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.

Category: Infantry Soldiers of WWII: Foot Soldiers  -- See latest WWII news here. See also 'WWII Re-enactment and Re-enactors', 'Military Uniforms', 'D-Day', 'Nazi Helmets'.

World War II infantryman Walter Holden: Tiger Tanks, flooded rivers
Our Charlie Company was the first into Inden. We got in a factory building, and the Germans came in the front and the back. We were swamped, no chance at all. The men closest to the Germans were captured. Our squad, 10 men, went out the side window. We were the only ones who got out, at least 60 were captured. ... There was a B.A.R. man (Browning Automatic Rifle) firing down the street. A Tiger tank was attempting to come up. When it started up, he'd shoot at the infantrymen who were with it. Tanks are helpless at night, and wouldn't move up without infantry. That guy held off the tank all night.     [ concordmonitor :: 2008-03-04 :: Infantry Soldiers of WWII: Foot Soldiers ]

World War II Infantryman in line of fire - 36th Infantry Division
Henry Eversmann was sent to North Africa with the 36th Infantry Division. He was part of an anti-tank gun crew, but since there were no battle tanks when they invaded Italy, he found himself with a rifle in the infantry. He recalls being "volunteered" by his squad sergeant for night patrols. After the Battle of Monte Cassino, 36th hit the shores of Southern France, and by Sept. 1944, Eversmann was 40 miles of the Rhine. Then the Germans began shooting the trees with their artillery: "tree bursts" created flying splinters in addition to the shrapnel. He got under a tank, which took a direct hit from a German 88mm gun. Luckily the tankers had a Jeep nearby.     [ bnd :: 2008-01-27 :: Infantry Soldiers of WWII: Foot Soldiers ]

83rd Infantry Seeks Recognition for Fighting to Within 40 Miles of Berlin
They were known as the Ohio and the Thunderbolt Division. In the waning months of the WWII, the men of the U.S. Army's 83rd Infantry Division pulled off one of the most incredible feats in the war. Positioned north of Germany's Ruhr industrial complex at the close of March, 1945, the 83rd received orders intended for the 8th Armored Division. They were to turn east and race toward Berlin. In a span of 13 days, the Thunderbolts fought their way across 280 miles. Commandeering anything with wheels to move infantry at a break-neck pace, the sweep across northern Nazi Germany proved to be one of the most rapid movements in military history.     [ earthtimes :: 2007-08-15 :: Infantry Soldiers of WWII: Foot Soldiers ]

Kurt Vonnegut - Seminal conversation: infantry battalion scout
QUE: You were an infantry battalion scout in the war? VONNEGUT: Yes, but I took my basic training on the 240mm howitzer. QUE: But you were ultimately sent overseas not with this instrument but with the 106th Infantry Division. VONNEGUT: "The Bag Lunch Division." They used to feed us a lot of bag lunches. QUE: While they trained you for the infantry? VONNEGUT: I was never trained for the infantry. Battalion scouts were élite troops, see. There were only 6 in each battalion, and nobody was very sure about what they were supposed to do. So we would march over to the rec room every morning and play ping-pong and fill out applications for officer candidate school.     [ independent :: 2007-04-14 :: Infantry Soldiers of WWII: Foot Soldiers ]

Normandy 1944: A Young Rifleman's War by Dick Stodghill
This is the Battle of Normandy as seen from ground level during the bloody summer of 1944 - the personal experiences of an 18-year-old 4th Infantry Division rifleman who joined his company shortly after D-Day. He came to admire and respect the men of G Company, then was close by as one by one many of them died during the horrific fighting in the fields and streets. Here are the realities of that war: opening the casualty blanket rolls, seeing the dead being buried in mattress covers, the sounds, the smells and the fears of men in infantry combat.     [ pr :: 2007-03-16 :: Infantry Soldiers of WWII: Foot Soldiers ]

The hidden truth of Liberation of Paris - and poor allied infantry
Months before D-Day, American and British commanders decided that only French troops who were white could take part in the operation to free Paris. General Philippe Leclerc's armoured division was chosen because it was the "only French division which could be made 100% white". All other units in the French army were two thirds or more African. A book by historian Olivier Wieviorka reveals the depths of the crisis which threatened to disable the Allied armies in Normandy after the landings on 6 June 1944. At one point 1/3 "wounded" American soldiers suffered from psychological, not physical, injuries. British infantry fighting spirit was equally poor.     [ independent :: 2007-02-04 :: Infantry Soldiers of WWII: Foot Soldiers ]

War in Winter - Cold, snow didn't deter soldiers in Battle of the Bulge
Dec 1944: In the worst weather Europe had seen in 50 years, Tech Sgt. Richard Gile, an infantry rifleman, fought against heavily-armed German forces. The extreme cold, heavy snow, ice roads and an unrelenting enemy presented American soldiers one of the deadliest battles of WW2. "The Army was totally surprised by the enormity and ferocity of the German's attack on a sector that was deemed by the Allied High Command as 'quiet'. Many of the German soldiers were veterans of the terrible winter weather while fighting in Russia and were well-equipped with protective winter gear. The German force also had the latest models of superior fighting tanks."     [ eprisenow :: 2006-12-19 :: Infantry Soldiers of WWII: Foot Soldiers ]

How the G.I. Bill Transformed the American Dream
On June 22, 1944, Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the G.I. Bill of Rights. With the end of the war, legislators worried that the spectacle of millions of veterans descending on the society could result in a nightmare. Robert Hutchins, president of the University of Chicago, feared that given the "lower" class background of the veterans the universities could be turned into "hobo jungles." Almost 8 million WW2 veterans used the bill's educational benefits. Of course, history proved them wrong. The G.I. generation constituted some of the best students the colleges ever had.     [ empirepage :: 2006-12-15 :: Infantry Soldiers of WWII: Foot Soldiers ]

US infantryman: When Plantoon was forced to surrender
As a replacement, infantryman Leonard Todd had little knowledge of Company L's orders. They crossed the Rhine River in small boats and proceeded to the town of Trebur, where they took a defensive outpost position. About midnight the Germans started shelling the U.S. troops and moving their vehicles into town. The Germans launched a ferocious attack, employing a large force of troops, artillery and tanks that isolated Company L from the rest of the battalion and separated his platoon from the company. "During the German counterattack platoon leader was killed by machine-gun fire. Being surrounded by the enemy, we were forced to surrender."     [ lompocrecord :: 2006-06-05 :: Infantry Soldiers of WWII: Foot Soldiers ]

"You don't hear the one that hits you" - Decorated WW2 vet
Article no longer available from the original source.
It was Sept. 10, 1944. The captain of an 11th Infantry rifle platoon attached to Gen. George Patton's Third Army, Franklin Smith had ordered his men to put down cover fire so a group of wounded soldiers could be evacuated. Afterwards he was talking on a field radio, when the Wehrmacht unleashed a heavy barrage of artillery shells. "You don't hear the one that hits you... but down I went. I got hit at 12:15. The reason I know is that I said to an aide... 'I need a tourniquet.'" The Germans were solid across Normandy. There wasn't any place they weren't there. We were shelling them, and they were shelling us.     [ southbendtribune :: 2006-05-29 :: Infantry Soldiers of WWII: Foot Soldiers ]

Infantry hated being dive bombed - Diary from Monte Cassino
Two things were certain in Charles E. Aubert's world - he hated being dive bombed and guard duty. The World War II combat vet cussed the bombers and his duty officer with equal rancor at times. Italy, May 11, 1944: "2400 guns 1800 tanks in this attack. The barrage is terrific. If we don't take Cassino this time we're thru! ... Air raid last night, one bomb came close; My God but that screaming of the bomb was terrifying." His diary also include the Battle of the Bulge, the Germans' desperate counter-attack (Ardennes Offensive) that stretched, but which did not break, the Allied line.     [ rhinelanderdailynews :: 2006-05-28 :: Infantry Soldiers of WWII: Foot Soldiers ]

Museum opens exhibit on the 10th Mountain Division
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.     [ eptrail :: 2006-05-18 :: Forces of the Western Allies: American Soldiers ]

Infantry regiment's casualties were high in Italy
Dante Salamone fought in the U.S. Army on the front lines in Italy for more than 300 days during WW2. He watched men fall all around him in the 350th Infantry Regiment of the 88th Division. More than 15,000 soldiers in the division were killed or injured. "It was hard to make friends with new replacements because I saw so many come and go." The first body he saw changed his life. "I realized that this is not a John Wayne movie. People were trying to kill me. Living in a foxhole was kind of unique: I mean that was home. Italy was low priority... guys were suffering because of a lack of support."     [ staugustine :: 2006-05-09 :: Fascist Italy - World War II ]

When orders for the battalion to withdraw were not received
In 1944 Major Tasker Watkins won the Victoria Cross - only the second Welshman in the WWII to do so. While commanding a company of the Welch Regiment, the battalion was ordered to attack objectives near Balfour. Company had to cross open cornfields in which booby traps had been set. The company came under fire, and the only officer left, Major Watkins, charged two posts in succession. When he found an anti-tank gun his Sten gun jammed, so he threw it in the German's face and shot him with his pistol. The company had only some 30 men left and was counter-attacked by 50 enemy infantry, and orders for the battalion to withdraw were not received by company...     [ icwales :: 2006-04-15 :: Victoria Cross Medal (VC) - Stories of the most decorated Heroes ]

Us Infantry Weapons In Combat - Personal Experiences
Shifty Powers, 101st Airborne Division, the "Band of Brothers" - As a rifleman, they expected you to carry an M1, but they weren't strict about it. I swapped one time; we were getting ready to make a jump and the Germans had a lot of guard dogs. I'm a little bit scared of dogs, so I gave another guy my M1 and he gave me his Thompson. I figured I could spray the dogs. They called that jump off, so I swapped back with him. The only fault about the Thompson was that you had to keep them clean or they would jam. The most amazing thing about that M1 is you could throw that it down in a mud hole, drag it through it, pick it up and it would fire.     [ fulton-armory :: 2006-04-14 :: Weapons, Guns & bombs of WWII ]

Sketches capture the raw emotions of 19-year-old infantry serviceman
There is a famous drawing by Bill Mauldin, where two officers are gazing at spectacular mountain scenery and one turns to the other and says, "Beautiful view. Is there one for the enlisted men?" Sergio Bonotto laughs so hard remembering the cartoon that tears start to flow. He and his fellow GIs witnessed equal opportunity misery - waiting around for something to happen or trudging through the mud, rain and cold and early spring near Dusseldorf. Because his Army experience was so intense, he carried a notebook and pencils with him, and whenever he could he sketched scenes that recaptured moments of his life in the infantry.     [ zoominfo :: 2006-04-07 :: Cartoons and World War II ]

GI museum to hold field day, battle re-enactment
Article no longer available from the original source.
The Museum of the American GI is sponsoring its seventh annual field day and WWII battle re-enactment March 25. The public is invited to see restored vintage tanks and other military vehicles operate. Two distinguished WWII paratroopers at the event will discuss their combat experiences. The battle re-enactment, titled "Breaching the Siegfried Line," will feature 150 actors, running tanks and armored vehicles, artillery fire and pyrotechnics. The nonprofit museum works to preserve the equipment, uniforms and memories of American soldiers.     [ theeagle :: 2006-03-16 :: Infantry Soldiers of WWII: Foot Soldiers ]

With the U.S. Army's 10th Infantry Regiment
Cliff Wilford's military training included a 1941 march from Ft. Custer to Nashville, about 500 miles carrying 60-pound field packs. He traveled To Iceland in a 150-ship convoy in Sept 1941 shadowed by a "wolf pack" of German submarines. "I observed two of the torpedoes running side by side near the surface, missing by about 10 feet." In June 1944, Gen. George Patton came to North Ireland to give the troops a "pep talk." He made it plain that it was either kill or be killed. Wading ashore in Normandy, German artillery fired intermittently 24 hours a day. After being relieved by the Royal Scots Light Infantry Brigade, Wilford's unit was ordered to relieve the 2nd Infantry Division, which was in danger of being overrun.     [ enewscourier :: 2006-03-13 :: Infantry Soldiers of WWII: Foot Soldiers ]

11-year-old Italian boy with the US 36th Infantry Division
In the fall of 1943 the 36th Infantry Division marched forward through Salerno. As they rested, Staff Sgt. Claren 'Curly' Thompson befriended a young Italian, Johnny Camera, who was working nearby. Johnny had been moving from place to place under the assumption that his family had been killed. Thompson took 11-year-old Camera in and the soldiers accepted him as one of their own, giving him a uniform. Johnny stayed with the division for 11 months during its campaign across Italy. During that time, Thompson promised Johnny that if he ever made it to America he'd have a home waiting for him in Texas.     [ waxahachiedailylight :: 2006-03-08 :: Children of WWII Wartime ]

What Russia's soldiers suffered
Fresh research shapes a fascinating yet also devastating portrait of Russian infantrymen in World War II. Josef Stalin and his successors made sure the story of Soviet history in the war was crafted and protected in a way that served their political purposes. Great monuments were built, but documents were sealed. Pensioned soldiers and their families were honored as "heroes," but they were kept from telling of experiences that might have deviated from the official line - especially anything traumatic. Historians, Russian and foreign, were prevented from working independently.     [ csmonitor :: 2006-02-15 :: The Red Army & russian partisans ]

See also

'WWII Re-enactment and Re-enactors'

'Military Uniforms'

'D-Day'

'Nazi Helmets'.

What's new - recent & interesting categories.

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 2005-2008. All rights reserved.