6 December 1944
Subject: Unit History for November
To: S-1, 112th Infantry
 

The 1st finds us in the Hurtgen Forest about one half mile west of Germeter.  Everybody has plenty of cash in his pocket, being that yesterday was payday.  The irony is that there is no place to spend it.

On the 2nd, an attack was launched by the battalion at 9:30 against Vossenack, which proved successful, and the C. was established in the cellar of a house 300 yards east of the shell battered church.  PFC Robert Somerville was evacuated due to wounds caused by a smoke shell.  Sgt. Delay, T/Sgt. Harry G. Umbenhauer and PFC Andrew Pelech were wounded by antipersonnel mines.  Umbenhauer and Pelech both died from their wounds.  Delay was evacuated by the medics.  Cpl. William O'Brien was also wounded and evacuated.

The night of the 2nd was comparatively quiet, although the enemy resumed shelling the following morning.  All movement was kept at a minimum, due to the fact that we were disposed on a ridge which stood out like a sore thumb, and the enemy had excellent observation of the ridge, not only from the east, but from the high ground near Brandenberg and Bergstein to the northeast as well.

On the 3rd, PFC Willard Radcliffe was wounded and evacuated.

On the morning of the 4th, Pvts. Robert Oak and donald Corcoran were killed by fragments of a mortar shell which landed near them.  In the evening the CP was moved to a more secure shelter about a hundred yards west of the church.

In the meantime, the shelling of our position by the enemy grows steadily more intense.  The only let-up is at night, and during the daylight hours, only when our planes are flying overhead.  Sometimes the enemy fires in spite of the planes.

The tempo of the enemy fire seemed to continually increase until the morning of the 6th, F and G companies, after having received the direct fire deflected  flak guns and 88s, not to mention the artillery and mortar fire, for three consecutive days and nights, withdrew.  As a consequence of this, we built up a line on both sides of the CP.  The A & P Platoon defended the north side of the road, and the Communications Platoon defended the south side.  Considering the intensity of the shellfire, an enemy counterattack seemed inevitable.

During the day the Battalion was strengthened by the 146th Combat Engineer Battalion, but not before the enemy had retaken the ground as far out as the church.  Pvt. Louis Rothstein was wounded and evacuated.

On the 7th Major General Cota came up to look over the situation, and he must have had his Guardian Angel along with him, for during his stay and for some minutes after he left, not a shell landed in the area.

On the night of the 8th, we were relived by the 2nd Battalion of the 109th Infantry, and what men were left withdrew to the draw west of Germeter, where we were picked up by trucks and taken to the rear.

On the morning of the 9th, we were able to shave, wash off some of the previous week's dirt, and get some clean clothing.

That afternoon, we moved by foot to a bivouac area about 4 miles northwest of Jagerhaus.  Here we managed to be on the receiving end of a keg of beer through the efforts of Mr. Rupp, the Regimental Red Cross Field Director.

On the 10th, Lt. Col. Joseph L. ManSalka was assigned to us as Battalion Commander, succeeding Lt. Co. Hatzfeld who was previously evacuated by the medics.  We received replacements to bring to company up to full strength.

At 4:30 PM, we moved by foot to a new assembly area about 1 mile south of Germeter, just west of the main road which runs into the town.  It snowed all day and most of the night which doesn't help matters any.

On the morning of the 11th, we left the assembly area, and marched to practically the same position we were in before the original attack, except that we were about 500 yards farther east.  We were held up for a time by very heavy artillery concentration, but were in position by early afternoon.

Captain Graham was evacuated due to illness, and Lt. Orozco likewise, although Lt. Orozco put in an appearance the next day, even though he had to go AWOL from the medics.  To date, there have been no repercussions.  Captain John F. Lukens was appointed as S-3 to succeed Captain Graham.

We stayed in this position till the night if the 14th, when, after dark we moved by foot to an entrucking area several miles east.  At 11:00 PM we left for Wilwerdange, Luxembourg, arriving shortly after daybreak.  Early in the afternoon we moved by foot through Weiswampach to Leiler where the CP was set up.  Needless to say, nobody had any tears at the thought of having to leave the Hurtgen Forest.

Although we are not in a rest area, it is a lot more quiet here, and in comparison to Vosenack, it's like comparing the reading room of the town library with Broadway and 42nd St. during the rush hours.

Here, we are getting a goodly quantity of beer, movies now and then as the situation permits, and showers and clean clothing.

On the 23rd, we all partook of a healthy portion of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, peas, cranberry sauce, squash pie, peaches and whipped cream, bread, butter, and coffee.  All chow hounds were well taken care of, and that in turn took care to see that nothing was wasted.

No unusual changes have taken place up to the 30th, when we were paid off in Belgian money, which is about the only kind of currency which is negotiable in these parts, and there are some places to spend it, which is really saying a lot.

During our stay here, some 6 of the men are receiving passes to Paris, Arlon in Belgium, and Clervaux, which is about 5 miles south of Weiswampach.

Robert F. Flynn
1st Lt. 112th Inf.
Unit History
 
 

"Huertgen Forest"
 "Entering the Huertgen Forest, thick with dark green fir trees seventy-five to a hundred feet tall, so densely interwoven that they obscure the sky, a man might experience for the first time the stifling embrace of  the kind of forests he had heard or read about in old German folk tales.  Like Hansel and Gretel, he might be inclined to drop things behind him to mark his path."  Charles MacDonald, The Battle of the Huertgen Forest, 5.

 "Behind them and in front of them, surrounding them on all sides, they saw dark rain-saturated forest.  It had the feel of some nether region, foul with the offal of war.  The broken muddy trails were pock-marked and heavily cratered by shells and mines.  The splintered trees added to the sense of ruin.  Rotting, sodden garments clung to hideous scraps of green flesh that yet bore an obscene resemblance to the living.  tins, helmets, boots, tools, spent cartridges and old mines lay about in the dark and muddied confusion.  In it there seemed the breath of despair."  R. W. Thompson, The Battle for the Rhineland, 35.

"No one could have known it at the time, but this battalion was destined to fight here for almost a week and to lose most of its men in the process."  Charles MacDonald, The Battle of  the Huertgen Forest, 74.
[back]

"Germeter"
 " . . . the 112th regiment advanced out of Germeter in a state of innocence most terrible to contemplate, and to meet the worst disaster on a divisional level to befall U.S. troops in the campaign in north-west Europe."  Thompson, The Battle for the Rhineland, 38.

 "The men moved close up behind the tanks, keeping in their tracks for safety against mines.  But safety was gone.  Upon the instant, as the barrage lifted, the enemy artillery came down upon the forward positions all along the line, accurate and deadly, killing and maiming men as they rose up from cover to go forward."  Thompson, 41.    [back]

"Vossenack"
 "  . . . the 2nd battalion, 112th infantry, under Lt. Colonel Hatzfeld, had attacked with a company of tanks from Germeter to clear the Vossenack Ridge.  Assault guns from the Brandenberg-Bergstein Ridge knocked out several tanks, but the spinelike village of Vossenack was in hand by early afternoon.  As the tanks sought cover among the damaged buildings, the infantry began to dig in along the exposed northeastern nose of the ridge."  MacDonald, The Battle of the Huertgen Forest, 96.    [back]

"anti-personnel mines"
 "One man stepped on a booby trap, and a second man moving to pick him up stepped on another, touching off a chain of five anti-personnel mines.  Twelve men of the headquarters group were killed or wounded in the minefield within four hundred yards of the start."  Thompson, 42.    [back]

"stood out like a sore thumb"
 "Uncomfortably aware that the enemy was watching from the Brandenberg-Bergstein Ridge, more than one man questioned why they had to defend from the open ground when they might accomplish the same thing  from concealed positions in the fringe of the village.  The only answer was that some planning officer poring over the map had drawn a goose egg with a grease pencil over the nose of the ridge.  Here the men were to go; here the men were to stay.  It was as rudimentary and obtuse as that."  MacDonald, The Battle of Huertgen Forest, 97.    [back]

"more intense"
 " . . . the 2nd Battalion, bothered but little by enemy artillery the first night in its Vossenack Ridge positions, retained its defensive role.  The men noticed an increase in enemy shelling on 3 November, and those on the forward slopes of the exposed ridge discovered they could not move from their holes in daylight without drawing the fury of enemy artillery and mortars.  The ridge  became more and more pock-marked with the eruption of shells . . and the building housing the battalion command post was hit several  times.  Night brought intermittent relief from the shelling and became a period of almost frantic resupply."  Charles MacDonald, Three Battles, 285-6.

 " . . . Germans began concentrating mortar and artillery fire on successive individual foxholes, firing round after round at each one until they killed its inhabitants.  Then they shifted fire to the next hole and began the process over again.  It was a cold-blooded, nerve-shattering, and extremely effective device.  Defenders knew they would continue to face imminent death every hour they remained on the Vossenack Ridge."  Cecil B. Curry, Follow Me and Die: The Destruction of an American Division in WW2, 112.
[back]

"withdrew"
 "The men of Company G had enough.  Panic-ridden, many of them suddenly grabbed wildly at their equipment and broke for the rear....  The disorderly retreat became a snowball, carrying with it any who chanced to be in its path.
 "The Company F commander, Lieutenant Kauffman, witnessed the retreat from his own command post in a building near the eastern edge of town and immediately realized it endangered the situation of his own unit....  Kauffman ordered his platoon leaders to withdraw their men to the line of buildings and there to hold.  The platoons began to withdraw in small groups, but there was no control.  The mushrooming effect of the retreat had spread too quickly, and the men could not be stopped when they reached the houses."  MacDonald, Three Battles, 344.

 " 'It was the saddest sight I have ever seen,' Lieutenant Condon of Company E reported later.  'Down the road from the east came men from F, G, and E Companies: pushing shoving, throwing away equipment, trying to outrace the artillery and each other, all in a frantic effort to escape.  They were all scared and excited.  Some were terror-stricken.  Some were helping the slightly wounded to run, and many of the badly-wounded, probably hit by artillery, were lying in the road where they fell, screaming for help.  It was a heart-breaking, demoralizing scene.' "  quoted in Whiting, The Battle of Hurtgen Forest, 83.     [back]

"we built up a line"
 "Despite continuous withdrawals of individuals and small groups, by about 1030 a line had been established with approximately seventy men, who, fortunately, had  retained their weapons.  No one seemed to have any illusions about the solidity of such a defensive force, but at least for the time being the retreat had been blocked."  MacDonald, Three Battles, 353.    [back]

"146th Combat Engineer Battalion"
 "The 1st Platoon on the right (south), using run and duck tactics which involved advancing in short rushes singly or in pairs, reached the crossroads and captured the church, taking eight or ten German prisoners at the cost of approximately five engineers wounded.  Other men of the platoon too a building on the right of the church.  By nightfall the company had established itself completely in everything west of the church."  MacDonald, Three Battles, 360.     [back]

"Cota came up"
 "In the early afternoon, General Dutch Cota paid his only recorded visit to any divisional unit during the entire course of the Schmidt-Kommerscheidt-Vossenack action....  Cota remained in the Vossenack command post for half an hour.  Lieutenant Jim Condon remarked in surprise that during Cota's visit 'not a single artillery shell fell, the first such lull in six days.'  The respite did not last long.  'Five minutes after he left it started all over again.  One shell landed in the exact spot where his jeep had been parked.' "  Curry, Follow Me and Die, 199.    [back]

"On the night of the 8th"
 "Surviving soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 112th Infantry Regiment, began their withdrawal shortly after dark.  Even that was not easy.  Corporal Joe Philpot, of G Company, told how on the way back, 'A lucky barrage fell on us and 1st Lieutenant Julian Ferrier and 1st Sergeant Dale Todd were hit.  Medics took care of them.  The rest of us continued on back for what seemed like three miles through heavy mud up to our knees.'  Finally they were picked up by trucks and driven to a rear kitchen area, where they ate and pitched tents."  Curry, 200.

 "On Wednesday, November 8, in a drenching rainstorm, the haggard, battle-worn survivors of the 112th . . . began their withdrawal to the Kall.  As darkness fell, every man was ordered to strip down to absolute essentials.  All remaining equipment, including the three surviving tanks, was to be wrecked as silently as possible.  The Germans were not to know the Americans were retreating.
 "As the covering artillery began to thunder, the men slung greatcoats between poles to fashion litters and makeshift stretchers that would be used for taking the many wounded down the trail."  Whiting, 92.     [back]

"Lt. Col. Hatzfeld"
 "Early in the afternoon [Nov. 6] Colonel Hatzfeld, while sitting hopelessly in the battalion command post, finally collapsed into tears.  So many hours had gone by without the arrival of reinforcements he had earlier asked for.  In a state of shock, Hatzfeld left for Germeter with the avowed intention of obtaining help.  It was, said his S-1 personnel officer, Captain Nesbitt, 'the last we ever saw of him.'
 "When he arrived at the Germeter aid station in hasty dismay, medics tagged Hatzfeld as a casualty with a sprained ankle.  According to Captain Pruden, Hatzfeld was of little assistance after the first two days of incessant artillery fire.  Overwhelmed with grief at the terrible ordeal visited upon his battalion, he suffered almost complete nervous collapse."  Curry, 168-9.    [back]

"it is a lot more quiet here"
 "In late November, the veteran 28th Infantry Division, having lost five thousand men in bloody fighting in the Hurtgen Forest, replaced another division that had been resting in the Ardennes, taking over a 25 mile front along the Our River all the way south to the juncture of the Our and the Sure.  In effect, the 28th held nothing more than an outpost line."  MacDonald, A Time for Trumpets, 83,84.     [back]
 
 

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