CONNECTICUT MEN of the 95Th - Victory - Division July - 1945 the 95Th in ACTION
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CONNECTICUT MEN of the 95th - Victory - Division July - 1945 THE 95th IN ACTION The division's first offensive action was other regimental headquarters and service at Metz on November 8, 1944. The 2nd company personnel. This jumbled force and 3rd battalions, 377th Infantry Regi• was assigned to cover an eight and a ment, attacking at night, wiped out the half mile front. They did a bang-up job, enemy pocket east of Maizeres to the with the aid of loud-speakers and other Moselle. The going was rough. It was deceptive means. trial by fire. Men who proved themselves The hidden ball play worked like a that night did a lot of the ball-carrying charm. The regiment jumped off at 0800 on the power drive down to Metz the and within three hours had captured the following week. town of Feves. Two hours later it swept Capture of Metz was a rich achieve• on to take Somecourt. The surge con• ment. The city had weathered many tinued and Saulny, Vigneulles, Plesnois assaults. The 95th Division smacked up and Norroy le Beneur tumbled before the against the bristling forts ringing the city. avalanche. Still, the ring was broken, and this is the In the first five hours of the third day's way it was accomplished. operation the regiment had captured and The 378th Infantry Regiment got off occupied three Canrobert Forts. A few to a flying start with one of the most other forts were found to be deserted. daringly conceived and brilliantly exe• By this time the 378th's 3rd battalion cuted trick plays of the entire offensive. had forced its way to the west bank of the Col. Samuel L. Metcalfe, regimental com• Moselle. One platoon of Company K was mander, of Pearsall, Texas, dreamed it up. crossing a bridge into Metz when Germans Fronting the 378th zone was a series of touched off demolition charges. Casual• fortifications including Fort Amanvillers, ties were heavy. the three Canrobert forts and Fort de Next day the battalion crossed to the Feve. East of this line spread the extensive city in boats operated by Company B, Lorraine fortifications. Taking such an 320th Engineers, and joined the 377th area by an anticipated head-on drive Infantry Regiment in ferreting out the would have been suicide. Col. Metcalfe's snipers. The third arm of the main effort plan was to sweep around the northern tip was powered by the 379th Infantry Regi- of the fortifications and approach from the ment, which also had drawn a battering- rear, leaving behind a small task force to ram assignment against the forts flanking deceive the enemy into thinking the entire the road to Metz. At the very outset of regiment still fronted the forts. the division jump-off, the 379th ran into The job of providing the phony front stiff and bitter enemy resistance. The was assigned to Task Force St. Jacques, 1st and 3rd Battalions chipped away at composed of three platoons, one antitank one of the greatest and most impregnable platoon, a squad from an Intelligence and of all Metz forts — Jeanne d'Arc, guardian Reconnaissance platoon, cooks, clerks, and of the western approach. 2 Chipping was the word for it. The heav• was 25 miles to the east, and many in the iest demolition charges produced a lot of outfit were looking forward to the day concrete dust and not much else. With when it could write "inside Germany" on various forts in the Jeanne d'Arc system letters home. The border into Germany linked by tunnels, the Germans employed was crossed on November 28. By the first a fire and run defense, and the 379th part of December the division was in the found it impossible to block all the Saarland. tunnels. Their first major prize on Nazi soil By November 21, however, the fall of was the exposed city of Saarlautern which Metz was something to write home about. lies like a goldfish bowl between the high The 95th Reconnaissance Troop had made ridges on either side of the Saar. The contact with elements of the 5th Infantry entire division was brought up on line and Division, which had driven up from the a series of lightning blows ensued. Not south to complete the squeeze play on only was this city captured, but in a sur¬ the fortress city. prise night attack the only bridge across the Saar still intact was taken. So swift Capture of Metz was but one of the and well planned was this project that highlights in the 95th's combat history, not one man was lost. Though the enemy however. had mined the bridge well the 379th Task The 95th jumped off for the Saar on Force bayonetted the sentries on duty November 25, 1944. The German border before the alarm could be sounded. This 3 feat caused Under Secretary of War Pat• Bulge. Towards the end of December the terson to write a special commendation Saar entered the holding phase with only for the "Iron Men of Metz." In continual the 95th and 94th left to keep Third Army combat for over a month, the Victory gains. Brilliant night combat, anticipating Division's valor under fire earned its Nazi dawn attacks, was the key to their men the title of "Bravest of the Brave" success. from Joseph Driscoll of the New York In January, after two months of suc• Herald Tribune. cessive combat action, even greater efforts Metz was tough, but the work now was were expended by rotating regiments on even more rugged. This was the thickest line in the Saar to reinforce the American part of the Siegfried Line. There were a 7th Army at St. Avoid. It was an exhaust• myriad of pillboxes and fortified houses. ing but highly successful activity. Progress became measured in square In January the 95th was assigned to blocks for the batallion objective. In Lt. Gen. Simpson's Ninth Army. Its first Fraulautern, just over the highly valued bridge, the 377th's 1st Battalion took part task was to join with British troops fight• in a "dance of death" when Americans and ing in the flooded area below Nijmegen. Krauts blazed away at each other over a This action was considered by the troops hotel ballroom floor. Then came the to be a rest, since the CG was able to 4 rotate his regiments on the line. In Feb• them to be relieved. It was not a rest; ruary the 9-V's were sent into Belgium for the division was sent back to the Erft a rest. It wasn't long afterwards that they Canal to practice river crossings in expec• were called upon to join in the smashing tation of future events. drive on the Rhine. The lead regiment, After the Ninth Army crossed the Rhine the 379th, drove so fast that when the the 95th was called upon to go into the Rhine was reached the inhabitants of the Harz Mountains and clean out all pockets town of Rhinehausen were caught quite of resistance. This was done expeditiously. unprepared. Telephone lines were intact Shortly before the termination of hostilities so that enterprising Joes attempted to the Victory Division was chosen by Gen. phone Hitler in Berlin. Factories were in Simpson to occupy and police the terri• operation, and the workers were dazed to tories that the Ninth Army had so find American troops taking over. The speedily over-run. To the men of the 95th doughs had intended to settle down here this was a welcome chance for well earned for a luxurious rest when orders came for rest. PICTURES OF THE 95th Home Again — The 377th Infantry (Page 4). The photograph was taken at crossed on the SS Monticello and disem• Ft. Devens on July 3rd. The Battalion's barked at Staten Island, New York, on experience in front of Ft. Jeanne d'Arc at June 26th. The photograph reproduced Metz, is described by Pfc. Henry R. on the cover was taken as the ship was Heitmann of Hartford on Page 10 of this headed for the docks. booklet. Landing at Boston — The 378th In• Time Out at Devens — The pictures fantry, Division Artillery and Head• on pages 8 and 9 show Connecticut men quarters Personnel made the crossing on gathered in the bright July sun in one of the SS Mariposa (picture on Page 3), and those long waits between processing for• docked at Boston after a mations. The upper picture welcome home greeting by shows the men of the 378th Port authorities. Infantry Regiment. In the lower picture are men of "Lost" Battalion—Con• the 379th Infantry Regi• necticut men of the Second Battalion, 379th Infantry ment. 5 95th DIVISION FACTS Nicknames: "Victory", and "O. K." Commanding General: Major General Division. H. L. Twaddle, an Ohioan, from April Shoulder Patch: Oval shaped, red 25, 1942, until present. numeral 9 and white Roman number V; Component Units as of Time of De• and V also standing for Victory; solid parture Overseas: 377th, 378th and blue background. 379th Inf. Regiments; 360th medium History: Organized for World War I in and 358th, 359th and 920th (L) FA Bn. September, 1918, at Camp Sherman, Served Overseas as Part of: Third Ohio; demobilized in December of 1918. Army, Oct. 1944; Ninth Army, approxi• Activation date: July, 1942. mately February of 1945. Army Ground Forces Training: Basic Combat Highlights: Participated in at Camp Swift, Texas, and upon com• capture of Metz; captured important pletion to Fort Sam Houston, San communications center of Boulais; led Antonio; to Louisiana in June, 1943, Third Army into Saar, attacking thick• for maneuvers and stationed at Camp est portion of Siegfried line, at Saar• Polk, Louisiana, before shipping to lautern.