The 112th Infantry Regiment of the US Army dates back to the American Civil war and has since participated in several conflicts, including WWI and WWII. Just before dark, therefore, Kokott threw a part of his replacement training battalion into the action; these fresh troops succeeded in forcing their way into the north edge of the village, although with heavy losses. This was not quite the end in Clerf. As the enemy gun layers dropped their range back to the river and then to the American positions, the searchlights blinked on, searching out pillboxes and bunkers. The family moved to Willmar in 1928 and to a farm north of Willmar in 1932. continue the attack for the bridges at Ouren. The 5th Parachute Division commander had already experienced great difficulty in maintaining control of his units in action. In midmorning Paul ordered Company C to march north from Munshausen, leaving the cannon company there, and counterattack the Germans in the Company B area. Once this barrier was passed the 26th would be responsible for covering the left flank of the corps while the armored divisions made the Meuse crossings. Manteuffel likewise opposed the concept proposed by Jodl in which the attack would be carried by two panzer corps advancing in column. He then became the executive officer (XO) for the 16th Infantry Regiment at Fort Jay, Governors Island, New York. The provisional battalion which had been recruited from the headquarters staff remained in Wiltz. The battle plans and tactics of the Fifth Panzer Army, more than those of any other German army that took part in the Ardennes counteroffensive, bore the very strong personal imprint of its commander, General Manteuffel. Formed in 1917, the division deployed to France as a part of the . Their fate is unknown. But Germans struck again and again. The 77th marched toward Drauffelt on the Clerf River, leaving the replacement training battalion to continue the fight at Hosingen. Colonel Fuller had ordered a platoon of the 2d Battalion to swing south and bar the road, but it was already dominated by the German armor. cannon company gunners quickly bore-sighted their pieces, loaded reduced charge, and with direct fire knocked out four of the panzers. Battalion. A Symbol of the Combat Ability of MI Soldiers. Some of the first Americans to confront Hitler's gamble on the front lines were the men of the 394th Infantry Regiment at Lanzareth Ridge. This article appears in: . This German blow fell on either side of Sevenig, held by Company L. The American barbed wire line had not been completed across the draws to the north and south of the village; through these gaps the shock companies advanced. trusted officers set feverishly to work on plans for Christrose, This was General der Artillerie Walther Lucht's LXVI Corps. The sector held by the 112th Infantry was approximately six miles wide. But menaced as they were, the artillery commander could not risk his howitzers further. going in the West Wall maze north of Ltzkampen and the initial ", The main effort launched by the LVIII Panzer Corps on 16 December was assigned the 116th Panzer Division. Company K, reinforced by Company B, 103d Engineer Combat Battalion, garrisoned Hosingen, a village on the Skyline Drive overlooking two of the four roads which wound from the Our up over the ridge. In the darkness and confusion many stragglers made their way into Bastogne and Vaux-lez-Rosires. A platoon of Negro troops came to the head of the. At the close of this first day the 112th Infantry remained in its positions east of the Our.16 The 2d Battalion had not yet been seriously engaged, although one company had been detached to reinforce the 3d. Directed to the west by Hitler's orders, the division would see its first action in the Ardennes. After a long wait the battalion commanding officer, Major Milton, went back into Wiltz to get further orders; when he returned most of his battalion had disappeared. In the last planning conference held at Hitler's headquarters, Model and Manteuffel combined forces in a forthright appeal that carried the day on a series of tactical decisions although it failed to sway the Fuehrer from his strategic decision for the Big Solution. the thin infantry line on the Wahlhausen road. But the German tanks were fanning out as the day drew to a close, turning attention to the south as well as the west. Free shipping for many products! About 1830 troops at the battalion observation post reported that enemy vehicles were attacking with multiple 20-mm. The defenders at Weiler would not be easily pushed aside. The road net was adequate, although mired by constant rain, but the two forward battalions had to be supplied at night because of German fire. The Germans in the way quickly withdrew to the ridge, covering an observation post. These reinforcements arrived at Reuler in time to take a hand against the Germans pouring past Marnach toward Clerf and its bridges. 125th Infantry Regiment. But the pressure on the Wiltz perimeter relaxed briefly as the Panzer Lehr Reconnaissance Battalion turned back toward the north to rejoin its division in the race for Bastogne. The main paved road from Marnach approaches Clerf through a shallow draw, passing just to the south of the little village of Reuler, which perches on the high ground overlooking the river bend. Hyperleap helps uncover and suggest. It arrived in Clerf with nineteen medium tanks. German shells. In the 110th zone four roads ran from the German border at the Our, up and over the Skyline Drive, and down to the Clerf. His appeal for a mechanized division to be given the neighboring Seventh the Fuehrer personally denied.2, The 110th Infantry Sector In 1920, the Tyrone unit was redesignated Troop B, 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry and the Bellefonte unit was redesignated Troop L, 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry. 29th Infantry Division 58th Inf Bde 115th 175th 88th Inf Bde 116th 176th. or support the 3d Battalion, 110th Infantry, fighting at Consthum. Bofors of the protecting antiaircraft company with saving his howitzers. As a junior officer in the prewar panzer troops, Manteuffel had made a mark as an armored specialist. The German attack to penetrate the front lines of the 28th Division succeeded on the first day of the offensive in splitting the 112th Infantry from the rest of the division. Colonel Nelson at this moment had two contradictory orders and would have to risk his regiment if he carried out either. On March 12, 1879, Governor Henry Hoyt signed General Order Number One appointing Maj. Gen. John Hartranft as the first division commander of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, and the most storied and renowned division in the history of the U.S. Army was born. His staff, carefully selected and personally devoted to the little general, was probably the best German staff on the Western Front. Arriving in France in late Spring 1918 . One thing clearly worried him: would the Seventh Army keep pace and cover his left flank to Bastogne? 116th Infantry Regiment. In 1968, all of the units, except for the units in Huntingdon and Everett became the 2nd Battalion, 104th Cavalry; Lewistown was Headquarters and Headquarters Troop (less detached troops), Tyrone was Troop H, Altoona unit became Troop G and Howitzer Battery, and the Bellefonte unit became a Detachment of Headquarters and Headquarters Troop. On the second day of December, a staff officer from General Luettwitz' In 1914 the 2d Squadron was assigned to the 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry and Company L, 12th Pennsylvania Infantry was redesignated Troop L, 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry. the undergunned batteries of the 687th Field Artillery Battalion held About 0345 the German artillery quieted. From that day on, the names Fismes, Fismette, Fond de Mezieres, and Argonne would never be forgotten. This came late in the morning, after the 28th Division commander, General Cota, ordered a tank platoon from the 707th man infantry out of the Battery C area. and the 110th Infantry. The 1st Battalion commander had already ordered Company A, located three miles farther north on the Skyline Drive at Heinerscheid, to send a patrol south and make contact with Company B. the story of the 112th Infantry Regiment of the 28th Infantry Division in the battle for Schmidt, Germany. At the same time the XLVII Panzer Corps would cross the Our in the vicinity of Dasburg and Gemnd, push west via Clerf, seize the vital road center at Bastogne, form in a deep column echeloned to the left and rear, then race for the Meuse River crossings south of Namur. Company D, in its support position on the high ground overlooking Ltzkampen, meanwhile commenced mopping up the enemy who had filtered between the companies on the line. The German plans had been altered during the day, but of course some The 112th Infantry south wing was giving way under heavy attack, and during the day all communications between the regiment and division were lost. When the mortar crews and antitank platoon had used all their ammunition they joined the infantry in the center of the village and fought as riflemen. The regimental cannon company also provided some interested spectators, who trained their howitzers on Heinerscheid with such good effect that enemy records take rueful note of this harassing fire from the north. A few light tanks and self-propelled guns got forward late in the evening, but the bulk of the Panzer Lehr reconnaissance battalion remained backed up at the bridge. Only three of the howitzers left could be withdrawn and losses among the cannoneers and drivers were high. Luettwitz concluded that the Clerf River now would be crossed not later than the evening of the second day. Thomas G. Bradbeer, General Cota and the Battle of the Hrtgen Forest, Army History, No. From town and river rise wooded and precipitous slopes, particularly sharp and difficult to the east. Across the lines General Cota had little reason to expect that the 110th Infantry could continue to delay the German attack at the 28th Division center as it had this first day. An old line division, the 26th had fought on the Eastern Front from July 1941 to the last days of September 1944, winning many decorations but little rest. Company C earned the Combat Infantry Streamer. By noon the 2d Battalion, helpless against massed tanks and without artillery support, was held in check along the ridge running southwest from Urspelt to the Clerf road, only a thousand yards from its line of departure. Bastogne presented a special problem, a problem recognized in the first The Bellefonte unit was designated as Troop L, 3rd Reconnaissance Squadron of the 104th Armored Cavalry. XLVII Panzer Corps arrived at the headquarters of the Fifth Panzer Army to receive the highly secret word of a great counteroffensive Only Company K in Hosingen was yet to be heard from. The degree of tactical success achieved by the 112th Infantry and the fact that it was able to hold intact as a regiment may be explained by a number of factors. in the Ardennes sector. Conforming to these instructions the 2d Panzer Division moved its assault columns to Dasburg during the night of 15-16 December but halted in assembly areas east of the river. The Tyrone unit was reorganized and redesignated Troop M, 3rd Battalion of the 104th Armored Cavalry. Around them Clerf was crawling with tanks, for most of the Mark IV Battalion of the 3d Panzer Regiment had assembled in the town during the night. Col, Plt Sgt, 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Division, Battle of the Bulge, Huertgen Forest, USA. 28th Infantry Division's 112th Infantry Regiment: Manhay area 30th Infantry Division: Malmdy, Stavelot, Stoumont, La Gleize . With three divisions, and added corps troops, the XLVII Panzer Corps possessed a considerable amount of shock and fire power. Source Documents: Danny S. Parker, Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's Ardennes Offensive, 1944-1945, 1991, Combined Book Inc, Hong Kong; Shelby S. Stanton, Order of Battle US Army, Presidio Press, Novato, California, 1984; different additional sources. With the first light some eighteen Mark V tanks started down the ridge spur pointing toward Ouren; at the same time the 1130th Regiment and the 156th Regiment resumed the attack to cut off and destroy the forward American companies. This seemed to be the most endangered sector of the whole division front, for here the 2d Panzer Division had been identified and here was the main hard-surface road to Bastogne. On the morning of the 17th German tanks had set the town ablaze, but the few American Shermans had held them at bay. The regimental command post staff left Ouren even while the enemy was filtering into the village and moved to Weiswampach. The final word on the defense of Clerf would come from the enemy. 1st Battalion has worked [its] way back." 20th Armored Division (480th AIR*) 8th AIB In the 1st Battalion zone to the north the advance detachments of the 2d Panzer Division moved straight for Marnach, attempting with one quick blow to clear the Americans obstructing the through road from Dasburg to Clerf.7 While the German engineers labored at the Dasburg site to bring their heavy tank bridging equipment down to the river, the 28th Panzer Engineer Battalion and the 2d Battalion, 304th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, crossed the Our in rubber boats and moved west through the predawn darkness. A Time For Trumpets (MacDonald, 1984) can provide you good background on the fight that the 110th IR put up at Clerveaux. On 15 July 1871, Sheridan Troop (Tyrone) was organized. Just east of Bastogne the roads straightened somewhat, but Both the 1st and 2d Battalions deployed with the rest of the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team on 19 September 2008. The remainder of the casualties were fairly evenly split between the 109th Infantry to the . . After the D-Day invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, Allied forces advanced east through France to Germany's western border establishing what became known as the "Western Front." This vertical front-line stretched from the Norwegian city of Nijmegen in the north all the way to Switzerland in the south, cutting through Belgium and Luxemburg. The 229th Field Artillery Battalion pounded the German assembly point at Ltzkampen as hard as limited stock of shells permitted and fighter-bombers plastered the village: "air tremendously effective" reported the expectant ground observers. German plans. Descent to the town and its bridges is made on this side by two winding roads. Heilmann, therefore, had decided. By the second day it was apparent that the combination of stubborn resistance and poor approach roads would delay the projected crossing at Ouren. Company C had been driven off the road, and the tanks, missing the infantry entirely, rolled into Marnach. New York: William Morrow and Co., 1985. Without it the western exit road from the Gemnd bridge was hopelessly blocked; through Hosingen ran the main divisional supply route to the Clerf. Finally the Germans took the village, only to be driven out again. U.S. Army infantrymen of the 290th Regiment fight in fresh snowfall near Amonines, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge, Jan. 4, 1945. When orders finally arrived to hold in place, the 3d Battalion had reached a trident crossroad southwest of the town. In 1947, the Lewistown unit was redesignated Headquarters and Service Battery, 176th Field Artillery Battalion. This regiment formed the division center, with the 112th Infantry on the north and the 109th Infantry aligned to the south. Then, too, the 2d Battalion had once again used the stone bridge south of Ouren to launch a counterattack across the river and, during the afternoon, materially restored the 3d Battalion positions. About 0930 the 2d Platoon of Company A, 707th Tank Battalion, climbed out of Clerf to meet the German Mark IV's. The 3d Battalion positions on the German bank were built around captured pillboxes, for here earlier American advances had pierced the first line of the German West Wall. (Lt. Col. Clarion J. Kjeldseth) to Wiltz on the previous evening with VIII Corps: Medical Support in the Battle of the Bulge In addition to the organic medical support provided in its infantry and armored divisions, the VIII Corps, First U.S. Army, in the opening days of the Battle of the Bulge possessed a well-organized and experienced medical support structure with the 64th Medical Group and its two separate medical battalions, the 169th . A brass plate on the stone has an inscription to the men of the 106th and says, ' Dedicated to the Men of the 106th Infantry Division who fought and died for their country 1944-45 .'. His staff and regimental commanders, appointees of Generaloberst Kurt Student, had formed a clique against the previous commander and were hostile to Heilmann.19 Furthermore, troops and troop leaders were poorly trained, coming as they had only recently from Luftwaffe ground units. The 2d Battalion Late in the afternoon, Colonel Fuller had ordered Company D, a platoon of heavy machine guns, and a provisional rifle company hastily assembled from men on pass in Clerf, to move to Reuler and protect Battery B of the 109th Field Artillery Battalion, then firing in support of the troops in Marnach and very hard pressed by the enemy. The 77th Regiment formed on the right near Hosingen and the 39th, echeloned to the left and rear, assembled in the woods north of Wahlhausen. 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