Past in Review ---®

Past in Review ---®-- "In no other profession are the penaltiesfor employing untrainedpersonnel so appalling as in the military." General Douglas MacArthur uring World War II, Dthe American Army called together millions of civilians and molded them into units that could work together to go about the business of winning the war. One such unit was the 51st Engineer Combat Bat- talion (ECB). How well it trained and the successful results of that training is the thrust of this article. At the beginning of World War II, the United States Army sent its newly inducted recruits to units for training. Engineer Military Training Program (MTP) 5-1 called for 13 weeks of basic, individual, and team training. The next phase, unit and combined training, PFC Eider D. Cannon, Company A, 51st EC13, on a "Watch on the Rhine" In March consisted of seven to eight 1945. The success of the training the 51st received in New York and England was months of training as a reflected In their many achievements during World War 11 (U.S. Army photo) . unit. It was followed by training training. The Army training sys- 20 miles south of the Canadian with other units, and culminated tem depended on unit cadres who border on Lake Champlain, in Oc- in maneuvers with divisions, first received training and then tober. The 51st chose Macomb corps, and armies. trained new recruits. Reservation, some 12 miles north One of the 131 engineer units A new commander, Colonel H. ofPlattsburg Barracks, as its field formed in 1942 was the 51st En- Wallis Anderson, took over the unit training area. There it constructed gineer Combat Regiment (ECR), on August 17. Through example training sites in preparation for activated at Camp Bowie, Texas. Colonel Anderson, a World War I the arrival of basic trainees. In June of that year, the 51st En- veteran, laid the foundation for the Enlisted men began arriving at gineer Regiment's cadre of 76 en- development of teamwork and the Plattsburg railroad depot on listed men and 50 officers, most of esprit de corps that bound the 51st Christmas Day, 1942. The Army them graduates of the Engineer together. had inducted these men into the Officer Candidate School at Fort The unit moved to Plattsburg service from all corners of the Belvoir, Virginia, began cadre Barracks, NewYork, located about United States, issued them By Barry WY Fowle Engineer 51 Traffic rolls over a heavy pon- toon bridge built over the Rhine River at KrIpp, Ger- many, In 1545. This was one of many bridges built by the 51st Engineer Combat Bat- talion during their march across Europe (U.S. Army photo). uniforms, and sent them to side. The 51st established an units. The 51st ECB scored 83 per- Plattsburg for training. By Jan- obstacle course to strengthen the cent, the highest rating of any uary 11 the strength of the regi- stamina and self-confidence of similar organization in the XIII ment had increased from about each soldier. Many of the men Corps. 150 officers and men to more came down with colds soon after Advanced training, which fol- than 1,600. These recruits re- arriving in Plattsburg, but the lowed, included both infantry tac- ceived a shock when they stepped health ofthe unit returned rapidly tics and engineer training. It con- off the train into 8 inches of snow after extensive physical condition- tinued until September, when the and below-zero temperatures, ing. At the end of basic training battalion moved to the XIII Corps each company built two tactical maneuver area in Davis, WestVir- ridges at night under blackout ginia. There the soldiers built conditions. This realistic training roads and culverts, an airplane asic, individual, and team would pay dividends in the future. landing strip, and constructed a training began in January In March 1943, the 51st En- Bailey bridge and a fixed-target and lasted until April. The gineer Combat Regiment was and known-distance range. The recruits learned close order drill redesignated. Its Headquarters 51st moved to Fort Belvoir for 12 and then trained on crew-served and Service (H&S) Company be- days as demonstration troops for weapons. During engineer train- came the 1111th Engineer Combat the school, and then went to Fort ing the men learned how to use Group (ECG), its 1st Battalion be- Dix, New Jersey, to prepare for explosives and demolitions, how came the 51st ECB, and the 2nd departure overseas. Battalion became the 238th ECB. After arriving in England on to build field fortifications, how April to emplace fixed and floating On 7, the 51st ECB began January 20, 1944, the 51st bridges, and how to build and unit and combined training at received more training. This in- The men repair roads and airfields. Macomb Reservation . cluded construction of Bailey Temperatures reached 35 marched 12 miles to Maconib on bridges, mine and booby trap degrees below zero on several oc- Monday mornings, where they training (using the latest German casions during basic training, and practiced building various types of mines and methods), camouflage in most places the ground was fixed and floating bridges. Then training, and infantry tactics. covered with 2 feet of snow. Be- they marched back to camp on cause Lake Champlain was frozen Friday afternoons. Everyone slept over, floating bridge training was on the ground in pup tents during conducted on ice that was 3-feet the week. he men in the 51st began thick. Near the end of April, XIII using the training gained In spite of these conditions, the Corps conducted MTP tests for the over the past 18 months when regiment conducted training out- 1111th ECG and its assigned they landed in France on June 52 Engineer 27, 1944. Th ~.8e-hip abatis on roads, near the river. The two engineer battalions . "I feel battalion operatioi battainis key point in flea',, ddin- that one of We most outstanding demonstrated the sive line was the Ourthe River a , complishments of the entire training. at Hotton. On December 20, anon was the building of the From June until November, Company B and the First Platoon, additional bridges under artil- arms fire." while under First Army, the bad Company A, held attackoff a German lery and small talin moved across France con- tank and infantry at that The 51st was assigned to structing roads, bridges, and cul- b e for 7 hours. General George S. Patton's Third verts, and sweepin areas for Tiny elements of all three line Army on April 17 . Two days later mines. In France and elgium they companies and the H&S Company the battalion began and completed replaced po ailey bridges manned roadblocks scattered a 255-mile trip in 20 hours with with semi-lam ent wooden throughout the area and stopped just one major breakdown, which bridges on major roads. The Bailey the Germans cold. For its actions was quickly repaired. The success bridges were then moved forward in the Battle of the Bulge, the 51st of the road march reflected the for use in combat operations. ECB received the Distinguished high state of maintenance of the At the end of October, the 51st Unit Citation and the French equipment in the 51st and was a moved into Marche, Be' 'um, and Croix de Guerre. credit to its training. began sawmill oiler one using During the first two months of local sawmills and it person- 1945, the 51st supported both the nel. First Army tas the 51st to 82d Airborne Division and of produce three million card feet 75th Infantry Division, bu,'I'ng at ECB, began lumber for its winterization pro- bridges, maintaining roa-4- 5-foot class 40 treadway wh am. The men of the 51st, remowing numerous mine-.,eids a over the Danube River at In- were trained in using chain saws, and barriers. In January, the bat- and golstadt on April 26. They were cut the trees for, supervised talion constructed five Bailey under direct German fire from the the operation of, 32 sawmills. At bridges in four days, One was con- far side of the river during con- peak production the three com- structed at night, while under struction. The 51st crossed the panies produced a total of 80,000 enemy fire and in terrible weather. Danube and finished the war main- board hot of lumber each day. Three days of rain, snow, and ng roads, filling craters, and stopped on Sawmill operations freezing temperatures had coated building Bailey bridges. 17 December, when the 1111th the bridge parts with a layer of ice. ice On flay 12, Lieutenant Colonel ECG was assigned the battalion Blow torches used to melt me Harvey R. Fraser, the battalion barrier operations along a 40-mile brought in enemy artillery fire, commander, called the men front against the German Army's forcing the men to use hacksaw d addressed them as a Ardennes Offensive-the Battle of blades to cut the ice away. The for the first time since he the Bulge. That evening Company winter training received at Platts- joined the unit in mid-Decemberfor . C, 51st ECB, went to Trois Ponts burg again proved to be useful. paid tribute to the 51st the to organize a defense of the town On March 7, the Americans cap- rk the men had accomplished and prepare bridges for destruc- ed the famous Ludendorff g their drive across Europe. tion. For three days the company die over the Rhine River at Well might he have given them and infantry III chose held off untilGerman tank gen. Cops me 51st praise.

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