Lest We Forget - Relive The Past
The series of photographs of a strafed ambulance of the 5th Infantry Division is well known to people interested in this American unit of the US Army. According to the original captions and several books, the American ambulance crashed and burnt out after it had been strafed by an aircraft behind combat lines near Gonderange, […]
Little is known about most Signal Corps Photographic units that were attached to US Armored and Infantry Divisions. These Signal Photographic Companies were divided into smaller detachments. Detachment No. 6 of the 166th Signal Photographic Company was a group of seven photographers who followed the 5th Division during its combat on the European front, and […]
Military Mapping: The Grid System One of the newest inventions in military map making was the use of grids and coordinates. Up to the First World War, firing techniques for field artillery was one of “trial and error.” This meant that an artillery battery had to shoot itself in. It registered on its target by […]
Mapping the World War: The Power of a Two-Dimensional Battlefield In 2019 I wrote my Master’s Thesis about Military Maps in WWI & WWII with the title: ‘Mapping the World Wars: The Power of a Two-Dimension Battlefield.’ Some of you may immediately recognize the importance of military maps in warfare. In my thesis I attempted […]
Today is the 76th Anniversary of the Sauer Crossing near Diekirch which took place in the early hours January 18, 1945. On this date the 2nd and 10th Infantry Regiments of the 5th Infantry Division (including elements of the 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th ID) crossed the swollen river West and East of Diekirch, Luxembourg. Roland […]
In the past few posts I’ve been talking about a few personal stories of men of the 2nd Infantry Regiment who gave their lives in their first two combat days during the Bulge (Dec 24 & 25). During those days the Regiment managed to advance Breitweiler and Consdorf to the woods south of Berdorf. It […]
Pvt Charles M Wilkinson of Chemung County, NY, was 36 years old, was married and had three kids. Unfortunately, he was drafted early in 1944 and immediately sent to the front where he joined Company L of the 2nd Regiment in November. Before going overseas he sent his family a card with a photograph of […]
Sergeant Adam A Wegrzyn was Killed in Action on December 24, 1944, when his Company, Co E, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division, had their first day of combat in ‘the Bulge’. The 2nd Bn attacked on the left flank between Breitweiler and Consdorf through the Mullerthal Draw toward Berdorf Company F and Company G […]
Dutch people in the US Army? For a new project I am researching Dutch and sons of Dutch immigrants that served in the US Army during World War II. Nick van Beek, 9, emigrated with his parents to the United States in 1893. The Van Beek family came from Bennekom (GLD) and settled in the […]
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