The American Traveler

SPECIAL-EDITION   PUBLISHED DAILY BY 1st U. S. INFANTRY-DIVISION   June 6, 1945.

443 Days of Battle from Oran to Cheb

Although the qualifications were hard-won and painful, the 1st Infantry Division is probably closer than any other division to being a practical text-book on the art of modern infantry fighting. There are few types of operations which the Division has not undertaken and mastered, both in practice and, far more essential, in combat. Desert fighting, landing on defended beaches, infantry defense against tank attack, fighting in deep woods. fighting in deep snow, pursuit of enemy at high sped, digging an enemy out of heavy fortified zones, reduction of cities, attacking across a river -- the list is as long as the combination of terrain and the enemy's ingenuity can extend, and the 1st Division has been through all of it fighting against troops of three different nations: French, Italian and German.

On 8 November, 1942, the first American attack against enemy's strongholds overseas was launched in North Africa. The 1st Division was in the lead, landing at AREW and LES ANDALOUSES in a move to cut off and reduce ORAN. The operation was entirely successful, and fortunately resistance was not of the brand put up by the Germans later on OMAHA BEACH or at GELA. Mistakes were made and confusion ran high, but ORAN fell in 3 days. The Division was then broken up, to all intents and purposes. Individual units of the Division down to battalion size were scattered all over NORTH AFRICA, fighting under a variety of commands: French, British and American. It was a rough period for the Division and included some hard blows -- on LONGSTOP HILL and the OUSSELTIA VALLEY and the breakthrough a KASSE?INE -- but when the Division finally was drawn together again for the attack on GAFSA, the outfits were hard and experienced. GAFSA was taken in what was then a remarkable operation -- a night motor march of some 40 miles and a surprise attack at dawn. GAFSA, however, led to EL GUETTAR, one of the toughest fights in the Division records. The crack 10th Panzer Division of the German army attacked through the pass and came so close to succeeding that the field artillery was laying direct fire on the tanks. The Division then shifted north and started the long grind from BEJA to MATEUR -- hard fighting against excellent defense lines and over relentless terrain. With the fall of MATEUR, TUNIS was doomed, and the African Campaign ended on ? May, 1943. It was the first big-scale defeat of the enemy on his home grounds, and it eliminated a large chunk of the finest troops in the German army, the AFRICA CORPS.

Invasion of Sicily

The next step on the long road was the invasion of SICILY. The Division was getting expert at landing on hostile beaches, and the initial assault was accomplished in high gear. But the inevitable German counter-attack was driven home hard and skillfully. The German tanks of the HERMAN GOERING PANZER DIVISION nearly xxx xxxxxxx xxxxx and came uncomfortably close to cutting the invasion force into ribbons. The counter-attack was beaten off, however and the Division moved into a continuous period of attack, driving the Germans off the island.  The fighting in SICILY was strictly an infantry war, up and down mountains, across ravines, rivers and draws, over terrain which could only be negotiated on foot.The hardest fighting centered around TROINA, which the enemy had established as his last and most important delaying block while he withdrew his troops to   the Italian mainland. Incidentally British Broadcasting Company termed the TOINA Battle the "bitterest of the SICILIAN Campaign".

In 34 days, the Germans were eliminated from the island, and the Division regrouped for training and embarkation for ENGLAND.

Return to England

In England seven months were spent preparing for the big show -- the invasion of the European Continent. The problem, obviously, was the toughest yet. The enemy had no water barriers to hamper the supply and reinforcement of his troops, he had a full garrison of both offensive and defensive divisions on hand and, most important, of all, he had ample time to work out and improve the full defensive capabilities of the terrain with pillboxes, anti-tank ditches, beach obstacles, minefields, interlocking field of fire and barbed wire. During the Division's stay in England training revolved around the reduction and breaching of just such obstacles as these. Platoons were trained in assault groups, instruction was given in flame-throwers, chemical warfare was reviewed and re-emphasized. These preparations were brought to a climax with two full-dress practice invasions at SLAPTON SANDS in DEVONSHIRE, where the conditions thought to prevail on the beaches of NORMANDY were duplicated as closely as possible and the cooperation of air support, naval support and the infantry assault teams was smoothed out.

Easy Red

The Division, with the 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29 Division attached, landed on OMAHA BEACH on 6 June, undoubtedly the most hard-fought, touch-and-go day in the 1st Division's history. The enemy was taken by surprise, but he also had a surprise of his own -- a reserve offensive division had been moved up into the landing area two days before maneuvers. By dark of 6 June the Division had established a beachhead, though it is an open question what would have happened if the enemy had been able to launch a powerful counter-attack, as he had done at GELA, at that time. Since, however, his counter-attack division had been chewed up in the original assault, he was unable to organize the necessary forces. In 10 days the Division pushed on south to CAUMONT, the deepest point of penetration of the Allied beachhead a depth of approximately 18 miles.

The attack exploiting the beachhead was launched on 25 July west of ST LO. After a tremendous preparation bombing, the Division drove through to break open a path for the Armored divisions. With that break-through the chase was on and it did not slow until the SIEGFRIED LINE had been breached at AACHEN. The Division crossed the SEINE at CORBIEL, moved up through SOISSON and LAON to the BELGIAN border where, in a three-day period a MONS, 17,000 prisoners were taken when the Division cut across the main German escape route to the SIEGFRIED LINE from western BELGIUM. Swinging east, the Division took CHARLEROI, NAMUR, and LIEGE. The momentum of the advance, plus some hard fighting, carried the Division through the defenses of the SIEGFRIED LINE. The race, however, was slowed down to a walk because although the SIEGFRIED LINE was broken, the advantage could not be exploited until AACHEN was taken, and the taking of AACHEN was a slow, hard job. It was finally completed on 21 October when the commander of the city surrendered the 1500 troops he had left; it had been a complicated operation. While regiments (16th Infantry and 18th Infantry) were holding off desperate enemy counter-attacks on VERLAUTENHEIDE RIDGE to rescue the city, the third regiment (26th Infantry) was driving through the city from the east.

Slugfest in Germany

With AACHEN taken the push east to the ROER RIVER could go on, but the enemy with his skill at reorganization, had mounted some of the most powerful defenses encountered by the Division to block the way, and the terrain was nearly impossibly. The resultant clash was the battle of the HURTGEN FOREST, a wearying, costly and desperate struggle centering around HAMICH, HEISTERN and LANGERWEHE. And before the ROER RIVER could be fully reached, the Germans launched their big counter-offensive in the ARDENNES on 16 December. The 1st Division was quickly shuttled south to hold the northern shoulder of the salient in the vicinity of BUTGENBACH and arrived just in time to block a major drive of the 12th SS PANZER DIVISION and the 3d PARACHUTE DIVISION toward the big dumps around VERVIERS, HERVE and the capture of LIEGE. The conditions of the fighting were extremely rigorous -- not only was the enemy well armed, well equipped and determined, but the weather was bitter cold and the terrain, was discouraging and under several feet of snow. In two day's fighting the 1st Division managed to stand off the major thrust of the enemy's attack, although at several points individual tanks broke through the Main Line of Resistance. On 15 January the Division's counterattack to reduce the salient was launched at the height of a blizzard. In weather that was beyond description the Division pushed south through snow sometimes 7 feet deep, overran the enemy's defensive lines, an turned east to drive toward the SIEGFRIED LINE. The line was breached, for the second time in the fighting in GERMANY, near the HOLLERATH.

The wind-up of the fighting in EUROPE and the last stage of the destruction of the GERMAN army in the field started on 23 February, when the ROER RIVER  was crossed and the RHIE PLAN was brought under attack. In moves reminiscent of the race across FRANCE, the 1st Division crossed the ROED near KREUZAU and drove east to BONN. Fighting was sporadic, and the defense of BONN itself was stubborn, but the city fell and the Division moved on to take over part of the line in the REMAGEN BRIDGEHEAD across the RHINE. In the bridgehead the fighting was as severe as the Division had experienced since the HURTGEN FOREST. On 24--25 March the enemy tried to knock the underpinnings out of the bridgehead once and for all by attacking west through the 1st Division positions with two panzer divisions and nearly three infantry divisions. It was the last desperate effort of the WEHRMACHT and it was unsuccessful. A few days later the 1st Division attacked to open a corridor for the Armored divisions again; the consequent plunge did not end until the ELBE RIVER had been reached.

Collapse of Wehrmacht

Following the spearheads of the 3d Armored Division, in a team play that had proved effective across FRANCE and BELGIUM, the 1st Division drove to HAIGER, then turned north and swung up on the eastern side of the RUHR VALLEY cities. Junction with the Ninth Army Forces was made on Easter, 1 April, near LIPPSTADT, and the biggest and most important pocket of the war was sealed off. The 1st Division stayed in position to hold any attempts of the enemy to break out, then turned east again, crossed the WESER RIVER and drove head-on into the HARZ MOUNTAINS. The HARZ were the last refuge of the disorganized WEHRMACHT west of the ELBE RIVER. Although the position of the German forces in the mountains was essentially hopeless, the enemy had nevertheless gathered up close to 100,000 men and was determined  to hold out. Certainly every feature of the terrain favored such a defense. The forests were nearly impenetrable and the road net was extremely limited. The war again slowed down to the speed of infantry combat. The fighting was both extremely bitter and of the token variety, depending on the morale of the troops encountered. A large scattering of SS personnel, including an SS Armored brigade, put considerable spine in the enemy's determination to hold on to the bitter end, but by 21 April the Division had driven through the forests to THALE on the northeastern edge and had captured more than 32,000 prisoners when the tally was counted up. Almost at once the Division was shifted into Third Army and sent south to the CZECHOSLOVAKIAN border, initially with the mission of holding and eventually the mission of attacking to the east. On the third day of the attack, which was meeting various degrees of resistance, the order to cease all offensive operations was received. On 8 May the Division fired its last shot of the war in EUROPE, and received the surrender of General Lieutenant OSTERKAMP, commanding the 12th Geramn Corps.

R. G.  Botsford