980th FA Bn / SS soldier photos found

Just wanted to bump this thread. Has nice pre-war photos (blue denim fatigues!) and a short personal diary. Also has first part of battalion history (Long Toms).

The battalion history has both the nearby towns and a military grid coordinate. It appears the coordinate is the actual unit location since when the history says " three kilometers south of XXXX" that is the location of the coordinate.

This site is fun to use for finding those coordinates:

The "Coordinates Translator"

Normandy is "French Lambert Zone 1 Grid" then once the unit moves east use "Nord de Guerre Grid" . The "system overview" link has a map of Europe showing the different zones and a break-down of the prefix letters (VT, VS, ....) for each zone.

 

That is a great site and a great tool for research. I have used it many times when going through unit reports. Thanks for bumping this very interesting thread, E.

 

Thank you for sharing this with us. It's excellent to follow the exact route by checking village after village with google map.

 

Just found this reference and joined today based on a google hit for the 980th. The excerpt quoted above caught my attention since my father was awarded a Bronze Star for evacuating those wounded under fire for the engagement described. My father was the medic for Battery B, Cpl. Marvin L. Snyder. Wish I had found this diary while he was still alive. I do have photos at home I can post.

 

Great posts by 980th and I also hope he posts more of the unit history. It's June 6th, D-Day and always think about my dad on the 6th. A number of references in 980s posts are things I recall my dad telling me, the officer shot by the sentry (the officer was "a hell of nice guy" according to my dad and he didn't like officers) and the brandy "liberation". Also the Battle of the Bulge and finding themselves behind German lines. I have photos that I need to scan and post but I'll start with one I have scanned already. The 980th ended up in Nordhausen where they made the V-2 rockets with slave labor in the underground factory. Attached is photos of my dad posing with some V-2 rocket sections.

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Picture attached of my dad posing on top of a German StuG III in the Ruhr River valley (I think that is the location). There are other pictures of the immediate scene with a knocked out Sherman. Dad’s the one with his helmet off, he thought the big red cross on his medic helmet looked too much like a target and he kept “losing” them and wearing regular helmets. He also carried a German G-43 as a “souvenir” because they didn’t like him being armed but carrying a loaded German semi was okay. I have that G-43. He picked in up in June at Normandy and carried it with him the rest of the war along with a 7.65mm Deutsche-Werke pocket auto.

More on the tank scene, they peed on the iron cross of the StuG so it would show up better in the picture. While they were goofing off for these photo ops some P-51s or P-48s flew over and scared the crap out of them because these German tanks where out in an open field and could have looked like targets if the pilots didn’t know where the “front” was.

Not sure I am posting this in the right thread or forum. New here and just found the 980th subject which was my dad's outfit.
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Wow, I can't believe Grandpa's story is getting any hits. I stopped posting the 980th's history because it didn't seem like anyone was interested. I will start up again. By the way I'm a she and grandpa is still alive.

 

Welcome back 980th! Looking forward to reading your future posts. I sent an email to ISUnorth, letting them know you're back, so maybe they will return?

 

Thanks, and I enjoyed the photos you posted. I'll start posting again tomorrow.

 

Okay, I'll be back! Thanks for the email and reminder. I'll resurrect my 980th thread and finish scanning and posting the photos I have.

 

I've returned!!

 

Pg. 23 (28 Sept)

At 1400 the next day the Bn received orders to shift one btry to the right to cover an additional field of fire due to the displacement of the 981st FA Bn. Btry "B" was shifted 400m to the right, one gun at a time.

At 1500 Major General Collins, presented awards to individuals of the VII Corps at the 296th Engineer Area, one mile northwest of Roetgen.

(side note: I haven't posted for a long time. Infact yesterday was the first time I've been on the site since last April I think. But to my suprise several people have posted to my thread. One being ISUnorth, whos father Marvin L. Snyder served as a medic for the same Bn. I brought the unit history to school and was going to start posting again. What are the chances of the page I begin at happens to be the very page where Tec. 5 Snyder is awarded the Bronze Star by Major General Collins! Pretty cool if you ask me.)

Captain Kenneth F. Ames, Tec 5 Marvin L. Snyder, and Pvt Leonard A. Smith were presented citations for the Bronze Star Medal. Lt Max E. Young was decorated with the Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Medal, and Lt. George D. Deppen was decorated witht he Air Medal. At 2000A Btry "A" was ordered to cease fire on all missions for Btry "B", 13th FA Observation Bn due to lack of ammunition. At 0750A the next morning, 29 September 1944, Btry "A" was released to fire missions again for Btry "B", 13th FA Obsn Bn. At 2055A Btry "A" was again ordered to cease firing on all missions from Btry "B", 13th FA Obsn Bn.

At 0919A 30 September Btry "A" was released to fire missions for Btry "B", 13th FA Obsn Bn. At 2310A Btry "A" was suspended from firing missions for 13th FA Obsn Bn. for the night.

By 0600A 1 October 1944 the Bn had fired a total of 20,665 rounds in combat. The gun tubes by now were very badly worn. At 1440A the No.3 gun of Btry "b" was out of action due to a faulty recoil mechanism.

The next morning (2 Oct.) the Bn fired four counter-flak missions before the air attack at 0900A and fired preparations for the attack of the XIX Corps at 1055A. Captain Arthur J. Read was relieved from the duties of Bn S-4 and Commanding Officer, Service Btry and assigned as Bn S-2. Captain Paul H. Richards was relieved of assignment as Bn S-2 and assigned as Bn S-4 and Commanding Officer, Service Btry. (Grandpa was in the service btry) At 1040 the No. 3 gun of btry "B" was back in action. At 1407A No. 4 gun of Btry "A" was out of action with a faulty obturator spindle plug until 1912A.

At 0204 3 October 1944 the bn fired a counter-battery mission from a sound location. Paragraph 2, FA Periodic Report No. 106, HQVII Corps Artillery reported the mission as follows: "One counter-battery mission fired by the 980th FA Bn (155G) silenced the enemy batterys that were neutralizing the 7th FA Bn of the First Div. Bn 4 volleys were fired on an accurate sound plot, and the fire immediately ceased on the 7th FA Bn".

Lt Max E. Young, Liaison Pilot and S/Sgt Kirchner, Observer were fired upon from vicinity of K0039 (50 43'00"N/4 54'11"E) while on an observation mission. One bullet penetrated the plane six feet from the occupants. The same day orders were received from First United States Army announcing the battlefield promotion of Captain Richard R. Watson to Major and 1st Lts. Donald A. Wood and Ralph J. Mouw to Captain, effective the 29th of September 1944.

At 1031A 4 October 1944 the Bn received orders for Btry "A" to resume taking fire missions direct from the 13th FA Obsn Bn.

From 1430A to 1500A 5 October 1944 enemy planes were over the Bn area snd were fired on by attached and adjacent AA units. Btry "A", 557th AAA claimed one categoryII.

 

Pg. 24

At 2300A btry "A" was ordered to cease firing on 13th FA Obsn Bn missions, until 0913A the next morning. Also the night of October 6-7th Btry "A" was suspended from firing for 13th FA Obsn Bn.

At 0930A 7 October 1944 a complaint was received from a German citizen that one of his milk cows had been killed and butchered in the Bn area. Higher HQ was notified and 2nd Lt. Wm. J. O'Conner, Co "B" 507 Bn, MP, VII Corps was sent to make and investigation. The results of his investigation were that apparently a cow had been killed at the edge of a field about 500 yrds from the Bn CP, as evidenced by a pool of blood there; a search of the kitchens of the Bn failed to find any meat or any knowledge of a butchery. The MP officer was of the positive opinion that the killing had been done by some other unit. (That's funny)

No 4 gun of btry "C" was out of action from 1040A until 1330A when the ordnance finished inspection it and reported it in satisfactory condition to continue firing.

The next day, 8 October 1944 the Bn received one more package of cigarettes per man. The bn received one days rations of cigarettes and candy on 1 October 1944 and one days rations on 4 October 1944, this made a total of three packages of cigarettes per man in a total of eight days. By this time the men's reserve supply, which had been built up in Normandy had vanished. All efforts to obtain more cigarettes had been futile due to serious shortage at the supply bases. To add to this, the bn was on "B" rations which had no cigarettes in it as did the "10-1".

About noon 2nd Lt. Vincent Linzman was sent to the 981st FA Bn on special duty. At 1430A the bn received instructions to draw only 2% WP shell in the futur from the ASP. Previously the bn had drawn whatever it had need for.

At 2040A Btry "A", 440th AA Bn, Commanding Officer, Captain Raymond C. Bishop replaced Btry "A", 557th AAA Bn as AA security for the 980th FA Bn. The roads in the Bn area and adjacent area to the north were either restricted or closed for use of the ASP #127 by joint agreement of the Bn commander and the Commanding Officer of ASP #127.

1st Lt. Monroe J. Ellingson reported directly to the Bn from the 92nd Replacement bn and on detached service from the 981st FA Bn at 2200A.

At 1030A the next morning (9 October) Lt. George A. Long, Jr, Bn Assistant S-2 investigated a rumor that Btry "A", 557th AAA had removed property from the factory building that they had occupied. Investigation revealed that some furniture, and felt packing material was gone.


At 1010A the next day 10 October 1944 the direct line between Btry "A" and the 13th FA Obsn Bn was taken out and the direct counter-btry work with them ceased.


(Now I know why I took a break from posting this history..... "A", Btry, FA Obsn and the likes.)

 

Wow, thanks for the timely post. Veterans Day is just a few days off and to have a post about my dad getting his Bronze Star from Lightening Joe Collins means a lot to me. Thanks a bunch. I do recognize the name Capt. Ames from my dad. I believe they kept in touch after the war.

And here is the Bronze Star 68 years later.
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I know what you mean, but take a look at an Army document of the period and imagine banging that out on a manual typewriter. You never had it so good, so stop goldbricking.

Welcome back, glad you found ISUnorth, I hope you each learn something new.

 

I thought it was kinda cool! More pics of grandpa. This first one was taken on the day they were supposed to be on a 20 mile hike, but ditched out and messed around at the lake.
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Threads like this really make this Forum a great place. FA units don't often get as much attention as do the infantry and armor units. Excellent contributions from 980th and ISUnorth. Keep up the good work.

 

My Dad had a cow story - in his case the cow stumbled across a trip wire. Word traveled fast, and within the hour he got a call from Battalion HQ. "We hear you guys got some fresh beef up there...".

Foraging was a common activity and was a frequent theme in Bill Mauldin's cartoons....

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