This is a request from Don, one Wartime veteran from 1st Squad, 2nd Plat. (Sgt Hanlon), 2nd Bn., G Co. (Capt Evans), 327th Glider Infantry Regiment (101st A/B Div). This very precise informations and request about a Belgian Family was sent to me yesterday from Kevin Brooks, a Facebook friend in the UK.
The question is : you do have the farm location. Do you know the place ?
Read the story
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Nov
03
2009
Avant-Propos – 2009
Avant de publier sur ce site l’ouvrage des Editions Foxmaster que je dirigeais dans les courant des années 1990-1995 et avant de me séparer de la Société en prenant soins toutefois de conserver le catalogue et les droits, je voudrais attirer l’attention du lecteur d’expression française sur le point suivant : tant Heimdall que Foxmaster et d’autres ont publié bien des ouvrages sur le sujet. A chaque fois, des lecteurs exprimèrent de nombreux commentaires, souvent positifs ou non. Je lance donc ici un appel à ceux qui d’une manière ou d’une autre seraient susceptibles d’apporter à ce travail une quantité d’anecdotes inédites, des images inconnues voir même des récites toujours inconnus à ce jour. Bien que le coût du maintient de mon site en ligne devient de plus en plus difficile à supporter seul j’aimerai faire savoir aux lecteurs, aux historiens et aux passionnées de cette période que la place n’a pas de limite sur Internet. Il ne peut donc être question d’éloigner des photos ou des récits par manque de place comme dans l’édition papier. Aussi, je vous invite tous à ma faire parvenir vos documents et images via émail avec vos désidératas, vos envies, et surtout vos coordonnées afin de pouvoir ajouter vos propos dans le texte que je publie et que j’envisage de renommer – la version corrigée – avec votre aide, vos essais, vos écrits et même vos livres qui trouveront ici la publicité qu’ils méritent.
Gunter G. Gillot Jr – Jalhay – 2009
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Oct
29
2009
Suddenly the plane shot upward, roaring away from the airfield. We all smashed back against our seats. Maybe the wheels won’t come down, someone said in a small voice. Snuffy Nixon, the navigator, stuck his head in the cabin and broke the silence. Don’t worry, folks. I just got mixed up in my figuring and picked the wrong country. Not France ! we cried. No, said Snuffy, it’s not France. But it’s not England, either. He grinned over at me. This is Kay’s home. We almost landed in southern Ireland !
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Sep
07
2009
Subject : Action Against Enemy Reports, to : Commanding General, 17th Airborne Division, APO 452, c/o Postmaster, New York, NY
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Sep
01
2009
Although D-day gave the western Allies a beachhead in northern France, it took them almost two months of bitter fighting to break out of the Normandy hedgerows. After the breakout, Allied armies raced across France, liberated Paris, and headed toward the German frontier. The rapid pace of the advance placed a severe strain on Allied logistics, which, along with bad weather and stiffening German resistance, slowed the offensive. By mid-December, American armies had reached the Roer River inside Germany and the West Wall along the Saar River in eastern France. Between these two fronts lay the Ardenne, a hilly, densely forested area of Belgium. The Germans had attacked France through this supposedly impassable region in 1940. In early December 1944, five American divisions and a cavalry group held the 85-mile-long Ardenne front. The difficult terrain of the region and the belief that the German army was near exhaustion had convinced the Allied commanders that the Ardenne sector was relatively safe. Thus, three of the divisions were new, full of green soldiers who had only recently arrived on the continent; the other two were recuperating from heavy losses suffered in the bitter fighting in the Huertgen forest farther north. In addition, the heavy demand for American troops in some sectors had forced Allied commanders to lightly man other portions of the front .
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Jul
17
2009
Category : Veterans Taps
Thanks to David Harrawood who sended me this article.
We’re hearing a lot today about big splashy memorial services.
I want a nationwide memorial service for Darrell “Shifty” Powers.
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Jul
03
2009
While I was searching for some very World War Two special photos online I’ve made some interesting discoveries. As example is the following set of World War Two Paratroopers photos in color.
Mar
25
2009
Category : EUCMH Mails Center
TREASURED LETTERS FROM THE PAST
From : Karin Lindsay
Newsletter : I Co, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment
Author : Captain Ivan R. Hershner
Affectation : HQ, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment (43-45)
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Feb
27
2009
There is something I would like to say about the 106th Infantry Division. In Belgium, as witnesses on what happened during the Battle of the Bulge, we are able to do a parallel between the 2 Inf Regts (422-423/106th Infantry Division) surrounded around the hight grounds in the Schoenberg – Armelscheid – Bleialf area and the 101st Airborne Division surrounded in the vicinity of Bastogne for 6 days. If Commanding General 1st Army would have done it the same way with the 101st A/B as they did with the 106th Inf Div, the US Army would have lost over 14000 men captured and not 6800. The 101st Troopers in Bastogne were all veterans of Normandy and Holland and they knew all the tricks used by the Germans in this perdiod. The had already face SS Troops, SS Panzer, Luftfaffe, Panzer and Wermacht Troops. In comparison, the entire 106th Infantry Division had on December 1944 neither shot a single 30.06 bullet at the Germans nor had faced a combat against the Germans.
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Feb
07
2009
The 101st Airborne Division was activated on Aug 15 1942 at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, and was transferred to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Sept 29 1942.
On Jun 7 1943 the division was moved to Springfield, Tennessee, for the Second Army #1 Maneuvers then returned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Jul 20 1943. Moving for oversea duties, the 101st moved to the New York POE Aug 31 1943, departed Sept 5 1943 and arrived Sept 15 in England. The 101st A/B air-assaulted Normandy, France, on Jun 6 1944 and was sent back to England Jul 13. On Sept 17 1944, the 101st air-assaulted the Nijmegen – Arnhem area in Holland during Operation Market Garden. After Holland, the 101st moved back to France on Nov 28 and crossed into Belgium on Dec 18 1944 for the Battle of the Bulge. The division entered Germany on Apr 4 1945 and was inactivated in France on Nov 30 1945.
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Feb
05
2009
SC-197925 (NARA). C Battery, 702nd Tank Destroyer Battalion, 2nd Armored Division, tank destroyer on dug-in ramp has plenty of elevation to hurl shells at long range enemy targets across the Roer River. Left to right : Sgt. Earl F. Scholz, Pvt. George E. Van Horne, and Pfc. Samuel R. Marcum. (16 Dec 1944)
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