmed grounds, its swell buildings and its bath space is an entry for our GI album.

Showdowns, physicals, division tests, more showdowns and the Division pulled out of Atterbury for POE. And that brings up to Camp Myles Standish, where things began to happen pretty fast.

Over the Waves

The Division moved out of Camp Myles Standish, Taunton, Mass. in four serials. The first group left POE on Oct. 7, the last on Nov. 10. In England the Division closed in the vicinity of Oxford-Cheltenham in the South Midland section of the Isles on Nov. 19

While here, units of the 106th continued training and went through a hardening process. All received additional battle equipment.

The cross-channel movement began Nov. 26. The Division closed in its concentration area in the vicinity of Limsey, France on Dec. 6.

The Fighting Team - Organic Units
as published in the Lucky Strike edition

422d Inf.
423d Inf.
424th Inf.
Hq. 106th Div. Arty.
589th FA (105mm How.) Bn
590th FA (105mm How.) Bn
591st FA (105 mm How.) Bn
592d FA (155mm How.) Bn
331st Med Bn
81st Engr (C) Bn
106th Rcn trp
106th Sig Co
106th QM Co
806th Ord (LM) Co
106th Div Hq Co
106th MP Platoon
106th Div Band
106th Div Special Trps
DHQ

Attached Units

3d Inf
112th Inf, 28th Div
159th Inf
517th Prcht Inf
Combat Comd "B", 9th Armd Div
229th FA Bn
401st FA Bn
460th FA Bn
627th FA Bn
Co A, 661st TD Bn
Co A, 814th TD Bn
820th TD Bn
168th Engr (C) Bn
596th Engr (C) Bn
634th AAA (AW) Bn (M)
14th Cav Gp
18th Cav Rcn Sqd
32d Cav Rcn Sqd

Higher Echelons
The table below shows the Army and Corps attachments of the 106th in the ETO

First U. S. Army, 7 Dec 44 to 9 Mar 45
VIII Corps, 7 to 20 Dec 44
XVIII Corps (Airborne) 20 Dec 44 to 5 Feb 45
V Corps, 5 Feb to 9 Mar 45

Fifteenth U. S. Army, 10 Mar to 10 Jul 45

Seventh U. S. Army, 11 Jul 45 to Sep 45
VI Corps, 1 to 20 Jul 45
XXI Corps, 20 Jul 45 to Sep 45

The CUB - Germany, Saturday, August 4, 1945

   
From the Division Commander
Major General Donald A. Stroh

The last issue of the CUB appeared at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, on September 21, 1944.
The 106^th Infantry Division has come far, accomplished much, and suffered much since that date. Only a fraction of the men who read the last issue will read this one. Some of those no longer with us rest in American cemeteries or in unknown graves in the Ardennes; some have gone through hell as prisoners of war, have been liberated and are now back in the United States; some are still in hospitals. Seldom has a division recuperated so rapidly and so successfully as ours.

When all the facts are know and the history of the Ardennes fighting has been written, it will undoubtedly be recorded as one of the great strategic Allied successes of the war in Europe. Tactically, for the American divisions involved, it was a bitter and costly fight, but it is becoming clear every day that the Germans expended in that futile effort those last reserves of men and materiel which they needed so badly a few months later.

The losses and sacrifices of the 106^th Infantry Division paid great dividends in the eventual victory. The offensive fighting of the remnants of the Division in January, February and March did much toward eliminating the Bulge and in starting the final victorious offensive.

The combat record of this Division is one of which every man who participated in the Ardennes Campaign can be justly proud. Their contribution to ultimate success cannot be overestimated.

To the officers and men of other divisions who have joined us for redeployment, you are  welcome. They come to us with justifiable pride in the combat records and esprit of their old units. We would think less of them if they did not retain in their hearts a love for their old divisions. As one who has served in four combat divisions in the past three years and a half I can well sympathize with them in this feeling. It is a wrench to take off the old shoulder patch and put on a new one.

Bur despite this feeling we are confident that those of you who have joined us recently will learn to feel at home in the 106^th. It is a good outfit with a proud record behind it and with every intention of maintaining that high standard for which it has always been famous.