# History Overlooked: Unsung Army Division Seeks Recognition



## syscom3 (Aug 20, 2007)

History Overlooked: Unsung Army Division Seeks Recognition for 
Fighting to Within 40 Miles of Berlin in WWII's Waning Days 

83rd Infantry Finds in National Archives Recommendation for Citation 
They Never Received 

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- They were known as the Ohio and, 
later, the Thunderbolt Division. In the waning months of the European 
Theater during World War II, the men of the U.S. Army's 83rd Infantry 
Division and several supporting units pulled off one of the most 
incredible and overlooked feats in the annals of that well-documented 
war.

Positioned north of Germany's Ruhr River industrial complex at the 
close of March, 1945, the 83rd received orders originally intended 
for the 8th Armored Division. They were to turn east from the Ruhr 
and race toward Berlin. In a span of only 13 days, the Thunderbolts 
fought their way across 280 miles of northern Germany as unit after 
unit within the 83rd leap-frogged and flanked one another to 
continuously press the attack east. Commandeering anything with 
wheels or hooves to move infantry at a break-neck pace, the rolling 
menagerie of "organic transportation" was dubbed by one reporter in 
news accounts as "the rag-tag circus."

The spectacular sweep across northern Germany proved to be one of the 
most rapid movements of troops in military history. The 83rd not only 
set new infantry speed records, but surpassed those of the best 
Allied armor units. Along the way, they liberated 42,000 U.S. and 
Allied prisoners of war.

On April 13, 1945, the 83rd arrived at the west bank of Germany's 
Elbe River, the boundary where the Allied Supreme Commander, U.S. 
General Dwight Eisenhower, had ordered all Western allied armies to 
halt. But the U.S. Army's XIXth Corps commander, Major General 
Raymond S. McLain, wanted to prevent the enemy from using the Elbe as 
a natural boundary to re-organize and counter-attack. The 83rd and 
its support units were ordered to cross the Elbe and into territory 
assigned to the Soviet Red Army, and to prepare to advance 
east/northeast (in the direction toward Berlin). In a bitterly 
contested, house-to-house fight -- the subject of the book The Last 
Battle by Cornelius Ryan, author of The Longest Day and A Bridge Too 
Far -- the 83rd secured a bridgehead on the Elbe's east bank at 
Barby, Germany. Over the course of the next several days, they 
defended it from several vicious, Nazi counter-attacks. The 83rd 
pressed the fighting east to within 40 miles southwest of Berlin, and 
on April 30, the 113th Cavalry Group of the 83rd Division made 
contact with Russian troops at Apollonsdorf. Orders finally caught up 
with the 83rd juggernaut to return to the Elbe bridgehead. The only 
American incursion into the Eastern European Theater ground to a halt 
and, on May 6, 1945, turned back to the Elbe, crossing territory 
gained at the cost of over 1,000 American casualties.

The incredible drive to the Elbe bridgehead, and its defense, earned 
Division members 289 Bronze Stars, 132 Silver Stars, 1 Distinguished 
Service Cross and 1 Legion of Merit, but ironically no Presidential 
Unit Citation.

Since 1996, the 83rd Division Association' s historian, 82-year-old 
Lou Gomori of Butler, PA, has researched and documented the fighting 
at the Elbe River and points eastward and, in 2003, began his attempt 
to secure some lasting recognition for fallen comrades and to set the 
record straight: "I started researching this after watching the last 
episode of a series on TV, when the narrator stated: The Western 
Allies will stop on the west bank of the Elbe River; the eastern side 
will be left for the Russians."

Gomori submitted an application for a Unit Citation two years ago to 
the Defense Department's Military Awards Branch, through the 
sponsorship of his U.S. Senator, Arlen Spector. It wasn't until 
earlier this year that he learned that his application had been 
rejected.

Then, after 62 years, some unexpected evidence surfaced to bolster 
Gomori's case. Association President Rudy Zamula, 83, Potomac, MD, is 
a contractor at the National Archives and Records Administration 
(NARA II) in College Park, MD. On his own time, he would sift through 
some of the 176 boxes of crumbling and yellowed after-action reports 
that record the Division's battlefield exploits. This spring, he 
found a copy of the original letter from Ninth Army Commander Lt. 
General W.H. Simpson recommending the Division for the Presidential 
Unit Citation for its lightning assault across northern Germany and 
the Elbe to within the outskirts of Berlin. Included in the 
recommendation were the comments of Army Lt. General Raymond S. 
McLain:

"The advance of the XIXth Corps across Germany was an operation, the 
speed of which, has seldom, if ever, been equaled. The original 
planning contemplated the use of two armored divisions abreast, each 
to be backed up by one infantry division. Because of the necessity of 
compressing the Ruhr pocket, the 8th Armored Division was 
unavailable, so the 83rd Infantry Division was ... given the whole 
mission. The performance of the (83rd) Division in keeping up with 
the 2nd Armored Division on its left was magnificent and played an 
important role not only in broadening the Corps spearhead, but also 
in protecting the exceedingly long exposed Corps right flank ... The 
speed and dispatch with which the Division moved was of particular 
importance in the crossing of the Elbe, making possible the crossing 
of the river on a broad front and the exploitation of the successful 
bridgehead. This was of the greatest importance because the enemy 
resisted the crossings fiercely as shown by the fact that father 
north ... the enemy was able to throw back the crossing attempt (of 
the 2nd Armored)."

"After over 60 years, we finally had proof that our commanders had 
indeed recognized what we had achieved in that campaign," said 
Zamula. "As to why the recommendation was never acted upon is 
probably lost to history."

Gomori believes publicity about the Elbe crossing, back in April, 
1945, was downplayed because of the political sensitivities of an 
American army crossing into territory assigned to the Soviet Red 
Army. The recently discovered document gives Gomori new hope that the 
Military Awards Unit will take a second look at a new application he 
intends to file soon, seeking a Presidential Unit Citation. The 
division also seeks a sixth battle star for being the only American 
military outfit to fight in the Eastern European Theater, the 
boundary of which was -- the Elbe River. Previous battle stars were 
awarded the 83rd for its role in the Normandy, Brittany, Ardennes 
(Battle of the Bulge), Rhineland, and Central Europe campaigns.

Zamula is not optimistic despite the new-found proof that supports 
their claim. There have been only a couple of rare examples when the 
military has gone back to commemorate a unit. Despite Gomori having 
accumulated eyewitness accounts from German newspapers and German 
military veterans of the ferocity of the battles along the Elbe, the 
general perception today may be that the Division was merely fighting 
the last remnants of a German army that was already defeated. Or it 
may simply be the public has no desire to re-visit a little-known 
episode in a story outshone by more dramatic turning points in the 
European theater, such as D-Day, Anzio, and the Battle of the Bulge.

The veterans of the 83rd Division, which was headquartered in 
Columbus, Ohio, and de-activated only a few years ago, know time is 
not on their side. When the Association holds its annual Division 
reunion in Arlington, VA, on August 22-26, about 300 veterans and 
their families are expected to attend. Despite advancing age that 
prohibits travel by many of its members, the group isn't calling its 
reunion in DC its last. In fact, plans are already being made for 
their 2008 reunion in Carlisle, PA.

"My dream is to stage in Carlisle next year a re-enactment of the Rag 
Tag Circus convoy as I experienced it," said Zamula.

ABOUT THE 83rd DIVISION: The 83rd Division has its roots in Ohio, 
where most of its soldiers were from when the division was organized 
for World War I. The Division's insignia remains a graphic layout of 
the letters O-H-I-O. The Division engaged in 270 days of combat and 
ranks ninth among all Army divisions in the number of casualties 
suffered during World War II with 3,850 killed and 15,013 wounded in 
action. The Division was best known for rapidly being uprooted in the 
days immediately before Christmas, 1944, at the close of the Hurtgen 
Forest campaign in Germany, to race back into Belgium to become part 
of the spearhead that blunted the German offensive known as 
the "bulge" in the Ardennes Forest. It then assisted the 3rd Armored 
Division in bisecting the St. Vith-Houffalize Highway to block the 
easterly retreat of the German Army.

The 83rd Infantry Division Association is a non-profit organization, 
now based in Alton Bay, NH, dedicated to honoring the men who served 
in the division during World War II. The organization has 680 
members. Known as the Thunderbolt Division, the 83rd Infantry was 
first deployed in World War I and was deactivated after World War II. 
The company's insignia, a graphic representation of the word O-H-I-O, 
reflects the home state from where the Division's original ranks were 
raised. 

Source: The 83rd Division


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## ccheese (Aug 20, 2007)

That's a damn shame..... these vets should be recognized for what they
did, even if the German army was in retreat and "defeated" on paper.

Charles


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Aug 20, 2007)

I agree Charles. 

My  to them.


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## Lucky13 (Aug 23, 2007)

62 years too late. I sincerely hope that they get what they so rightfully deserve this time....


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