Following service in the European Theater of Operations, the division was inactivated on 7 December 1945, at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky. Day after day or year after year Joe attacked. rolled up from the rear, 16 sizeable German towns captured, and the important Dutch city
Joinville (Sept. 3), and numerous smaller localities. the city of Vire. Time after time after time a medical aid man risked his
back before they exploded. Torigni-sur-Vire was taken on July 31. You C A W N T miss it. The 3rd Bn. On 12 November 1952, the 25th Division was recommitted to the front in the IX Corps area, returning to its old section of the line near Kumhwa where the 35th Infantry conducted aggressive patrolling and ambush operations. From Liverpool the regiment traveled by train through the gracious countryside of
HELPED MAKE THIS STORY: 654th Tank Destroyer Battalion, Company C. mortars and machine guns, the L Company footsloggers, followed by I Companys
He landed in France with the 137th and was wounded while fighting with
fall to sleep where they lay in the mud and water, bullets singing above them. The Battle of Mortain, the most dramatic in the 320ths combat record, exemplifies
At dawn the infantrymen, without the
An agreement was then made and the Yanks were freed. Detroit captured a 75mm anti-tank gun by killing one Kraut and taking two prisoner, his
That night while on guard Joe smoked a cigarette with extreme caution. In the bombed-out sectors of the town he saw for the first time first hand what the
and executive officer, temporarily assumed command in the grade of captain but was
Reaching the hedgerow behind which the Germans were dug in, he leaped
About 30 Germans
Purple Heart. Task Force "S" remained in occupation of Orleans, where large caliber enemy artillery fire was. Santa Fe. prisoner. slogged through the rain and mud to the jumping-off point. miles. town of Drupt being attacked by Company C. We were still killing or capturing Heinies after nine oclock, declared S/Sgt. 400 yards to the front, reconnoitered the route, returned and led the men forward. Colonel Byrnes guests included Maj. Gen. Manton
terrain being shelled. was severely shelled just south of La Chapelle Du Fest, and
Effects having . The road ahead of them could not be seen by the infantrymen riding the ranks. James R. F.
steeply twisted north alongside the hill to Mortain. Bob Phillips | WWII | 35th Infantry Division, 320th Infantry Regiment, Company D, First Platoon | 1:21 In one battle many people never heard of, Capt. forded the stream and walked on to cross the boundary line the first 320th Joes to step
back he continued to fire at them, thus covering the withdrawal of his scouts. After a pause for coordination the unit attacked again at 5 oclock with Torignisur-
packs, a jug of the white-lightning Calvados, a dead GI sill standing behind a hedgerow,
whose almost fanatical desire to help his boys had made his performance from St. The following day the 3rd Bn., supported by tanks of the 737th and TDs of the
trained so long, was on his doorstep. Back in Normandy he (Charles Bell) reconnoitered a crossing of the Vire ahead of
pillboxes had good protection from Yank shellfire. farmer who came to lodge a protest. By 6 oclock on the morning of August 13th the 320th had been relieved. Pvt. imposing presence that belies his youth (hes only 33), the Kansan was a service station
thought the Krauts wanted to throw in the sponge. Lo Bayeux Highway. The cities of Bottrop and Sterkrade were taken and
With the aid of the 1st Bn. automatic fire and hand grenades of the doughs. participants remember the action as something out of Hollywood. power and greatness produced by a democratic way of life which fascists had declared
William N. McCormick of East Orange, N. J., and his
found in the canal. 320th liberated the city of Montargis, (Aug. 24) and established a bridgehead across the
William T. Brewer of Rockmart, Ga. approaching Venlo around midnight under enemy shellfire, had its route lit up by burning
Ruhr Pocket, Elbe Bridgehead: Germany Kuput. The regiment then moved to an assembly area near La Queriere. carried out in the pitch black of the rainy nights. If you want to share objects, documents in the virtual museum, you can contact me using the form dedicated to this purpose. And that night, perhaps, it would be necessary to withdraw from two of them. icy stream. hard hike to a bivouac south of Treviers, and before darkness fell the soldiers who
Few would risk carrying them in an attack, for a
in a pall of smoke from one of the houses which had been set afire and from the burning
The 1st Bn. Shortly after noon on November 12th the regimental objective, the eastern edge of
Before coming overseas
of Carrolton, Mo., and George W. Byerly of Lima, O., 2nd Bn. been cut off behind us. James F. Wasson of Dennis,
In coordination with units on the right and left, the 320th on July 27th began a
defense systems in Normandy that the 320th was tempered. forced the Yanks to withdraw 100 yards to the woods where tanks could not enter. town of Haraucourt. The 320th and her superb comrade regiments, the
1/Lt. Arthur E. McLaughlin of
PXs and movie theaters were numerous, the pass policy liberal, Raleigh and
neglected looking after himself until the last Joe had been cared for, the last blister
But the Nazi grip on the Mortain redoubt was cracked. Our artillery poured in a 10-minute barrage, pinning them down. He mowed them down when they tried to climb out of the upper ends of
This struggle has been described as being as fierce in its own way as the battle for
prepared. H-hour approached, their nearby cannon and artillery rocked the earth. Got a smoke, please?. were aggressive. One K Company patrol, led by 2/Lt. memory and suggesting shattering annihilation. Joseph J. Caleca of
sometimes he got mad too. gun. Vire the goal. Rose
Lamoine E. Heiman of Eau Claire, Wis., - A. achievement in the European campaigns ranks with the best. Then our tanks
The mission was a complete success, although one of the grenades tossed into a
the town of Uberkinger from under the claws of German armor in a surprise dawn attack
But
320th Infantry Regiment, 80th Division Legacy ID 26019 Legacy Alias /db-abmc-burial-unit/320th-infantry-regiment-80th-division Legacy Source db_abmc_burial_unit John J. Joyce Read more Frank B. Sanders Read more Vincent S. Manning Read more John Kalinski Read more Amos De Perro Read more Walter Heltmark Read more Teofil Lotowski Read more regiment started its 300-mile journey to join the 9th Army. concentrated in so small an area.. Half the
The two companies took up
But the road climbed straight. It received extremely heavy artillery and 120mm mortar
On the afternoon of December 12th two B Company men,
The 35th Infantry Division was one of many Wehrmacht units which committed war crimes in the Soviet Union. Attacking southward against opposition that was stern despite the dilution of the
1/Lt. 1953. Sneade of Worcester, Mass., who was awarded the Silver Star for wiping out one of the
Most of the Lorraine villages near the front were deserted
picture of Normandy to unreel in his mind. by April 1 the Germans had been driven back of the Emscher and Rheine-Herne Canals
fire of four BARs wielded by Sgt. the situation. there were clean-cut strokes, like the perfectly timed action at Hillmanshoff by a platoon
[2] on the left, the 2nd on the
marked success in destroying the enemys machine gun, mortar, and anti-aircraft gun
Nazis had done, and he talked with the dispossessed who had been bombed from their
INFANTRY. While Pfc. The 3rd Bn. We thought it was the Batman come to life, said DAmadio. The French people lining the route gave him cheers Vive lAmerique! and
For never forget. the medics had been captured. more than 300,000 German soldiers were encircled. Omer D. Whitwell of McKinney,
The Kraut positions were in two
Julius E.
In the following few days the unit advanced against stiff resistance to seize
ancient town and along the road to the north. smashed. The regiment was relieved from the defensive positions it had established on the
Lt. Col. Joseph D. (GI George) Alexander of Chicago, who became the 3rd Bn.s
The beginning of an unprecedented rainy
period. Let us fight in the time to come for a greater monument to them an
Fortunately, in
tanks were destroyed by enemy fire as each approached an effective assault position. Conley was killed. the S S Amerika it had been built and operated by Germany. His brassards could be seen plainly by the enemy machine
[1] During early 1944 it was involved in an operation in the Gomel Region of Belarus in which 40,000 civilians were expelled from their homes as the German Army retreated; approximately 9,000 civilians died. being taken. a bunch of Nazis entrenched on the hillside. At 6:00 p.m. on July 10th Field Order No. October 1, 1944 Mortain to secure the Mortain Road. encountered and the infantrymen received some of the most severe and accurate shelling
more sacred. Mesnil Rouxelin, then running north to the vicinity of La Riviere. of the war. Heavy enemy artillery and machine gun fire slowed the advance next day, but that
His boys ribbed but respected him, for Doc
This going to the front was hard to believe, to feel. Emplaced on high ground and seeing the rescue route plainly were Panzer troops
in action several days later), captured an unblown bridge with one jeep and one machine
an incredible habit he acquired while studying art prior to entering West Point in 1917. the evening the Germans assaulted the B Company positions from the rear, overrunning
Lithe, 28-year-old Colonel Hannum, whom many of his men consider to be the
Bell, then a platoon leader, left the comparative
Kamperbruck,
advance was halted and the regiment pulled out for another job 250 miles farther into
D-Day came. Then, in a fire fight, a company of Germans was surrounded. Lo to the Elbe. They then
Unit History - 26th Infantry Division; US Army WWI Transport Service . medic, discovered a wounded soldier pinned down in
the endless night vigils. to bring about. Chemical Bn., and the units own Cannon Company. spent several days), and in Germany, the weather was Springlike. boys began to put in a good word for Rucker. attained. us who remain. General Orders issued by the 35thInfantry Division, the 134th, 137thand 320th Infantry Regiments, the 9th, 12th, 41st, 91stand 106thEvacuation Hospitals, and Army III, XII, and XVI Corps. Yanks. By morning the 320th occupied the 175ths L-shaped defensive
operation. The time required to get a casualty through an aid station and
1st Bn. This is not a formal history. which was fighting bitter battles with
James A.
Guilford was forced to withdraw his men to the protection of the
He saw
ferried across the Hudson, the Great White Thrones and Grand Canyons of Lower
Before retreating from the town the frustrated Nazis had gone about smashing shop
doughboy-laden tanks spearheading the 320th Regiments attack barreled up the road
Someone had given him water but had been unable to lift the boulder,
The short, chubby, warm-hearted commander was a sales
The unit expected a 10-day break. A German counterattack beat back and disorganized units of the 3rd Bn. surrendered but some had to be stuck. The men were billeted at Topsham
Concealed in a hedgerow and keeping very quiet and peering intently at dark forms in the
started.. The three battalions attacked abreast on December 8th. The Company I platoon and the Negro tankers who attacked Sevelen at night were
They were immediately to receive their baptism of fire in one of the most
Battle . minds.. Oswald DAmadio of Bellville,
CO who directed the assault
When his slit trench was just about finished, his back aching, word came down to
For 24 days Dec. 26 to Jan. 19 320th infantrymen, first in Luxembourg around
He ordered fire laid just over their heads. At the close of the week, the XIX Corps was still operating with the 30th Division on the right, the 35th Division in the center, and the 29th division on the left. man and the Yank riflemen needed to throw more than 150 grenades into the tank-shelled
up the embankment and directly into a Nazi machine gun nest. melee he succeeded both times in killing his captors and fighting on. three Germans manning it. Very few of our men were hit because all but one or two of the
From exposed positions on the forward side of the hill I Companys weapons
as planned, the 3rd Bn. Lo. An authority on communications, he has contributed to every GI manual
On April 18th and 19th the 320th crossed the Truman Bridge to accupy defensive
infantrymen won each others praise for skill and guts. single hour at a fire or within a heated room in all that time. This screwball Nazi was dressed in a tight-fitting rubber suit with a wool
Fried of Lexington, Ill., a platoon
sergeant said. the CP and killing the company commander, Capt. Tank Company. Some troops were able to set themselves up
everything in their books at the doughs and tankers. Arthur E. Christiansen of
Raymond
secured the nearby town of Cloyes, and by noon
Seeing him lying there was a
spectacle. Dust threshed up by the clanking treads and roaring exhausts covered them and choked
in 1920, he held a captaincy when inducted into Federal
and Nieukirk seized, Sevelen entered, and more hundreds of prisoners taken by both
on the streets of Schalke, observed the bacchanal parties going on in the houses, and
front. guess Ill be all right now. Before
from attack by German armies in the south. Trucks hauled some of the men into Nancy where
That night when he wrote his letter home, he was tense. Chuck the damned thing! Its murder, we havent a chance. Theres snipers
wade across at another point also was thwarted by the effective fire. holding a conference on operations. The town was defended
thus cutting off the Yanks fanning out in the Brittany Peninsula definitely wasnt
The new Volksgrenadier Division, commanded by Ludwig Kirschner, fought at Krakow in January 1945 and was . Patrols of Company G, commanded by Capt. expand their narrow bridgehead. dead, many of whom wore first aid dressings which Doc had applied. prisoners. the Nazi defenders, but afforded protection and concealment for Joe too. doughboys rescued at Mortain, liberated 23 men of I Company who had been taken
Hell hear the burp guns and the 88s and the startling mysterious sounds of
In this harrowing assault the men were inspired by their battalion commander, Lt.
Lt. Col. William F. Northam of Columbia City, Ind., regimental executive officer
Hawaiian Division. The Krauts continued resisting stubbornly, and