VE Day
[From 346th Infantry: At 0945 May 7 the following message was received from the Division Commander: “Representatives of the German High Command signed the unconditional surrender of all German land, sea, and air forces to the Allied Expeditionary Forces and simultaneously to the Soviet High Command at 0700, 7 May 1945 under which all forces will cease active operations at 0900, 7 May 1945. Effective immediately all offensive operations cease. Troops will remain in present positions. Moves involved in occupational duty will continue. Due to difficulty in communications, there may be some delay in similar orders reaching the enemy troops, so full defensive precautions will be taken.”]
May 8, 1945
Germany
Dear Folks,
Yesterday sure was a great day for me. We attacked on the sixth and were supposed to shove off again yesterday morning. But instead of receiving an attack order, we were ordered just to stay where we were. Then a little after ten o’clock we got the news that the Germans had signed unconditional surrender. Even though it doesn’t take effect officially till tomorrow, it meant that we were though fighting. Boy oh Boy! What a feeling. The Lord has certainly been good to me. I’ve got lots to thank Him for.
The “Stars and Stripes” also brought us some pretty good news yesterday. It said that over half of the combat troops would get a furlough back in the States before they are shipped to the CBI (The China, Burma, India Theater). Don’t plan too much on it because there’s just about as much chance against it as there is for it. But wouldn’t that be great!
Yesterday also I received a box from you and my name was turned in for a pass to Paris. It was the package containing pop corn and it really hit the spot. The corn was still as crisp as it was when you packed it. It would have done your heart good to have seen the fellows (and me) go after it. I wish I could send the box home and let you fill it up again.
If my pass had come a little bit sooner it might have kept me out of a little fighting but I’m glad to get it now. I’ll be going in a day or so. Considering everything that happened, wasn’t yesterday a pretty eventful day for me?
Well it looks like Spring again today. Maybe the weather is doing a little celebrating. We’ve really had some pretty rough weather for this late in the season during the past week. There has even been a little snow. I hope it stays nice now.
It’s been almost a week now since I got any letters but no doubt there will be two or three when they do come.
Hope everything is ship-shape back there. Be good and God bless you.
Love.
Donald
Categories
Germany: May 1945
The following is the official “After Action Report” for the 346th Regiment, May 1945, from the 87th Infantry Archives
Categories
Germany: April 1945
The following is the official “After Action Report” for the 346th Regiment, March 1945, from the 87th Infantry Archives
Categories
March 3, 1945 – Goldbrick Hill
On March 3, 1945 K Company participated in the assault on “Goldbrick Hill” – Hill 649B on the Siegfried Line.
From the Regimental History:
At 1330 on 3 March 1945, the Battalion launched
its attack from Hill 648 debouching from its heavy
woods, passing across the open draw between the
two hills and up the bald slopes of Gold “B” Hill,
after a 20 minute artillery preparation. Under in-
tense enemy artillery, neblewerfer, and small arms
fire, the Third Battalion pressed its attack using
marching fire and knocked out seven enemy ma-
chine guns, capturing the hill, which yielded 150
enemy prisoners of war and inflicting 100 enemy
casualties. At this point, the enemy increased his
artillery and mortar fire on the hill, and the Bat-
talion dug in for the night in a perimeter defense.
The capture of the hill denied the enemy its ob-
servation and the artillery fire on our rear areas
ceased, permitting freedom of movement for our
troops and supply to the front. It also broke the
back of the enemy defenses in that sector of the
Siegfried Line.
A description of the attack by Ed Jans and Mitch Kaidy
A memoir of the assault by Lt Glenn Doman, commanding officer for Company K.
Categories
Germany: March 1945
The following is the official “After Action Report” for the 346th Regiment, March 1945, from the 87th Infantry Archives
Categories
Belgium-Germany: February 1945
The following is the official “After Action Report” for the 346th Regiment, February 1945, from the 87th Infantry Archives
From 346th Infantry:
(On 4 January) the new mission was to attack, capture and hold the town of Tillet. The Third Battalion moved to the high ground east of Tillet, and later in the day Tillet was reported burning. The Third Battalion attacked the town but were unable to capture it.
On 7 January the Third Battalion again attacked Tillet with no success. The enemy apparently were determined to hold the town at any cost. During the night German patrols were very active around our positions, and the outfit’s casualty toll was extremely high.
Second Lt. Glenn Doman, Company K, earned the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroic actions in the attack of Tillet. He voluntarily led three patrols into the town, taking prisoners and gathering much valuable information. While in the town he also personally observed and directed effective artillery fire on the town. Because of the shortage of ammunition and increasing fire from the enemy, Lt. Doman was given permission to withdraw after successfully accomplishing his mission.
Attack after attack was repulsed by the stubborn enemy garrison.
From an email note received in August 2012, just before a visit to Belgium – from 93 year old Retired Lt. Col. Glenn Doman, who was Donald’s CO:
“Your father Donald was one of my boys in K (King) company, 346th INF Regiment, 87 Infantry Division (Golden Acorn) and it was a high honor to serve with a great hero like your dad. On January 7, 1945 around Tillet Belgium, one of our boys was seriously wounded in an open field. Your dad ran into the field under enemy fire and helped recover our wounded boy, most certainly saving his life. I was honored to recommend him for the Silver Star.”
Fields near Tillet, Belgium photographed in 2012:
The following is the official “After Action Report” for January 1945, from the 87th Infantry Archives
From 346th Infantry:
… On the 26th (of November) we loaded on the ships that were to take us across the English channel. The crossing was uneventful. The Regiment lined the rails of the ship that had carried them across the channel and gazed out into the clear night at the bombed-out shores of Le Havre, France. It was the 28th of November, 1944, “D” day for the 346th Infantry’s personnel invasion of the European continent, just 175 days after the first Allied Invasion force had hit the Normandy Beach. ASHORE IN FRANCE – The harbor was filled with the hulls and masts of sunken ships, and rumor had it that mines still made passage to shore dangerous. But a short time later LST’s bumped the beach and the 346th had arrived. Tugging at heavy duffel bags, the men scrambled up a slight hill and assembled for what-ever was to come. And it came. A long eight mile hike with full field equipment. At the halfway mark rain began to fall and the morale dropped with it, reaching a new low when the column stopped in the middle of a muddy field-the bivouac area.
After a session of fighting insomnia brought on by mud and cold, the troops moved by trucks to the Red Horse Assembly Area located some five miles south of St. Saens, France-another open field. But by now the sun was shining and the ground a little drier, and there were pup tents with straw floors.
The grapevine spread the news that it was just a matter of days before the Regiment would hit combat so the men spent the next few days writing letters, cleaning weapons, and thinking.
Donald arrived in France.
This scanned is this in color because it is on different, rougher and heavier weight, paper than the previous
Nov. 29, 1944
France
Dear Family,
It looks to me very much like I’d better grab this opportunity and get a letter written. We’ve no way of sending out mail yet so you’ll understand if I have to hold on to this for a few days before I get it mailed. From here on I’ll do my best to write you but don’t expect letters very often. If the letters I wrote in England have arrived or ever do arrive you’ll understand that I’ll write every chance I get.
I can not say about France what I did about England. I’ve seen just the opposite of interesting and pretty sights. Although what I’ve seen so far is likely very insignificant compared with the whole, it’s enough to make you wonder about how civilized we are. Just seeing some of the destruction makes you wonder if we will have gained much when the war is won.
Before we left England, we were given ETO (European Theatre of Operations) ribbons so I’ll have something to show off when I get back. They don’t mean much here but of course sometime we’ll be proud of them.
It looks to me as if my days of being a garrison soldier are over. Right now we’re living in pup tents and it may not be long before we’ll have to get along with even less than this. We have sleeping bags and as long as we’re able to use them, we can get a very decent night’s sleep. I’m thankful for what I have and am not worrying about what I haven’t.
I am praying that the best will come out of all of this but I am not worrying about what hasn’t happened and very likely won’t happen. I appreciate the fact that you too are praying but please just be concerned about me and do your worrying about something else (or don’t worry at all).
I hope it won’t be too long before mail comes through. I can see that a letter is sure going to mean a lot more than it ever has before. So whatever you can contribute along this line will be appreciated. I get a great kick out of imagining what must be going on at home. I have come to the conclusion that it’s better psychologically for me to think of myself as imagining about home rather than wondering. That way you can keep up even though letters don’t arrive so often.
I am well in body and unoppressed in spirit. Hope you can say the same. May God’s richest blessing be upon you.
Love, Donald
This is the letter I mentioned in the V-mail. I’ll send it more because I have it written than because it contains anything new. I guess there is no real news to tell so I’ll just say that I am still alright
Your son & brother, Donald