Description
The 84th Infantry Division in the Battle of the Ardennes
84th Infantry Division • World War II •
60 pages scanned. Instant PDF download.
Document Overview:
Written by Sgt. Theodore Draper of the Historical Section, 84th Infantry Division, with maps by Sgt. Walter Chapman, photographs by Pfc. Maurice Miller, and a foreword by Major General A. R. Bolling, this April 1945 report was printed in Liège only weeks after the fighting it describes. It follows the division from their hurried move to Marche on December 20–21, 1944, through the desperate defensive stand that helped halt the German drive toward the Meuse, and on into the Allied counter-offensive of January 3–16, 1945, that drove through Laroche to the link-up near Houffalize and the push to Beho, Gouvy and Ourthe. Drawing on unit records and interviews with men of the 333rd, 334th and 335th Infantry, it pairs the big strategic picture with company-level detail and closes with frank lessons learned. This is a digital download of a scanned copy of the original publication.
Campaigns: Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge); defense of Marche; Battle of Verdenne; Allied counter-offensive of January 1945; capture of Laroche; drive to Houffalize; Beho, Gouvy and Ourthe
Commanders: Maj. Gen. A. R. Bolling (Commanding General, 84th Infantry Division); Maj. Roland L. Kolb (1st Battalion, 334th Infantry)
Division newspaper: The Railsplitter
Table of Contents
Foreword
At All Cost
May 1940—December 1944
From Germany to the Ardennes
The Wide, Open Spaces
How to Look for Trouble
The Battle of Verdenne
Post-Mortem I
The Battle of the Bulge
The Big Picture
The First Day
Hole in the Crust
Life in the Ardennes
And What Was It Like for Them?
The Turning Point
The Capture of Laroche
From Les Tailles to Dinez
One for the Books
End of the Bulge
Beho to Gouvy to Ourthe
The Last Mile
Post-Mortem II
What Did We Accomplish?
What May We Safely Conclude?
“We have fought other battles and we will fight others but none of those who were in it will ever forget the one in the Ardennes.”
— Sgt. Theodore Draper, The 84th Infantry Division in the Battle of the Ardennes