Battle Hardened

Prologue

1. Colonel Gerden F. Johnson, History of the Twelfth Infantry Regiment in World War II (Boston: National Fourth (Ivy) Division Association, 1947). Calculation based on the indexed list of officers assigned to the battalion. Johnson’s book is one of the best regimental histories of World War II and provides an excellent accounting of the 12^th Infantry’s operations (hereafter cited as Johnson).

2. National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, Missouri. Morning Reports, 12^th Infantry Regiment, 4^th Infantry Division (hereafter cited as Morning Report), May 7, 1945.

Chapter 1

1. Family oral history is a major source of the information contained in this work. In most cases, the reader will easily see that certain facts and descriptions come from personal recollections by family members, most notably from William P. Chapman (hereafter cited as WPC). Rather than repetitively cite oral history notes, personal recollections will only be cited to clarify potentially confusing situations.

2. Separation Qualification Record, WD AGO Form 100. Chapman, William P. 12 Dec 45 (hereafter cited as Chapman Form 100).

3. Chapman Form 100.

4. William P. Chapman, video interview by Mike Kearney, Leadership Recall, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), 13 June 1990 (hereafter cited as ASHRAE Interview). Available online www.ashrae.org/society-groups/leadership-recall/william-p-chapman/.

5. Chapman Form 100.

6. Lieutenant William P. Chapman letters to Mrs. William P. Chapman (hereafter cited as Letter), March 29, 1943.

7. Letter, March 29, 1943.

8. Graduation Program, Twenty-Fifth Company, Second Student Training Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia, June 1943. The poem printed in the program has ten stanzas.

9. Letter, March 29, 1943.

10. Letter, June 14, 1943.

11. Letter, June 14, 1944; Military Record and Report of Separation—Certificate of Service, WD AFO Form 53-98. Chapman, William P. 12 Dec 45 (hereafter cited as Chapman Form 53-98); Letter, March 1, 1944.

12. The author heard the account of that day’s tragedy from Bill’s mother, Lucy.

13. Letters, January 1 and 10, 1944.

Chapter 2

1. Letter, January 19, 1944; Chapman Form 53–98.

2. Letter, January 31, 1944.

3. Letter, February 4, 1944.

4. Letter, February 6, 1944.

5. Letter, March 7, 1944.

6. Letter, March 14 and 15, 1944.

7. John Desch, “The 1941 German Army/The 1944-45 U.S. Army: A Comparative Analysis of Two Forces in Their Primes,” in Hitler’s Army: The Evolution and Structure of German Forces (Conshohocken, PA: Command Magazine, 1996), 83 (hereafter cited as Desch); Max Hastings, Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy (New York: Vintage Books, 2006), 166–7 (hereafter cited as Hastings); S. L. A. Marshall, Colonel, U. S. Army, Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command in Future War, (Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1978), 15 (hereafter cited as Marshall).

8. Morning Report, Mar. 27, 1944; Letter, March 19, 1944.

9. Colonel Russell P. Reeder, interview by Forrest C. Pogue, George C. Marshall Foundation, Lexington, Virginia, 18 October 1960, transcript.

10. Ernie Pyle, Ernie’s War: The Best of Ernie Pyle’s World War II Dispatches, David Nichols ed. (New York: Random House, 1986), 329 (hereafter cited as Pyle); Antony Beevor, D-Day: The Battle for Normandy (New York: Penguin, 2009), 215 (hereafter cited as Beevor).

11. Morning Report, Mar. 27, 1944.

12. 1^st Lt. William H. Slaymaker, “Invasion: Personal Notes of 1^st Lt. W. H. Slaymaker” (N.P., N.D.) (hereafter cited as Slaymaker); US Army, Table of Organization & Equipment 7-18, Infantry Heavy Weapons Company, February 26, 1944 (hereafter cited as TO&E 7-18).

13. War Department, Infantry Field Manual 7-15, Heavy Weapons Company, Rifle Regiment, May 1942, 3–4 (hereafter cited as FM 7-15); War Department, Field Manual 23–90, 81mm Mortar M1, April 1943, 2 (hereafter cited as FM 23-90).

14. Letter, April 10, 1944.

15. Letter, May 12, 1944.

16. FM 23-90, 71–112.

17. FM 23–90, 71 and 77–80.

18. Johnson, 50.

19. Johnson, 50–1; Hastings, 57–8. The negative comments based on WPC.

20. Johnson, 51; National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland, Office of the Adjutant General. Record Group 407 (hereafter cited as NARA), File 304-INF(12)-0.3, After Action Report April 1944 (hereafter cited as 12^th AAR); COMNAVEU, Administrative History of U. S. Naval Forces Europe 1940-46. vol V (London: Historical Section, 1946), 365 (hereafter cited as COMNAVEU); Letter May 1, 1944.

21. COMNAVEU, 365.

22. Johnson, 52.

23. Letters, May 17, 1944.

24. Johnson, 52; NARA, File 304-INF(12)-3.7, Maps ( hereafter cited as Maps).

25. Colonel Russell P. Reeder, letter to Chief of Military History, May 23, 1966, found in NARA, File 304-INF(12)-0.3.

26. Johnson, 52-4; NARA, File 304-INF(12)-3.7, Aerial Photos; NARA, File 304-INF(12)-3.9.1 Field Order #1 (hereafter cited as Field Order); NARA, File 304-INF(12)7-3.9.1, Second Battalion Field Order; Letter, May 24, 1944.

27. Hastings, 36, 146, and 152; General of the Army Omar Bradley and Clay Blair, A General’s Life: An Autobiography by General of the Army Omar N. Bradley (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983), 234 (hereafter cited as Bradley); Stephen E. Ambrose, Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany June 7, 1944–May 7, 1945 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997), 18-9 (hereafter cited as Ambrose); War Department, Infantry Field Manual 7-5, Organization and Tactics of Infantry: The Rifle Battalion, October 1940, pp. 43-6 (hereafter cited as FM 7-5); Desch, 89.

28. Letter, May 1, 1944.

29. COMNAVU, 496; Johnson, 54. Johnson gives the date as June 4, but naval records show that Force U put to sea late on the third.

Chapter 3

1. Johnson, 54; COMNAVEU, 305, 400 and 499; NARA File 304-INF(12)-0.10. D’Avino’s artwork is kept in a special file at the National Archives.

2. Johnson, 54; COMNAVEU, 397 and 493–6; Major Roland G. Ruppenthal, Utah Beach to Cherbourg 6 June– 27 June 1944 (Washington, DC: Historical Division, Department of the Army, 1947), 13 (hereafter cited as Ruppenthal).

3. COMNAVEU, 433–42 and 497–506; Ruppenthal, 13.

4. Johnson, 55.

5. COMNAVEU, 464–76; Hastings, 86–7.

6. COMNAVEU, 409 and 503; Ruppenthal, 43; Cornelius Ryan, The Longest Day: June 6, 1944 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1959), 231–3, (hereafter cited as Ryan).

7. Slaymaker; “talliecrocker_utah,” 6 June 2014, normandy. secondworldwar.nl, .

8. See “talliecrocker_utah,” 6 June 2014, normandy. secondworldwar.nl,. This may have been the same artillery round.

9. William P. Chapman, Remembrances of D Day—June 6, 1944 (hereafter cited as Remembrances).

10. NARA, File 304-INF(12)-0.3.0, Unit History, Invasion of France (hereafter cited as Invasion of France); COMNAVEU, 503–4; Slaymaker.

11. Remembrances.

12. Thousands of 4^th Infantry Division troops received a personal greeting from General Roosevelt as they left Utah Beach. See Ryan, 231 and 286.

13. See Beevor, 118 for confirmation about Roosevelt’s appearance.

14. 14 Field Order #1; TO&E 7-18; Morgan J. Welch, Interview with author, March 21, 2014 (hereafter cited as Welch Interview). Welch confirmed that the battalion’s vehicles had not been offloaded for the first few days in Normandy.

15. David Shields and Shane Salerno, Salinger (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013), 15 (hereafter cited as Salinger). Bill was not the only one to think about a firetrap. Colonel Reeder had been alerted to the potential danger of fuel being ignited in the inundated area but no course of action was ever prepared to deal with that threat.

16. Slaymaker; Hastings, 88; Colonel Russell P. Reeder, The Beachhead, The Official Journal of the U. S. Committee for the Battle of Normandy Museum, (Washington DC, Summer 1990).

17. Johnson, 60–2; Gordon A. Harrison, Cross Channel-Attack (Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1951), 147 (hereafter cited as Harrison); Ryan, 134; Ruppenthal, 6.

18. NARA, File 304-INF(12)7-3.9.1, 2^nd Battalion Field Order; FM 23–90, 2.

19. Invasion of France; Johnson, 62.

20. Slaymaker.

21. Invasion of France; Johnson, 62.

22. Johnson, 63; NARA, File 304-INF(12)-0.9 Unit Report #1 Overlay (hereafter cited as Unit Report).

23. FM 7-15, 175-7; FM 23-90, 133-5.

24. Invasion of France; Johnson, 64; Slaymaker; Robert O. Babcock, War Stories: Utah Beach to Pleiku (Baton Rouge: St John’s Publishing, 2001), 115 (hereafter cited as War Stories); “Glider Landings,” 6 June 2014 normandy.secondworldwar.nl.

25. War Stories, 115.

26. Bradley, 248–9; COMNAVEU, 493 and 503–6.

Chapter 4

1. Bradley, 233.

2. Ruppenthal, 61; NARA, File 304-INF(12)-0.7, Journal, June 6, 1944 (hereafter cited as Journal).

3. Ruppenthal, 59, image of captured German map; NARA, File 304-INF(12)-1.6, Proposed Citation (hereafter cited as Proposed Citation); Unit Report #2, overlays.

4. FM 23-90, 6–10 and 64–5.

5. Proposed Citation; Invasion of France.

6. Bill did not specify which day this incident occurred but the circumstances suggest June 7. For an example of this German recon tactic, see Ambrose, 60–1.

7. Journal, June 7, 1944; Johnson, 66; Slaymaker. Johnson stated the counterattack occurred at 1900 hours, but that would’ve been well before sunset.

8. Harrison, 545.

9. Captain Michael D. Doubler, Busting the Bocage: American Combined Arms Operations in France, 6 June–31 July 1944 (Fort Leavenworth, KS: U.S., Army Command and General Staff College, 1988), 28 (hereafter cited as Doubler).

10. Marvin Jensen, Strike Swiftly: The 70th Tank Battalion: From North Africa to Normandy to Germany (Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1997) 154 (hereafter cited as Jensen); Doubler, 22–3; Ambrose, 35.

11. Ruppenthal, 103; Johnson, 67–8; Proposed Citation; NARA File 304-INF(12)-0.3 After Action Report-Notes on Emondeville, June 1944 (hereafter cited as Notes on Emondeville); Maj. Gen. Harold W. Blakeley, “Artillery in Normandy,” The Field Artillery Journal 39, no. 2 (Mar–Apr 1949): 52-54.

12. Notes on Emondeville; Ruppenthal, 103.

13. FM 7–15, 149.

14. Johnson, 72–3; Hastings, 188; Ambrose, 62.

15. Notes on Emondeville. Luckett surmised that the German counterattack and rocket barrage may have been intended to hit the 3^rd Battalion in the rear but ran into the 2^nd Battalion by surprise.

16. Notes on Emondeville; Slaymaker.

17. FM 23-90, 71; Major William R. Campbell, Tanks with Infantry, Military Monograph, The Armored School, Fort Knox, Kentucky, February 25, 1947, 5; Harrison, 284; FM 7-15, 195; TO&E 7-18.

18. Johnson, 68-9; Proposed Citation; Ruppenthal, 103. The killing of Lieutenant Everett may have been deliberate. See Beevor, 160.

19. Johnson, 69; Slaymaker.

20. Johnson, 69–71; Proposed Citation.

21. Slaymaker; FM 7-15, 174–8.

22. Ruppenthal, 103; To get an idea of how badly Colonel Reeder wanted tank support see Journal, June 8, 1944.

23. Journal, June 9, 1944; Johnson, 71.

24. Hastings, 188; Casualties in H Company rose sharply starting June 8. See NARA, File 304-INF(12)-.03, After Action Report, H Company Casualty List, June 1944.

25. Slaymaker; 746^th Tank Battalion, After Action Report, 1–30 Jun 44. Combined Arms Research Library, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas (hereafter cited as 746^th AAR).

26. Johnson, 72; Ruppenthal, 103; 746^th AAR; Proposed Citation; Slaymaker. Whenever the 12^th Infantry had attached units, especially tanks and tank destroyers, it identified itself as Combat Team 12 (CT 12) instead of the 12^th Infantry Regiment. Throughout the narrative I will interchange the terms “regiment,” “12^th Infantry,” “Combat Team 12,” and “CT 12” when tanks or tank destroyers are attached to the regiment.

27. Ruppenthal, 103; Johnson, 72–3.

28. Dick Stodghill, Normandy 1944: A Young Rifleman’s War (Baltimore: PublishAmerica, 2006), 140 (hereafter cited as Stodghill). See also Max Hastings, Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945 (New York: Vintage Books, 2004), 85 (hereafter cited as Armageddon).

29. WPC. Bill did not specify the exact time and place of this close call, just that it happened in hedgerow country, but the situation closely matches the engagement outside of Joganville.

30. 746^th AAR.

31. 746^th AAR; Johnson, 72–3. Johnson incorrectly identifies the 70^th Tank Battalion, the unit habitually attached to the 4^th Infantry Division throughout the campaign in Europe. For the first few days after D-Day the 746th Tank Battalion was also attached to the division and they fought alongside the 12th Infantry on June 9, 1944.

32. WPC; Morning Report, June 9, 1944.

33. Letter, June 13, 1944.

34. Proposed Citation; Johnson, 77–80; Slaymaker. The last statistic comes from WPC.

35. Unit Report, #2-4; Ruppenthal, Appendix D; Beevor, 114.

36. Ruppenthal, 59.

37. David Eisenhower, Eisenhower at War 1943-1945 (New York: Vintage Books, 1986), 285–7 (hereafter cited as Eisenhower).

Chapter 5

1. Letter, June 17, 1944.

2. Letter, June 13, 1944.

3. Letters, June 13 and 20, 1944.

4. Letter, June 26 and 27, 1944.

5. Letter July 1, 1944.

6. Letter, July 1944.

7. Letter, July 1944.

8. Morning Report, July 22, 1944; Unit Report #47, overlay.

9. See Johnson, 73–132 for a description of this campaign; Martin Blumenson, Breakout and Pursuit (Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1961), 175 (hereafter cited as Blumenson); Eisenhower, 355–6; Bradley, 272.

10. War Department, Field Manual 100-5, Operations, June 1944, 111-7 (hereafter cited as FM 100-5); Stephen Bull, Ph.D., World War II Infantry Tactics: Company and Battalion (Oxford, England: Osprey Publishing, 2005), 14 (hereafter cited as Bull).

11. Blumenson, 130; Morning Report, July 20, 1944; Johnson 131-2.

12. Robert G. Segel, “The Model 1917 Browning Water-Cooled Machine Gun,” Small Arms Defense Journal (Fall 2009): 60-69; FM 7-15, 134.

13. Blumenson, 180; Bradley, 272; NARA, File 304–0.3, 4^th Infantry Division After Action Report, July 1944 (hereafter cited as 4^th AAR).

14. Blumenson, 228-9.

15. Stodghill, 226-9.

16. Field Order #34; Rev. George W. Knapp, A Chaplain’s Duty: Letters Home from a WWII Chaplain, ed. Gayle E. Knapp (Marietta, GA: Deeds Publishing 2011), 107 (hereafter cited as Knapp); Journal, July 25, 1944; Unit Report #50. Johnson and Stodghill state that the regiment moved south of le Hommetd’Arthenay days before. The unit reports, journals, and field orders indicate the move from Le Desert to the southern assembly area occurred after the bombing on the twenty-fifth.

17. Blumenson, 235-8 and 243; Pyle, 337; Jensen, 190; Journal, July 25, 1944.

18. Bradley, 280; Eisenhower, 381; Rick Atkinson, The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944–1945 (New York: Henry Holt, 2013), 144 (hereafter cited as Atkinson); Hastings, 255.

19. Journal, July 25, 1944; Stodghill, 231; WPC. Both Bill and Stodghill recalled running across German prisoners still in a state of shock after the bombing, yet official unit records clearly state that the 2^nd Battalion, 12^th Infantry remained in an assembly area four kilometers back from the highway.

20. Journal, July 25, 1944; Blumenson, 246; Atkinson, 145-6; Hastings, 255-6.

21. Journal, July 25-6, 1944, Field Order #35-6.

22. FM 7-15, 90-3.

23. Stodghill, 232; FM 7-15, 95-9; Journal, July 26, 1944, Unit Report #51, overlay.

24. Journal, July 27, 1944; Field Order #37; Stodghill, 233.

25. Journal, July 27, 1944, Unit Report #52, overlay; 4^th AAR July 1944; 70^th Tank Battalion, “Soixante-Dix”: A History of the 70^th Tank Battalion (Combined Arms Research Library, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas), 248 (hereafter cited as Soixante-Dix). The narrative for late July appears to be off by one day.

26. WPC did not state the exact date of this incident. Journal, July 27, 1944.

27. Jensen, 162; Allyn R. Vannoy and Jay Karamales, Against the Panzers: United States Infantry versus German Tanks, 1944– 1945 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1996), 15 (hereafter cited as Vannoy); Stodghill, 133.

28. War Department, Field Manual 23-55, Browning Machine Guns, Caliber .30, M1917A1, M1919A4 and M1919A6, July 1945, pp. 106-7 (hereafter cited as FM 23-55).

29. 29 FM 23-55, 169-70, 206-20 and 270-87.

30. Journal, July 27, 1944.

31. Journal, July 27, 1944; Field Order #38, Johnson, 135; Stodghill, 233.

32. Journal, July 28, 1944.

Chapter 6

1. Stodghill, 238–9; Journal, July 28, 1944.

2. Journal, July 28, 1944; Field Order #39; 12^th AAR July 1944.

3. FM 7-15, 31; Stodghill, 247–8 shows that company machine guns were also loaded on their carriers for this move.

4. Johnson, 135–6; Journal, July 28, 1944, Unit Report #53; NARA, File 304-INF-0.3, Special Operations Report, St. Lo Breakthrough (hereafter cited as Special Report—St. Lo); Stodghill, 249; FM 7-15, 18.

5. Journal, July 29, 1944; Unit Report #44; FM 23-55, 200.

6. Unit Report #54 (mislabeled as #44); Special Report—St. Lo; Journal, July 29, 1944; Stodghill, 252–3.

7. Journal, July 29, 1944; Johnson, 137; FM 7-15, 74; FM 23–55, 163–70 and 182–3.

8. WPC. Bill never identified the French town the tank unit passed through but the circumstances fit Hambye. See also, Stodghill, 253.

9. Blumenson, 273–81.

10. Field Order #40; Stodghill, 257.

11. Field Order #40; War Department, Field Manual 101-5, Staff Officers’ Field Manual: The Staff and Combat Orders, August 1940, 51; FM 100-5, 135.

12. Beevor, 242; WPC. Bill never identified the company commander by name but his description closely matched those in Stodghill, 141.

13. Special Report—St. Lo; Journal, July 30, 1944; Blumenson, 296; Unit Report #55; Otto Weidinger, Comrades to the End: The 4^th Panzer-Grenadier Regiment “Der Fuhrer” 1938–1945, David Johnston trans. (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 1998), 322–3 (hereafter cited as Weidinger).

14. FM 23-55, 143.

15. Special Report—St. Lo; Unit Report #55, overlay.

16. Journal, July 30, 1944; Special Report—St. Lo.

17. Special Report—St. Lo.

18. Desch, 91.

19. Special Report—St. Lo; Johnson, 138–9; Unit Report #55.

20. Hastings, 168.

21. Armageddon, 87; Lt. Gen. Guenther Blumentritt, MS# B-683, Foreign Military Studies, Manuscript Department, William R. Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, NC, 6 (hereafter cited as Blumentritt, MS# B-683).

22. FM 7-5, 84–8; War Department, Infantry Field Manual 7-20, Infantry Battalion, October 1944. 155; FM 100-5, 241.

23. Field Order #41; Journal, July 31, 1944

24. Journal, July 31, 1944; Unit Report #56.

25. WPC. There is no way to substantiate the exact night during the Normandy campaign this incident occurred.

26. Field Order #42; Blumenson, 308.

27. Field Order #42. The order was contradictory. The written order specified that the 2^nd Battalion follow the First but the overlay showed a separate route. The Journal reported the battalion following CCB.

28. Journal, August 1, 1944.

29. Johnson, 139. As the principal player in this battle, Johnson’s book provides the best firsthand account.

30. FM 23-55, 101–3 and 206–12.

31. Journal, August 1, 1944; Special Report—St. Lo;

32. FM 23-55, 217–20; Johnson, 139.

33. Journal, August 1, 1944.

34. Johnson, p. 139, Journal, August 1, 1944; Special Report—St. Lo.

35. Special Report—St. Lo; FM 23-55, 68–71.

36. Journal, August 1, 1944. The journal does not explicitly state that this was a summary execution.

37. Johnson, 139; Unit Report, August 1, 1944 overlay; Journal, August 1, 1944. Stodghill, 268, describes a heavy engagement for G Company along a blacktop highway on August 1. The highway seems to match the Hambye–Villedieu highway but no one else mentions any fighting in the new assembly area.

Chapter 7

1. 4^th AAR, August 1944; Weidinger, 344.

2. Field Order #43; Journal, August 2, 1944; Special Report—St. Lo.

3. Welch Interview.

4. Charles C. Roberts Jr., Armored Strike Force: The Photo History of the American 70^th Tank Battalion in World War II (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2016), 164 (hereafter cited as Roberts); Johnson 142; Special Report—St. Lo.

5. Journal, August 2, 1944.

6. FM 7-15, 30–5.

7. Journal, August 2, 1944; Special Report—St. Lo; Johnson, 142.

8. Special Report—St. Lo; 70^th Tank Battalion, After Action Reports, 1 Aug–30 Nov 44, 1-31 Mar and 1-31 May 45. Combined Arms Research Library, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas (hereafter cited as 70^th Tk AAR).

9. Special Report—St. Lo; Johnson, 142.

10. Journal, August 2, 1944.

11. Stodghill, 280.

12. Johnson, 143.

13. Special Report—St. Lo.

14. Johnson, 143; 4^th AAR, August 1944.

15. Journal, August 3, 1944; Johnson, 143–4; Special Report—St. Lo.

16. Stodghill, 282.

17. Beevor, 258; Marshall, 16; Ambrose, 273–86; Special Report—St. Lo.

18. Marshall, 47.

19. Special Report—St. Lo; Letter, February 26, 1945.

20. Field Order #44 and Change 1.

21. WPC. The town in Normandy was not identified but Bois-Yvon is one of the few villages that the 2^nd Battalion liberated that had its own church.

22. WPC. Bill did not mention the specific day of this incident but the circumstances fit the situation of August 3, 1944.

23. Johnson, 143–6; Special Report—St. Lo; Journal, August 3, 1944.

24. Special Report—St. Lo.

25. Special Report—St. Lo.

26. Journal, August 3, 1944; Special Report—St. Lo; Stodghill, 283.

27. Stodghill, 284–5; Special Report—St. Lo; Johnson, 147–8.

28. Journal, August 4, 1944; Blumenson, 447; Roberts, 166.

29. Field Order #46, Journal, August 4, 1944.

30. WPC. Bill did not identify the precise day of this incident, just that it occurred during the drive through Normandy.

31. Special Report—St. Lo; Johnson, 148.

32. Journal, August 4, 1944; 4^th AAR August 1944.

33. Special Report—St. Lo; Johnson, 149; Stodghill, 289.

34. Ernest Hemingway, “The G. I. and the General,” Collier’s (Nov. 4, 1944), (hereafter cited as G. I. and the General); Stodghill, 290.

35. WPC; Stodghill, 291.

36. Special Report—St. Lo; Johnson, 148–9

37. G. I. and the General, 11 and 46.

38. Journal, August 4-5, 1944.

39. Special Report—St. Lo; Johnson, 149.

40. Journal, August 5, 1944; Special Report—St. Lo; Johnson, 149.

41. Journal, August 6, 1944.

42. Blumenson, 447–8; Field Order #47; NARA File 304-INF(12)-0.3, After Action Report, Exploiting the Breakthrough, 1-6 August 1944.

Chapter 8

1. Journal, August 7, 1944; Johnson, 154.

2. Journal, August 7, 1944.

3. For information on the German strategic planning for Mortain, see Eisenhower, 390-4; Blumenson, 455-60; Hastings, 283-5; Donald Detwiler, Charles Burdick, and Jürgen Rohwer eds., World War II German Military Studies (New York: Garland Publishing, 1979) 1–21; Maj. Gen. Rudolph von Gersdorff, MS# A-921, Avranches Counterattack, Seventh Army (29 Jul–14 Aug 44) (hereafter cited as Gersdorff MS# A-921); Alwyn Featherston, Saving the Breakout: The 30th Division’s Heroic Stand at Mortain, August 7–12, 1944 (Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1993), 47–56 (hereafter cited as Featherston); Mark J. Reardon, Victory at Mortain: Stopping Hitler’s Panzer Counteroffensive (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2002), 44–64 (hereafter cited as Reardon).

4. For information on the attack against the 30^th Infantry Division on August 7, see Featherston, 75–143; Gersdorff MS# A-921, 21–6; Weidinger, 323–6; Blumenson, 460–5; Captain L. R. Adair, et al., The Battle of Mortain (Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute, 1983), Sec. IV 11–7 (hereafter cited as Adair); Hastings, 285–7; Atkinson,155–7.

5. Blumenson, 464–5 and 481–6.

6. Journal, August 7, 1944; Oral Order August 7, 1944; Johnson,154. The Oral Order misidentified the attached tank Company. B Company 70^th Tank Battalion was attached to the 12^th Infantry, not C Company.

7. Johnson, 154, Journal, August 8, 1944; NARA File 304-INF(12)-0.3, After Action Report-The Mortain Stand: 7-14 August 1944 (hereafter cited as Mortain Stand).

8. NARA File 304-0.3.0 Special Operations Report—The Attack into Belgium Sept 1944: Interview August 18, 1944 (hereafter cited as Special Report—Mortain) [This report appears misfiled within the 4^th Infantry Division archive, probably because the 12^th Infantry was detached during the battle of Mortain]; Journal August 8, 1944; Field Order #48; Reardon, 185–6; Johnson, 155.

9. Special Report—Mortain; Journal, August 8, 1944; Johnson, 155–6.

10. Journal, August 8, 1944; Special Report—Mortain; Weidinger, 325–6.

11. Mortain Stand; Journal, August 8, 1944; Johnson, 156.

12. Johnson, 156; Reardon, 188.

13. Knapp, 100; NARA, File 304-INF-1.13, 4^th Infantry Division, General Order #80, 29 Oct 44, Award of Silver Star to 2nd Lt. William P. Chapman and handwritten transcription of citation (hereafter cited as Silver Star Citation); Journal, August 8, 1944. The 1944 Army maps appear to have switched labels on the la Pourcerie and la Tourbelere farms. For the reader’s sake, the narrative remains consistent with the maps.

14. Special Report—Mortain; Weidinger, 325–6; Reardon, 188; Journal, August 8, 1944; Unit Report #64; 30th Division Journal, August 8, 1944; Johnson, 156; Stodghill, 295-7.

15. Journal, August 8, 1944; Unit Report #64; Reardon, 188.

16. Special Report—Mortain.

17. Hastings, 190–5 and 289; Vannoy, 15; Bull, 44–5.

18. Special Report—Mortain; Unit Report #64; Journal, August 8, 1944; NARA File 330-3.2, Journal (hereafter cited as 30^th Division Journal) August 8, 1944; Johnson, 156–7; Silver Star Citation.

19. Johnson, 165–6.

20. Johnson p. 157; Jensen, pp. 193-4.

21. Special Report – Mortain; Salinger, p. 116; Reardon, p. 228.

22. Johnson, p. 157.

23. Journal, August 9, 1944; Special Report – Mortain; Johnson, p. 157; Reardon, p. 189. Colonel Johnson did not explicitly state when he issued the order to withdraw. Reardon states that the battalion completed its withdrawal across the stream by 0200 hours but the unit journal and special report clearly show that the 2^nd Battalion pulled back across the stream the next morning.

24. Silver Star Citation.

25. Special Report – Mortain; Journal, August 9, 1944; Johnson, p. 157; Mortain Stand.

26. Journal, August 9, 1944; 30th Division Journal, August 9, 1944; Silver Star Citation.

27. Special Report – Mortain.

28. Journal, August 9, 1944.

29. Special Report – Mortain; Journal, August 9, 1944.

30. NARA File 304-INF-0.3 Daily Operations (hereafter cited as 4^th Daily Ops), August 9, 1944

31. Reardon, pp. 162-4.

32. Journal, August 9, 1944; Unit Report #65.

33. Special Report – Mortain; Journal, August 10, 1944.

34. Special Report – Mortain; 30^th Division Journal, Letter of Instruction August 9, 1944; Unit Report #66.

35. Special Report – Mortain; Journal, August 10, 1944.

36. Journal, August 10, 1944; Reardon, p. 247.

37. Journal, August 10, 1944.

38. Journal, August 10, 1944; Special Report – St. Lo, Interview with Captain Dunbar Whitman; Johnson, pp. 158-9. Working from memory, Lt. Col. Gerden Johnson conflated the actions of August 11 and 12 when he wrote the regiment’s history. The 1^st Battalion crossed the 2^nd Battalion’s path on the tenth when neither unit had supporting tanks.

39. Journal, August 10, 1944; Weidinger, p. 326; Unit Report #66. American 1:25,000 maps show the farm’s name as la Dainie.

40. Unit Report #66.

41. Journal, August 10, 1944; Special Report - Mortain.

42. Special Report – Mortain; 30^th Division, August 8, 1944.

43. WPC. This event cannot be ascribed to a specific date or location.

44. Journal, August 10, 1944; Unit Report #66.

45. Journal, August 10, 1944.

46. Journal, August 10, 1944.

47. Journal, August 10, 1944.

48. Journal, August 10, 1944; Unit Report #66.

49. Journal, August 10, 1944.

50. Weidinger, p. 326; Journal, August 10, 1944.

51. Special Report – Mortain; Reardon, p. 256. Reardon puts this incident on August 11 when the Germans counterattacked E Company with several tanks. In the special report Lieutenants Anderson and Piper state that Burik engaged the German tank on the night of August 10. Although the unit journal does not record any tank engagements that evening, I see no reason to doubt the date they gave. They described the incident as a solitary tank probing at night, which could easily have occurred on the tenth.

52. Journal, August 11, 1944.

53. Reardon, p. 255.

54. Journal, August 11, 1944; Special Report – St. Lo, Interview with Captain Dunbar Whitman; Unit Report #67; Special Report – Mortain. The regiment did not issue a new operations order for August 11.

55. Journal, August 11, 1944; Johnson, p. 158; Reardon, pp. 254-5.

56. Reardon, p. 254; Johnson, p. 159.

57. Journal, August 11, 1944; Reardon, p. 254; Johnson, pp. 158-60.

58. Johnson, p. 159.

59. Journal, August 11, 1944; Special Report – Mortain. The two staff lieutenants, Anderson and Piper, who gave the interview for the special report, related this story as happening on August 10 but the halftracks did not cross the stream until August 11.

60. Welch Interview.

61. Jensen, p. 195.

62. Reardon, p. 255.

63. Reardon, p. 255; Johnson, pp. 159-60; Special Report – Mortain; Journal, August 11, 1944; Mortain Stand; Unit Report #67. Johnson’s book says he was wounded by a mortar round, but Reardon relates that German tank fire caused the casualties. It is difficult to contradict the author’s own version of how he was wounded but Reardon’s account is based on the firsthand testimony of Major Lay and corroborated by Lieutenants Anderson and Piper in the Special Report. Johnson may have been too seriously wounded to know how he was struck.

64. Journal, August 11, 1944; Special Report – St. Lo, Interview with Captain Dunbar Whitman.

65. Weidinger, p. 326; Gersdorff, MS# A-921; Reardon, p. 260.

66. Special Report – Mortain; Armageddon, p. 87. Hastings discusses the lack of American nighttime patrols and attacks.

67. Field Order #50; Special Report – Mortain. Field Order #50 shows the battalion west of the highway with the mission of moving behind the 1^st Battalion to a position south of RJ 278 on August 12. Field Order #51 shows the battalion occupying the ridgeline near la Sablonniere on the morning of August 13. The journals provide further evidence that events overtook the guidance in FO #50 and the battalion never attempted to shift to the south of RJ 278.

68. Mortain Stand; Johnson, p. 163; Special Report – Mortain; Unit Report #68; Reardon, p. 261.

69. Special Report – Mortain; Reardon, p. 263.

70. Journal, August 12, 1944; Unit Report #68; Mortain Stand; Special Report – Mortain.

71. Journal, August 12-3, 1944.

72. Journal, August 13, 1944; Field Order #51 and #52.

Chapter 9

1. Field Order #52.

2. NARA File 304-INF(12)7-0.3, 2^nd Battalion Unit History (hereafter cited as 2^nd Bn History).

3. Johnson, 168; Special Report – Mortain.

4. NARA File 304-INF-0.3.0, Special Operations Report – Movements of 4^th Div. St. Pois to Paris (hereafter cited as Special Report – St. Pois to Paris); 4^th AAR, August 1944; Journal, August 14-6, 1944.

5. Special Report – St. Pois to Paris.

6. 2^nd Bn History; 12^th AAR, August 1944.

7. Blumenson, 523.

8. Field Order #53; 2^nd Bn History, August 14-17, 1944.

9. 4^th AAR, August 1944; NARA File 304-INF(12)-0.3 After Action Report – The Liberation of Paris, August 1944 (hereafter cited as Liberation of Paris).

10. Journal, August 18, 1944.

11. Journal, August 18-23, 1944; 2^nd Bn History; Special Report – St. Pois to Paris; Field Order #54; 4^th Daily Ops, August 22, 1944.

12. Eisenhower, 416; Blumenson, 602-10.

13. Journal, August 23, 1944; Field Order #55; Special Report – St. Pois to Paris; 2^nd Bn History.

14. 2^nd Bn History; Journal, August 24, 1944, Liberation of Paris;

15. War Stories, 236-7.

16. 2^nd Bn History, Journal, August 24, 1944; Liberation of Paris; Blumenson, 611-2; 4^th AAR, August 1944; Willis Thornton, The Liberation of Paris (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1962), 177 (hereafter cited as Thornton); Field Order, Overlay 24-Aug-44.

17. Journal, August 24, 1944; 4^th Daily Ops, August 24, 1944; Jensen, 205.

18. Journal, August 24, 1944; Liberation of Paris; Second Bn History.

19. Liberation of Paris; Blumenson, 613-4; Martin Blumenson, Liberation (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1978), 140 (hereafter cited as Blumenson Liberation).

20. Liberation of Paris; 4^th AAR, August 1944; Journal, August 25, 1944; War Stories, 237; Roberts, 181.

21. Liberation of Paris; 2^nd Bn History.

22. Thornton, 186-9; Blumenson, 616; Liberation of Paris.

23. Johnson, 169; Liberation of Paris; Thornton, 189.

24. Thornton, 189-91; Blumenson, 616-7.

25. Liberation of Paris; Blumenson, Overlay XIV.

26. Thornton, 187-8 and 193; Liberation of Paris.

27. War Stories, 240; George Wilson, If You Survive (New York: Ballantine Books, 1987), 64–5; Roberts, 181; Salinger, 117.

28. Michael Taylor, “Liberating France Hemingway’s Way/Following Author’s 1944 Reclaiming of the Ritz Hotel,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 22, 2004; Beevor, 513; Salinger, 109.

29. Blumenson Liberation, 156.

30. Field Order #57; Journal, August 26, 1944.

31. “Discours de l’Hotel de Ville de Paris, 25 Aout 1944,” June 2016, charles-de-gaulle.org; Beevor, 512.

32. 2^nd Bn History; Liberation of Paris; War Stories, 238. The regiment’s AAR gives the time of 0930 hours for the Mass but that was thirty minutes after the movement to the Bois de Vincennes started. The Battalion history states the Mass was held before the movement. That makes more sense.

33. Jensen, 211; 2^nd Bn History.

34. Journal, August 26, 1944; Unit Report #82; 2^nd Bn History.

35. Ibid; WPC never mentioned whether or not his heavy machine gun platoon escorted G Company on this mission.

36. Liberation of Paris; 2^nd Bn History.

37. Journal, August 27, 1944.

38. Disposition Overlay, August 27, 1944.

39. Journal, August 28, 1944; 2^nd Bn History.

Chapter 10

1. War Stories, 239.

2. Journal, August 28, 1944; Disposition Overlay, August 28, 1944; 2^nd Bn History.

3. Overlay to Oral Order, August 29, 1944; Journal August 29, 1944; Disposition Overlay, August 29, 1944; 2^nd Bn History. The battalion history misidentified the objective on August 29 as Levignen.

4. Eisenhower, 411-2; Bradley, 310-3; B. H. Liddell Hart, History of the Second World War (New York: Putnam, 1971), 561 (hereafter cited as Liddell Hart); Blumenson, 658.

5. Eisenhower, 416-20; Bradley, 313-4; Atkinson, 224.

6. Eisenhower, 420-3; Bradley, 314-6; Atkinson, 224-5; Liddell Hart, 562; Blumenson, 659-60.

7. Bradley, 317.

8. Field Orders 58, 59, 60 with Change 1; Journal, August 30 and 31, 1944; Unit Report #87; Disposition Overlays.

9. NARA File 304-INF(12)-0.3 After Action Report – Dash for Germany (hereafter cited as Dash for Germany); 2^nd Bn History. The battalion history is off by a day.

10. Field Order #61; Journal, September 1, 1944; Dash for Germany; NARA File 304-INF-0.3.0 Special Operations Report – Pursuit thru Belgium (hereafter cited as Pursuit thru Belgium); Blumenson, 661-4 and 671-4.

11. Pursuit thru Belgium; Field Order Strip Map, September 2, 1944; 4^th Daily Ops September 2, 1944; Journal, September 2, 1944; 2^nd Bn History; Johnson, 178.

12. Jensen, 221.

13. 2^nd Bn History; Jensen, 222.

14. Jensen, 221-2.

15. Blumenson, 680-2; Journal, September 3, 1944.

16. Eisenhower, 438-9; Bradley, 321-2; Blumenson, 686. The British promoted Montgomery on September 1.

17. Eisenhower, 436-7; Atkinson, 249-50; Blumenson, 700. Von Rundstedt’s successor and predecessor, Field Marshall von Kluge, committed suicide during the retreat from Falaise.

18. Field Order #63; Journal, September 5, 1944.

19. Journal, September 5, 1944; 2^nd Bn History; Johnson, 179; Foreign Military Studies, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland. Interviews identified by name and MS#, Obergruppenfuhrer Georg Kepler MS# B-155 I SS Panzer Corps (14 August–18 October 1944), (hereafter cited as Keppler MS# B-155).

20. Journal, September 5, 1944; Charles E. Rousek, Major, U. S. Army. A Short History of the 38th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized). N. P., N. D., 6 (hereafter cited as Rousek).

21. 2^nd Bn History; Journal, September 5, 1944; Rousek, 6.

22. Dash for Germany; 2^nd Bn History; Johnson, 179.

23. Ernest Hemingway, “War in the Siegfried Line,” Collier’s (Nov. 18, 1944): 18 and 70 (hereafter cited as Hemingway, “War in the Siegfried Line”).

24. Field Order #64; Dash for Germany; 2^nd Bn History; Journal, September 6, 1944; Unit Report #93; Roberts, p. 185; Rousek, 6.

25. 2^nd Bn History; Johnson, 179; Dash for Germany; Journal, September 6, 1944; Unit Report #93 and Disposition Overlay; Rousek, 6-7; Keppler, MS# B-155.

26. Weidinger, 338; Blumentritt, MS# B-683, 10. Weidinger’s quote applies to the general situation in the retreat across Belgium, not specifically to the action near Gedinne.

27. FM 100-5, 152; FM 7-5, 52.

28. Journal, September 6, 1944.

29. Pursuit thru Belgium; Weidinger, 337.

30. WPC did not identify the village. Morgan Welch reported a very similar, if not the same incident.

31. Field Order #65; 2^nd Bn History; Unit Report #94; Johnson, 180; Journal, September 7, 1944.

32. Field Order #66; 4^th Daily Ops, September 9, 1944; Rousek, 7; Unit Report #95; 2^nd Bn History.

33. Field Order #67; Journal, September 9, 1944; Rousek, 7.

34. Rousek, 7; Johnson, 181; 2nf Bn History; FM 23-55, 185.

35. Journal, September 9, 1944; FM 23-95, 182-3; Pursuit thru Belgium; Knapp, 212; Johnson,181; 2^nd Bn History.

36. Letter, December 24, 1944. The battalion lost one of the escorting resistance fighters but no one from the unit.

37. 2^nd Bn History.

38. Letter December 24, 1944.

39. Letter December 24, 1944. Whenever recounting this story, Bill identified the town as Houffalize, a similar town about seventeen kilometers southeast of La Roche-en-Ardenne. Bill confused the two towns on the Ourthe River. The 12^th Infantry did not pass through Houffalize. His description of the town and the action closely match La Roche.

40. Field Order #68; Journal, September 10, 1944; 2^nd Bn History; Unit Report #97.

41. Field Order #69; 2^nd Bn History; Journal September 11, 1944; Johnson, 181-2; Disposition Overlay, September 11, 1944.

42. Weidinger, 338; Field Order #70; Journal, September 12, 1944.

43. 2^nd Bn History; Weidinger, 338-9.

44. 4^th Daily Ops, September 12 and 13, 1944.

45. Field Order #72; Charles B. MacDonald, The Siegfried Line Campaign (Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1963), 36-8 (hereafter cited as MacDonald).

46. Journal, September 13, 1944; 2^nd Bn History.

47. 4^th Daily Ops, September 9, 1944.

48. 2^nd Bn History; Johnson, 183-4; MacDonald, 49.

Chapter 11

1. NARA File 304-INF-0.3.0 Special Operations Report – Penetration of the Siegfried Line (hereafter cited as Special Report – Siegfried Line), Documentation of the Siegfried Line (hereafter cited as Documentation – Siegfried Line); MacDonald, 31-5.

2. Lt. Gen. Erich Brandenberger, MS# B-730, Foreign Military Studies, Manuscript Department, William R. Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, NC, 65-6; Weidinger, 347-8.

3. Armageddon, 16; Bradley, 459

4. Keppler, MS# B-155.

5. Maj. Otha G. Miles, et al, The Battle of Schnee Eifel (Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute, 1984), 19-20 (hereafter cited as Miles); MacDonald, 37; Weidinger, 349.

6. MacDonald, 41, 44 and Map III.

7. Miles, 21-3 and 47.

8. FM 100-5, 115; Miles, 22.

9. Field Order #73.

10. NARA File 304-INF(12)-0.3 After Action Report – The Siegfried Penetration (hereafter cited as Siegfried Penetration); Johnson 186; Special Report – Siegfried Line; 2^nd Bn History; Unit Report #101.

11. 2^nd Bn History; Special Report – Siegfried Line; Siegfried Penetration; Journal, September 14, 1944.

12. WPC. Bill did not specify the date of the incident with the fog but his story perfectly matches the events of September 14.

13. 2^nd Bn History; Documentation – Siegfried Line.

14. 2^nd Bn History; Siegfried Penetration; Documentation – Siegfried Line; Special Report – Siegfried Line; Unit Report #101. The interview within the Special Report states that combat action was minimal but other sources indicate a serious, though lopsided, fight.

15. Journal, September 14, 1944; 2^nd Bn History; Unit Report #101; Keppler, MS# B-155.

16. FM 100-5, 146; Journal September 14, 1944.

17. MacDonald, 52; Miles, 53.

18. Field Order #74; Documentation – Siegfried Line.

19. Journal, September 15, 1944; 2^nd Bn History.

20. Special Report – Siegfried Line; Siegfried Penetration; 2^nd Bn History; Journal, September 15, 1944; Unit Report #102.

21. Ibid; Hemingway, “War in the Siegfried Line.”

22. Miles, 13-5; Unit Report #102. The poor records of the 2^nd SS Panzer “Das Reich” Division make it difficult to sort out the German dispositions. Miles indicates that the 4^th Panzergrenadier “Der Fuhrer” Regiment defended the northern half of the Schnee Eifel and Losheim Gap but Weidinger’s descriptions make reference to engagements south of Brandscheid. The unit reports on 14 and 17 September mention confronting the 3rd Panzergrenadier “Deutschland” Regiment.

23. Special Report – Siegfried Line; Siegfried Penetration; 2^nd Bn History; Journal, September 15, 1944; Unit Report #102.

24. Special Report – Siegfried Line; Siegfried Penetration.

25. 2^nd Bn History; Siegfried Penetration.

26. FM 7-15, 106-13.

27. FM 23-55, 199.

28. NARA File 304-INF(12)-1.6 Commendations (hereafter cited as Commendations), Commendation for Meritorious Service Company E, 12^th Infantry, October 2, 1944. WPC noted in his copy of Johnson’s regimental history that his platoon was attached to E Company for this battle.

29. Special Report – Siegfried Line; NARA File 304-INF(12)-3.9.1, Memorandum, September 15, 1944; Miles, 54; Unit Report Overlay, September 15, 1944.

30. Brandenberger, MS# B-730, VII. MacDonald in The Siegfried Line Campaign, 51, incorrectly identifies Brigadefuhrer Heinz Lammerding as commander of Das Reich but Baum held command between July and October 1944.

31. Miles, 54; Special Report – Siegfried Line.

32. Field Order #75.

33. Journal, September 16, 1944; Unit Report #103.

34. Journal, September 16, 1944; Siegfried Penetration; 2^nd Bn History; Unit Report #103.

35. 2^nd Bn History.

36. Journal, September 16, 1944; Unit Report #103; Special Report – Siegfried Line.

37. Johnson, 188.

38. Ibid.

39. 2^nd Bn History; Siegfried Penetration; Journal, September 16, 1944; Unit Report #103.

40. 2^nd Bn History; Siegfried Penetration; Special Report – Siegfried Line.

41. Journal, September 16, 1944.

42. Field Order #76.

43. Journal, September 17, 1944; Unit Report #104. WPC claimed that he knew beforehand that he would be wounded on both occasions.

44. 2^nd Bn History. There is no direct evidence that Lieutenant Chapman’s platoon was attached to E Company. That is inferred by the fact that G Company suffered almost no casualties on September 17 while Bill described an intense direct fire engagement and was, himself, wounded.

45. Journal, September 17, 1944; Unit Report #104; 2^nd Bn History; Siegfried Penetration.

46. Journal, September 17, 1944; Unit Report #104; Chapman Form 53-98; Field Order #76.

47. Special Report – Siegfried Line; Miles, 57-9.

48. MacDonald, 55.

49. 4th Infantry Division, 12th Infantry Regiment (Baton Rouge: Army & Navy Publishing Company, 1946), 16 (hereafter cited as Division History); Special Report – Siegfried Line.

Chapter 12

1. Field Order #76.

2. Letter, 1944.

3. Morning Report, September 20, 1944; Silver Star Citation; Letter, January 27, 1945.

4. Letter, November 24, 1944.

5. Letters, December 3, 4 and 18, 1944.

6. Letter, December 23, 1944.

7. Letter, December 23, 1944; Morning Report, January 7, 1945.

8. Hugh M. Cole, The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge (Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1965) 238-58; Johnson, 230-300.

9. Welch Interview; “Gorn_J,” September 10, 2015, Memorial.thetasigmatau.org.

10. Bradley, 372-3 and 386; Unit Report #222; NARA File 304-INF(12)-0.3 After Action Report, January 1945 (hereafter cited as AAR – Jan 45); 2^nd Bn History.

11. Letter, January 10 and 13, 1945.

12. FO #112; 2^nd Bn History; Unit Report #226; Journal, January 18, 1945.

13. 2^nd Bn History; Journal, January 19, 1945; FM 7-15, 60-3.

14. Unit Report #229; Journal, January 19, 1945; Second Bn History; FM 23-90, 88.

15. 2^nd Bn History; Field Order #113; FM 7-15, 150; Journal, January 20, 1945.

16. Field Order #113; Soixante-Dix, 201; Journal, January 20, 1945; Roberts, 218.

17. War Stories, 353; Letter, January 4, 1945.

18. Johnson, 301; Journal, January 20, 1945; Unit Report #229; Charles B. MacDonald, The Last Offensive (Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1973) 48 (hereafter cited as Last Offensive).

19. Field Order #114; FM 7-15, 146.

20. AAR – Jan 45; Johnson, 301; Unit Report #230.

21. Journal, January 21, 1945; Jensen, 280; Soixante-Dix, 202; AAR – Jan 45; Roberts, 218; Commendations, 12^th Infantry, 24 January 1945; 2^nd Bn History. The 2^nd Bn History has confused some of the dates.

22. Journal, January 21, 1945; Soixante-Dix, 202; Johnson, 303; AAR – Jan 45; Commendations, 12^th Infantry, 24 January 1945; Unit Report #230; 2^nd Bn History.

23. Journal, January 21, 1945; Unit Report #230; 2^nd Bn History; Johnson, 301-3.

24. FM 23-90, 2, 25 and 28.

25. 2^nd Bn History; Unit Report #30; Johnson, 301-3; Journal, January 21, 1945.

26. Journal, January 21, 1945.

27. Unit Report, Operation Overlay, January 22, 1945.

28. Unit Report #231.

29. Journal, January 22, 1945; Unit Report #231; AAR – Jan 45.

30. Operation Overlay for 22 January 1945; Unit Report #231.

31. Journal, January 22, 1945.

32. Journal, January 22, 1945; Unit Report #231; 2^nd Bn History; AAR – Jan 45; Jensen, 281; Roberts, 218.

33. WPC did specify the exact day this incident occurred.

34. Unit Report #232; 2^nd Bn History, Journal, January 22, 1945.

35. 2^nd Bn History.

36. FM 23-90, 179-207. No mention was made of how this tank platoon reached G Company’s position but the journal and AAR state that tanks attacked Fouhren from both directions.

37. 2^nd Bn History; Journal, January 23, 1945; Unit Report #232; AAR – Jan 45; Johnson. 303; Jensen, 281. Soixante-Dix, 202; Roberts, 218.

38. Journal, January 23, 1945; Jensen, 281; Soixante-Dix, 202.

39. Journal, January 23, 1945; Commendations, 12^th Infantry Regiment, 24 January 1945; Jensen, 281. Sources disagree on the precise numbers of German tanks and guns destroyed. I quoted the inventory from the letter of commendation.

40. Journal, January 23, 1945.

41. 2^nd Bn History; Journal, January 23, 1945; Johnson, 304.

42. Unit Report Disposition Overlay, January 24, 1945.

43. Unit Report #233; Journal, January 24, 1945.

44. Knapp, 224.

45. Johnson, 304-5; Journal, January 25, 1945. Johnson gives the date of January 24 for this incident but the journal shows that it happened on the twenty-fifth.

46. Journal, January 26, 1945; Unit Report #235 and disposition overlay; Field Order #115.

Chapter 13

1. Field Order #115; Journal, January 27, 1945; Unit Report, Disposition Overlay; 2^nd Bn History.

2. Bradley, 390; Last Offensive, 55-7.

3. Letter, January 27, 1945.

4. Johnson, 306; 2^nd Bn History; NARA File 304-INF-0.3.0 Special Operations Report - Second Penetration of the Siegfried Line (hereafter cited as Second Penetration).

5. Field Order #116; Second Penetration.

6. Unit Report #240; Letter, January 31, 1945.

7. Field Order #116 and #117; Journal, January 31, 1945.

8. Unit Report #241; NARA File 304-INF(12)7-0.3 After Action Report, February 1945 (hereafter cited as AAR – Feb 45); Second Penetration; Johnson, 307-8.

9. Journal, February 1, 1945; Unit Report #241.

10. Journal, February 1, 1945; Unit Report #241; AAR – Feb 45; Johnson, 308.

11. Unit Report #241 and Disposition Overlay; Field Order #118; Unit Report #242.

12. Second Penetration; Jensen, 287; Roberts, 218; Journal, February 2, 1945.

13. Journal, February 2, 1945; Unit Report #242; AAR – Feb 45. The regimental overlay did not show the battalion’s LD but it was most likely the crest of the ridge.

14. Jensen, 287.

15. Jensen, 176 and 287; AAR – Feb 45; Unit Report #242; Second Penetration; Johnson, 308. Johnson seems to imply that the tank attack preceded the infantry crossing of the LD but the testimony of the tankers indicates that the infantry assault was well under way by the time the tanks came on the scene.

16. Journal, February 2, 1945.

17. WPC. This story cannot be matched to this exact date but fits with the circumstances of this day’s action.

18. Journal, February 2, 1945; Unit Report #242; AAR – Feb 45; Johnson, 308.

19. Journal, February 2, 1945.

20. Journal, February 3, 1945; Unit Report #243; AAR – Feb 45; Johnson, 308-9.

21. Journal, February 3, 1945; Captain Roy T. McGrann, “The 610th Tank Destroyer Battalion: Apr. 10, 1942 – Dec. 7, 1945” (N. P., N. D.), 73 (hereafter cited as McGrann).

22. Journal, February 3, 1945; AAR – Feb 45.

23. Eisenhower, 643-5; Bradley, 392; Last Offensive, 67.

24. Second Penetration; Welch Interview.

25. Second Penetration; Last Offensive, 86.

26. Letter, February 2, 1945.

27. AAR – Feb 45; Journal, February 7-10, 1945; Unit Report #247-50 with disposition overlay; Johnson, 308-9.

28. Field Order #122.

29. Journal, February 5, 11 and 13, 1945; Last Offensive, 96; AAR – Feb 45; Johnson, 311.

30. Journal, February 12 and 13, 1945.

31. McGrann, 78-9.

32. Journal, February 16 and 18, 1945; AAR – Feb 45; Field Order #123.

33. Journal, February 19, 1945; Unit Report #259; AAR – Feb 45.

34. Disposition Overlay, February 19, 1945.

35. Journal, February 20, 1945; Unit Report #260; Johnson, p. 311; AAR – Feb 45.

36. AAR – Feb 45.

37. Unit Report #258-61.

38. Journal, February 21-5, 1945; Unit Report #260-5.

39. Journal, February 25-6, 1945; Unit Report #266.

40. Letter, February 26, 1945.

Chapter 14

1. Eisenhower, 671; Bradley, 400-1; Last Offensive, 185.

2. Field Order 124 and 125; Second Penetration; NARA File 304-INF(12)-0.3 After Action Report – March 1945 (hereafter cited as AAR – Mar 45).

3. 2^nd Bn History; Journal, March 1, 1945.

4. Journal, March 1, 1945; 2^nd Bn History; Unit Report Disposition Overlay.

5. FM 23-90, 116.

6. Journal, March 1, 1945; 2^nd Bn History; Unit Report Disposition Overlay.

7. Journal, March 2, 1945; AAR – Mar 45; 70^th AAR Mar 45.

8. Journal, March 2, 1945; AAR – Mar 45; Unit Report #270; 2^nd Bn History; Johnson, 314.

9. Field Order #125; Journal, March 2, 1945; AAR – Mar 45; Unit Report #270; 2^nd Bn History.

10. Letter, March 7, 1945. In his letter Bill said he answered “Yes, sir.” However, as he related the story he always claimed his answer was “Hell, yes.”

11. US Army, Table of Organization & Equipment 7-15, Infantry Battalion, February 26, 1944.

12. Field Order #126.

13. Journal, March 3, 1945; Unit Report #271; 2^nd Bn History; 70^th Tk AAR Mar 45; Roberts, 229. The 2^nd Battalion disposition overlays normally did not show the H Company positions but the situation at Rommersheim was ideal for involving the heavy weapons platoons from firing positions west of town.

14. Journal, March 3, 1945; Unit Report #271 with Disposition Overlay.

15. Second Penetration; AAR – Mar 45; Journal, March 3, 1945; Last Offensive, 197.

16. Unit Report #272; Field Order #127.

17. Journal, March 4, 1945.

18. War Department, Infantry Field Manual 7-10, Rifle Company, Rifle Regiment, June 1942, 15-6 (hereafter cited as FM 7-10).

19. Journal, March 4, 1945.

20. Field Order #128; Second Penetration; AAR Mar 45; Journal, March 5, 1945; 2^nd Bn History; Unit Report #273.

21. Journal, March 6, 1945.

22. Maps; Second Penetration; Journal, March 6, 1945.

23. Last Offensive, p. 199; Journal, March 6, 1945; 2^nd Bn History; AAR – Mar 45.

24. FM 7-10, 26-7; Maps.

25. Letter, March 7, 1945.

26. Journal, March 7, 1945; 2^nd Bn History.

27. FM 7-10, 37.

28. FM 7-10, 38.

29. Journal, March 7, 1945.

30. Journal, March 7, 1945; Unit Report #275; 2^nd Bn History; Johnson, 316.

31. Journal, March 7, 1945; Johnson, 316; Letter, March 7, 1945.

32. Field Order #129; Journal, March 7, 1945; AAR – Mar 45.

33. Johnson, 317; Unit Report #279.

34. Unit Reports #280-2; 2^nd Bn History; Letter, March 14, 1945.

35. Unit Report #287-90; 2^nd Bn History; Johnson, 318.

36. Unit Report #284, AAR – Mar 45; McGrann, 86; 2^nd Bn History; Johnson, 318; Field Order #133. The 4^th Infantry Division had been sent south in March as a reinforcement for Operation Undertone, the Seventh Army push to the Rhine River. See Bradley, 403-4. The assignment to Seventh Army came after Undertone was finished.

Chapter 15

1. Stephen G. Fritz, Endkampf: Soldiers, Civilians and the Death of the Third Reich, (Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 2004), 1-9 (hereafter cited as Endkampf); David Stafford, Endgame 1945: The Missing Final Chapter of World War II (New York: Little Brown, 2007), 254-8 (hereafter cited as Stafford); Atkinson, 590-3; Eisenhower, 628-9; Last Offensive, 340.

2. Eisenhower, 729; Bradley, 418-21; Last Offensive, 421.

3. Last Offensive, 413.

4. AAR – Mar 45; Field Order #134; 2^nd Bn History; Unit Report #298; Johnson, 318; Once again, the 2^nd Battalion History is off by a day in its narrative.

5. 2^nd Bn History; Richard Bessel, Germany 1945: From War to Peace (New York: HarperCollins, 2009), 54 (hereafter cited as Bessel).

6. Unit Report #299; 2^nd Bn History; Johnson, 318.

7. Field Order #135; 4^th AAR – Apr 45; NARA File 304-INF(12)-0.3 After Action Report – April 1945 (hereafter cited as AAR – Apr 45); 2^nd Bn History; Journal, April 1, 1945; Unit Report #300.

8. AAR – Apr 45; 2^nd Bn History; Journal, April 2 and 3, 1945; Unit Report #301 and 302; Field Order #136.

9. Last Offensive, 413-4; Endkampf, 71-2; Journal, April 4, 1945 (sketch map); 2^nd Bn History.

10. Field Order #137.

11. Journal, March 4, 1945; NARA File 304-INF-0.3.0 Special Operations Report - Second Penetration of the Siegfried Line, interview with Lt. William Chapman (hereafter cited as Chapman Interview). After VE Day the division historical staff interviewed Bill about the campaign across Southern Germany. He made a five-page statement. This interview has apparently been misfiled within the division archive. It can be found in the “Second Penetration of the Siegfried Line” folder even though it is labeled “East of the Rhine.” Bill never mentioned this interview to anyone in the family. The family did not know of its existence until it was discovered in the division archive while researching for this book.

12. FM 7-10, 60-1.

13. 2^nd Bn History; Journal, March 4, 1945.

14. Chapman Interview.

15. Journal, April 5, 1945; Unit Report #304; Chapman Interview.

16. WPC; FM 7-10, 142.

17. WPC.

18. Journal, April 5, 1945; Chapman Interview.

19. Chapman Interview; Endkampf, 92.

20. WPC. Bill did not give the precise date of this incident but the circumstances correspond with the battle of Simmringen Woods.

21. WPC.

22. Field Order #167. Objective #4 north end of Simmringen Woods, #5 – Hills 366-374, #6 – Harthausen, #7 – Nassau.

23. Journal, March 6, 1945; Chapman Interview; Unit Report #305 and Disposition Overlay.

24. Field Order #138.

25. FM 7-40.

26. Chapman Interview; Journal, April 7, 1945.

27. Chapman Interview; Journal, April 7, 1945; Unit Report #305; AAR – April 45;

28. War Stories, 369.

29. Chapman Interview; Journal, April 8, 1945.

30. War Stories, 369-70.

31. Chapman Interview.

32. Chapman Interview; Unit Report #307; AAR – Apr 45.

33. 4^th AAR April 1945; Unit Reports #303-7; Johnson, 323.

34. WPC; Letter, April 13, 1945.

35. 2^nd Bn History; Letter, April 9, 1945.

Chapter 16

1. Last Offensive, 418-21; Endkampf, 92.

2. Last Offensive, 420-1; Endkampf, 15.

3. Field Order #139; 4^th AAR – Apr 45; Unit Report #310 and Enemy Disposition Overlay.

4. Journal, April 11, 1945; 2^nd Bn History; Chapman Interview.

5. Letter, April 13 and 20, 1945.

6. 2^nd Bn History.

7. Chapman Interview; 2^nd Bn History.

8. Chapman Interview.

9. 2^nd Bn History; Journal, April 12, 1945; Unit Report #311; AAR – Apr 45.

10. Letter, April 13, 1945.

11. Journal, April 13, 1945; Unit Report #312; AAR – Apr 45; 4^th AAR – Apr 45.

12. Chapman Interview; 2^nd Bn History; Journal, April 14, 1945; Unit Report #313; AAR – Apr 45.

13. Field Order #140; Chapman Interview; 2^nd Bn History; Journal, April 15, 1945; Roberts, 234.

14. Journal, April 15, 1945; Chapman Interview; 2^nd Bn History; Unit Report #314; AAR – Apr 45.

15. Journal, April 15, 1945.

16. Journal, April 15, 1945; Chapman Interview.

17. Chapman Interview; Disposition Overlay, April 15, 1945.

18. Chapman Interview; 2^nd Bn History; Unit Report #314; 4^th AAR – Apr 45; Letter, April 13, 1945.

19. Chapman Interview; 2^nd Bn History.

20. Chapman Interview.

21. Chapman Interview; 2^nd Bn History; Journal, April 16, 1945; Unit Report #315.

22. William M. Dwyer, So Long for Now: A World War II Memoir (Bloomington, IN: Xlibris, 2009), 119-20 (hereafter cited as Dwyer); Journal, April 16, 1945.

23. The patrol’s trip into Rothenburg is described in detail in Dwyer, 118-31 and reprinted in Johnson, 326-37.

24. Journal April 16 and 17, 1945.

25. Journal, April 17, 1945; 2^nd Bn History.

26. WPC. Bill did not identify the name of the town but entries in the regiment’s journal and 2^nd Bn History correspond to his story.

27. Chapman Interview; 2^nd Bn History; Journal, April 17, 1945; Unit Report #316 and overlay.

28. Field Order #141.

29. Journal, April 18, 1945.

30. Journal, April 18, 1945; Chapman Interview; 2^nd Bn History; Unit Report #317; AAR – Apr 45.

31. WPC. Bill retold this story many times but did not mention the town by name. However, the circumstances of the story fit with E Company’s capture of Wohnbach.

32. Journal, April 18, 1945; 2^nd Bn History; Unit Report #317; AAR – Apr 45.

33. “Geschichte,” December 17, 2013, schloss-schillingsfuerst.de. Schloss Schillingsfürst, 2009. (hereafter cited as Schillingsfurst).

34. National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland. Interviews identified by name and MS#, Major General Max Ulich MS# B-795 The Last Battles of the 212^th Volksgrenadier Division (1-26 April 1945).

35. Endkampf, 91, 136 and 179; Bessel, 45; Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich: Memoirs by Albert Speer (New York: MacMillan, 1970), 401 and 447; Journal, April 6, 1945.

36. Endkampf, 132-6; Schillingsfurst.

37. Speer, p. 439.

38. Journal, April 19, 1945; Schillingsfürst.

39. WPC; 2^nd Bn History.

40. 2^nd Bn History; Journal, April 19, 1945; Unit Report #318.

41. Chapman Interview; 2^nd Bn History; Journal, April 19, 1945.

42. Colonel Gorn related his discussion with a senior officer in the schloss during TF Chapman’s attack. Bill did not give the senior officer’s name but General Rodwell is the likeliest candidate. The unit journal did not mention the visit of any general to the regimental CP at that time but that would not preclude a visit by Rodwell to the 2^nd Battalion CP.

43. Johnson, 339; 2^nd Bn History.

Chapter 17

1. 2^nd Bn History; Journal, April 20, 1945; Unit Report #319 and Disposition Overlay. From April 21 to the end of the month the 2^nd Bn History was off by one day.

2. Journal, April 20, 1945.

3. Field Order #142; 4^th AAR – Apr 45; AAR – Apr 45; Johnson, 340; Roberts, 235.

4. Journal, April 22, 1945.

5. Johnson, 340-1; Jensen, 314-7; 4^th AAR – Apr 45; 2^nd Bn History.

6. Jensen, 317; Confirmation of Verbal Order, 222300 April 45; Bessel, 22-3.

7. Journal, April 23, 1945; Unit Report #322; AAR – Apr 45; 4^th AAR – Apr 45; Jensen, 317-8; Johnson, 341.

8. Journal, April 23, 1945; Chapman Interview; 2^nd Bn History.

9. Chapman Interview; 2^nd Bn History; Johnson, 341-3.

10. WPC. Bill never mentioned the location of the tank shot. However, the elements of the story, the tanks, the incoming artillery, and the presence of a tower, match the situation at Aalen.

11. Chapman Interview; 2^nd Bn History.

12. Chapman Interview; McGrann, 91.

13. Chapman Interview; 4^th AAR – Apr 45; AAR – Apr 45; Unit Report #322.

14. Unit Report #322.

15. 2^nd Bn History; AAR –Apr 45; Chapman Interview; Unit Report #323; Johnson, 343.

16. Johnson, 343; Roberts, 237.

17. Journal, April 24, 1945. Sources do not give a clear picture of the time TF Rodwell began movement that morning. Johnson and the 2^nd Bn History say 1000 hours. The regiment’s AAR says 0700 hours. The first definitive time check by the journal places the task force west of Grosskuchen at 1055 hours, ten kilometers from the initial point.

18. WPC. Bill never stated the exact date or location of the tank-88 duel but the circumstances strongly suggest that it occurred somewhere along TF Rodwell’s line of advance on this day.

19. Journal, April 24, 1945.

20. Journal, April 24, 1945; Johnson, 343.

21. Johnson, 343; James R. Dow and Hannjost Lixfeld, The Nazification of an Academic Discipline: Folklore in the Third Reich (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1994), 65, 257. Bill did not state the exact date and location where Weigel surrendered to him nor do any biographical sketches of Weigel. The only clue is Johnson’s comment that someone of his rank was captured at Oggenhausen, where Bill was present to accept his surrender.

22. Journal, April 24, 1945.

23. Chapman Interview; Johnson, 343-4.

24. Unit Report #323.

25. Letter, May 8, 1945.

26. Chapman Interview; 2^nd Bn History; Johnson, 344. Johnson mistakenly claimed the regiment backpedaled to Oggenshausen. He confused TF Rodwell’s march from Giengen with the forward movement of the 1^st and 3^rd Battalions that had consolidated at Oggenhausen overnight.

27. WPC. Bill claimed that the church steeple was in the city of Ulm but that was incorrect. Ulm was more than twenty kilometers out of TF Rodwell’s sector. Possibly, Bill recalled that he was working off the “Ulm” map sheet when the incident occurred.

28. 4^th AAR – Apr 45; 2^nd Bn History.

29. 4^th AAR – Apr 45; AAR – Apr 45; 2^nd Bn History; Johnson, 344.

30. Jensen, 319; Endkampf, 179.

Chapter 18

1. Field Order #144; AAR – Apr 45; Chapman Interview; 2^nd Bn History.

2. Journal, April 25, 1945; Unit Report #324.

3. 4^th AAR – Apr 45; AAR-Apr 45; 2^nd Bn History; Unit Report #325.

4. 2^nd Bn History; Chapman Interview.

5. AAR – Apr 45; Unit Report #325; 2^nd Bn History.

6. 2^nd Bn History; Chapman Interview.

7. Unit Report #325.

8. Bessel, 11; Endkampf, 191-2.

9. Letter, April 27, 1945.

10. Unit Report #326

11. Unit Report #326.

12. 2^nd Bn History.

13. WPC. Bill did not give a precise date or location for this incident.

14. Field Order #145; AAR – Apr 45; Journal, April 28, 1945; Unit Report #326.

15. Field Order #146; AAR - Apr 45.

16. 2^nd Bn History; Chapman Interview.

17. 2^nd Bn History; Unit Report #328.

18. 2^nd Bn History; Chapman Interview.

19. Chapman Interview; NARA File 304-INF(12)7-0.3, Handwritten Journal of 1/Sgt. Edgar Weber (hereafter cited as Weber Journal). The Weber Journal was one day off for the first days of May, similar to the error of the 2^nd Bn History in late April.

20. Field Order #147; McGrann, 92.

21. Weber Journal.

22. Weber Journal. Unit Report #329 and AAR – Apr 45 incorrectly state that the 2^nd Battalion only progressed to Unt-Brunn.

23. McGrann, 92-3; Unit Report #329; AAR – Apr 45.

24. Unit Reports #325-30.

25. Weber Journal; Stafford, 484-5. WPC did not give a specific date or location of the camp but Weber’s Journal clearly states that E Company had “law and order” duty on May 1 and Föhrenwald was the nearest slave labor camp.

26. Jensen, 320. Likewise, Jensen does not identify the precise date or site of this anecdote but Föhrenwald is the likeliest camp to be served by his mess team. Also, see Knapp, 286-7.

27. WPC. Bill’s seeming act of kindness was actually ill-advised. A starving man should only be fed gradually under close medical supervision. Unfortunately, Bill did not know this at the time.

28. Weber Journal; Journal, May 2, 1945.

29. Weber Journal; Journal, May 2, 1945; Unit Report #331; AAR – May 45.

30. Morning Report, April 27 – May 3, 1945.

31. Weber Journal.

32. Weber Journal; Unit Report #332; AAR – May 45.

33. Weber Journal; Johnson, 347.

34. Weber Journal; Knapp, 289.

35. Weber Journal; Journal, May 5, 1945; Unit Report #334; AAR – May 45; Johnson, 347.

36. Last Offensive, 472; Atkinson, 618; Endkampf, 22.

37. Journal, May 6, 1945; Unit Report #335.

38. Johnson, 347.

39. Bessel, 131; Letter, May 7, 1945.

40. Weber Journal.

Chapter 19

1. Weber Journal.

2. 12^th AAR – May 45; Bessel, 256.

3. Journal, May 9-13, 1945.

4. Endkampf, 198, Journal, May 13, 1945.

5. Letter, May 10, 1945.

6. Journal 23, May 1945; Knapp, 312; Letter, May 18, 1945.

7. 12^th AAR – Jun 45; Journal, June 10, 1945; Weber Journal.

8. Journal, June 13-8, 1945; Weber Journal; Division History, 48-9; Knapp, 325.

9. Weber Journal; War Stories, 417-8.

10. Weber Journal; War Stories, 418; 12^th AAR – Jun 45; Knapp, 329.

11. War Stories p. 418; 12^th AAR – Jun 45.

12. Weber Journal; War Stories, 418; 12^th AAR – Jun 45.

13. ASHRAE Interview; Chapman Form 53-98; Chapman Form 100.