Hi Folks:
This week, my wife and I visited the Bleialf area where the 106th Infantry Division was positioned in December 1944 before the Battle of the Bulge started. In fact, her uncle was the Company Commander of A Company 1/423rd Inf Regiment and was a POW.
I brought the book "Battle of the Bulge-St. Vith-US 106th Infantry Division" by Michael Tolhurst and we visited the road north of Bleialf where the 423rd Inf Reg was assigned on the Schnee Eifel. We also visited the "Engineer Cut-off road" which the 106th ID engineers cut thru the area to eliminate being observed by German observers. We saw it on a sunny May day vs. a cold snowy/wet winter day.
It was an amazing area and pretty area....but the elements of the 106th were eventually surrounded running out of food, water and ammo....with many wounded.
They were force marched to Pruem where they were forced on a train and ended up in Hammelburg POW camp. My wife's uncle was there when the Task Force Baum raided the POW camp and liberated the camp. He was riding on the 2nd tank when the task force was returning to Allied lines...when the 1st tank was hit by an anti-tank SS unit which was in the area. The task force and former POWs went back to the camp and were eventually force marched to the east...as the allies continued there advance.
Here is a "twist"....they were liberated by my Father's 86th Infantry Division (Blackhawk Division) outside of Ingolstadt. I found this info in a diary he kept in a very small note pad which I saw when I visited his daughters in 2018. In addition, I found more info on the web titled "Combat & POW Experiences of Jackson D. Behling, 2nd LT"
So my Father's unit liberated/freed my wife's uncle during WWII....WOW....that floored me.
This week, my wife and I visited the Bleialf area where the 106th Infantry Division was positioned in December 1944 before the Battle of the Bulge started. In fact, her uncle was the Company Commander of A Company 1/423rd Inf Regiment and was a POW.
I brought the book "Battle of the Bulge-St. Vith-US 106th Infantry Division" by Michael Tolhurst and we visited the road north of Bleialf where the 423rd Inf Reg was assigned on the Schnee Eifel. We also visited the "Engineer Cut-off road" which the 106th ID engineers cut thru the area to eliminate being observed by German observers. We saw it on a sunny May day vs. a cold snowy/wet winter day.
It was an amazing area and pretty area....but the elements of the 106th were eventually surrounded running out of food, water and ammo....with many wounded.
They were force marched to Pruem where they were forced on a train and ended up in Hammelburg POW camp. My wife's uncle was there when the Task Force Baum raided the POW camp and liberated the camp. He was riding on the 2nd tank when the task force was returning to Allied lines...when the 1st tank was hit by an anti-tank SS unit which was in the area. The task force and former POWs went back to the camp and were eventually force marched to the east...as the allies continued there advance.
Here is a "twist"....they were liberated by my Father's 86th Infantry Division (Blackhawk Division) outside of Ingolstadt. I found this info in a diary he kept in a very small note pad which I saw when I visited his daughters in 2018. In addition, I found more info on the web titled "Combat & POW Experiences of Jackson D. Behling, 2nd LT"
So my Father's unit liberated/freed my wife's uncle during WWII....WOW....that floored me.
Comment