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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...

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Marty & Cindy : Unpublished Photos 17th A/B 1945 Another Wartime photos set and like the one before it's a really good one.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",...

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Marty & Cindy : Unpublished Photos 17th A/B 1945 And here is the next set Wartime photos of the 17th Airborne Division.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....

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Marty & Cindy : Unpublished Photos 17th A/B 1945 Well, these new photos are fields photos and request from me some researches.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...

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Marty & Cindy : Unpublished Photos 17th A/B 1945 Bombed out bridge along the Rhine River with a pontoon bridge in the background. This was taken near Duisburg, Germany or near the Krupps plant that the 17th guarded after the war ended. Kenny Cavanah...

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106th Infantry Division (AAR)(1)

Category : 106th-ID, Battle of the Bulge


HEADQUARTERS
106TH INFANTRY DIVISION
APO 443 US ARMY

After Action Report

A : Enclosed are the After Action Reports and Journals of the following units and General Staff Sections of the 106th Division, covering action against the enemy during the month of December 1944 :

- 424th Infantry Regiment Report
- 106th Division Artillery Report
- 81st Engineer (C) Battalion Report
- 331st Medical Battalion Report
- 106th Division Special Troops Report
- G-1 Report
- G-2 Report
- G-3 Report
- G-4 Report

B : The commanding officers and staffs of the 422d Infantry Regiment, 423d Infantry Regiment and the 106th Reconnaissance Troop are missing in action. Their records are presumed to have been destroyed and are not available. The action of these units is covered, but not completely, in the reports and journals of the General Staff Sections. The 14th Cavalry Group was attached to the division from 111900A to 181300A December. Its action, in part, during this period is included in the reports and journals of the general Staff Sections. After 181300A December, it was attached to the 7th Armored Division.
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Combat Medic, North Shoulder, Battle of the Bulge

Category : Battle of the Bulge, Medics & Evacuations

World-War-Two-Medic-001

As the combat troops approached the fortifications of the Siegfried Line, enemy resistance stiffened and the tactical situation settled into one of a relatively static front. Opportunity was taken to regroup the medical units of First Army so that this new phase of the campaign might be more adequately covered. An area was secured midway between the army’s north and south boundaries, and the bulk of army medical units, evacuation hospitals, NP hospitals, 91st Medical Gas Treatment Battalion, the 1st Medical Depot Company, and the headquarters of the medical groups were concentrated in this area with all possible speed.
The army surgeon rearranged the army medical units to provide three identical groups. One group operated in each corps zone and was charged with the responsibility for control of army medical service. The composition of the three groups was as follows :
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Verviers 1940-1945 – Juillet 1940

Category : Verviers - Ma Ville, Verviers 1940-1941

AnnekaLa suite du travail sur Verviers 1940-1945 au jour le jour et encodé bénévolement par notre petite nouvelle dans l’équipe EUCMH. Anne Catherine, qui termine une formation de secrétaire et qui, dans sa vallée perdues de la région de Trois-Ponts – Basse-Bodeux cherche désespérément un travail m’a proposé de faire un peu de bénévolat et de reprendre à sa charge la digitalisation de l’un de mes livres préférés : Verviers, 5 ans de Guerre au jour le jour. Ce travail aura le mérite de mettre sur Internet une oeuvre unique car il n’existe pas, à ma connaissance, un autre livre qui reprend cinq années de guerre et d’occupation principalement centré sur une région comme celle du grand Verviers. Donc, avec l’arrivée de Véronique (France – Normandie) qui travail déjà comme une enragée à la digitalisation d’archives, voici Anne Catherine qui rejoint l’équipe. Tout ceci ne sera finalement qu’au profit des visiteurs du site mais je pense – comme le dit la célèbre campagne de publicité – que vous le valez bien.
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Verviers 1940-1945 (Juin 1940)

Category : Verviers - Ma Ville, Verviers 1940-1941

AnnekaLa suite du travail sur Verviers 1940-1945 au jour le jour et encodé bénévolement par notre petite nouvelle dans l’équipe EUCMH. Anne Catherine, qui termine une formation de secrétaire et qui, dans sa vallée perdues de la région de Trois-Ponts – Basse-Bodeux cherche désespérément un travail m’a proposé de faire un peu de bénévolat et de reprendre à sa charge la digitalisation de l’un de mes livres préférés : Verviers, 5 ans de Guerre au jour le jour. Ce travail aura le mérite de mettre sur Internet une oeuvre unique car il n’existe pas, à ma connaissance, un autre livre qui reprend cinq années de guerre et d’occupation principalement centré sur une région comme celle du grand Verviers. Donc, avec l’arrivée de Véronique (France – Normandie) qui travail déjà comme une enragée à la digitalisation d’archives, voici Anne Catherine qui rejoint l’équipe. Tout ceci ne sera finalement qu’au profit des visiteurs du site mais je pense – comme le dit la célèbre campagne de publicité – que vous le valez bien.
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Verviers 1940-1945 (Mai 1940)

Category : Verviers - Ma Ville, Verviers 1940-1941

AnnekaLa suite du travail sur Verviers 1940-1945 au jour le jour et encodé bénévolement par notre petite nouvelle dans l’équipe EUCMH. Anne Catherine, qui termine une formation de secrétaire et qui, dans sa vallée perdues de la région de Trois-Ponts – Basse-Bodeux cherche désespérément un travail m’a proposé de faire un peu de bénévolat et de reprendre à sa charge la digitalisation de l’un de mes livres préférés : Verviers, 5 ans de Guerre au jour le jour. Ce travail aura le mérite de mettre sur Internet une oeuvre unique car il n’existe pas, à ma connaissance, un autre livre qui reprend cinq années de guerre et d’occupation principalement centré sur une région comme celle du grand Verviers. Donc, avec l’arrivée de Véronique (France – Normandie) qui travail déjà comme une enragée à la digitalisation d’archives, voici Anne Catherine qui rejoint l’équipe. Tout ceci ne sera finalement qu’au profit des visiteurs du site mais je pense – comme le dit la célèbre campagne de publicité – que vous le valez bien.
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612th TDB Honsfeld December 1944

Category : 612th-TDB, Battle of the Bulge


We left our assembly area near Landerneau, France at one o’clock on the afternoon of September 27 1944, heading for that Western Front. The first two days were uneventful, as we covered around 300 miles, stopping at dusk by pulling off the main road. We slept beside our vehicles, by the side of the road, wrapped up in our blankets.
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The Battle of the Bulge (3)

Category : Battle of the Bulge, The Bulge (CMH)

Chapter 3 – Troops and Terrain & The Order of the Battle

After-The-Battle-Of-The-Bulge-Belgium

During the long-drawn debate over the extent of the counteroffensive, the objective, and the attack form to be employed, the order of battle for Wacht am Rhein took form. This also led to differences of opinion and interpretation.
- How should the armies be aligned ?
- What forces, missions, and zones should be assigned to each particular army ?
- How many divisions, armored and infantry, would be available for use in the attack ?
The answers to these and like questions turned on the Solution adopted and the maneuver employed but will be set forth independently in an attempt to bring some order out of the confused interplay between Hitler, Jodl, Rundstedt, and Model.
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The Battle of the Bulge (2)

Category : Battle of the Bulge, The Bulge (CMH)

CHAPTER II
Planning the Counteroffensive

Details of the Plan

About 25 September Generalorberst Alfred Jodl was ordered to begin a detailed analysis of the Hitlerian concept, the only function now left to the great General Staff. Some latitude remained to the individual staff officers and those favored few in the high echelon of command who retained access to the Führer in kneading and shaping the very general outline handed down by Hitler into an operations plan. The outline as it now had taken shape contained these major points :

  • (a) the attack should be launched sometime between 20 and 30 November;
  • (b) it should be made through the Ardenne in the Monschau – Echternach sector;
  • (c) the initial object would be the seizure of bridgeheads over the Meuse River between Liège and Namur;
  • (d) thereafter, Antwerp would be the objective;
  • (e) a battle to annihilate the British and Canadians would ultimately be fought north of the line Antwerp, Liège, Bastogne (1);
  • (f) a minimum of thirty divisions would be available, ten of which would be armored;
  • (g) support would be given by an unprecedented concentration of artillery and rocket projector units;
  • (h) operational control would be vested in four armies and two panzer armies abreast in the lead, two armies composed largely of infantry divisions to cover the flanks;
  • (i) the Luftwaffe would be prepared to support the operation;
  • (j) all planning would aim at securing tactical surprise and speed;(k) secrecy would be maintained at all costs and only a very limited number of individuals would be made privy to the plan.

map-001

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505th Engr Light Ponton Company (2)

Category : 505-ELPC, Battle of the Bulge

engineer-construction-belgium-1944

OCTOBER 1944
Original Unit :-

Designation : 505th Engineer Light Ponton Company
Date of Organization : May 15 1942
Place of Organization : Camp Gordon, Georgia
Authority of Organization : General Order #15, Hq Eastern Defense Command and First Army, dated May 15 1942.
Sources from which original personnel were obtained.
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9th Infantry Division (OOB-WW-2)

Category : US Army - World War 2

9-adThe 9th Infantry Division was activated at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on August 1, 1940 as the 9th Division then it participated in both October and November 1941 Carolina Maneuvers and was sent later to amphibious training under the Atlantic Fleet Amphibious Corps.
Re-designated as 9th Infantry Division on August 1 1942, the division left Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and was sent to Fort Dix, New Jersey on November 25 1942.
On December 11 1942, the 9th Infantry Division departed the New York Port of Embarkation and landed in North Africa on December 25 1942, less elements of the division which assaulted on November 8 1942 in Casablanca. From there, the 9th Infantry Division arrived in Palermo, Sicily on July 31 1943 and was sent back to England on Novermber 25 1943.
The division landed then in France on June 10 1944, crossed into Belgium on September 2 1944 and entered Germany on September 14 1944 where it remained active thru 1946.
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Order of Battle : 1st Infantry Division 1940-1945

Category : 001st Infantry, US Army - World War 2

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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3rd Armored Division (OOB-WW-2)

Category : 003rd Armd Div, US Army - World War 2

3rd-armored-divisionActivated on Apr 15 1941 at Camp Beauregard the 3rd Armored Division moved to Camp Polk, Louisiana, on June 11 1941 and was transferred to Camp Young, California, on July 26 1942 for the Desert Training Center II Armored Corps California Maneuvers. It moved then to Camp Pickett, Virginia, on November 2 1942 and arrived the Indian Town Gap Mil Reservation, Pennsylvania, on January 21 1943. The 3/AD staged at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, August 26 1943 until departed the New York Port of Embarkation on September 5 1943 and arrived England on September 18 1943. The division landed then in France on June 23 1944, crossed into Belgium on September 1944 and entered Germany September 15 1944. The 3rd Armd Div returned to Belgium on December 20 1944 and re-entered Germany on February 7 1945. The 3/AD was inactivated on November 10 1945.
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SOE Operations Western Europe (N-Z)

Category : OSS & SOE

444444

Special Operations Executive Summary of Operations in Western Europe
This summary refers only to those operations with the fullest material in the files. For reasons of space it does not refer to every operation mentioned in the records. Similarly, the newly released records do not contain evidence on every operation which was mounted by the sections.
Source : Adam Matthew Publications
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SOE Operations Western Europe (A-M)

Category : OSS & SOE

333333

Special Operations Executive Summary of Operations in Western Europe
This summary refers only to those operations with the fullest material in the files. For reasons of space it does not refer to every operation mentioned in the records. Similarly, the newly released records do not contain evidence on every operation which was mounted by the sections.
Source : Adam Matthew Publications
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Orville Iverson 1944-1945 (9th TAC)

Category : Archive Stories, O. Iverson - 9-TAC

orvportrait103x150This is the wartime story of an American GI. In fact, this is the story of a GI like many other GI’ stories. It’s about friendships, cold, winter, rain, snow, mud, blood, war and dead. But this story has something else. It is the story over one of these GIs who were in Verviers and Liège during the period September 1944 to December 1944. This GI, Orville Iverson – Ivy – had built a strong friendships with the Jacquet Family from Verviers. Especially Claude and Ninette.
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Adolf Dolfo Galland

Category : Adolf Galland, Luftwaffe

Adolf Galland was born on Mar 19 1912 in Westerholt, Germany. At the age of 17 he started flying gliders then began flying for the Lufthansa after graduating from the Commercial Air Transport School at Brunswick. This was at a time when the German Air Arm was created, following Hitler’s rise to power, and students were sent clandestinely to the Soviet Union and Italy. In Feb 1934, he joined the Luftwaffe, an accomplished both, pilot and instructor, at the Fighter Pilot School München – Schleissheim. By Apr 1935 he was a fighter pilot with Jagdgeschwader 2 ‘Richtofen’.
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AAF Fields & Bases Europa 1944-1945

Category : Army Air Forces

Rmdanke AAAF 1945

After the landing in Normandy, followed by some weeks later with the landing in the Provence (Sourth France), the US Army Air Force started to move ahead it’s Airfields to reduce the fly distances between the bombing targets assigned in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany and the home’s Airfields in the UK.
This started with the North part of France on Jun 7 1944 then in the South part when the troops landed on the beaches.
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99th Rcn 99th ID 44-45

Category : Battle of the Bulge, Germany

With the help and the work from my American friend David Gettman, the son of Lt Henry ‘Shorty’ Gettman, Platoon Leader of the 1st Platoon, 99th Reconnaissance Troop, 99th Infantry Division (1-99/99th Inf Div), 1st Army, ETO, WW II, Gerolzhofen, Germany, post VE Day.

In loving memory of Henry ‘Shorty’ Gettman, May 18 1911 – May 24 1983, and dedicated to all those heroes who proudly wore the Golden Caltrop of the 99th Reconnaissance Troop, and the Checkerboard of the 99th Infantry Division, the Battle Babies. Your sacrifice will not be forgotten.

Action This Hour !
On No 1, Fire 1 !
On No 2, Open 3 !
Advance !
Kill or be killed !
Geronimo !
Spinner !
Contact !
Pilot to Bombardier !
Open bombay doors !
Bombs away !
Gung Ho !
1000, 2000, 3000, Yank !
Yep, in the movies it sounds dramatic. But ‘breaking in’ at the front with dough boys on patrols through the snow – that’s another story. That is the true story. The story of Reconnaissance on reserve. The story of the battle of the defense of Höfen, Germany, November 9 to December 12 1944.
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