The FReeper Foxhole's TreadHead Tuesday - The Story of the 11th Armored: Thunderbolt-Sep 20th, 2004

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[SAMWolf]

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Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

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for all those serving their country at this time.

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The Story of the 11th Armored Division:
Thunderbolt

Prelude:

The accomplishments of the 11th Armored Division are told briefly in this little booklet. Its simple statements of fact will recall to you men of the Division the glorious accomplishments of your particular units.

You tankers remember the horror of the days of Bastogne and the burning and exploding hulls of your comrades' tanks.

You infantrymen remember your friends who caught it from a bunker in the Siegfried Line, so that you might go on. And you artillerymen know with what courage your buddies lent the support of their weapons to the attack.

You hard-working men of the supply services who forced trucks through icy, traffic-laden roads of the Ardennes, all the way into tank-convoyed lanes in "Indian Country," remember those who paved the way with their lives so that the road could be opened.

The Division dedicates this booklet to those whose lives were lost in keeping the Thunderbolt running.
H. E. Dager
Major General, U.S. Army, Commanding

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THE STORY OF THE ELEVENTH ARMORED DIVISION

....FIRST BLOOD



Dec. 30, 1944: The Nazis were bewildered. Intelligence had reported less than a week before: "The American 11th Armored Division has relieved the 94th Inf. Div. in the siege of the Lorient pocket."

Yet, here was the 11th, 500 miles from Lorient, smashing into the enemy's crack 5th and 15th Panzer Grenadier Divisions, and holding the vital Neufchateau-Bastogne highway. Once again, the speed of American armor had baffled the Germans.

The 11th was assigned to the Lorient Pocket on the day first elements of the division landed at Cherbourg. But that day was Dec. 16, when Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt unleashed his massive counter-offensive in the Ardennes. That scrapped original plans.

Tanks, half-tracks, armored cars, peeps and trucks took off in a dash through the rubbled towns of Normandy, the Seine Valley, northeast through the Argonne to the banks of the Meuse River. Bitter cold, rain and snow made the march a rugged test of armored skill.



On the Meuse, elements of the division were tactically deployed for the first time. Assigned to the river from Givet to Verdun, Combat Command A, commanded by Brig. Gen. Willard A. Holbrook, Jr., was divided into two task forces for patrol activity. All bridges across the river were prepared for demolition in the event Germans broke through.

In the meantime, the sole supply corridor to the embattled Americans in Bastogne was being threatened by German counter- attacks. Again the 11th changed its plans, turned the Meuse River defense over to the 17th Airborne Div., and on Dec. 29 roared 85 miles to an assembly area near Neufchateau.

Without a pause, the division launched into its first action. Attacking abreast, CC A and Col. Wesley W. Yale's CC B jumped off at 0730 next day with the 41st Cav. Recon Sqdn. Within an hour, the drive ran smack into an enemy attack headed for the highway.

The fighting was fierce and bitter. One CC B tank force punched its way into Lavaselle and seized high ground near Brul and Houmont. Despite a heavy artillery barrage that night, all gains were held.



Reserve Command, under Col. Virgil Bell, struck next day, grabbed key terrain southwest of Pinsamont. Pressing on to Acul, CC R doughs were pinned down by heavy enemy artillery and mortar fire.

Twice, in the slugging battle, CC B armored doughs tried to seize the town of Chenogne but each time superior forces drove them off. The third and final assault was launched on New Year's morning. Tanks and artillery laid down massed fire while the infantry followed up. The town was completely secured by noon.

While CC B regrouped, 13 artillery battalions hurled a paralyzing barrage of fire on the heavily defended Bois des Valets. Armored doughs penetrated the thick woods cleaned it out. Seizure of this key point doomed the German effort to cut the supply route.

CC B next caught Mande St. Etienne in a pincers move Jan. 2, 1945, and held it against a powerful counter-attack.

Screened by harassing artillery fire, the division was relieved the next day by the 17th Airborne Div. The Thunderbolt Division - 11th Armored -- had tackled two ace Nazi divisions, punched them back six miles in five freezing days, cleared 30 square miles of rugged terrain, liberated more than a dozen towns and ended the threat to the supply route.

The division suffered heavy casualties in its combat baptism but it had inflicted greater losses on the enemy. After nearly two and a half years of training, the 11th had earned its spurs.

Activated Aug. 15, 1942, at Camp Polk, La., the 11th Armored trained and maneuvered in the Louisiana woods for a year, then moved to Camp Barkeley, Tex. After advanced training, it prepared for overseas duty at Camp Cooke, Calif., undergoing tough desert maneuvers. Arriving in England Nov. 12, Thunderbolts readied for combat with two more months' training on Salisbury Plain. Two weeks after leaving England, the division, under Brig. Gen. Charles S. Killburn, was in the front lines.

THE BIG PINCH

Jan. 13, 1945: Von Rundstedt had lost his great gamble. The Bulge was shrinking under the hammer blows of Allied power. With the 11th as spearhead, Third Army's VIII Corps kicked off to drive a northbound wedge into the enemy line, contact First Army elements knifing southward in the vicinity of Houffalize.

Attacking in column formation along the Longchamps-Bertogne highway northeast of Bastogne, CC A sparked the drive. Massed artillery fire adjusted by liaison planes pulverized an enemy counter-attack. Division engineers quickly breached a mine field that threatened to slow the advance.

Farther east, CC B plunged through Foy and Recogne to Noville where the column was forced to halt before stiffening resistance. By-passing Noville on Jan. 15, CC B seized high wooded ground east of the town. Meanwhile, CC A cleared Pied Du Mont woods, captured 400 enemy prisoners. A sudden counterattack which knocked out nine tanks prevented further gains.



Elements of the 41st Cav. Recon Sqdn., commanded by Lt. Col. Herbert M. Foy, Jr., probed to the northeast in advance of combat commands, seeking contact with First Army patrols. Early Jan. 16 they met troops of First Army's 2nd Armd. Div. at Grinvet, on l'Ourthe River just west of Houffalize. Initial contact was followed by CC A's infantry, which battled artillery and sniper fire, blasted through road blocks. Furiously resisting Germans fired small arms, artillery and rockets at the advancing troops in a vain attempt to drive them out. Div Arty answered with a crushing barrage of 12,000 rounds.

The linkup was secure. Enemy units attempting to withdraw from the huge trap were cut off and mopped up by supporting infantry. The way was paved for an all-out smash at the enemy's touted Siegfried Line.

In the drive for Houffalize, there were numerous examples of heroism. Sgt. (then Cpl.) Wayne E. Van Dyke, Havana, Ill., gunner in Co. B, 41st Tank Bn., earned a Silver Star for his action at Noville. When his tank was knocked out by an 88, he was left in the town with a seriously wounded driver and bow gunner. The tank commander and loader went to the rear to direct other tanks around the town. Van Dyke pulled the driver and bow gunner from the tank, dragged them over to a church wall, played dead while German troops marched through the town.

Van Dyke sprawled on the driver who was suffering from shock. Once, a curious German came over to the apparently lifeless group and looked at the bow gunner's wrist watch but didn't touch him.

After lying in this position for two hours, Van Dyke brought the two men into the church and placed the driver, who was unable to go farther, near the altar. Having given him first aid, Van Dyke and the bow gunner crawled back to their lines. The driver, in the meantime, was treated by a German medic and next day was rescued by his own men when they pushed into the town.



Another Co. B, 41st tanker, T/5 (then Pfc) Herbert Burr, Kansas City, Mo., found himself the only one of his crew able to carry on after two 88 hits knocked out his tank just outside of Houffalize. With the tank commander and gunner dead, the loader wounded, driver evacuated, the turret burning, Burr remained in the assistant driver's seat and fired his machine gun at the enemy shielded by a haystack. After knocking out the crew, Burr pulled the wounded loader from the burning tank, crawled 200 yards through snow back to the CP, dragging his helpless buddy. Then he crept back to the tank, extinguished the fire and drove it back. Burr was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Capt. John F. Maggesin, Aurora, Ill., 42nd Tank Bn., won a Silver Star for leading his company against a counter-attack after his own tank was knocked out. Capt. Maggesin directed the assault from atop his tank, then rescued two wounded men under fire.

Alone in a tank hit by enemy fire, Lt. William J. Kieffer, Rockford, Ill., an artillery observer, directed effective fire on anti-tank guns by radio. Lt. Kieffer also was awarded a Silver Star.

[SAMWolf]

LINE PLUNGE

The Bulge liquidated, the 11th Armored began a drive to pierce the Siegfried Line. It was a job for infantry, engineers and artillery. Mines had to be cleared, pillboxes crushed, road blocks demolished. To CC R went the assignment of penetrating the complex defenses, punching a hole to let the armor through.

At the edge of the line, CC R pulled a fast one. The Germans were expecting an armored frontal attack with the usual heavy artillery preparation. Instead, the command jumped off before dawn without artillery.

The surprise was complete. When dawn came, Nazis manning the bunkers and pillboxes found themselves surrounded -- all their carefully plotted interlocking fields of fire outflanked and three towns taken.



Later, when CC R struck the main defenses of the Line the job had to be done the usual way. With heavy artillery preparation, the 63rd and 55th Armd. Inf. Bns. jumped off Feb 6 from high ground overlooking the Line near Lutzkampen. Progress was slow as armored doughs cut their way through the barbed wire and mine fields. Lutzkampen fell the next day. Positions then were consolidated and preparations made for the last lunge against the Line.

The final assault began Feb. 17, CC R, following up a tremendous artillery barrage, stabbed two kilometers through the main defenses to seize Grosskempenberg. The desperate, stubborn enemy used every weapon available to halt the drive but Thunderbolt doughs pressed on to wrest two more kilometers the following day. Roscheid, key point in the center of the line, fell by Feb. 20.

Blasting pathways through the dragon's teeth, clearing menacing mine fields and booby traps, the 56th Armd. Engr. Bn. commanded by Lt. Col. Andrew V. Inge, opened the hole for the tanks and half-tracks which followed almost immediately.

North and northwest of Roscheid, an area three miles wide and two miles deep was breached. During the costly operation, 197 bunkers and pillboxes were crushed, 432 prisoners taken and approximately 400 Germans killed.

The 11th was now in open terrain, but soft, sticky ooze replaced the frozen ground that the hard-driving Thunderbolt tanks had encountered. While plans were perfected for the next drive, tankers and doughs took an earned respite.

NEXT STOP THE RHINE

March 3, 1945: Gerolstein on the Kyll River was the objective as CC B smashed forward against intense artillery and tank fire of the hard, tough German 5th Parachute Div. Jumping off from a high ridge overlooking a broad, flat plain, tankers were in their glory, able to use the tactics for which they had been trained.

Maneuvering freely, the tanks swept across the favorable terrain, backed up by punishing massed fire from artillery and TDs. Close behind, half-tracks brought up supporting infantry. At the end of the day, CC B had advanced four miles, seized Fleringen.

In the meantime, CC A joined the attack, drove on Wascheid while the 56th Engineers cleared extensive mine fields.



Resistance began to crumble under the trip-hammer blows of the 11th. Wallersheim and Budesheim fell to CC B after five enemy tanks and six 88s were knocked out. Seizing Scheuern, Kalenborn and Roth, CC B raced on, reaching the Kyll River at Ober Bettingen and Nieder Bettingen March 4. A bridgehead was swiftly established and under terrific fire from enemy forces dug in on the opposite bank, the engineers began construction of a treadway bridge.

At Gerolstein, reached by the 90th Inf. Div., CC A crossed the Kyll on a captured span. Abandoning its bridging operations at Nieder Bettingen, CC B swung south to cross the Kyll behind CC A.

The Kyll crossing broke the Wehrmacht's back in the 11th's sector. Fighting only delaying actions at roadblocks, mine fields and blown bridges, the enemy retreated to the east. CC A smashed to the outskirts of Kelberg, seized the town on the night of March 7 despite anti-tank, mortar and rocket fire. Six enemy tanks were destroyed.

Driving through Mayen to Andernach on the Rhine, CC A cut the confused Nazi columns to ribbons. Simultaneously, CC B struck northeast from Kelberg through Mullenbach and Kempenich to the Rhineland town of Brohl. Both Andernach and Brohl fell March 9: Thunderbolt units rolled north along the Rhine to meet First Army forces and snap shut a steel trap on six enemy divisions.

It was in Andernach that a lesson learned 25 years ago by two 11th commanders paid off. Two cavalry officers in the American Army of Occupation after World War I studied the Andernach sector during maneuvers held along the Rhine. On many of the maneuvers Capt. Virgil Bell, Columbus, Ga., was involved in the defense of the town while 2nd Lt. Willard Holbrook, Washington, D.C., took part in the attack.

When the Thunderbolt division seized Andernach, Brig. Gen. Holbrook led CC A into the town. Col. Bell commanded CC R.

Results of the drive included the capture of dozens of towns, 10,663 prisoners, including the CG of the 277th Volksgrenadier Div. and his staff. Credit for the capture of the Nazi major general went to S/Sgt. Carlton E. Cassidy, Clayton, N.J., who was on a foot reconnaissance mission. Passing a cafe in a small German village, Cassidy signaled his squad to stand by while he went in to investigate.

Armed with a .45 pistol, he pushed open the door and bumped into two Wehrmacht soldiers emerging from the cellar. They immediately threw up their hands and asked if they could go downstairs and bring up their comrades. The "comrades" turned out to be the general and his complete staff, consisting of 24 officers.

Swinging south, the 11th took off March 17 in Third Army's drive to clean out the Saar-Moselle-Rhine pocket. Under command of Maj. Gen. (then Brig. Gen.) Holmes E. Dager, the Thunderbolt division spanned the Moselle in the Kobern-Winningen area as part of XII Corps.

Light resistance met CC R as it swept through Altlay, Lauzenhausen, Buchenbeuren, Rhaunen and Sulzbach. Attacking in the afternoon, CC A tore through Kappel toward Kirchberg. In a closely coordinated air-ground strike, the division raced ahead 30 kilometers the following day, adding Kirchberg and Gehweiler to the lengthening string of towns taken.

At Kirn there was scattered resistance; bridges were blown over the Nahe River, but the attack rolled through Marxheim and Meisenheim. Enemy bazookas, AT guns and infantry held up the advance at Meisenheim, but they soon were overcome by dismounted infantry. Five thousand Germans were captured March 19 alone.

Teaming up for the final blow, CC A and CC B smashed to within a few kilometers of the ancient Rhineland city of Worms. After contacting the 4th Armd. Div., CC A wheeled to the north, began mopping up remnants of German resistance on the morning of the 21st. Thrusting southward, CC B met determined opposition at an airfield on the outskirts of Worms, crushed it in one hour.

Another Thunderbolt mission was accomplished. In a 50-hour, 75-mile dash, CC A and CC B captured 79 towns, destroyed undetermined amounts of enemy equipment and sent 11,789 more prisoners to the bulging cages. While Allied forces mopped up and consolidated along the Rhine, the 11th prepared to cross this final barrier. The Germans were whipped west of the Rhine. They had suffered a knockout blow from which they never would recover.

THE SPRINT BEGINS

Crossing the Rhine March 28 at Oppenheim, the 11th roared through ruined Darmstadt and swept on to Hanau where resistance was encountered from German replacement troops and student engineer non-coms. Under strong pressure, the Germans reluctantly fell back to Gelnhausen where CC A ran up against mines, road blocks, mortar and anti-tank fire.



By-passing Gelnhausen, CC A sped on to converge with CC B on Fulda, key communications center, March 31. While CC B blasted the town, supporting infantry rushed up from the rear, moved in and cleaned out the defenders.

The division changed its course sharply April 1. Nazi big shots, fleeing from Berlin in the face of the Red Army threat to the capital, were reported to have moved to the vicinity of Arnstadt and Kranichfeld, due east of Fulda.

Hitler himself was said to be in the group. The division plunged into the Thuringian Forest, headed for the towns of Oberhof and Suhl.

Taking parallel routes, CC A and CC B spurted 30 miles beyond Fulda to the Werra River near Meiningen. At Grimmenthal, the division liberated 400 Allied prisoners. Suhl, one of the two objectives in the lightning drive, was reached by CC A April 3, but it took a day's stiff fighting to clear the town of stubborn Volkssturm troops.

Despite a delay at the Werra because of a blown bridge, CC B reached Oberhof the afternoon of April 3, met strong resistance which was knocked out by heavy artillery bombardment. The town was secured the following morning.

While the two columns drove to the Werra, CC R swept from Steinbach Hallenberg to seize Zella Mehlis, home of the famed Walther small arms plants. Here, the 22nd Tank Bn. captured one of the largest concentrations of pistols, rifles and automatic weapons in Germany.

Said 1st/Sgt. Daniel H. Boone, Naples, Tex., Co. B, 22nd: "I feel like I'm sitting on the vault at Fort Knox, Ky., where they keep all the gold. And, on the other hand, I'm so sick of looking at German pistols that I never want to see another."

[SAMWolf]

INTO BAVARIA

Now only 60 miles from the Czechoslovakian border, the 11th changed direction, shooting its swift-moving spearheads to the southeast. The enemy's retreat turned into a rout -- prisoners overtaken by the flying advance columns were dazed by the Thunderbolt's speed. As the 11th flashed through Bavaria, supporting infantry often was unable to keep up and several times Corps was forced to halt the division to allow doughs to catch up. Pessimistic front line men sensed the kill, talked guardedly and hopefully of the end.

The two combat commands, CC A and CC B, drove on in parallel columns. Themar, Scheusingen and Hildburghausen fell in rapid succession to CC A, while CC B knocked out Zeilfeld. Resistance was expected in Coburg where the two columns were to converge but the garrison at Coburg Castle, on the outskirts of the city, surrendered after its officers deserted. When the columns entered the city April 10 they found the civilians removing the roadblocks and white flags flying from the windows.

Striking swiftly on the 12th, CC A swung to the northeast to take Kronach, and the next day entered Kulmbach where light small arms fire was encountered. While part of the command was clearing out the town, other elements sped on, to occupy Stadt Steinach and Unter Steinach. In this drive .two 240mm railway guns were captured intact as well as an experimental electronics laboratory specializing in ultra-high frequency radio which had been moved from Berlin only a few days before.



Thunderbolt tankers also ran up against a group of teenage youngsters, some of whom were only 13 years old. The youths had been given uniforms a few days previous to the Americans' approach and had been ordered to leave the town. Homesick, hungry and tired, they were picked up while carrying white flags by an MP detachment under Maj. Ernest L. Booch, Quincy, Ill., and returned to their homes.

Meanwhile, CC B swung to the south, captured Mainleus. Then, a flying column of the 41st Cav. Recon Sqdn. Raced to Bayreuth, 20 miles away. Reaching the outskirts of the historic Bavarian city, famed for its Wagnerian music festivals, negotiations began for its surrender, April 14.

The defenders were given three hours to give up. Shortly before the time expired, the town was reported clear except for some fanatics. To meet possible resistance, tanks and infantry rushed into the city which fell with little trouble. Later in the day, elements of the 71st Inf. Div. moved in, and the 11th pulled out to an assembly area north of the city.

Two tank men, Pfc Al Houska, Portland, Ore., and Pfc Chester Gajda. Detroit, Mich., captured five Germans on a hilltop overlooking Bayreuth. The two tankers headed for a plowed corner of a field to dig foxholes in the soft ground. Just inside the fence, in high grass, they found the Germans, armed with bazookas. The Nazis, overawed by the armored vehicles in the vicinity, threw down their arms and surrendered.

Jumping off again April 19, the 11th captured the Wehrmacht training center of Grafenwohr. The town was the combined Fort Knox and Fort Sill of the Germany Army, the birthplace of German panzer tactics. American tankers tested the terrain, found it like Louisiana.

The largest chemical warfare supply dump in Germany also was captured, with an estimated 3,000,000 rounds of chemical artillery shells and thousands of gas mines.



The Thunderbolt drove on. Leading elements liberated 1722 Allied prisoners at Weiden April 22. Nabburg, Schwarzenfeld and Cham fell without resistance. South of Cham an airfield was captured with 50 enemy planes. After it was seized, three more aircraft, their pilots unaware that it was in American hands, landed and were seized.

Men of the 11th had a first-hand glimpse of SS atrocities in their drive to the Danube. Hundreds of bodies of political prisoners lay along the route of march, which led from the Flossenburg concentration camp. The SS had marched the prisoners out of the camp and killed those who could not keep up. On the way, tankmen liberated thousands of undernourished Allied prisoners of war.

Reaching the Regen River April 24, the rapid advance was halted by a blown bridge at the village of Regen. Dismounted infantry from CC B crossed the stream and seized the town after a short but sharp struggle. That night the 56th Engineers threw a treadway bridge across the river and the column resumed its advance next morning.

Smashing ahead, CC A swept through Grafenau, overtaking the Japanese legation of 37 men, women and children fleeing to Vienna by rail. Freyung fell to CC A on the morning of April 26 while CC B swung south of the city, and early that night the advance elements of CC A crossed the Austrian border.

As the main bodies of the division moved up and consolidated their positions in the next four days, heavy resistance developed at the border town of Wegscheid. Small arms, mortar, anti-tank and artillery fire burst from the town itself and surrounding woods. Div Arty moved up, amid a devastating barrage. Infantry closed in from the east and north, gained the summit of a series of hills overlooking the town, and on the night of April 30, stormed into the town and cleared it.



The end of April found the fast-stepping 11th Armored the easternmost division in the American Army, 250 miles from Fulda and with a record bag of prisoners. In the swift onslaught the Thunderbolt had liberated more than 3000 Allied PWs and hundreds of German political prisoners. As the end of the war neared, the 11th was poised for the last strike into Austria.

THE LAST BORDER

Plunging across the Austrian border May 1, CC A and CC B followed parallel routes toward the Danube River. Tearing through fanatical SS resistance and several defended road blocks. CC A grabbed Rohrbach and Neufelden, forded the Muhl River at Neufelden and struck out for the southeast. CC B also changed direction, sped to Zwettl, cutting the main north-south highway leading to Linz, and continued east while CC A went on to Linz.

After two days of bitter fighting along the approaches to the key Austrian city, the 11th entered Linz May 5 through Urfahr, a neighboring city across the Danube River. Leading citizens of the two cities attempted to negotiate a conditional surrender by which German soldiers could be allowed to withdraw and fight the Red Army approaching from the east. Brig. Gen. Holbrook rejected the offer, ordered his troops to enter Urfahr and Linz.

Despite rejection of the German's terms, the 11th found Linz undamaged and not a shot was fired in defense. The tankers, accustomed to the stony silence of German civilians, were amazed by the Austrian welcome. Women and children showered their vehicles with flowers. Housewives brought out pitchers of cider and bottles of wine.

The liberation of tattered, starved-looking laborers, mainly Russians, Poles and Yugoslavs, resulted in dancing in the streets.

Relieved by the 65th Inf. Div., the 11th pushed out of Linz. Advancing down the Danube, a reconnaissance patrol uncovered two notorious concentration camps at Mauthausen and Gusen. Here were 16,000 political prisoners, representing every country in Europe, all reduced to living skeletons and ridden with disease. The bodies of more than 500 were stacked in an area between two barracks. The few long-term prisoners still alive said that at least 45,000 bodies had been burned in the huge crematorium in four years. Other thousands were killed in the gas chambers, injected with poison or beaten to death.

The 11th rushed all available medical facilities to Mauthausen to prevent further loss of life while cavalry patrols probed eastward, seeking contact with the Red Army advancing westward from Vienna. At 1550, May 8, Troop A, 41st, commanded by Lt. Kedar B. Collins, Albany, Ca., met a patrol of the Soviet Seventh Guards Div., first unit of Third Army to link up with the Red Army.


Mauthausen survivors cheer the soldiers of the Eleventh Armored Division of the U.S. Third Army one day after their actual liberation; photo courtesy of USHMM

The meeting took place in the midst of battle. The Soviet patrol of seven tanks was following the trail of its planes strafing and bombing a German column of SS Panzer troops. In the face of the Soviet advance, the American patrol, consisting of an armored car and three peeps, was almost taken under fire.

Sgt. John L. Brady, riding in the lead peep, leaped up and shouted: "We are Americans!" Lt. Gene Ellenson, Coral Cables, Fla., and Lt. Richard L. Lucas, Mt. Carmel, Ill., shot up flares to identify their nationality. The Red Army troops replied with their flares and jumped out to join the Americans. First Yank to meet the Soviet patrol was T/4 Frank H. Johnson, Reno, Nev., who was greeted by Lt. Fyodor A. Kiseyev.

T/Sgt, Clarence L. Barts, Chicago, at the time of the meeting, was mistaken for a German. The Red Army soldiers demanded his pistol. When they learned he was an American, they hugged and kissed him.

Others who took part in the historic junction of the victorious armies were Cpl. Theodore Barton, Brisbane, Australia, a released PW who acted as interpreter; Pfc Robert P. Vanderhagen, E. Detroit, Mich.; T/Sgt. Joseph P. McTighe, Louisville, Ky.; Cpl. Will Richmond, Trenton, N.J.; Pfc Michael Tancrati, Springfield, Mass.; Sgt. Marvin H. Estes, Montrose, Colo.; T/5 Andrew Florey, Medford, Ore.

Later that day, commanders of three German military units offered to surrender unconditionally to the division. These were the 2nd SS Panzer Corps, with 50,000 troops; the 8th German Army, strength 100,000; the Russian Forces of Liberation, a Nazi-sponsored army, 100,000 strong. All were told to remain in place.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

At 0001 May 9, the war officially ended. The mission of the Allied Armies -- unconditional surrender of Germany -- was accomplished. The 11th Armd. Div., after four months and 10 days of combat, ended the European war in the forefront of the American eastern drive.

Following the surrender, men of the Thunderbolt Division could take stock of their achievements. They had captured 76,229 prisoners, nearly twice as many as were taken by the entire American Army in World War I. The figure did not include 10,000 prisoners turned over to supporting infantry divisions for evacuation or 34,125 German troops who violated surrender terms by fleeing from the Red Army. These troops were rounded up and turned over to the Soviet forces.



The 11th had swept across Germany in one of the swiftest advances in military history, captured hundreds of cities and towns, destroyed a good part of the German forces and liberated thousands of Allied prisoners and slave laborers.

To accomplish its mission, the 11th functioned as a smooth-working, hard-striking team. Besides the armored infantry and tank battalions, the 183rd FA Gp. and attached units played an important role. Troops such as the 575th AA Bn., 705th, 602nd and 811th TD Bns., 991st Engr. Trdwy Br. Co., and 996th Engr. Trdwy Br. Co. helped in beating the Germans into submission. In many of the battles the 11th had the support of the XIX TAC.

Men of the 81st Medic Bn. worked tirelessly, treating and evacuating casualties swiftly and efficiently. Vehicles and weapons were kept in fighting trim under all conditions of weather and terrain by the 133rd Ord. Bn. Truck drivers of the 381st QM Trk Co., and 659th QM Truck Co., not only delivered over ever-lengthening lines but on one occasion dismounted and fought with the infantry. Wire men, radio operators and messengers came in for their share of praise also.

It was a team that adapted itself smoothly to ever-changing conditions under the control of the division staff, a team that met and defeated the best the enemy could throw against it. The 11th Armored accomplished every mission, made a combat record in which every Thunderbolt soldier could take genuine pride.

Additional Sources:

www.11tharmoreddivision.com

[SAMWolf]

'There is no doubt in my mind that the most important "secret weapon" of this war is the tremendous driving power of the Americans. These boys of Gen. Dager's 11th Armored have never been in reserve for more than a few days at a time since they landed at Cherbourg last December. According to the speedometer of one of the original headquarters half-tracks, they have traveled 1599 miles. Those are not merely road miles; they are combat miles. '

Russell W. Davenport in the New York Post:

[SAMWolf]

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[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-Story-o-Gram.

In A.D. 2101, the Statue of Freedom is under attack.

Darf Nader ascends Freedom's perch.

Nader appears to prevail.

Spiderboy lays the foundation for defenders to fight back.

Spiderboy and the Ewoks triumph, and go to sleep.

[snippy_about_it]

"FALL IN" to the FReeper Foxhole!



It's TreadHead Tuesday!


Good Morning Everyone

If you would like added to our ping list let us know.

[The Mayor]

September 20, 2005

Why Me?

Read:
Luke 17:11-19

One of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God. —Luke 17:15

Bible In One Year: Ezekiel 31-33

A few years ago, an unkempt, poorly adjusted youth named Tim (not his real name) was converted to Christ in an evangelistic crusade. Several days later, still unkempt but bathed in the love of Christ, he was sent to my home so that I could help him find a good church. And so it was that he began attending with me.

Though Tim needed and received much loving help in personal grooming and basic social graces, one characteristic has remained unchanged—his untamed love for his Savior.

One Sunday after church Tim rushed to my side, looking somewhat perplexed. He exclaimed, "Why me? I keep asking myself, why me?" Oh, no, I thought, he's become another complaining Christian. Then with arms outstretched, he went on to say, "Out of all the people in the world who are greater and smarter than I am, why did God choose me?" With that he joyfully clapped his hands.

Over the years I've heard many Christians, including myself, ask "Why me?" during tough times. But Tim is the first one I've heard ask that question when talking about God's blessings. Many were converted the same night as Tim, but I wonder how many among them have humbly asked, "Why me?" May we ask it often. —Joanie Yoder

I know not why God's wondrous grace
To me He hath made known;
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own. —Whittle

Gratitude should be a continuous attitude.

FOR FURTHER STUDY
How Does God Keep His Promises?

[snippy_about_it]

Free Republic Treadhead Ping





Freedom Poster;Delta 21;mostly cajun ;archy; Gringo1; Matthew James; Fred Mertz; Squantos; colorado tanker; The Shrew; SLB; Darksheare; BCR #226; IDontLikeToPayTaxes; Imacatfish; Tailback; DCBryan1; Eaker; Archangelsk; gatorbait; river rat; Lee'sGhost; Dionysius; BlueLancer; Frohickey; GregB; leadpenny; skepsel; Proud Legions; King Prout; Professional Engineer; alfa6; bluelancer; Cannoneer No.4; An Old Man; hookman; DMZFrank; in the Arena; Bethbg79; neverdem; NWU Army ROTC; ma bell; MoJo2001; The Sailor; dcwusmc; dts32041; spectr17; Rockpile; Theophilus;humblegunner


************Snippy, I bequeath to you the FR TH PL.

148 posted on 08/24/2004 11:39:45 AM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4 (I've lost turret power; I have my nods and my .50. Hooah. I will stay until relieved. White 2 out.)



Good morning, ON THE WAY!!!!. :-)

[The Mayor]

Cool!

[snippy_about_it]

Hoorah for Spiderboy and the Ewoks!

[stand watie]

GM, snippy, et.al.!

free dixie,sw

[E.G.C.]

Good morning Snippy and everyone at the Foxhole.

[Diver Dave]

Mornin' to one and all at The Foxhole.

[Valin]

On this Day In History



Birthdates which occurred on September 20:
0357 BC Alexander III the Great, king of Macedonia, emperor
1810 Alpheus Starkey Williams Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)
1820 George Washington Morgan Brig General (Union volunteers)
1820 John Fulton Reynolds Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1863
1842 Lord James Dewar, physician who invented the vacuum flask and cordite, the first smokeless powder.
1878 Upton Sinclair novelist (Jungle)
1885 Ferdinand Lamenthe (Jelly Roll Morton), jazz pianist, composer and singer, one of the first to orchestrate jazz music.
1902 Kermit Maynard Vevey Ind, cowboy actor (Saturday Roundup)
1917 Arnold "Red" Auerbach NBA coach/GM (Boston Celtics)
1920 Alexander Thereat
1928 Dr Joyce Brothers NYC, pop psychiatrist ($64,000 question winner)
1929 Anne Meara Bkln NY comedian/actress (Stiller & Meara, Archie's Place)
1934 Sophia Loren Rome, actress (Desire Under the Elms, Black Orchid)
1938 Tom Tresh NY Yankee (1962 AL Rookie of the Year)
1941 Dale Chihuly Tacoma Wash, artist in glass (Louis Tiffany Award 1967)
1951 Guy LaFleur Quebec, NHL right wing (Montreal, NY Rangers)
1954 Silvio Leonard Cuba, 100m sprinter (Olympic-silver-1980)
1957 Fran Drescher NYC, actress (The Nanny)

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Deaths which occurred on September 20:
0019BC The Roman poet Virgil
1168 Paschal III, [Guido di Crema], Italian anti-Pope, dies
1327 King Edward II of England was murdered under the connivance of the queen.
1586 Anthony Babington, page/conspirator to Mary Stuart, executed at 24
1803 Robert Emmet, Irish nationalist, executed
1863 Jakob Grimm, writer, dies at 78 (Grimms Brothers)
1947 Fiorello La Guardia (Mayor-R-NYC), dies
1957 Jean Sibelius Finnish composer, dies at 91
1959 Olin Howlin actor (Swifty-Circus Boy), dies at 63
1973 Jim Croce singer/songwriter (Time In A Bottle, Bad Bad Leroy Brown), dies in a plane crash at 30
1973 Glenn Strange actor (Sam the Bartender-Gunsmoke), dies at 74
1974 Gail A. Cobb, a member of the Metropolitan Police Force of Washington, D.C., became the first female police officer to be killed in the line of duty.

2002 Necdet Kent (91), Turkish diplomat in France (1941-1944), died in Istanbul. He gave Turkish citizenship to dozens of Turkish Jews living in France who did not have proper identity papers to save them from deportation to the Nazi gas chambers.

---

Take A Moment To Remember
GWOT Casualties

Iraq
20-Sep-2003 3 | US: 3 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Staff Sergeant Frederick L. Miller Jr. Ramadi - Anbar Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US Specialist Lunsford B. Brown II Baghdad (Abu Ghuraib Prison) Hostile - hostile fire - mortar attack
US Sergeant David Travis Friedrich Baghdad (Abu Ghuraib Prison) Hostile - hostile fire - mortar attack

20-Sep-2004 3 | US: 3 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Sergeant Foster L. Harrington Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire
US Lance Corporal Steven C. T. Cates Al Anbar Province Hostile - hostile fire
US Specialist Joshua J. Henry Ash Sharqat (near) - Ninawa Hostile - hostile fire


Afghanistan
09/20/04 Wells, Wesley R. Specialist 21 Army 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Reg., 25th Infantry Div. Hostile - hostile fire Naka, Paktika Prov. [nr. Khost] Libertyville Illinois

09/20/04 Olaes, Tony B. Staff Sergeant 30 Army 2nd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group Hostile - hostile fire Shkin, Paktika Province Walhalla South Carolina

09/20/04 Goodwin, Robert S. Staff Sergeant 35 Army 2nd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group Hostile - hostile fire Shkin, Paktika Province Albany Georgia

http://icasualties.org/oif/
Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White
//////////
Go here and I'll stop nagging.
http://soldiersangels.org/heroes/index.php

---

On this day...
0480 BC Themistocles and his Greek fleet win one of history's first decisive naval victories over Xerxes' Persian force off Salamis.
0451 General Aetius defeats Attila the Hun at Chalons-sur-Marne
0622 Mohammad's Hegira
1519 Magellan starts 1st successful circumnavigation of the world
1565 Spaniards capture Fort Caroline Fla & massacre the French
1664 Maryland enacts 1st anti-amaglmation law to prevent widespread intermarriage of English women & black men
1777 Paoli, PA massacre of sleeping Continental troops by British Dragoons
1792 French defeat Prussians at Valmy
1784 Packet and Daily, the first daily publication in America, appears on the streets.
1797 US frigate Constitution (Old Ironsides) launched in Boston
1830 1st National Black convention meets (Phila)
1850 Slave trade abolished in DC, but slavery allowed to continue
1854 British & French defeat Russians at Alma, in the Crimea
1859 Patent granted on the electric range
1860 1st British royalty to visit US, Prince of Wales (King Edward VII)
1863 Battle of Shepardstown VA
1863 Civil War Battle of Chickamauga, near Chattanooga, Tenn, ends
1873 Panic sweeps NY Stock Exchange (railroad bond default/bank failure)
1881 Chester A Arthur sworn in as president (succeeding James A. Garfield, who had been assassinated)
1884 Equal Rights Party nominates female candidates for Pres & VP
1927 NY Yankee Babe Ruth hits record 60th HR of season off Tom Zachry
1932 Gandhi begins hunger strike
1939 U-27 was located and sunk by destroyers "Fortune" and "Forester."
1944 Nijmegen free (Operation Market-Garden)
1944 Polish forces free Terneuzen Neth
1945 German rocket engineers begin work in US
1946 Churchill argues for a "US of Europe"
1948 Mexican Baseball league disbanded
1949 Tennis player Pancho Gonzales turns professional
1951 Swiss males votes against female suffrage
1951 1st North Pole jet crossing
1951 Ford Frick elected commissioner of baseball
1954 1st FORTRAN computer program run
1954 1st National People's Congress adopts Chinese constitution
1958 Martin Luther King Jr stabbed in chest by a deranged black woman in NYC
1960 UN General Assembly admit 13 African countries & Cyprus (96 nations)
1961 After 84 1/3 innings Bill Fischer gives up a base on balls
1961 Roger Maris hits home run # 59 & barely misses # 60 in game 154 of the season. Yanks clinch pennant #26
1962 James Meredith is blocked from entering Miss U as its 1st black
1965 Seven U.S. planes downed in one day over Vietnam
1966 US Surveyor B launched toward Moon; crashed Sept 23
1968 Mickey Mantle hits final career homer # 536
1970 Luna 16 lands on Moon's Mare Fecunditatis, drills core sample
1972 Police find cannabis growing on Paul & Linda McCartney's farm
1973 Billy Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in battle-of-sexes tennis match
1973 Willie Mays announces retirement at end of 1973 season
1975 Gary Sentman draws a record 176 lb longbow to a maximum 28¬" draw
1976 Playboy releases Jimmy Carter's interview that he lusts for women
1977 Voyager 2 launched for fly-by of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
1979 Bloodless coup in Central African Rep overthrows Emperor Bokassa I
1979 NASA launches HEAO
1980 Plaque dedicated in Thurman Munson's memory at Yankee Stadium
1980 Spectacular Bid runs in Belmont alone as 3 horses drop out
1982 NFL players begin a 57 day strike
1983 3,112 turn out to see the Pirates play the NY Mets at Shea Stadium
1984 Suicide car bomb attacks US Embassy annex in Beirut
1985 Walt Disney World's 200-millionth guest
1986 Wichita State blow a 35-3 lead; lose 36-35 to Morehead State
1987 Walter Payton scores NFL record 107th rushing touchdown
1990 Both Germanys ratify reunification
1990 Saddam Hussein demands US networks broadcast his message
1991 On Capitol Hill, Senate hearings on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court concluded.
1992 French voters narrowly approved the Maastricht Treaty on European unity.
2000 Independent Counsel Robert Ray announced the end of the Whitewater investigation, "insufficient evidence to warrant charges against President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton".
2001 America demanded that Afghanistan hand over Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Otherwise, he said, the Taliban wouild share his fate.
2001 FBI arrested Nabil Al-Marabh (34), a suspected bin laden associate, in the Chicago area

---

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Laos : Thanksgiving
Biosphere Day
Blessed Rainy Day (Bhutan).
Idaho Spud Day
National Punch Day
Birthday of Quetzacoatl (Incan holiday).
National Tie Week (Day 3)
National Singles Week (Day 3)
Pleasure Your Mate Month

---

Religious Observances
Ang, RC : Ember Day
RC : Commemoration of St Eustace & his companions/martyrs
RC : Mem of SS Andrew Kim, Paul Chong & companions, Korean martyrs
Ang : St John Coleridge Patteson, Bishop of Melanesia/companions

---

Religious History
1378 The Great Schism in the Catholic Church began. It was touched off when Gregory XI died, shortly after returning the papal seat from Avignon, in France, to Rome. Continuing for nearly 40 years (until 1417), the Schism at one point produced three concurrent popes!
1883 Birth of Albrecht Alt, German Lutheran Old Testament scholar. "Biblia Hebraica" (13th ed., 1962), which Alt edited with Rudolph Kittel, became a standard critical Hebrew text of the Old Testament among students of the Bible for years.
1932 Four branches of Methodism in England united to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain and Ireland. These were the Wesleyan Methodists (founded 1784), the Primitive Methodists (1811), the United Methodist Free Churches (1857) and the United Methodists (1907).
1947 English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: 'Those who suffer the same things from the same people for the same Person can scarcely not love each other.'
1948 American missionary Jim Elliot -- eight years before his martyrdom at the hands of the Auca Indians of Ecuador -- penned in his journal: 'I am Thine at terrible cost to Thyself. Now Thou must become mine -- as Thou didst not attend to the price, neither would I.'

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

---

SCIENTISTS REVEAL LAWYERS & LEECHES HAVE IDENTICAL GENETIC MAKEUP!


By MARK MILLER

INNSBRUCK, Austria -- It's been suspected for centuries, but a team of world-renowned scientists has finally confirmed it: Lawyers and leeches have identical genetic makeup.

Dr. Andreas Volkenweiler of Austria's famed Innsbruck Institute of Genetic Research confirms that, "While studying the DNA sequences of many genes that control body patterns in various occupations, our research team observed that each lawyer gene contains a stretch of 180 nucleotides -- or structural components of DNA -- which exactly match the structure of those found in leeches.

"Once we made that basic match, other similarities between the two species were fairly easy to observe." Those similarities include the facts that both lawyers and leeches are:
Famed for their blood-sucking abilities.
Have large round mouths functioning as suckers to hold on to their hosts.
Have fine, conical teeth.
Are recognized for being the lowest, sleaziest and slimiest of their species.
Thrive in the bottom-mud and ooze of existence.
Partial to consuming the blood of fish, frogs and turtles.
Equally popular in social situations.
The American Bar Association is proceeding with a defamation of character lawsuit, but Dr. Volkenweiler is not worried. "We haven't stated anything that's not a documented fact," he says.

---

Thought for the day :
"Politics is very much like taxes—everybody is against them, or everybody is for them as long as they don't apply to him."
Fiorello La Guardia

[Valin]

Time to go pretend I'm working...back tonight.


Now BE GOOD! Try it once, it might work for you.




It doesn't for me but it might for you.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning EGC.

[snippy_about_it]

!!!!!

[alfa6]

1842 Lord James Dewar, physician who invented the vacuum flask and cordite, the first smokeless powder.

Ya think Lord Dewar had anything to do with this, hmmmmm

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[snippy_about_it]

Hiya Dave.

[alfa6]

Regards

alfa6 ;>}