Photos, Articles, & Research on the European Theater in World War II
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This is the first of a series of G. I. Stories of the Ground,
Air and Service Forces in the European Theater of Operations,
to be issued by the Stars and Stripes, a pulbication of the
Information and Education Division, Special and Information Services,
ETOUSA... Maj. Gen. D. A. Stroh, commanding the 8th Infantry
Division, lent his cooperation to the preparation of the pamphlet,
and basic material was supplied to the editors by his personnel.
The 8th Division Story:
Pay-Off at Crozon
Smashing ahead on the heels of its own artillery
barrage, one hour before the attack of September
19, the 3rd Battalion, 13th Infantry, caught the
Germans piling out of their shelters, before they
reached their positions. As the assault companies
drove north, the reserve company, Company I,
was left to clear a strip of west beach, heavily
salted with pillboxes and coastal guns.
Platoon Commander 1st Lt. James M. Dunham,
leading his men through the emplacements, spotted
the white flags first. And so Lt. Gen. Ramcke might
have been his baby. But a German medic insisted
in precise English that the general was waiting
below in a dugout for the American commanding
officers. He wanted a first class surrender.
In a few minutes Brig. Gen. Charles D. W.
Canham, assistant division commander; Col. R. A.
Griffin, 13th Infantry commander; and Lt. Col.
Earl L. Lerette, 3rd Battalion commander, had gone
to inspect their catch, 75 feet underground.
"I am to surrender to you," Ramcke told Gen.
Canham through his own interpreter. "I want to
see your credentials."
Gen. Canham pointed to the eager dogfaces
crowding the entrance with their M-1s. "These are
my credentials."
This blunt phrase put the Nazi in his place, and
paid dramatic tribute to the real power behind
America's armies — the G.I.
The peninsula campaign folded when a truce
was signed that evening. In two months the 8th
had accounted for nearly 15,000 prisoners, vast
quantities of supplies, and a lasting crimp in the
enemy's morale. It was a combat achievement that
put the division into the big time play for Berlin.
The first objective, the Ay river, was strongly
defended. With the 28th and 121st Regiments on
line and the 13th in reserve, the division jumped
off on its first attack early on July 8.
Participating in the division's initial crack
against the enemy was fair game for the 28th, for
in World War I that regiment was the first
American combat outfit to set foot on European
soil. That was on June 28, 1917, under the
command of Col. Hanson Ely. A part of the
1st Division, it
trained under the famed French "Blue
Devils," and subsequently helped to quash the
German threat against the Channel ports.
This regiment likewise stored a notable combat
record in the Battle of Soissons, on July 18, 1918.
and later in the destruction of the St. Mihiel
salient, the slugging in the Argonne, and at Sedan.
The grateful French decorated the members of the
Regiment with the Fourragerre. Until the "Peace"
was signed the 28th kept a "Watch on the Rhine,"
returning to the U.S. shortly thereafter, and
remaining a part of the 1st Division until 1939. In the
summer of 1940 the regiment joined the
8th Division at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
The 28th was organized in 1901 at Vancouver
Barracks, Washington, and soon thereafter was
sent to Mindanao, P.I., to cut military roads
through the jungles and suppress the Moro
headhunters. The mission accomplished, it returned to
serve ten years of garrison duty in the states. In
1913 the regiment patrolled the Rio Grande, and
the next year became part of the expedition which
occupied Vera Cruz.
At Camp Harris, Ga., in August 1917, the unit
was redesignated the 121st infantry — "The Old
Gray Bonnet Regiment" — and assigned to the
newly formed 30th Division. Reorganized in 1919
as a part of the Georgia National Guard; the
regiment broke into active service for a short
period in 1934. On September 16, 1940 it was
inducted into federal service at Fort Jackson.
There on November 22, 1941, it replaced the
34th Infantry Regiment as part of the 8th Division.
At night a counter attack hit the 121st Infantry,
which repulsed it by a night attack of the regimental
reserve battalion. In the morning the division slugged
again, to be met by another counter
attack. But on the third day local Nazi withdrawals
were indicated and the 8th picked up
speed. Infantry elements isolated small pockets of
the enemy, bypassed them and forged ahead, leaving
the corps cavalry to clean up.
German machine gun fire was heavy and the
enemy mortars were accurate. Tougher still, a
communications break sent the 3rd Battalion, 28th
Infantry, 1000 yards beyond adjacent units, thereby
exposing its flanks. Before contact could be
restored, the Nazis had badly mauled Company
L in a counter-attack.
The 13th Infantry attacked for the first time on
the morning of July 13, when the 28th dropped
into division reserve. If the Nazis had bothered
to consult their version of American history, they
might have been confused by what was coming at
them that morning. It was historical haywire by
their standards, for less than one hundred years
before, the forbears of the 13th and 121st Regiments
had fought on opposite teams in the Civil War.
In the Civil War, the 13th took and held Vicksburg
for a short while on May 19, 1863. Seven
men carried the colors that day, and all seven
died. Of the entire attacking force only the 13th
reached the Confederate position, but even their
attack was repulsed. Here the regiment paid a
high price for its motto. "First At Vicksburg."
In Cuba, in 1898, the 13th took its cut of San
Juan Hill, and Private Agnew of Company H
captured the flag of Spain. The regiment returned
to San Francisco in 1900, following a year in the
Philippines, and in 1903 Company I served at
Fort Liscum, Alaska. Two more Philippine tours
came in 1905-07, and 1911-17. The 13th tied in
with the 8th Division in January of 1918. At the
end of World War I units of the regiment were
stationed in New England until October 1939,
when the 13th was ordered to the Canal Zone. Its
personnel was transferred to other organizations in
June 1940; but in July 1940, the regiment was
reconstituted at Fort Jackson.
First Battle Reveals the Profit
Or Loss of Combat Training
The division had achieved its first objectives,
suffered its first casualties. Hedgerows had become
as familiar as the training terrain of Tennessee,
Georgia and Northern Ireland. But this time the
umpires wore Red Cross brassards, and the Joe on
the other side was no Joe at all, but a killer.
There had been brodies, and smart plays. Contact
between adjacent units had been lost, flanks exposed,
and enemy counter attacks were hard going.
All this paid off with heavy casualties.
On the credit side the artillery had learned that
a morning barrage prior to the day's attack only
alerted the enemy. Instead, heavier harassing fires
were laid down, and the artillery concentrated on
neutralizing and knocking out strong points uncovered
by attacking infantry elements. This typifies
the process of building up a foolproof combat technic, which
went on in every unit of the division
during those first few days of the real McCoy.
On July 12 Brig. Gen. Donald A. Stroh assumed
command of the 8th Infantry Division.
For eleven days the 8th sat tight, waiting for
a new VIII Corps offensive. At last the attack was
definitely scheduled to begin at 0530 July 26. The
line of the Ay from the river's mouth to the bridge
at Lessay was swampy and so strongly held that
an advance southward by the 79th Division was
out. The Lessay bridge was gone and the only
ford in the river was impassable because of mines
and crossfire.
The 90th Division was in a similar fix. And
only the 8th's front, two kilometers wide, was
suitable for an attack. To the 8th went the task
of overcoming the enemy defenses to the south,
and establishing a bridgehead between the south
bank of the Ay and the Lessay-Perrier railway.
Through the gap the 79th Division was to fan out
to the southwest, and then rip out the German
defenses along the western sector of the river line
from the flank. Spearheaded by the 8th, the
90th Division
and the 6th Armored Division were to
bypass the German strongpoint to the east,
continuing the attack on the southeast.
Resistance was met by the 28th, attacking with
the 1st and 2nd Battalions forward. Following a
reorganization halt, a
second attack was launched
at 1500, penetrating the
enemy's main defensive
position. The 28th Infantry
reached the Lessay-Perrier
road, rendering untenable the entire enemy
position along the corps front. The 121st Infantry
reported no resistance initially, but in the
afternoon it was evident that the report was optimistic.
Some elements had been pushed back across the Ay.
The next day's plan called for the 28th Infantry
to hold until the 121st came abreast, at which
time both regiments would attack in conjunction.
Meeting little resistance, the 121st caught up with
the 28th at 1400 that afternoon, and at 1500 the
coordinated attack began against light artillery
and mortar fire, and numerous mines.
This day marked the beginning of the mass
retreat of the German Seventh Army.
The 79th, 90th and the 6th Armored Divisions
poured through the gap, lashing west and east
to pursue the fleeing enemy. American armored
forces raced, forward to begin the lightning thrusts
through Brittany and Eastern France, which were
to sweep beyond Paris to Holland and Belgium.
When He Runs, You Chase Him
Until He's Ready To Quit
The division worked southward during the next
two days, clearing out small pockets of resistance
and securing road nets and vital installations along
the line of march. On August 2, Combat Team 13
again was attached to the 4th Armored, swinging
south to St. Aubin d'Aubigné, 11 miles north of
Rennes. The remainder of the division reached
the vicinity of St. James by nightfall of August 3.
The division movement continued by truck on
the morning of August 4. Meanwhile, Combat Team
13, having reached St. Aubin d'Aubigné, discovered
that the enemy had withdrawn from Rennes, and
it then passed through the city to occupy the
heights to the south. By 1100 the situation was
so favorable that the division commander ordered
the remaining elements to move to an assembly
area at Betton, slightly northwest of Rennes.
The 8th (less the 121st Infantry, which remained
near St. James in corps reserve) continued to
hold and defend Rennes. Some prisoners were taken
but no contact was made with organized forces.
On August 8 the 1st Battalion of the 28th Infantry
was attached to the 6th Armored Division, operating
toward Brest.
The 121st Infantry, under VIII Corps control,
was attached on August 6 to the 83rd Infantry
Division, and headed toward Dinard. It encountered
determined enemy resistance in the vicinity of
Tremereuc on August 7. During the ensuing six
days it found the territory around Pleslin and
south of Plertuit hotly defended by pillboxes,
heavy machine gun and mortar fire, minefields and
obstacles. On August 9 the Nazis cut off the 3rd
Battalion until the late afternoon of August 12.
Two artillery planes successfully dropped blood
plasma for the battalion. After the occupation of
Dinard on August 14 and 15, the 121st Infantry
reverted to the 8th, which was then in an assembly
area in the neighborhood of Dinan.
Preceded by its task force, the 8th then headed for
a concentration area near Brest, having remained
near Dinan from August 13 through August 17. On
August 14 a task force mainly composed of the 3rd
Battalion of the 28th Infantry, and platoons of
cannon, antitank guns, tank-destroyers, tanks,
combat engineers, and field artillery, moved enroute to
Cap Frehel Peninsula to take over positions
formerly held by the French, and reduce the enemy. The
balance of Combat Team 28 rejoined the 8th on
August 15, forcing the enemy to capitulate before
noon. The score was 390 Kraut P. W.'s.
On August. 21, the 8th, which for three days
had confined itself to patrolling, closed in its
sector and prepared to attack southward toward
Brest. That same day the Assistant Division Commander,
Col. Canham, became a Brigadier General.
Once again the 8th was to carry the ball, when
orders were issued for the division to make the
main effort of the corps in the center, immediately
north of the city. At nearly midnight on
August 24, the 13th Infantry and the 28th, plus
certain attached units, infiltrated toward objectives.
The attack was launched the next day shortly after
noon, for an average advance of 1200 yards against
determined resistance. The attack continued through
August 26 against a deeply intrenched enemy
employing intense fire. The gain was 300 yards more.
Enemy resistance mounted from August 27 to
August 29. After slight advances, the 13th and
28th Infantry Regiments consolidated their
positions and held firmly. The enemy called a medical
truce on the morning of August 29, in order to
evacuate dead and wounded.
On September 1, the 121st Infantry, in conjunction
with the 9th Regiment on its left flank,
opened the attack which, beside cleaning out strong
enemy pockets of resistance in the villages of
Kergaclet and Kergroas, materially assisted the
2nd Division in the capture of Fourneuf. The next
day, attacks by both the 13th Infantry and 121st
Infantry forced the enemy to withdraw, but a
shortage of artillery ammunition prevented the
formulation of detailed plans for a resumption of
the attack in the division zone. Activities from
September 5 to September 7 were confined to patrolling
and to the holding of occupied positions.
Improvement in the artillery ammunition supply
on September 8 made it possible for the 121st
Infantry, in the face of severe enemy resistance,
to attack and seize the eastern end of the heavily
organized and strongly defended Lambezellec ridge.
The 121st Infantry advanced westward toward
Lambezellec, and by noon the 2nd Battalion was
fighting there. The 13th Infantry advanced abreast
to positions from which it could support the attack
of the 121st Infantry against Lambezellec.
One Fort, Two Towns, And A
Four-Fingered Peninsula
Within the division zone the western extremity
of these walls rested on the Penfeld River, pierced
only by one narrow entrance, not wide enough for
vehicles. This entrance passed through two tunnels
and across two narrow bridges. That was only half
the problem. Between the river and the inside
of the wall was a steep cliff, which could not be
assaulted by infantry without extensive engineer
demolitions or by breaching the wall with heavy
artillery fire. Examination of the plans of the fort,
as well as diagrams and photographs of the ground,
indicated that demolitions were impracticable.
On September 11, heavy artillery fire was directed
on the wall of Fort Bouguen, but this failed to
make an appreciable dent.
The Commanding General, VIII Corps, decided
to suspend further operations against that portion
of the inner defenses of Brest and to contain them
in the vicinity of Fort Bouguen, while efforts were
renewed further east. He therefore directed that
elements of the
2nd Infantry Division relieve
elements of the 8th in front of the fort. Accordingly,
on September 12, the 13th and 121st Infantry
Regiments with attached units withdrew to a temporary
assembly area in the vicinity of Plouvien, to be
ready for operations on the Crozon Peninsula.
Two days earlier, the 28th Infantry (less the
2nd Battalion which remained in division reserve)
had been moved towards Guilers to relieve three
battalions of the 29th Infantry Division which had
been making only limited gains during the
preceding forty-eight hours. When the 13th and 121st
Infantry Regiments moved to Plouvien, the 28th
Infantry Regiment remained on its mission, preparatory
to being withdrawn, as the 29th Infantry
Division progressed to the east across its front.
At this time the 8th was withdrawn from the
action at Brest and sent to the Crozon Peninsula,
which reportedly was a strongly-held threat to the
Port of Brest that would prevent its use by Allied
Forces, even after Brest had been taken.
West of the line of departure, two main ridges
ran parallel to the end of the peninsula, where it
branched into four fingers, two on the north, one
west, and one south. A stream split these ridges.
The 28th Infantry Regiment was to advance along
the north ridge, where an airfield in the vicinity
of Lanveoc was expected to be stubbornly defended.
The 121st Infantry Regiment was to take the
south ridge, passing through the town of Crozon.
The 13th Infantry Regiment was in division
reserve. Task Force A, with a zone down the
center valley, was to advance as the infantry
cleared the dominating ridges, and mop up remaining
pockets of resistance.
In the zone of the 28th Infantry, the 3rd
Battalion, under command of Major Donald R. Ward,
led the attack. By 0930 it had advanced 500 yards
and was approaching the hamlet of St. Eflez. The
3rd Battalion, and the 1st following it, were under
heavy flanking artillery and mortar fire from the
south ridge. All the officers of Company L became
casualties, and Tech. Sgt. Charles H. Ballance
reorganized the company and took command. He
was killed by a sniper the next day.
In the vicinity of St. Eflez the resistance grew
so fierce that it was apparent the main line of
the enemy defenses had been reached.
On the south ridge, Company G, 121st Infantry
led the column of companies in which the 2nd
Battalion attacked. After an advance of 200 yards,
small arms and automatic fire met them with an
intensity which indicated that in this sector, too,
the enemy intended to hold to the limit. Flat and
open ground gave him such good observation that
every attempt of Company G to move forward
drew an inferno of fire.
The night of the September 15 was enlivened by
German counter-attacks which promptly were
repulsed on both ridges. At 0700 the next morning our
forces renewed the attack under cover of a dense fog,
an effective mask for each morning of the Crozon
action. In the 28th Infantry, the 1st Battalion
shoved up on the right of the 3rd Battalion.
Although the advance for the day was slight, it
penetrated the enemy's line. Numerous strong points
were reduced, and 150 prisoners were bagged.
The 121st continued the attack with its 1st and
2nd Battalions. Stiff resistance persisted, but the
regiment penetrated the enemy main line.
On the third day of the attack, September 17, that
line was broken on both ridges. With it the enemy's
confidence in his plan of defense collapsed. Strong
points remained to be broken, but through by-passing
and reducing them the division advanced
at such speed that the Germans never succeeded in
regrouping and reforming a line of resistance.
A fort which had been considered formidable fell
to the fire of one machine-gun of the 2nd Battalion,
28th Infantry. Once having broken the main line,
the 121st took objectives with a speed that baffled
the harried Krauts. Before the town of Crozon was
reached effective enemy resistance had ceased.
On the night of September 17-18, a reinforced
platoon of Company L, 13th Infantry Regiment,
under command of 1st Lt. George R. McLendon,
outposted Hill 70 without finding evidence of
German occupation. Dawn revealed the outposts of
the enemy. Bewildered at being infiltrated, the
Krauts became panicky. Sgt. Will R. Wheeler, in
charge of a combat patrol of little more than a
squad of men of Company L, took over a hundred
prisoners, and marched them down the hill to
where the main body of Company L was advancing
to attack. Before 0900 on the morning of September
18, the 3rd Battalion had occupied the
essential hill, and the mop-up of the fingers of
the entire peninsula proceeded on schedule.
Four forces accomplished
this, acting under the
division plan almost as
independent combat commands.
Task Force A reduced the
Cap du Chevre sub-peninsula
to the south; the 28th
Infantry, driving due west,
cleared out Camaret Point;
on the north, the 2nd Ranger
Battalion (which had been
attached to the division on
September 17) mopped up
the Le Fret area; and to the
13th Infantry fell the role of
smashing through a massive
wall and the old fort
guarding the large northern finger,
the Pointe des Espagnoles.
All of which leads up to
the afternoon of September
18 and the capture of Lt.
Gen. Erwin Rauch, commanding general of the
Crozon Peninsula forces of the enemy. He was the
first half of the two-for-one dividend the 8th earned
in the way of Nazi generals. The second and larger
part of this payoff was Gen. Ramcke, who entered
this story at the beginning. They're both out of
circulation now, and that's what counts.
The campaign for the Crozon completed the
8th's first chapter in the Allies' Victory Book of
World War II. This is written in October of 1944
and the 8th is still doing business in a powerful
way, and so the complete accounting of the
division's exploits must await the end of the war. But
what the division already has achieved in combat
is a token of that future, as well as of the 8th's
training and glorious tradition in the pact.
The 8th left Camp Fremont in September 1918,
en route to France, but before it had arrived the
Armistice of November 11 ended the fighting of
World War I. The outfit had to wait a long time.
A part of the division was attached to the Army
of Occupation and served in Germany until August,
1919. The other elements had returned to the
United States in January of that year, where in
the following month the division was disbanded.
In March 1923, it was reconstituted as an inactive
unit, and on July 1, 1940, at Fort Jackson, it was
re-activated — the beginning of the 8th Infantry.
Division of World War II.
Under the command of Maj. Gen. Philip B.
Peyton, and with the nucleus of division
headquarters furnished by the 8th infantry Brigade
of Fort McPherson, Georgia, the revived 8th
Infantry Division initially was composed of the
13th, 28th and 34th Infantry Regiments. In
November 1941, the 34th infantry was reassigned to
another division and was replaced by the 121st
Infantry. Of the original artillery elements the
28th Field Artillery Regiment was reconstituted
into the 28th, 43rd, 45th, and 56th Field Artillery
Battalions. These, with the 12th Engineer Battalion,
8th Medical Battalion, 8th Reconnaissance
Troop, 8th Signal Company, 8th Quartermaster
Company. Headquarters Company and the 8th
Military Police Platoon, complete the 8th Infantry
Division as it landed on D-Plus-28.
Old And New, Every 8th Outfit
Packs Its Sunday Wallop
In September 1941, the 8th (then under the
command of Maj. Gen. James P. Marley) took
part in the Carolina Maneuvers. After Pearl
Harbor it patrolled the Atlantic Coast from North
Carolina to the Florida Keys for six weeks.
Returning to Fort Jackson late in March 1942, the
division resumed its training. The following month,
it became the 8th Motorized Division. On July
1, 1942 Brig. Gen. Paul E.
Peabody succeeded Maj.
Gen. Marley as division
commander. In September
there was a motor march
to Tennessee where the
division engaged in two more months of maneuvers.
Then, after a brief stay at Camp Forrest, Tennessee,
the division set out for its new station, Fort
Leonard Wood, Missouri, where it remained until
March 1943. On
January 24, 1943,
Maj. Gen. William
C. McMahon became
commander of the
division.
In March 1943,
the division
moved to Camp Laguna, Arizona, for
six strenuous
months of desert
training. During
the latter part of
this period, it
was demotorized, reverting once more to its original
status as a standard infantry division. During this
period the 8th Division Band was organized from
the 13th and 121st Bands in the division, the 28th
Infantry Band having been ordered by the War
Department to the 65th Infantry Division, stationed
at Camp Shelby, Miss., as their band.
Upon completion of desert training, the division
returned to Camp Forrest. Late in November, it
arrived in the staging area at Camp Kilmer, New
Jersey, and on December 5, 1943, it sailed from
New York Harbor for Belfast, Northern Ireland,
arriving ten days later, Headquarters were
established at Omagh, Tyrone County. The 13th and
28th Regiments were billeted at the Ely Lodge
and Drumcose estates in Enniskillen, County
Fermanagh. The 1st Battalion, 121st infantry, was
stationed at Shadow Camp in Fintona and later
at Bally-Northland in Dungannon, while the
remainder of the regiment was sent to
Ashbrooke-Colebrooke, the property of Sir Basil Brooks.
Other elements occupied surrounding territory,
spreading out over an area approximately thirty
miles square. This presented a difficult problem
for training, supply, and administrative
supervision, which was solved by close and frequent
observations and visits by the staff.
Training in Northern Ireland was as varied as
the limited terrain permitted. Greatest emphasis
was placed on small unit tactics, which later paid
big dividends in combat. There was much scouting
and patrolling, particularly at night, and a vigorous
physical conditioning program. Stress was laid on
all types of firing.
Every two weeks each regiment sent three
officers and fifteen enlisted men to a British training
camp and received the same number of United
Kingdom troops. This exchange helped to promote
better understanding among Allied soldiers.
As the time for the invasion of France drew
near, the training program was expanded to include
battalion and regimental combat exercises, command
post exercises, and the study of German tactics.
Elementary amphibious training was given to all
troops, and some units began language classes in
French and German. The preparation was complete.
"First at Vicksburg" is the motto of the 13th,
but "These Are My Credentials" might well
become the motto of the entire division — the
credentials of tradition, training, and battle
experience backed up by fire-superiority, skill, and the
will to win. With such credentials the 8th will go
anywhere ... anytime.
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