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Pacific Historian
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
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
to them.
