Needy New Member - Anti-Tank Co.\109th Infantry\28th Infantry Division

My real name is Dot, but as a user name, it is already taken. I live in Ohio and my interests are Genealogy and searching my Father-in-law's service in WWII.


I am trying to find the time line of my Father-in-law's service in ETO. He unfortunately is no longer with us and never really talked about his time in Europe. I know he was discharged from At Co, 109th Inf., 28th Division. I am pretty sure he spent the entire time with AT Co. What I am trying to find is the Attachments for his Company. Any info would be appreciated. I was told each Regiment had an AT Co. and served as a Battalion, but were attached to other Companies within the Regiment. Does anyone know if the AT Co would have been connected to the 107th FA.

 

Hello and welcome to the forum.
Good luck with your research


Lesley

 

welcome to this fine forum Dot

 

Welcom to the forum Dot !

 

Welcome to the forums!

 

Hi Dot! Welcome to the Forums.

I can get you information about the AT Co. of the 109th Infantry during the Bulge. If Memory serves me well the CO was Captain Clayton. Before the German attack on December 16th the HQ of the AT Co. was in Medernach, the village that I live in, I even now which farm they were quartered. On the first day of the offensive Rudder relocated them to the village of Gilsdorf. I can get you more info tomorrow and next week. I just came home from work. Right now I have some stuff to do, but I promise you that I will post more informations in the days to come.

Kind regards.

tom

 

Thanks for the Welcome's!!

For Tom, you are Awesome!! Any information would be more than appreciated! Thank you

 

From Internet research it appears the 109th Infantry Regiment and 107th Field Artillery Battalion were "paired" such that the 107th FA Bn would most often provide direct support artillery to the battalions of the 109th Infantry. A long term relationship was intended to improve coordination and cooperation between the two arms. With engineers and medical, often called a Regimental Combat Team (RCT)

Normally the artillery was located several kilometers behind the front line where the rifle companies and anti-tank guns operated. However before the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944, 109th Infantry was assigned a sector of front line that was so wide that many unusual things could occur. This battle is so thoroughly studied it should be possible to locate each of the three platoons of the regimental AT Company. It would not surprise me that an AT platoon was located near a battery of the 107th FA Bn.

The term "attachment" is a formal military term and unlikely between the AT Co and the FA Bn. However in the chaotic beginning of the Ardennes battle informal 'attachments' could occur as units found each other cut-off from their headquarters.

Also be informed that each infantry battalion had an AT Platoon so not every mention of AT guns is from the regimental AT Company. Also beware that towed Tank Destroyers are often described as AT Guns.

And, Welcome!!

 

Earthican, thank you for your response! I have read more about WWII in the last few months than I have all my life. Most of my reading has been centered around Huertgen Forest and Battle of the Bulge. I, also, am now looking for references to Colmar Pocket. I know the AT Co of 109th were fighting along side the 2nd French Armored Division in the Colmar Pocket. The AT Co was turned into a fighting unit during Battle of the Bulge by Capt. Paul Gaynor and renamed Raider Co. I have ordered his OMPF and they should arrive within the next couple of weeks. I know I have a lot to learn about all the battles this Co fought. I have just ordered the book 'The Regiment. Let the Citizens Bear Arms" in hopes that it will shed some light. I have read "Follow Me and Die", "Bloody Roads to Germany" and my Father-in-law's "28th Division History" book. I am determined to see this through......finding his time line. At first it was just curiosity, but now it is a mission!

Thanks Again!

 

Sure, if you would like to change dott to dot, it works for me!

Update on OMPF I requested, the only records available are Payroll. I am not sure this would be helpful. I am glad my Mother-in-law allowed me to make a copy of his Separation papers.

 

howdy, welcome to the forum

 

Heads up to future visitors:
This quality and rapidity of support (thanks to the terrific bank of experts here) is typical of http://www.ww2f.com/
... and, for UK orientated advice, our Sister Forum at: http://ww2talk.com/

Thanks to all of you.

 

LRusso, I tried attaching but the file is too large. I will figure out a way to post later today.

 

I hope you share what you find or, better yet, take us on the journey. Don't assume we know everything already. There are still mysteries to be discovered. For now, here is what I (think I) know. If you --or anyone-- is interested, I'll share where I learned it...

Several regiments seem to have converted their AT Company into other uses late in the war. Whether it was a shortage of replacement 57-mm AT guns or just the realization that the preferred method for dealing with enemy armor was with Tank Destroyers or artillery is uncertain to me. Minus the guns, they would not have been a particularly strong rifle company but if they kept their 1-1/2 Ton Weapon Carriers then at least they were motorized for pursuit warfare. While the anti-armor specialists generally had a greater aptitude than the average riflemen, whether they 'took to' their new role was an individual experience. Some may have favored more action while others were hoping to survive the war with a significantly less dangerous assignment. Almost all shouldered their burden and let fate decide.

I guess my point is: don't be smitten by the rough sounding name chosen by the officers. Any draftee outfit is a mixed bag of motivation and skills. They may have had a special role but they were little different from any other front line infantry company.

Again, Welcome!!

 

What I know, and it is little, about my father-in-law's time I will be happy to share. He did not share much, but my husband remembers a few things he commented on. First, his Discharge papers state 'no wounds'. He actually did receive a small piece of shrapnel in his back but said he did not seek medical treatment for it. To understand why, let me give you a little background of this wonderful man. He was born and raised in Eastern KY. If you have never been to this area, it is part of the Appalachians. He was not born to a family of wealth but they got by. He was raised with guns and hunting definitely contributed to the dinner table. He was a quite, speak when he had something to say, kind of guy. ( When I first met, I was scared of him) He had told my husband once that he didn't want the medals he was given...he was "just doing his job", he said. He had said that St. Lo was hell on earth, but I think this would have been his first battle. He told of going through the Huertgen Forest, how dark it was during the day and how pitch black it was at night. So dark that one night when he laid down to go to sleep, he awoke the next morning to a very dead, very bloated German soldier laying a couple feet from him. He told of being in a farmhouse and shooting at Germans from the first floor and then running up to the second floor, so the when they were fired at they would be on the other floor. He told of being in the basement of farmhouse while Germans were walking around upstairs. How he and others had killed and eaten a cat, because that was the only food they could get. Unfortunately, I do not have locations for the farmhouse incidents.

 

The payroll record is the best that most can hope for from their OMPF request. Most of the Army personnel records were destroyed in a fire in 1973. It is indeed a good thing that you have access to his separation papers.

Lou has a good suggestion about using an image hosting website. The Forum has a limit of 500kb per post. If you know how to downsize the file, that would also work. If you need any help with it, just let us know.

 

I should stop posting from memory, specially late at night when I'm about to go to bed....... so some revised information, please excuse my previous mistakes!!!!


Company HQ of the AT Company 109th Inf. were indeed quartered in a farm in Medernach for a while, but when the Battle of the Bulge started on the 16th of December 1944 they had already moved to Gilsdorf, CO at that time was Captain Paul F. Gaynor from Scranton Pennsylvania. The Company still fought with their 57 mm AT guns. Not, as so many AT companies did at that time of the war, with bazookas.

On the 16th two gun squads, commanded by S/Sgt Paul F. Maher resp. S/Sgt Peter J. Patrick from the 1st Platoon were the first to be attacked by the germans. (Both men were again from Scranton Penns.) S/Sgt Patrick's squad lost their two guns and he and his men were surrounded by the attacking Krauts, but later in the day they were relieved by tanks from an attached tank comppany and A company of the 109th. Both guns were recaptured. Late in the evening the 2nd Platoon, commanded by 1st Lt. Thomas G. Harris of Selma, Alabama, got attached to the 2nd Batt. of the 109th. 3rd Platoon under the command of 1st Lt. Wolford l. Keller of Kansas City took up anti tank positions in the vicinity of Beaufort on the regiments southern flank. The 1st Platoon commanded by 1st Lt. George Diaz took up AT positions on the main Diekirch and Bettendorf Crossroads.

On the 17th all positions were held and the german attacks were repulsed.


More to come!