Third Army Occupation of Germany

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Alexander F. Archives National Barnes enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1974. He served with the Marine Support Battalion at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and with the 4th Marine Amphibious Brigade in Norway, Denmark, and West Germany. He later served for twenty-seven years with the Army National Guard in New York and Virginia, retiring in 2004 as a chief warrant officer, CW4. He has held civilian positions with the Department of the Army since 1982, and in that capac- ity he deployed to Saudi Arabia, Bosnia, Croatia, and Kuwait in support of Army operations. He also worked on the Army’s port operations in Europe and the Far East. He is now a logistics management supervisor with the Combined Arms Support Command at Fort Lee, Virginia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and a master’s degree in archeology from the Cortland and Binghamton campuses, respectively, of the State University of New York. American provost guards in Coblenz look across the Rhine at Ehrenbreitstein castle and the moveable pontoon bridge, 6 January 1919. 6 Army History Fall 2010 “Representative of a Victorious People” T HE D OUGHBOY WA T CH ON T HE R HINE BY ALEXANDER F. BARNES he heavily laden soldiers where in Germany. Indeed, the lack think this is a new experience for assembled at the Trier of clear political authority caused by the U.S. military, but that is far from T train station early on the the abdication of the kaiser and the the case. The two decades before the morning of 8 December 1918, and collapse of the German Army at the United States entered World War I when the train pulled out at 0900 end of World War I would lead to saw an almost uninterrupted series it was headed east toward Coblenz outbreaks of revolutionary violence of large and small conflicts, which on the Rhine. Normally, any infan- in urban areas across Germany.1 often concluded with Army or Ma- tryman prefers riding to walking, Fearing that their city might be rine officers and noncommissioned and this must have been especially the next site of revolutionary fervor, officers performing civil affairs true for these men, who had just the German authorities in Coblenz, duties or exercising governmental endured a dozen days of strenuous working through an advance liaison responsibility. The deployment of road marching from Commercy, officer from the U.S. Third Army, re- U.S. forces to Cuba, Puerto Rico, France. But these were not normal quested that the Americans dispatch the Philippine Islands, Panama, times, and for the doughboys of the troops in advance of the main force Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, and the 2d Battalion, 39th Infantry, this ride to maintain order in the city as well Dominican Republic in those de- was different; it marked the begin- as to guard the Rhine River cross- cades had provided numerous such ning of perhaps the most unusual ings until the rest of the American occasions, but rarely on this scale mission they would ever perform. occupying forces could arrive. The and certainly never in a European Under the terms of the 11 November honor of being that advance force country. And so, the Third Army 1918 Armistice, the retreating Ger- went to the foot-weary doughboys was marching boldly but blindly to- man Army was required to make a of the 39th, and, as the train moved ward its destiny on the Rhine as the phased withdrawal to and somewhat down the track, they did not know American Army of Occupation. Just beyond the Rhine within thirty-one whether they would meet a hostile, before the Armistice, the intelligence days. The cities slated for Allied neutral, or friendly reception.2 section of the American Expedition- occupation on that river appeared While no one knew exactly what ary Forces (AEF) began to gather susceptible, prior to the victors’ ar- to expect on this day, the U.S. Army information on the organization and rival, to the armed, angry stragglers had some practical experience with processes of the German government and deserters from the German living in and governing occupied in order to prepare the Third Army Army and Navy, as well as a variety or hostile territory. U.S. troops for its civil and military missions, of Bolsheviks, Spartacists, and other currently in Iraq and Afghanistan but the information it obtained highly politicized labor organizers are conducting peacekeeping or was incomplete and largely out- who were provoking violence else- stabilization operations, and many dated. Occupying Germany would 7 Collection of Matthew R. Fidler R. Matthew of Collection Sergeant Fidler, right, and three privates prepare to receive their rations, Coblenz, 1919. prove to be another on-the-job train- Verdun, in September and October gonne woods. I dropped as soon ing event. The story of the American 1918. On board the train was Sgt. as they opened fire and believe me I occupation of Germany from 1918 to Bert Fidler, a 19-year-old doughboy didn’t fall a second too soon either for 1923 provides an often fascinating from Oswego County, New York, a machine gun must have been aimed look into a past with many parallels who had survived his share of dan- straight at me. As I fell forward, a to today’s ongoing missions. gers—snipers, high-explosive artil- stream of bullets cut through the back Honored or not, the 39th Infantry lery fire, machine gun nests, and gas rim of my helmet riddling my pack. Regiment was certainly a good choice attacks—on the battlefield.3 The mess kit in my pack was shot full for the mission. As an element of the Fidler’s memories of his last months of holes, my corn willy and hard tack 4th Division, as today’s 4th Infantry in France were still vivid when, some was shot to pieces so I didn’t have Division was then designated, the while later, he wrote to his family anything to eat for nearly 3 days.” 39th was a battle-tested outfit that from occupied Coblenz. “It still gives Equally upsetting, his canteen was had seen heavy combat north of Châ- me chills when I think of it. It was a destroyed by the same burst, caus- teau Thierry in July and August 1918 case of running into machine gun ing him to go thirsty until he could and near Montfaucon, northwest of nests just before we entered the Ar- replace it.4 . the most important question of all was, How would they be received? 8 Army History Fall 2010 Although not dangerous, the American colors with “orders to of the 2d Battalion, 39th Infantry, march to the Rhine after the Armi- knock the hats off any body that began walking around these monu- stice was itself no small event, as it didn’t salute the flag.”6 ments, guarding the city’s streets, was longer than any undertaken in For the next three days, the 2d and establishing residence in the city. France by a U.S. Army unit. The Battalion, 39th Infantry, would be Filling the roads between France, move of the 39th Infantry to Ger- the only U.S. combat unit in the Luxembourg, and Coblenz were some many involved travel over damaged city of Coblenz.7 And what a city 250,000 more doughboys and all of roads and a week of almost continu- it was. Situated where the Moselle their equipment. Under the terms of ous rain. Overall, the 4th Division River joins the Rhine, Coblenz de- the Armistice, more than 2,500 square saw more than 2,000 men evacuated rived its name from the Latin word miles of western Germany with a mil- to field hospitals while en route. confluentes, signifying a place where lion inhabitants were assigned to the But for the men of the 2d Battalion, rivers come together. Surrounded by United States for occupation duty. 39th Infantry, the discomforts of the nineteenth-century fortresses and The Third Army was to set up its po- march were behind them now and, packed with well-known landmarks, sitions in a sector running from the as the train pulled into the main Co- Coblenz had been a strategically im- Luxembourg border to an area on the blenz Bahnhof (train station) at 1430, portant garrison town since the days east side of the Rhine River that was the most important question of all of the Roman Empire. Particularly soon known simply as the Coblenz was, How would they be received?5 notable among its landmarks were a bridgehead. After the AEF command- Standing and waiting patiently at 40-foot-high bronze equestrian statue er, General John J. Pershing, received railside were two officers, the Ameri- of Kaiser Wilhelm I (1797–1888) that notification of the requirement, he can liaison officer to Coblenz and a stood facing north, atop an even taller had selected his occupying force German officer. With few words and monumental base, right at the river from among the thirty intact infantry no ceremony, the men of the 39th confluence; the large “ships bridge” divisions in the AEF. Realizing the disembarked from the train and were across the Rhine made of pontoons potential for danger and the inherent quickly broken into two-man teams that could be disconnected to allow complexity of the operation, he chose to begin their foot patrol of the city. river traffic to pass; and the massive some of his best units, including the Sergeant Fidler and his patrol-mate Ehrenbreitstein castle that looked four senior Regular Army divisions, were among the first Americans to down on Coblenz from across the the 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th Divisions.

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