US 30th infantry Division - Old Hickory.

Discussion in 'US Units' started by von Poop, Mar 1, 2009.

  1. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    X30th Division Old Hickory

    Fine links, a fascinating selection of after action reports and assorted other documents (many of which deserve links in our unit documents section - a lot of US stuff there from assorted different units - 10 pages of diaries, reports, and other bits and pieces, even some postwar reports on German unit's wartime activities).
    Dozens of interesting pictures too.

    Well worth a shufti.

    ~A
     
  2. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    Absolutely! Just had a quick look at the "scrapbook" - fantastic stuff.
     
  3. Earthican

    Earthican Senior Member

    What to do with the mountains of information on WWII to be found on the Internets? Sure it's a great reference when you have a particular question. Or you can browse for as long as it holds your interest. But then what?

    Well, like any mountain it can be mined. Data mined, for points of connected data that were previously unconnected.

    The oldhickory30th.com web site, a truly wonderful site and labor of love. It has both personal stories and all the reference materials, including maps and unit reports, to find the whole story.

    The story of Francis Currey was recently brought to my attention. He appears to have been a PFC Automatic Riflemen (B-A-R man) at the time (ended the war as company First Sergeant five months later). Here you can read his citation for the Medal of Honor he earned near Malmedy in December 1944. Great photos too.

    Tech/Sgt

    While his citation provides the reasons for his award it does not provide what happened and where. Here you can find a part of the 120th Infantry journal and an overlay of the positions of K Company.

    http://www.oldhickory30th.com/120thDec21Journal.pdf

    I have posted a portion of that overlay where you can find the positions of the 3d Platoon of K Company, the Platoon Headquarters (glorified name for where the Platoon Leader and Platoon Sergeant located themselves), K Co. HQ (across the bridge). Located a few hundred yards in front of the 3d Platoon appears to be a Tank Destroyer (TD) position. It was likely a towed 3 inch gun (rather than a full tracked Self Propelled TD, M10, M18 or M36). I suspect the halftrack MG that Currey used came from this gun crew.

    http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=49307&stc=1&d=1303656457

    To add more detail to the overlay, I have provided a map.

    http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=49309&stc=1&d=1303656457

    Here's a link to a map that shows the general situation around the 30th Infantry Division (117th, 119th and 120th Infantry Regiments).

    http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/7-8/notes/347.jpg
     

    Attached Files:

    Owen likes this.
  4. Earthican

    Earthican Senior Member

    So pardon if I highjack this thread (or mis-use it), my intent is to tie together the bits of data available about the Old Hickory Division (from oldhickory30th.com and else where). Also any personal stories related to Old Hickory not (yet) found on oldhickory30th.com Or any gems found on Old Hickory that people wanted to share. A sort of fan site for the Division and the site. Or, if nothing else, a thread refresh.

    To start with some commentary on the Currey story, I'll point out that the German attack started in the early morning dark which became mid-day fog. So I feel that helps explain some of his ability to move about. But bare in mind, if he could shoot at the enemy then they could shoot at him. Also some of the artillery falling was from US guns.
     
  5. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

  6. Earthican

    Earthican Senior Member

    Another gem from oldhickory30th.com...

    Earlier near Stoumont, the 3rd Battalion, 119th Infantry, blunted KG Peiper at some cost. This is from The Journal of 1st Lieutenant David Knox, (L Company) found here:

    Page 1   Page 2


    "About two o’clock the convoy was stopped. All the company commanders were called together to receive the order. Col. Fitzgerald gave us the story. The Germans had launched a counter-offensive, how large no one knew. The best information had it that there were about 30 tanks heading our way. The order of march was changed. Company “I” was to lead the column by ten minutes.

    Off we started once more. The advance was slow from then on. The point of the column was being cautious and they couldn’t be blamed for that. They finally stopped at a small town called Stoumont. I went forward to get the order. [First] Sgt. Kirby was with me. Here was the story I got from Col. Fitzgerald. There was definite tank activity to our front. He estimated that there were about 30 tanks. He said he was going forward on a little reconnaissance. I could get the defense order from Capt. Stewart.

    I got the rest of the information from Capt. Stewart. The other rifle companies were going to set up in the main part of town. Our company would organize on the little knoll on the left. This part of town was called Rouat.

    I went back and moved the company up to our area. It was dark by then and must have been at least 2200. We set up without much trouble. The anti-tank weapons set up in our area also. I went back to battalion to tell them our situation and to see if they had any more information. Kirby went with me again. Major Rogerson was sitting in the corner. He had the story that the tanks we could hear moving around were stuck down near the river. No one seemed to be concerned about the situation. Capt. Del Bene, the S-3, said “If they try to come after us in the morning, we’ll sure give them hell!”

    I gave my situation and went back. On the way, Kirby found the colored truck drivers and told them where to put the vehicles.

    There was no question about the tank activity. There seemed to be plenty of it I could hear the Germans hollering at each other. I spent the rest of the night getting anti-tank mines put out and answering the telephone. So ended the 18th of December. It had been a full day from midnight on.

    No one who was present will ever forget December 19. Just before daylight I checked the men in position and changed some of them. Then four tanks arrived in our defense area which made us feel much better. All the men were alerted before daylight because we realized that anything might happen.

    About 0830 tanks or half tracks began to come over the rise to our front. The tankers with us wasted no time with them. Two were knocked out and no more were trying to come over. We realized, however, that there were probably plenty behind. We knew this because they kept throwing direct fire rounds into our buildings. At the same time we could hear a hell of a fight going on to our right, in the area defended by Companies “I” and “K”........
     
  7. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Most excellent posts that will come in useful to my trip to Mortain & another Malmedy this year.
    Seems I'll be following Old Hickory about quite a bit.

    I know of one US member that recently met Currey MoH.
    They were too shy to ask for a photo with him.
    ;)
     
  8. Earthican

    Earthican Senior Member

  9. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

  10. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Old Hickory Recon

    Most excellent posts that will come in useful to my trip to Mortain & another Malmedy this year.
    Seems I'll be following Old Hickory about quite a bit.

    I know of one US member that recently met Currey MoH.
    They were too shy to ask for a photo with him.
    ;)


    I just could not bring myself to impose upon him. It seemed like he was constantly asked to have his photo made. I'll get it next year at the reunion.

    Here is a picture Mr. Currey with some country music songwriters that had just performed for us. The man in the black shirt left the hotel right after they sang, so that he could fly to the Academy of Country Music the next night. One of his songs was up for Song of the Year.
     

    Attached Files:

  11. Earthican

    Earthican Senior Member

    I didn't think I would be posting here again so soon.

    Thinking I had come across something else, I found these accounts that describe a phase of battle from both sides. These accounts do not appear to be connected on the oldhickory30th.com site. In fact the German documents appear to be mislabeled as relating to the "Perfect Attack" which had occurred a few days earlier. Finding the German side of this struggle was particularly interesting as it was a very traumatic episode for L Company, 119th Infantry.

    Attached map.
    http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=50340&stc=1&d=1304964763

    Report from 3. Panzergrendier Div
    Found here (very bottom of the page) New Page 1

    "The enemy plans to attack along the whole front of our corps on 11/27/1944. This is supposed to pin down the bridgeheads and drive us across the Inde. To our right 29th US Division is supposed to take Kirchberg after overrunning Koslar. To the left 30th US Division will attack Inden. From the south 104th US Division intends to conquer Lamersdorf and then march on to Inden as well.

    Simultaneously the enemy attacks with a battalion (III./119) from Pattern to Altdorf. Tanks cannot follow the infantry on the very loamy ground. The attack falters 750 meters away from our main-combat line. It dies in the ferocious defensive firepower that is enhanced by Jägern of 3./PanzerJäger Unit 3. Subsequently the enemy abandons his plans."
    1st Lt. David Knox, XO, L Company - 3d Bn/119th Infantry records:

    "Stan (Cpt. Stanford, CO, L Company) came home one evening and told me about the next plan. We were to be attached to the 120th Infantry. We would probably go half way to the next town and dig-in. That would mean that we would spend a night in the open, which didn’t suit us at all. We were happy when the plan was changed and we were told that we would go into the next town of Altdorf when we jumped off. At 1245 on the 27th of November we jumped off. We all hoped it would be as simple as taking Pattern, but I don’t think anybody really expected that. The 29th Division was attacking to take the town of Julich on our left and the [104th Division of the] First Army was jumping for the town of Inden on the right.

    We started off. As usual Company "L" was one of the assault companies. It was about 5,000 yards over open ground to the next town. Most of the ground was flat, but a little of it had folds of earth here and there. All went well until we began to receive direct tank fire. When this began we tried to keep moving as we had planned. Sure it was bad, but it wouldn’t be good to get stopped in this open field. We wanted to get in that town badly. We tried, but soon we found that we were confronted with machine-gun fire only about 200 yards to the front, plus the tanks. It wasn’t good. Everyone hit the ground. Not only our company, but "K" also was in the same fix.

    We called for tanks, then we called for tanks, then we called for tanks and then Lunt, our radio operator, called "for God’s sake, send us some armor’. Then we told them we really had to have some tanks, told them again and again, but it wasn’t doing any good. Company "I", the reserve company had kept too close to the assault companies and was pretty well pinned down also. The battalion commander tried to maneuver this unit. "I" Company suffered very heavy casualties pulling back. The Company Commander was badly wounded and later died. Lt. Kane took over the company but couldn’t do much to help the situation.

    We were stopped--stopped cold and pinned down. Sgt. Herche stuck his head up above some beet plants that we were in and got his neck nicked by the machine-gun fire. Stan tried to fire artillery on the tank position, but he couldn’t observe to do any good. So we stayed pinned down in the beet patch. I don’t know why we didn’t start to dig in, but I guess it was because we expected to get the tanks we had asked for and start moving. We still didn’t like the idea of spending a night in a beet patch. Finally it looked like we wouldn’t be moving very soon so we did start to dig-in.

    Just at dusk, Lt. Col. Brown arrived at our CP, otherwise known as the beet patch. He wanted to be sure he knew of our exact position. He intimated that another battalion would pass through us about four o’clock in the morning. That was good news. I sort of doubted if they would have any better luck than we had, but I was glad that it wasn’t going to be us that tried to shove on again in the morning. After all it wasn’t very often that any outfit passed through or came to the aid of the dependable 3rd Battalion.

    I spent the early part of the evening running around. It was dark now or I surely wouldn’t have! I helped put Lt. Kelly’s platoon in position. It had been pinned down and now came up to the rest of the company. I made contact with the third platoon and tried to figure out for about an hour how "K" Company was deployed. Capt. Reckof [CO, K Co.] didn’t know. All units were badly mixed and it was hard to figure out who to put where to build up a line. I remember finding Capt. Reckof trying to cut the radio off his radio operator’s back. The operator had been killed by the machine-gun fire. It wasn’t a pleasant job. The man had been shot in the head. He was still grasping the hand set.

    I was glad that I had spent the early part of the night running around because when I returned I saw the saddest sight. Stanford was shivering as though he were at the north pole without a stitch of clothing on. He really looked pitiful. I had a scarf that I gave him to put around his neck. I still had to finish my fox hole. That kept me warm for another hour. I dug-in with Lt. Clifford, the field artillery observer with us. We put a blanket he had over us and the sleeping bag I had underneath. I shivered some, but I never will be able to compare with cold-blooded Stanford. He really suffered. (I don’t mean cold-blooded in actions, but just plain cold-blooded when the weather was chilly.)

    This story of the "pinned-down" afternoon in the beet patch wouldn’t be complete without mention of the artillery firing that Clifford did that afternoon. He was an FO that could really be trusted; he understood his work and did a very good job. He fired that afternoon by using the coordinates in his head. Although he had no map in his hand and not much chance to stick his head up in the air, he fired within 150 yards of our position. That’s plenty good.

    Lunt, the radio operator, was a frightened boy that night. He kept telling Stan, "I’m scared Stan, I’m scared". Well, I suppose everyone was. I don’t know how they could have been otherwise. Here we were in an open field and we could hear tanks moving around in front of us. We were a plenty good target for artillery and mortar fire and we were plenty vulnerable if the Germans had wanted to hit us. "

    Report from 3. Panzergrendier Div continues:

    "The enemy attacks and overruns the widespread bases between Altdorf and Inden. Still at dark, he advances to Altdorf in the north and Inden in the south, monitored by 12 tanks in a hollow west of Altdorf. Two hours of bitter street fighting follow in Altdorf. When II./PanzerGrenReg can no longer withstand the pressure, Captain Dr. Schütze calls for a reduction of the bridgehead and shifts the bulk of his troops to the eastern banks of the Inde where they are positioned to the right of I. Battalion. This denies enemy reconnaissance across the river. Six tanks also retreat. The bridge, which had already been taken by the enemy is recovered. A bridgehead north of the Altdorf mill is held by 8./PanzerGrenReg 8 (First Lieutenant Stöhr) and three anti-tank guns of 3./PanzerJäger Unit 3 (Lieutenant Golkowski) until noon. Since the fuses of the explosive on the bridge are lit by the fire, only few of these men can save themselves. They have to wade through the cold water and fight their way to the German positions after the guns have been blown up. First Lieutenant Stöhr receives the Ehrenblattspange."
    1st Lt. David Knox, XO, L Company - 3d Bn/119th Infantry continues:

    "Lt. Kelly went back about 2200 to act as a guide to bring the 120th up. They arrived and passed through us about 0400. I don’t think any of us who had been pinned down expected them to be able to do any good. I heard the "Jerries" open up with a machine-gun about the time they got to us and I thought to myself, "Another regimental commander has messed up and there will probably be two battalions pinned down here in a few minutes".

    Things went better than we had hoped for however. The 120th did a very good job of knocking the machine-guns out with rifle grenades and getting on into town. They cleared the town out in quick style and had about four German tanks running up and down the main street of town. Men from the 120th told us how they had fired bazooka rounds at them and the rounds had bounced off.

    While they were doing all this, we remained in our fox holes and stayed down. About 1000 we got the order to go on into town. Artillery--heavy stuff--was coming in hard and fast. Stan moved the company on in by platoons. It was night before we were set on the left edge of town.

    We found a cellar and got in it. What a happy feeling! After spending the last 16 hours in a fox hole which we expected any moment to be the container for an 88 round, we were glad to have a roof and floor above us. It is hard to express how good a cellar looked no matter how wet, cold or small and inconvenient it might be. "
    Excerpt from a letter of First Lieutenant Stöhr to his father:
    Found here (very bottom of the page) New Page 1

    "I have to say that I haven't lived through anything like the situations as in those days. I felt like being born again since I had already closed the books on my life. The days were November 18, 23, and 28, and I will never forget any of them even though men usually forget the bad things first. I vividly remember November 28, 1944. They had basically left me to command a Combat Group, which included my company and I had to command that one too, on the side if you want. This Combat Group Stöhr had to defend the town of Altdorf.

    This town nearly claimed my life. It did cost me at least five years of my life as it is. Yes, this wretched Altdorf, barely five kilometers away from Jülich made me meet my fate on November 28, 1944 when the Americans managed to infiltrate the town in the morning of the 28th, before dawn. I retreated, with my flock of course, because there was no way back in. A damned little river, the Inde blocked the way because the bridge had been destroyed already. Thus I had to make my men dig in, the enemy coming at us from three sides, the river without a bridge in my back. No surprise that the enemy attacked. This pushed my soldiers off the hills immediately. Now the enemy sat on the hill and could look at us like we were small fry in a pan. Then he started a big funny hunt of the rabbits.

    In this desperate situation I gave the order: "Retreat across the river!" Hell, that was quite a situation, a running retreat, then swimming through the river while already being exhausted. The river was only about 8 meters wide but the thick uniform, immediately soaking wet, pulled me down like tons of weights. Plus, I held machine gun and steel helmet in the hands and then there was the wild current that took me away. Yes, this creek almost took my life right there after the many shots fired at me beforehand had all missed. They had all missed but closely and I could hear them fly by my head. But then the miracle happened and I did get out of the water. A few days later everything was dried up and the crisis forgotten. I didn't even get a cold despite the sweaty body and the ice- cold water.

    That was Altdorf, that was November 28. We have fought for every house and every tiny little road between Aachen, Eschweiler, and Jülich but it was all for naught. Now I am the oldest company CO in the regiment, me, such a young First Lieutenant. "
     

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