83rd Division Reenactment Website Infanterie-Division) was a unit of the Imperial German Army in World War I. Normandy Armed Forces Ww2 World War Combat Army Army 83rd Infantry Division - WWII In Europe Unsung Hero Photojournalism Vintage Pictures Us Army World War Two Well see if it gets any better once Ive read the reports and compare it tothe 08 July Morning Reports. Still on 12 July, I assume end of day, we have a regimental plan for outposts on the 83rdsside of the Taute River and marsh. August 10, 1944: Dinan He was probably referred to as an "old man" by most of the other men in his company. It was reformed in March 1944 as part of the 24th Welle (wave) from Schatten-Division Wahn. From one point of high ground to another, with the support of tanks, artillery, and engineers, they moved forward through enemy anti-personnel mine fields in rain, ankle-deep mud, and snow. They arrived in Liverpool, England on 15 June, and entrained . var sc_project=709359; Nazi propaganda letters were a "Christmas present. 3/329 : Lieutenant Colonel Quincy A. Sanders On The Home Front: Life was not easy on the home front, but my mom more than managed--she carried on, and made a new life for us while enduring what many would consider unbearable sorrow. Their patrols advance beyond the line searching out the foe. A Company He said he would take the job for 30 days to see how it worked out. December 13, 1813, the regiment was reduced . Heartpounding does not adequately describe the experience of watching all this at close range. They had limited supplies of ammunition and rations, and no radio contact with Germany. They've seen the tree bursts in the Hurtgen, was in all five ETO campaigns, (Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes . Overall, the division had 170.2 percent replacements. Upon overrunning the camp, US troops estimated that the newly liberated inmates weighed only 80 pounds each as the result of malnutrition at SS hands. December 2"These shoes we wear are quite the thing--sometimes I think my feet would be warmer without shoes. The shield is red for artillery and the black pile represents part of the 83rd Infantry Division insignia. 83rd Infantry Division Legacy Chapter Email Group A Co, 86th Chemical Mortar Battalion, from August 1st to 16th, 1944 --confirming John's recollection. It was initially formed from the garrison infantry regiments of Fortress Posen (Festung Posen). After training in Wales, the division landed at Omaha Beach. The headquarters was organized on 27 September 1921. After liberation, the death rate continued at approximately 2550 people per day, due to the severe physical debilitation of the prisoners. On 26 July, the 83rd entered the pursuit, and in heavy combat crossed the Taute River the next day. Find topics of interest and explore encyclopedia content related to those topics, Find articles, photos, maps, films, and more listed alphabetically, Recommended resources and topics if you have limited time to teach about the Holocaust, Explore the ID Cards to learn more about personal experiences during the Holocaust. 1st Platoon: 1st Lieutenant George W. Stahley, killed on July 4, 1944 They fought in the Ardennes, facing the point of the German Bulge. The 83rd Infantry Division was first activated in the fall of 1917, several months after the United States entered World War I. Later, a German counterattack, supported by machine guns and mortars struck from high ground southeast of Greveldange, but the men of the 331st quickly turned back the attempted disruption of their lines. 83rd Infantry Division Situation 12:00 12 July 1944 less the 330th Infantry Regiment. 746th Tank Battalion, from July 5th to 16th, 1944 It shows my fathers company, F, and we are approaching the day he was seriously wounded and shipped the the States. They were honored with 18 British Awards and 65 French Awards. Casualty figures for the 83rd Infantry Division, European theater of operations: The 83rd Infantry Division received its nickname, the "Thunderbolt" division, after a division-wide contest for a new nickname held in early 1945. Click on the First Sergeant stripes to read his story. Donated by Greg Chipps, son of Sgt. The men of the 83rd Division weren't just on the front line. L Company, 331st Infantry Regiment: Colonel Martin D. Barndollar Jr., killed on 4 July 1944 near Mautis, replaced by Lieutenant Colonel William E. Long, replaced on 7 July 1944 by Colonel John C. Whitcomb, replaced on 9 July 1944 by Colonel James D. Bender, replaced on 11 July 1944 by Colonel Robert T. Foster, replaced on 13 July 1944 by Colonel Robert H. York. Then there are those who are quitting their jobs and going to better-paying ones. Everett W. Singleton, Sr., G Company, 331st Infantry -- We laid 22,306 miles of Infantrymen of the 83rd Infantry Division warm themselves around a fire near Fays, Belgium, on January 3, 1945. K Company In December 1944, Sweeney was assigned to Company I, 330th Infantry Regiment, 83rd Infantry Division. Finally, direct hits by 8-in. The 83rd Division reported the death rate at the camp had been 500 per month. They raced across the German countryside until they were ordered to stop less than 60 miles from Berlin. These documents are provided for by Dave Curry, historian of the 83rd Infantry Division Association. His great uncle, Pfc. Composed almost entirely of Clevelanders ages 21-31 who had been drafted into the army, the regiment included companies A, B, C, D, H, and L and a supply company. 250th FA Battalion (105 How), from July 31st, 1944 to August 4th, 1944 In the 331st, the 2nd and 3rd battalions jumped off abreast at 0445 hours from the vicinity of Meautis. 3rd Platoon: 1st Lieutenant Frank R. Yukl, killed on July 4, 1944 B Company These reports are courtesy of Myra Miller, PhD, of Footsteps Researchers. This is the Facebook outlet of 83rdinfdivdocs.org and the people behind the research and data. Casualties were heavy. man); Pfc. Days of house-to-house fighting under thick smoke, artillery fire, and fighter-bomber attacks could not convince the Germans to give up. World War I [ edit] The division was activated in September 1917 at Camp Sherman, Ohio. J Company 1/330 AWON Memorial Web Page, Massacre at Ottre 802nd Tank Destroyer Battalion (T), from July 1st to December 7th, 1944 The men of the 83rd finally had some breathing space, and they began to forget about the formidable Siegfried Line waiting for them across the Moselle. The odds were that if you were on the front line, you probably wouldn't make it home in one piece, if at all. brothers we all know. 331st Infantry Regiment; 83rd Infantry Division "Thunderbolt" U.S. Army; B; Sort by: name . July 3, 1944: Pontorson On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. On June 18,1944 the 83rd Division landed at Omaha beach D-Day plus 12. Basic training of the new recruits was conducted at Camp Sherman, northwest of Chillicothe, OH. Tous droits rservs, 453rd AAA AW Battalion (Mbl), from July 1st, 1944 to July 9th, 1945. To halt the spread of sickness and death, the 83rd ordered the local German mayor to supply the camp with food and water. Overall, the division had 170.2 percent replacements. It was initially made up of enlisted draftees from Ohio and Pennsylvania, with a cadre of Regular Army, Officers Reserve Corps, and National Army officers. Time after time they only gained an advantage for a few hours before being completely cut up themselves, accumulating losses they could not afford. The 83rd Infantry Division on February 27, 1945 This page shows the locations and record of events for today in 1944 or 1945. OH S/Sgt Joseph Arnaldo, 331st Infantry The Project Gutenberg eBook of Historic Jamaica, by Frank Cundall This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost an Harry C. Gravelyn was Captain of Company D, 331st Infantry, 83rd "Thunderbolt" Infantry Division, United States Army, during World War II. In 2014 George P. Landow created this Victorian Web version, editing the text from the slightly rough Internet Archive . A new nickname was desired to represent the nationwide origins of the division's personnel during World War II. The unit included men from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Michigan, New York, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Maryland, North Carolina, Kansas, Connecticut, Kentucky, Washington, D.C., Tennessee, and even included T/Sgt. The 6th Regiment, Infantry, was organized June 24, 1799, of five companies, most of which dated back to 1785. June 22-28, 1944. Infantry Regiment 83 provided some support to the south. 83rd Infantry Division shoulder sleeve insignia, U.S. Army Reserve Readiness Training Center. 121st Inf (8th Div), from August 6th to 15th, 1944 It was a trip of "two weeks that seemed like two months . C Company On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Company B, 231st Infantry Training Battalion. 08 July 1944 83 ID Approaching Sainteny. The division moved back to Belgium and the Netherlands for rehabilitation and training, 22 January 1945. slumber in profound repose. The following is taken from New York in the War of the Rebellion, 3rd ed. The division was disbanded in . Kerr; Pvt. small arms ammunition. The 83rd Infantry Division ( 83. Oliver returned home, he brought with him a remarkable collection of F Company photos. July 14, 1944: Hotat Doesn't seem to be very sanitary but most of the people seem to be healthy as hell, in fact they seem to thrive on it. On April 11, 1945, the 83rd encountered Langenstein, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. A Company The 83rd Division then assembled near Feugeres, and on 3 through 5 August they moved out of the Cotentin Peninsula and turned west into Brittany. F Company It was active between 1941 and 1944, with a brief period of inactivity between 30 December 1943 and 16 March 1944. Then the heavies came in low, a hundred at a time. My dad's Individual Deceased Personnel File indicates cause of death as "Shrap. Every house was an arsenal with ammunition supplies stacked at each window, and every basement was reinforced with double walls of cement and steel. The 331st was the first regiment in the 83rd Division to see action in Luxembourg. [12], From the air the column bore no resemblance to either an armored or an infantry division. 2nd Platoon Name Date of birth Date of death Awards; Baugh, Bernard F. 06-08-1944: Units. The drive carried them eight miles beyond their starting point. The 83d Infantry Division arrived in England. There are numerous monuments in France honoring the GIs of the 83rd Division. The GIs fought in a house-to-house struggle through artillery, machine gun and small arms fire. The division was activated in September 1917 at Camp Sherman, Ohio. Infantrymen of the 83rd Infantry Division warm themselves around a fire near Fays, Belgium, on January 3, 1945. The 22nd Division's artillery regiment was positioned to the east of Le Quesnoy with security provided by a battalion of Infantry Regiment 82. I should be asking you. He said they were "so clean looking, with a full compliment of men in each unit. Melvin V. Park, K Company, 329th Infantry, 83rd Division, Liberation of Langenstein Concentration Camp by 83rd Division, Everett W. Singleton, Sr., G Company, 331st Infantry, 83rd Infantry, 329th Reenactment Group, Reading, PA, Indiana Military Organization (Camp Atterbury) Website, AWON (American World War II Orphans Network). Also, that the prisoners had been forced to work 16-hour days in nearby mines, and were shot if they became too weak to work. The December 8, 1944 Headquarters Company, 330th Infantry Regiment morning report listed the men from Communications Platoon who were killed during the previous day's incident, adopted below with Military Occupational Specialty (M.O.S.) US Army Patches - Army Unit Patches and Army Regiment Patches. It entered the Battle of the Bulge, 27 December, striking at Rochefort and reducing the enemy salient in a bitter struggle. From my reading on the German side, that is what the Germans would look for, and then send a counter attack in through the gap. The air was choked with dust so thick that they couldn't see, and the concussion so great that their clothing ballooned out. Thanks, David. They moved out of the Loire Valley in France, and traveled two days and nights through cities and towns, many of which brought memories of their fathers and WWI. He was moved to the front lines, 2 and 3/4 miles south of the town of Sainteny, along with 45 other GIs from the 41st Replacement Battalion that was stationed at Treviers, south of Omaha Beach. They landed across Omaha Beach and took over defensive positions near Carentan, where they relieved the 101st Airborne around the end of the month. They fought in the Rhineland, and were the first to reach the Rhine. Of the 68 divisions deployed by the U.S. Army in the European Theater, the 83rd was ninth in the number of combat deaths. On 11 April 1945 the 83rd Division encountered Langenstein-Zwieberge, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. 332nd Infantry Regiment ; 369th Experience ; Americans All! They pushed the Germans back through savage counterattacks and finally held the west bank of the Roer River just south of Duren five days after the initial attack from the Hurtgen Forest. of gasoline. W. L. Arnold--AT Company, 329th Infantry Regiment, Pvt. Gen. Willard A. Holbrook (23 March 1918), and finally Maj. Gen. Edwin F. Glenn (3 April 1918). 1/331 On a Red metal shield is a black pile behind a gold Lorraine cross. var sc_security="ff55f57b"; There they held the GIs at bay from underground pillboxes and camouflaged strong points. American Battle Monuments Commission search engine at http://www.abmc.gov/search/wwii.php. Many soldiers were killed instantly. B Co, 86th Chemical Mortar Battalion, from July 19th to 29th, 1944 Gen. The unit journal contains in-depth descriptions of the activity of the unit on a daily basis. Many of them are buried in U. S. Military Cemeteries, and can be found by searching the Rhodes from Pretoria, South Africa. Cleveland, He served in active combat from the landing at Normandy until a mortar took him out in Petite Langlir, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge. As the regimental journal says for this overlay, Defense areas to use in an emergency.. Cafes were opened where the GIs could enjoy good Luxembourg beer, music, and dancing. The 83rd entered France on the 21st through 24th of June 1944. 322nd Field Artillery Battalion (105 Howitzer) D Company Special orders contain promotions on company levels. Larry was able to identify most of the GIs in this photo. Leon Collins; S/Sgt. A last note. On the coast near Mont St. Michel, Pontorson, and Dol-de-Bretagne they received orders to capture the port towns of St. Malo and Dinard. They truly were brothers-in-arms. This overlay obviously has more to do with the 331st IR than the 330th IR. For three days the Nazis continued to pour reinforcements into the town. The division entered the hedgerow struggle south of Carentan. The sound of all those bombs exploding at the same time was the most terrible sound that he had ever heard. I Company In late December 1944, the 83rd took part in the Allied effort to stop the German offensive in the Battle of the Bulge. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. This, combined with coming of age during the great depression, taught him how to make do with what was at hand. His Scotch-Irish pioneer ancestry also gave him mental toughness and Yankee ingenuity. At the camp, the troops found approximately 1,100 inmates. Haute-Marne. You notice the German line bent back at a 90 angle (left-middle)? Mustered out: June 23, 1864. At a height of 5 ft. 7.5 in., he probably didn't have an ounce of fat on his body. They not only fought in Normandy and Brittany, but liberated Luxembourg. US soldiers with German prisoners of war//Robert Capa, 83rd Infantry Division in Europe in World War II 1944. Stephen Ambrose, in his book "Band Of Brothers," quotes one of the men of the 101st Airborne about the arrival of the 83rd. Heroes of the 331st Infantry Regiment, 83rd Division Those that sleep beneath our feet slumber in profound repose.