Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News is a daily edited review of WWII news, providing thought-provoking collection of hand-picked WW2 information.

WW2 category: Forces of the Western Allies: American Soldiers  -- See latest WWII news here. See also 'D-Day tours', 'Medal of Honor: Most decorated Heroes', 'D-Day, Normandy', 'U.S. Army Rangers', 'Airborne Paratroopers', 'WW2 Jeeps', 'Tank Destroyers', 'Omaha Beach', 'Utah Beach'.

American World War II veteran recalls the battle of Normandy     publicopiniononline.com :: 2009-10-24
Pfc. Lloyd Knauff arrived in Normandy on June 22, 1944, just a couple of weeks after the historic D-Day invasion. When he reached the shore, he saw bodies floating in the water. "Eating was very tough the first few days." August 23, 1944 Knauff and his men saw German Tiger tanks coming in. "Get out of there. Withdraw," a U.S. captain ordered. Knauff hurried toward a small river, leaving 30 caliber machine gun behind. A loud boom shook the ground. He looked around and saw an American tank on fire. A German Tiger had taken it out. Knauff ran toward a hedgerow when the German bullets began pelting the ground in front of him. He kept moving, but he was not fast enough...    

Major-General Peter Leuchars's brushes with death in World War II     telegraph.co.uk :: 2009-09-10
After the battle for Cagny, Peter Leuchars was digging a trench when a shell bounced in - and failed to explode. Half way through the battle for Le Bas Perrier, the radio broke down. Leuchars found a small dip in the ground and lay down in it to write a message to HQ. Suddenly the air erupted with explosions and shell and mortars fell where he had been standing. Later the same day, fire from a German tank passed over his head and an artillery shell exploded in front of his jeep. Near Hechtel his platoon cleared a line of houses, but one of his section commanders misidentifed him and fired a bullet in Leuchar's chest: smashing the revolver that he carried over his heart.    

The real Inglourious Basterds: Britain's secret Jewish commandos     dailymail.co.uk :: 2009-05-23
The commando, a balaclava over his head and his face blacked up with camouflage, clung to the rope as he edged up over the top of the cliff on the coast a few miles from Dieppe. It was December 26 1943, and his unit was on a mission to explore beaches as possible sites for a mass landing in Nazi-occupied France. Suddenly he saw a light and a patrol of German soldiers, 15 in all, advancing in his direction, rifles at the ready. If this had been a scene from the film Inglourious Basterds, then the commando would have massacred each and every one of them with his Sten gun. But the reality 65 years ago on that cliff top was very different.     [Special Forces & Missions of WWII]

Kenneth Kingsley - With the King's Regiment     telegraph.co.uk :: 2009-04-08
In Jan 1943, I found myself in Colchester Cavalry barracks, where we were equipped with battledress, boots, helmet and so on. We were also given two sacks and marched down to a place full of straw. We stuffed our sacks with the straw: the large one served as a mattress, the small one as a pillow. Equipment like belts, ammunition pouches and so on had to be blancoed with a khaki-green blanco powder and water and any brasses had to be polished. We were also issued with a rifle and bayonet. The rifles were the old WW1 rifles. During our basic training, we did endless rifle drills and route marches.     [Forces of the Western Allies: American Soldiers]

U.S. Army lieutenant James V. Borgia faced the German panzers     connpost.com :: 2009-03-01
James V. Borgia was acting commander (334th Infantry Regiment, 84th Division) on Jan. 23, 1945 - and all he knew was that his regiment had to secure the area while making its way to Beho. The village had been occupied by the Nazis in 1941, and freed by the American GIs in 1944. The Nazis, however, were able to recapture it again. "Halt," yelled a German soldier, who didn't wait before firing a few shots. "I could feel the heat of the bullets fly by my head." Borgia, then noticed 3 large German tanks, and rallied his troops to the farmhouse. "The Germans tried to shell us with their tanks and artillery. But the stone farm structures were too thick."     [Battle of Bulge: Ardennes offensive]

Louis L. Samoisette was a Lost Battalion (1st Battalion, 141st Infantry) survivor     fredericknewspost.com :: 2009-02-08
Louis L. Samoisette, one of the few survivors of the WW2 Lost Battalion, was a quiet and humble man who kept his heroics in the U.S. Army to himself. In October 1944, 1st Battalion of 141st Infantry was trapped in the Vosges Mountains in France, encircled by Wehrmacht. After 6 days of freezing, living on meager rations, and seeing fellow GIs injured and killed, the Lost Battalion was rescued by the most decorated unit in U.S. military history: the 442nd Infantry Regiment made up of mostly Japanese-American soldiers. After being rescued, Samoisette was so frozen, he was unable to walk for 3 months.     [Forces of the Western Allies: American Soldiers]

WWII veteran Bill Hart recalls how a German tank was pointing right at them     tdtnews.com :: 2008-12-18
On Dec. 17, 1944, Staff Sgt. Bill Hart and corporals Slim Wallen and Jack Nyquist of the 2d Infantry Division were sent out to fix a telephone line. The day before was the start of the Battle of the Bulge. They were following a wire in a jeep driven by Wallen. Once he turned a corner a German tank was pointed directly at them. "Surprise, we didn't know it was going to be there. All the tank driver had to do was hiccup and the jeep... would be history." The Germans seized their weapons and compass. Then an American P-47 Thunderbolt arrived, and the Germans took shelter under the Americans' jeep, while Hart, Wallen and Nyquist ran into a forest.    

World War II infantryman recalls bloody scene at Anzio     cleveland.com :: 2008-10-26
Joe Pucci remembers the Allied invasion of Anzio in 1944. It was supposed to be the punch that would send the Nazis reeling in Italy. Instead, the surprise assault behind enemy lines turned into a hard, slow fight, giving the Germans time to rush 13 divisions to heights overlooking the area. Allied troops were trapped to a small beachhead for 4 months under a murderous hail of shells. One German propagandist called the Anzio beachhead "the largest self-supporting POW camp in the world." Pucci remembered when Ernie Pyle visited the frontline: "I saw this gray-haired guy sitting on his helmet, and he looked so old I asked someone, 'What's he doing here?'."    

Once Upon a Time in War: The 99th Division in World War II -- Book review     newsreview.com :: 2008-10-04
Everyone has an opinion on war, but ironically, what should be one of the loudest voices is often a voice that goes unheard: the voice of the soldier. Robert E. Humphrey thinks that the time to hear the soldier's story is now, with his account of WWII's 99th Division, which aims to collect the tales of as many GIs as possible. Formed in Mississippi late in 1942, the 99th Division was made up largely of volunteers who were keen to serve in U.S. Army. 10 months later, the unit would ship out to Europe, where they would spend 6 months on the frontlines in sorry conditions, taking part in one of the biggest engagements of the war: the Battle of the Bulge. [Buy from Amazon: US, UK, CA, DE, FR]     [WW2 Books]

WWII veteran's memoirs online by the Veterans History Project of The Library of Congress     galesburg.com :: 2008-07-24
LeRoy Maleck's WW2 memoir of his years in the Army has been published online by the Veterans History Project of The Library of Congress: "What Am I Doing Here? True Adventures While Surviving 1172 Days in the U.S. Army During World War II." --- "After what seemed an infinity of expectancy, it happened - the ominous ripping sound of a German MG 42 machine gun shattered the morning air. The now familiar zing, zing, zing of machine gun bullets told us we were targeted! Mortar fire smothered the advancing infantrymen."     [Forces of the Western Allies: American Soldiers]

Werner Von Rosenstiel fought in Wehrmacht and U.S. Army     montrealgazette :: 2008-07-12
Werner Von Rosenstiel saw that Germany was gearing towards war. He thought of leaving, but his father wanted him to finish his education. In 1938 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht, but after seeing the Kristallnacht he was appalled. He was offered a job in Nazi regime, but he asked to travel to the U.S. for 30 days to improve his English. He would not return for 5 years. After the Pearl Harbour attack he was tried as an enemy alien. Luckily, he had a letter in which he condemned the Kristallnacht. He enlisted in the U.S. army, rose to the rank of lieutenant, fought at the Battle of the Bulge and - as a translator - saw the Nazi leaders at the Nuremberg Trials.     [Wehrmacht: German Armed Forces]

World War II veteran Jack Frank travel back to Europe to retrace his steps     the-dispatch.com :: 2008-07-05
In the autumn of 1944 Army Cpl. Jack Frank and 4 other American GIs searched a cave at Zichen, Belgium, for Wehrmacht soldiers. Finding none, they carved their names into the cave wall with knives. 64 years later, Frank traveled back to Belgium to find his name still visible in the cave, retrace some of his steps during the war and experience a hero's welcome: American flags hanging from the windows, preserved-like-new American Jeep driving him to city hall... "I was a king for a day." Among other places he also visited fortress Fort Eben-Emael; a museum at Bastogne, a center of action during the Battle of the Bulge; and the bridge at Remagen.     [Forces of the Western Allies: American Soldiers]

Glen Gloyd survived Omaha Beach landing     venturacountystar :: 2008-01-20
There is one recollection that stands out in Glen Gloyd's mind about the days before the D-Day invasion: the children he and his comrades came to know in UK. "We greeted them and then threw coins to them. They really enjoyed having us there..." At midnight on June 6, 1944, he got on a landing craft ship headed across the English Channel and to the beaches of Normandy. He was part of the first wave of attacks on Omaha Beach. "It was complete chaos when we got there. There was one point when I looked and saw 12 machine guns with 12 American soldiers draped over them dead. It was hell." ... "We were welcomed by the French citizens like we were stars..."     [Omaha Beach]

Sailor saw worst from the D-Day English Channel to the Pacific     wcfcourier :: 2008-01-03
Leroy Whannel got a view of WWII in all its horror: from clearing landing crafts full of dead soldiers from Omaha Beach at D-Day, to repatriating Bataan Death March survivors. Omaha, on June 6,1944, may have been the worst: 100 yards of sandy beach, with German machine gun placements on the bluffs overhead. "We went in with the first bunch. The first bunch, it was just plain murder. The Nazis could sit up there and just rake those landing craft as they came in. That first wave, I felt sorry for those guys. It was like suicide. I talked to those guys... and they said, 'Oh, God, let's get out of here and get this over with.' They wanted to get gone."    

The Day of Battle: War in Sicily and Italy 1943-1944 :: Book review     iht :: 2007-10-03
After chasing Erwin Rommel and Wehrmacht out of North Africa in May 1943, Allied commanders needed to decide what to do next as Operation Overlord could not be undertaken until 1944. In "The Day of Battle" Rick Atkinson shows how Field Marshal Albert Kesselring occupied high ground, bloodying the enemy and then retreating to next mountain citadel. "The Tommies will have to chew their way through us, inch by inch," a German paratrooper wrote. Ortona and Monte Cassino were little Stalingrads with house-to-house fighting. Malaria and breakdowns took thousands off the battlefield. Misguided strategy and bickering among Allied generals also took a toll. [Buy from Amazon: US, UK, CA, DE, FR]     [Fascist Italy - World War II]

Of 80 Germans Benigno Diaz killed, one haunts him: Hitler Youth boy     whittierdailynews :: 2007-06-03
Of the more than 80 Germans Benigno Diaz killed in World War II, one continues to haunt him - a 10yo little boy, part of the Hitler Youth campaign to train Nazi soldiers. The boy was hiding out with two German gunmen who had been shooting from inside a building in a small German town in 1945. "I spotted the two ... so I threw a hand grenade and what I saw later was that I had killed a little boy." He can hardly get through the story without forcing back tears. "I didn't expect that. I felt guilty. I still feel guilty. I had to turn away from his face because I didn't want to see it anymore."     [Forces of the Western Allies: American Soldiers]

Earl Parker fought from D-Day to the final surrender in Reims     thevictoriaadvocate :: 2007-05-18
It was May 7, 1945, and Army Cpl. Earl Parker watched as German General Alfred Jodl goose-stepped up to the schoolhouse in Reims. "He looked tough and mean. That's the way they were trained". Jodl was there to surrender the military forces of Nazi Germany. The nightmare of Nazism was over. Parker, a member of the U.S. 1st Division "The Big Red One," was on General Dwight Eisenhower's staff, and had been one of the soldiers invited to witness history. It had been a long road to this moment, starting on the Omaha Beach 9 months earlier. In the Hurtgen Forest he was hit with shrapnel. He was in a hospital when it was hit by a V-1 "buzz bomb." But again, Parker survived.    

Battlefield return brings closure for World War II veterans     alertnet :: 2007-05-12
It has taken more than 60 years, but gazing down a ridge over a battlefield near Germany's border with Belgium, Stan Tuhoski believes he has found closure from the greatest trauma of his life. He was just a teenager when he was caught up in the Battle of the Bulge, the bloodiest single engagement for U.S. forces in World War II. Captured by German troops as they overran his unprepared division in Dec 1944, he survived death marches and the horrors of POW camps, but travelled back home broken and verging on suicide: "I would sit down and cry and cry and cry." But it took a return to the forested battlefield of the Ardennes to come to terms with his wartime nightmare.    

A messenger of the 6th Armored Division - Bronze Star for Valor     staugustine :: 2007-03-06
In his first weeks in France during 1944, U.S. Army Private Emmett L. "Jack" Worley had been shelled, straffed by machine guns, driven his Jeep through heavy German rifle fire, fought enemy soldiers hand-to-hand, killed some and saw buddies die next to him. But his most frightening moment was a quiet one: listening to the German farmers who had captured him discuss among themselves who was going to kill "the American." He landed in France at Utah Beach on July 18, just over a month after D-Day. Because Allied units could not use radios, commanders used messengers to deliver orders and tactical information.    

Book filled with World War II stories     pantagraph :: 2007-02-02
More than 300 collected stories will fill the pages of a World War II book being put together by the Tazewell County Genealogical and Historical Society. "These stories are just amazing. These stories can be looked back on 200 years from now to see how these farmers from small villages came together and won this war," said Marge Shepler. The book, which will memorialize the WW2 veterans who lived, worked or died in Tazewell County, will consist of 500 pages of stories of service during the war.    

With H Company, 345th Infantry Regiment, 87th Infantry Division     gallupindependent :: 2006-11-29
On July 9, 1944, Jean Bateman landed on Utah Beach where Allied forces had pushed 12 miles into France. After some minor firefights and ambushes, he took part in his first major campaign to capture a strategic hill occupied by German paratroopers. It wasn't easy. The troops had 15 Sherman tanks. 12 were destroyed. "We lost a lot of people there. K Company had 224 people. That evening, they had 77 left." He also saw a Sherman battle tank get hit with armor-piercing and high-explosive shells. "A man got out of the Sherman and his skin was sliding off his hands." Another man escaping from a hatch had no legs.    

Back to Normandy: From D-Day Omaha beach to Ardennes     globegazette :: 2006-10-20
On June 6, 1944, Bob Gunsallus and his unit were shipped out to Omaha Beach at Normandy. "They flipped down the landing platform of the LST 50 to 60 feet from shore and said 'start swimming.' I thought I was a pretty strong swimmer, but I damn near drowned several times. The last 10 to 15 feet you literally had to move bodies with every stroke to keep moving." ... During the Battle of the Bulge, he had a shell knock his helmet right off his head. "If I would have had my helmet strapped on I would have probably been killed from the force of the shell. But luckily it just knocked the helmet from my head."    

Fighting in France's hedgerows with an anti-aircraft gun     azcentral :: 2006-09-09
Three days after D-Day, Miguel Soto's unit landed on Utah Beach and was attached to the 448th Anti-Aircraft Battalion. "A landing barge full of engineers next to my barge received a direct hit... I recall seeing dead American paratroopers hanging from trees, riddled with bullets." As his unit pushed toward St. Lo the hedgerow fighting was fierce. Later, he and 3 GIs volunteered for a special mission. They took a 40-mm antiaircraft gun, and placed it with its barrel on top of a hedgerow aimed at an area in which Germans had placed heavy machine guns. They fired explosive shells, then armor-piercing shells, until infantry could destroy the target with hand grenades.    

Harold Kuehn earned silver star in WWII     cjournal :: 2006-09-08
Article no longer available from the original source.
After boot camp Harold Kuehn was sent off to the front line in the European Theater. He found out - when he arrived at his assigned company - that the first and second scouts had been killed and he was the first scout's replacement. At his arrival, there had been 35 days of intense fighting, and his company had been reduced by 50% in one day. On his first day on patrol, he captured a German soldier who was telephoning for artillery. At one point two young soldiers requested to be made scouts, they had noticed that Kuehn had survived more than 30 days. 10 minutes after they became scouts they were killed.    

39th Combat Engineers Reunion - Leading the infantry into battle     clintonherald :: 2006-09-07
The mission of the 39th Combat Engineers was, as David Wagner put it, to "lead the infantry into battle." If that meant rebuilding a bridge the Nazis had destroyed, so be it. If it meant clearing a minefield equipped only with a bayonet, understood. The men of the 39th Combat Engineers took their missions seriously, and out of their shared experiences in North Africa, Sicily and Anzio was born a strong bond. A small group of men from the 39th first got together following the war in 1946. It soon blossomed into a yearly reunion of hundreds of the men.    

297th Engineer Combat Battalion - In front of the frontline     thetandd :: 2006-06-04
Shot, shelled, mortared, machine gunned, bombed, bazookaed, and they survived. About 450 of the more than 500 members of the U.S. Army 297th Engineer Combat Battalion lived through World War II. Their mates drowned in the English Channel off the Omaha Beach and Utah Beach on D-Day. Legs were blown off in the Battle of the Bulge. Combat engineers are the men in front of the men with the guns. They remember soldiers drowning in the English Channel: "They put grease on our uniforms to keep out the chemical weapons. Might have kept out the mustard gas. Let in the water. Guys went belly up."    

Museum opens exhibit on the 10th Mountain Division     eptrail :: 2006-05-18
Hitler had his eyes on conquering all of Europe long before Japan invaded Pearl Harbor. Meanwhile, high in the Rocky Mountains, men trained on skis to meet Hitler’s army and drive them back across the Italian Alps. The Estes Park Museum will open an temporary exhibit on the 10th Mountain Division. The exhibit explores the history of the special WWII force that trained for mountain combat. The 10th Mountain Division went on to distinguish itself in combat in Alaska and Italy. In 1940, Charles Minot Dole petitioned President Roosevelt to create an American light-infantry alpine ski force to combat Hitler’s advancing mountain troops.    

The most decorated unit in the US Army: Japanese Americans     nysun :: 2006-05-15
On May 18 Robert Asahina's "Just Americans: How Japanese Americans Won a War at Home and Abroad" will be published. The book is a history of the most decorated unit in the American Army in World War II for its size and length of service - the 442d Regimental Combat Team, a segregated unit of Japanese Americans. About half of the regiment had come out of the "relocation camps." Everyone I spoke knew about the "internment", but no one knew about the 442d. Until I researched I didn't know much about it - or about its predecessor the 100th Battalion, a segregated unit of Japanese Americans from Hawaii.    

A convoy under air attack     tribune-democrat :: 2006-03-11
Army Capt. W.W. Wilkins Jr. is on a mission to win the Bronze Star for Cpl. James F. Weyandt, an ambulance driver. A convoy – part of the 4th Armored Division of the 3rd U.S. Army under General Patton – was strafed by a German plane, which then dropped anti-personnel bombs that rained down shrapnel. "They explode in the air, there are no foxholes there, so you'd just lay down. Many guys got hit in the back." Weyandt loaded two men on stretchers into his ambulance and helped 7 men who could sit up. The ambulance drew fire on a road through enemy territory. Three times the vehicle came under rifle fire. Then, a German plane zeroed in on the lone ambulance...    

The first american soldier to set foot on German soil in WWII     whotv :: 2006-02-26
Veterans from WW2 and other foreign wars are getting older. In Iowa about 6,000 veterans die each year. Jack McKay was awarded one of his two Bronze Stars during D-Day on the beaches of Normandy in 1944. He also received two Silver Stars, the Distinguished Service Cross, and five Purple Hearts. He was field commissioned to Lieutenant after his superiors saw his leadership and bravery. According to McKay's son, a district court judge, McKay was believed to be the first american soldier to set foot on German soil in World War Two.    

Joseph Beyrle: The Only U.S. Soldier To Fight For Soviets     RIA Novosti :: 2005-03-23
Joseph Beyrle is believed to be the only soldier to have fought for both the United States and the former Soviet Union during WWII. Mr. Beyrle was among the first paratroopers to land in Normandy, as part of the 101st Airborne Division's 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The Germans captured him shortly after he landed. He escaped from a POW camp in Poland and joined a Soviet tank unit headed for Berlin. He fought alongside the Soviets for three weeks or so, and they called him "Joe." He got wounded in the leg along the way, and had to be hospitalized. While he was staying in the hospital, Marshal Georgy Zhukov came over for a visit.     [Red Army]

See also:
'D-Day tours'
'Medal of Honor: Most decorated Heroes'
'D-Day, Normandy'
'U.S. Army Rangers'
'Airborne Paratroopers'
'WW2 Jeeps'
'Tank Destroyers'
'Omaha Beach'
'Utah Beach'.

Although the articles linked from Adolf Hitler's Third Reich 1933-1945 and World War II in the News are reviewed and specially selected, they do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, who is not responsible for the content of any external sites. This service is © Joni Nuutinen 2005-2010. All rights reserved.