European Center of Military History
Gold Remains a Good long-term Investment Whether the dollar goes up or down, gold is still going to be a good investment because we have virtually all the important central bankers focused on growth and not inflation. Gold is a dynamic metal....
Request for Identication - Crashed Plane 1945 I need the following answers : (Body) German or British ? (Plane) German or British ? I have studied the photos for more than an hour and I am still wondering because the Cockpit looks like an AAF P-38's...
Marty & Cindy : Unpublished Photos 17th A/B 1945 Another Wartime photos set and like the one before it's a really good one. Joe Summers Pontoon bridge over the Rhine River. Note signs : (left) seems to be a "one way - Red Ball Express",...
Marty & Cindy : Unpublished Photos 17th A/B 1945 And here is the next set Wartime photos of the 17th Airborne Division. My Dad took a photo of the same concrete bunker from a distance. It had a Russian star on top of it when he took the photo....
Marty & Cindy : Unpublished Photos 17th A/B 1945 Well, these new photos are fields photos and request from me some researches. This is exactly what I like to do, so it will take a little more time as usual to be posted. And once again thanks to Cindy...
Oct
01
2009
Category : Veterans Taps
It is with a heavy heart and my deepest sympathy that we learn of the passing of another of our Distinguished Veterans and a Valued Comrade. Through a message from Kathy Gault, 507th PIR Association we learned that Mr. Robert Parks, Co’s C, E & F, 507th PIR, passed away on 18 September 2009. With assistance from the Funeral Home I was able to contact his Son, Mr. David Parks to obtain the details for this message.
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Sep
20
2009
Very interesting website for those who are working on US POWS during WW-2 in Germany, a great site from Leo Finegold – 30th Infantry Division Old Hickory
Stalag 3A. Two hundred thousand prisoners of war passed through its gates during World War II, beginning in 1939. Those remaining in the camp at the close of the war were liberated by the Russians in April 1945. Approximately 5,000 died from disease, starvation, cold, brutality and neglect.
In April 1945, the Stalag held approximately four thousand American POW’s in a compound separated from other nationalities. Crowded four hundred men to a tent, the day to day routine was an exercise in misery, hunger, cold, and lice. A chief preoccupation involved tediously removing
read on the storry
Aug
30
2009
Bulge : center part, Stavelot – 18 Dec 1944
December 18 1944 : Arrived at Stavelot 0400-H 18 December 1944. Picked up Maj Paul J. Solis and Lt Pehovic from Battalion Headquarters. Company and one Platoon of Tank Destroyer on road on outskirts of Stavelot, Maj Solis, Lt Pehovic and myself went into town to get situation from the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion that was in the town (with support of elements of the 825th Tank Destroyer Battalion) at the time. They had a road block (two 3 inches gun from 825th TDB) across the river on the hill and it had be fired on and the men retreated back in town. I sat up our Command Post in the Engineer Building near the bridge (the Amblève River bridge was already wired an ready to be blown).
- At 0430-H I sent 2nd Platoon and a section of TD’s route #4 to the left to the Engineer’s road block. I sent the 3rd Platoon at the same time along route #4 (Stavelot – Vaux Richard – Lodomez) to the right to establish a road block at the road junction. The 1st platoon positions around the Command Post for internal security. The Antitank platoon and the Tank Destroyer platoon and the Tank Destroyer less one section of guns, was held in reserve to be used as situation warranted.
Jul
17
2009
The 102nd Infantry Division was activated on September 15 1942 at Camp Maxey, Texas and moved on September 16 1943 to the 3rd Army #4 Louisiana Maneuvers. It was then transferred to Camp Swift, Texas on November 18 1943, arrived at Fort Dix, New Jersey, June 23rd 1944, staged at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, September 6 1944 until departed the New York Port of Embarkation on September 12th 1944.
The 102nd Infantry Division arrived in France on September 23rd 1944, crossed into Belgium on October 31st; crossed into Holland the same day and entered, finally, Germany on November 29th 1944.
When war was over, the 102nd Infantry Division returned to the New York POE on March 11th 1946. It was inactivated at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, on March 12th 1946.
Campaigns : Rhineland, Central Europe
August 1945 Location : Gardelegen (Hannover) Germany
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Apr
30
2009
REGISTRY NUMBER S-133
COPY NO.11711/JOURNAL
Confidential, Signal Operations Instructions, Telephone & Teletypewriter Directory, Item N° 26-8, 30th Infantry Division, August 3 1944
Effective : Upon Receipt
Note : In compliance with letter date July 20 1944, FUSA, file 676.12 (Sig) the following will be introduced and become effective at all echelons. The use of code name ‘CREST’ designating the 30th Infantry Division Rear Echelon is dropped and henceforth 30th Infantry Division Rear Echelon will be designated as ‘CUSTOM-REAR’.
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Mar
04
2009
The 1st Infantry Division also nicknamed The Fighting First, is the oldest division in the United States Army, and has seen continuous service since its organization in 1917. The 1st Division started preparing for World War II by moving to Fort Benning on November 19th 1939 and ran its personnel through the Infantry School. It then moved to the Sabine Parish, Louisiana area on May 11th 1940 to participate in the Louisiana Maneuvers, returned to Fort Hamilton on June 5th 1940 then to Fort Devens, Ma., on February 4th 1941. The Division was sent to both Carolina Maneuvres of October and November 1941, moved to Samarcand, North Carolina on October 16th 1941 and on December 6th 1941, returned to Fort Devens, Ma. It was then transfered to Camp Blanding, Florida (February 21st 1942) where it was re-designated 1st Infantry Division on May 15th 1942. The 1st Infantry Division moved then back Fort Benning, on May 22nd 1942, to Indian Town Gap Mil Reservation, on June 21st 1942 and, finally, Division departed New York Port of Embarkation on August 1st 1942. The 1st ID arrived in England on August 7th 1942 and assaulted in North Africa on November 2nd 1942 (Operation Torch).
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Feb
27
2009
Dear Gunter, the press request 99th got had me find this which will be of interest to you and your website. You will get detailed explanation with my letters home of going into Army and joining the 99th Infantry Battalion Separate, the 99th Formation and Training. Followed by full write up the Belgian Ardenne or Battle of the Bulge done with nearly hundreds of quotes from 99ers. What follows is from my November 2007 99th Informations and Newsletter. Below are quotes from many of my Dad’s letters written during the War many and perhaps even most of your readers know of 99er letters written during the War.
Copies you have typed up on your computer or legible photocopies that fill in much more of the 99th’s story and tell your 99er’s story. The following has been written in response to questions from Antoni Pisani the Norwegian who lives in Oslo that is now working on a book about all of the 99th, and not just “C” Company as it first started out, for a Norwegian publishing company.
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Feb
05
2009
After Action Report
7th Armored Division
Period : 1st December 1944 -31st December, 1944
Area : St-Vith & Vicinity
Country : Belgium
Revised & Corrected : Gunter G. Gillot Jr
The 7th AD was activated on March 1 1942, reorganized on Sept 20 1943 and arrived in the United Kingdom in Jun 1944. The division landed on Omaha and Utah Beaches, on Aug 13-14 1944, and was assigned to Third (3rd) US Army.
The 7th AD drove through Nogent le Rotrou in an attack on Chartres which fell Aug 18. From Chartres, the Division advanced to liberate Dreux, then Melun, where they crossed the Seine River, on Aug 24.
The 7th AD then pushed on to bypass Reims and liberate Chateau-Thierry and Verdun, Aug 31, then halted briefly for refueling until Sept 6, when it drove toward to the Moselle and made a crossing near Dornot. This crossing had to be withdrawn in the face of the heavy fortifications around Metz.
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