From: An Historical and Pictorial Record of the 87 Infantry Division in WWII:
(On Jan 30th) – All nine infantry battalions, with their supporting artillery, tanks and tank destroyers, moved east from the line of departure southwest of St. Vith through the deep snow and mountain forests. With the 346th Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Donald E. Clayman commanding, setting the pace by executing an end-run around the enemy front lines to strike at his supply bases in Schonberg and Andler, the 345th and 347th Regiments moved forward against the enemy’s front lines to bring about his complete collapse in Belgium and run for the protection of his vaunted Siegfried Line. The last town in front of the Line to be captured, Roth, Germany, fell to the 87th Reconnaissance Troop on February 2.
With the 347th Regiment, Colonel S. R. Tupper commanding, on the left; the 345th Regiment on the right, and the 346th Regiment in Division reserve, the Siegfried Line lay directly ahead, its pillboxes, dragon’s teeth, bunkers and fortifications hidden by the snow cloaked forests of the Schnee Eifel mountains. But the line was well marked by the pyrotechnic bursts of fire that Division Artillery, with attached Corps units …placed upon it. “The Infantry’s Best Friend,” the Artillery, had kept pace with the advancing doughboys and by the time General Culin was ready to send his men in the Line the artillery had the way “well prepared.”
The sector of the Line, directly in front of the Division, was laid out in the form of a huge “Y” with the two prongs leading northward. Those prongs branched out from the vitally important little town, Ormont… The Third Battalion, passed through the Second Battalion and advanced along the military road towards the main crossroads. The bursts of artillery, machine gun, mortar, and automatic weapons fire from the foxhole-surrounded pillboxes and bunkers, and hundreds of mines, both anti-tank and anti-personnel, were the obstacles the hard fighting doughboys had to overcome to win their objective.
From 346th Infantry:
The morning of the 30th the Third Battalion jumped off toward Andler but were unable to cross the river into town…the First Battalion captured Andler at 0530, 1 February…The following few days were spent moving to forward positions around Auw, Krewinkle, and Weckerath.
Note: On Jan 31, 1945, Pfc. Donald V. Tappan was awarded the Silver Star for his actions at Tillet, Belgium. The citation, and the order for presentation from Regimental Headquarters, are dated February 4th.
Feb. 5, 1944
Dear Folks,
I guess I might as well start this letter by asking you to share it. I’m pretty sure this will be all I’ll get written. I sure was glad to get mail again last night. I got letters from you dated Dec. 18, Jan 5 and 15. It made me happy, of course, to get the late news but I got the biggest kick out of the oldest letter. Daddy had written most of it and it was so chatty that it made me almost feel as if I’d spent a little time at home. I sure don’t mean any reflections on anyone else’s writing but that’s just the way it effected me. I supposed what did it most was his telling about mother ironing on Saturday night. How are things at school coming? By the time this reaches you it will be almost Richard’s birthday. I sure send all my best wishes. I know it will be a crisis in his life and I hope, pray and know the Lord will take care of things. Keep trusting.
Love, Donald