Posted on 11/11/2018 4:18:06 PM PST by Retain Mike
So was my Dad, who just passed at 94 on 9/26. He was D-Day Wave 1, to blow barricades, de-activate mines, blow walls etc.
He was a Platoon Sergeant, responsible for 33 soldiers in several squads, and served with the 101st Combat Engineers, 26th Infantry Division, attached to Patton’s 3rd Army Corps in the European Theater. They built and blew bridges and buildings, built HQs, de-activated landmines, and fought in ferocious combat; basically, whatever needed to be done.
He received the Eastern European Ribbon w/ 4 Clusters for Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes, Central Europe, the Bronze Star Medal for Valor w/ Bronze Clusters for saving other US Soldiers from Nazi machine gun fire, along with the Purple Heart Medal for Nazi sniper wounds he received in The Battle of The Bulge at Bastogne, Good Conduct Medal, European Theater Service Medal and the WW II Victory Service Medal.
So he was Infantry & Combat Engineer, depending upon what Patton needed at the time. Especially to take Bastogne.
A standard Soviet rifle division was considerable smaller then a U.S. Brit or German infantry division. At strength it numbered about 9,400 men. If it was a “Guards” rifle division it’s strength was about 10,500.
Daddy’s Battalion, the 208th, was in pretty much the same places tho they were more fortunate. They were scheduled to land on D-Day but their ship had engine trouble and had to delay their crossing. They landed a few days after D-Day.
Also at St. Lo. I have several photos of St. Lo. taken by one of men in the Engineers Headquarters Platoon. They show absolutely everything turned to rubble. One shows General Burkhart (sp?), in the middle of it looking at charts with another officer. Nothing but rubble and a few armored vehicles in sight.
They were also lucky in the Bulge. They were ordered to cease their operation, cutting timber in the Ardennes, to move to block the Germans. Within 24 hours they had moved to intercept the Germans but they never came that way. They missed just about all the fighting, tho they had a Sergeant shoot down a Focke Wulf 190 which was strafing them.
They did see heavy combat in the assault crossing of the Roer River. Their first two bridges were blown up. They finally got a heavy pontoon bridge across.
Also put a really long bridge across the Rhine while under fire. Both artillery and jet fighter bombers.
They were then sent into Berlin as part of the Army of Occupation. Daddy had a huge number of photos of Berlin, Russians etc.
Daddy did not earn any medals except the ones everyone got. I do recall those campaign ribbons you mentioned. For some reason he was proud of the expert rifleman medal. He was an extraordinary shot, probably would have earned an even higher one if it were available.
Wonderful essay. Thank’s very much for writing it.
You might want to consider reading “The Bedford Boys” by Alex Kershaw.
...or anything by Alex Kershaw.
Thanks again
I salute your Dad.
At 94, he drove his Mercedes everyday to food shop, get his haircut, go to church, buy new suits at Jos A Banks clothier etc etc. He was fit as a fiddle until he fell, cracked his skull and had a brain bleed, embolism and fatal stroke, in York Hospital CCU.
I forgot to add: I miss my Dad terribly; he was my hero.
Thank you.
Still, 2,000 of those rifle divisions are a LOT more than we had.
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