March 27-April 1, April 10-20, 1945
At the end of March, K Company was attached to Task Force Sunde
Following the crossing of the Rhine River, German resistance crumbled to such an extent that it was essential to form a hard-hitting, fast moving armored unit to reach into the German rear areas, disrupt communications, cut up German administrative units and installations. Such a force was organized and placed under the command of Lt. Colonel Harold S. Sundt and was to be known as Task Force Sundt.[…] Units comprising the Task Force were the 607th TD Battalion, less A and C Companies, plus Company A of the 735th Tank Battalion, the 87th Reconnaissance Troupe, K Company of the 346th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Platoon Company C of the 312th Engineer Battalion and supported by fires from the 155 mm howitzers of the 335th FA Battalion. The Task Force was divided into three hard hitting companies plus a CP group. Each company consisted of a platoon of tanks, platoon of TD’s, platoon of infantry, riding on the armored vehicles, and a platoon of the 87th Reconnaissance Troupe. The CP group contained the remaining forces. It crossed the Rhine at Boppard on a pontoon bridge and assembled six miles to the northeast at Dachsenhausen which was the limit of the Division advance.
The Task Force’s first objective was Nastatten, 12 miles southeast of Boppard. At 0545 March 27th the Task Force took off for Nastatten, the plan of attack being to advance along the high ground to Ruppertshaffen. and thence to Nastatten. By 0830 the Task Force had reached Ruppertshaffen, three miles west of Nastatten, where it assembled and regrouped.
The third Task Force Company, under the command of 1st Lt. Glen J. Doman, 346th Infantry Regiment [K Company], made the attack on the town at 0915. […] The infantry under 2nd Lt. Robert L. Picher, 346th Infantry Regiment, [K Company] swept through the town and cleared all enemy resistance […]
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Captured enemy documents and statements of prisoners indicated that the area in the vicinity of Butzbach was an assembly area for stragglers of the Rhine defenses. Accordingly, on March 30 the Task Force received a mission of securing Hoch-Weisel, three miles southwest of Butzbach, and sweeping the woods to the north and west. At 0800 the 3rd Company moved there and the 3rd Reconnaissance Platoon and the Pioneer Platoon occupied positions between Butzbach and the woods to the west. The day was spent sending patrols through these woods. During the day the Task Force destroyed nine 20mm AA guns, eight 37mm AA guns on 21/2 ton trucks, one 40mm AA gun, three 105mm guns, seventeen 75mm AA-AT guns, four 88 AA-AT guns, and twenty-three vehicles. 519 prisoners were taken.
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April 1st found all missions assigned accomplished, the Task Force dissolved and the Battalion assembled near Kleeberg. During the Task Force’s operation, it had taken 1485 prisoners and had advanced 76 miles.
From April 10th to the 20th, Task Force Sundt was reconstituted, again with K Company attached
The dash made by this 2nd Task Force Sundt netted 109 miles and 1344 prisoners in nine days. Once the break was made through the Jerry’s lines, the scene became a mad rush, fighting through or bypassing defenses – speed was the watchword. To stop was to be pinned down; to continue was to crush Jerry’s frugal attempts to delay and leave a string of dead Jerries and burning German vehicles behind. The Germans had pitted the 11th Panzer Division, the so called “Ghost Division” in the 87th Division zone to “stem the tide”, but to no avail. The speed with which the Task Force operated was too great to permit a defensive position to be properly set up. 2 tanks, 11 trucks, 4 half-tracks, 3 armored cars, 6 wagons, 3 tractors, 3 motorcycles, 3-75mm guns, and 1-105mm gun were destroyed in comparison with our losses of 1 tank, 2-M8’s, 1-M20, and 1 half-track.