What's New
Author Updates and Archive Additions
December 16, 2017
I’ve uploaded more operational records from the 2nd Armored Division during the Normandy breakout in July 1944. Next update on January 15.
S-3 Periodic Report 55, CCB, 30 Jul 44
Unit Report, 1st Bn, 67th Armd Rgt, 29 Jul 44
Overlay, 702nd TD Bn, 29 Jul 44
Overlay, 3rd Bn, 41st Armd Inf Rgt, 31 Jul 44​
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November 11, 2017
Today marks the first anniversary of ETO History. I’ve added four S-3 Periodic Reports (with map overlays) from Combat Command B of the 2nd Armored Division. As with the combat interviews, these records pertain to Operation Cobra and the Normandy breakout. Next update December 16.
S-3 Periodic Report 51, CCB, 26 Jul 44
S-3 Periodic Report 52, CCB, 27 Jul 44
S-3 Periodic Report 53, CCB, 28 Jul 44
S-3 Periodic Report 54, CCB, 29 Jul 44
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October 15, 2017
The last four 2nd Armored Division combat interviews are now in the archive. The battles described in the thirteen combat interviews earned seven Presidential Unit Citations for elements of the division, a testament to the importance of the Normandy breakout achieved by the division. Next update on November 11 ... more 2nd AD documents.
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Rcn Co, 67th Armd Rgt
78th Armd FA Bn
82nd Rcn Bn
Co C, 702nd TD Bn
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September 15, 2017
I’ve added another three 2nd Armored Division combat interviews to the archive with the final four to follow next month on October 15.
3rd Bn, 67th Armd Rgt
Co A, 67th Armd Rgt
Co E, 67th Armd Rgt
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August 15, 2017
I’ve added three more 2nd Armored Division combat interviews to the archive. The interviews were the work of U.S. Army historians Captain Kenneth W. Hechler (1914-2016) and Captain Franklin Ferriss (1911-2004). More to come next month on September 15.
CO, 67th Armd Rgt
1st Bn, 67th Armd Rgt
2nd Bn, 67th Armd Rgt
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July 20, 2017
I’ve added three “combat interviews” to the archive. These are the first of thirteen interviews pertaining to the 2nd Armored Division and Operation Cobra, July 28-30, 1944. Elements of the division penetrated the German main line of resistance and battled retreating enemy forces, elite Waffen-SS and Fallschirmjäger troops. The division (then assigned to First Army) broke open the Normandy front, a feat often misattributed to Patton’s Third Army. The combat interviews detail the breakout with first-person accounts and hand-drawn maps. U.S. Army historians conducted the interviews in September 1944 to fully record the pivotal action. More to come next month on August 15.
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Index to 2nd Armd Div Combat Interviews
CCB, 2nd Armd Div
3rd Bn, 41st Armd Inf Rgt
Co I, 41st Armd Inf Rgt
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May 23, 2017
I’ve added three prisoner-of-war reports to the archive, including Major Hal McCown’s five-page statement about his experiences as a prisoner of Kampfgruppe Peiper. I’ve also added an interrogation report concerning Oberstleutnant Friedrich August v.d.Heydte who surrendered to the 9th Infantry Division during the “Bulge.”
Incl 2, VII Corps G-2 Periodic Report 1, Jan 45
Annex 1, G-2 Report 192, 30th Inf Div, 26 Dec 44
Annex 3, G-2 Report 181, 2nd Inf Div, 23 Dec 44
ETO-HQ-44-30800, Obstlt. v.d.Heydte, 22 Dec 44
April 30, 2017
This year marks the seventieth anniversary since the first publication of Company Commander, Charles B. MacDonald’s classic memoir which has sold over one million copies. I’ve added five documents to the archive which relate to personalities mentioned in the book. Fred Huff is an exception insofar as his name doesn’t appear in the book (or any other book). He served under MacDonald and received a posthumous Silver Star Medal for his actions on December 17, 1944.
Charles MacDonald obituaries
Fred Huff Silver Star Medal citation
Long Goffigon interview, 2 pp
Morning reports, Co I, 23rd Inf, Dec 44
“The Breakthrough” by Walter Eisler
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March 15, 2017
I’ve added three additional Lausdell documents to the archive, all 2nd Infantry Division records from the National Archives.
Wesley Knutsen combat interview,
1st Bn, 9th Inf Rgt combat intv., 16-19 Dec 44
2nd Inf Div G-2 Report 176, 18 Dec 44
February 18, 2017
I’ve posted four new documents in the archive, all related to the 2nd Infantry Division’s battle at Lausdell crossroads during the Battle of the Bulge. More to come next month.
V Corps situation map, 19 Dec 44
“Heartbreak Crossroads” by Ralph Steele
“U.S. Battalion’s Stand” by Harold Denny
Statement of Roy Allen (combat interview)
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Sgt. Hulon Brocke Whittington (1921-1969), Company I, 41st Armored Infantry Regiment, 2nd Armored Division. “Rocky” Whittington received the Medal of Honor for his actions on the night of July 29-30, 1944, the so-called “Death Night” at la Lande des Morts (near Grimesnil, France).
August 13, 1944: Cpl. John A. Cereza and Pvt. Albert Del Balzo (Recon Co, 66th Armd Rgt) ask directions from PFC Hobart MacMillian (28th Inf Div) where they can deposit a German sniper collected in Sourdeval, France. (T/5 Joseph A. Verna, 165th SPC)
February 26, 1945: T/4 Ralph Valtin, a PW interrogator with the 1st Infantry Division, speaks with a German battalion commander who surrendered his strongpoint at Kreuzau, Germany, when ammunition ran out.
Company Commander, first edition (1947) dust cover, Infantry Journal Press
March 12, 1945: Col. Chester J. Hirschfelder receives the Legion of Merit at Bad Neuenahr, Germany. He earned the decoration for outstanding service with the 9th Infantry Regiment from May 1942 to October 1944. (Lt. Victor F. Messina, 165th SPC)
April 1945: Brigadier General John H. Collier (1899-1980), Combat Command A, 2nd Armored Division. The diminutive general from Texas graduated with the USMA Class of 1919 and is interred at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, Section M, Site 105-C.