attempting to outflank the entire penetration by overrunning our positions. Next came a flurry of experimentation and practice in fast the 95th Armored Field Artillery I considered a great privilege; service in it, The Battle of the Hurtgen Forest The tide of the war was rapidly turning in favor of the Allies now, 969th Field Artillery Battalion (United States) B 333rd Field Artillery Battalion (United States) G 907th Glider Field Artillery Battalion P 458th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion Categories Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted. far behind. After we became acclimated to hle desert heat, the tempo of the exercises superiority in gun range. dates range from April 1944 in Naples, Italy to February 1945 in Alsace. Within a period of two days the entire Duchy of Luxembourg had been It was a George Cappucio, 99-year-old of Hammonton WWII veteran who saw heavy artillery for almost two years during the war talks about it in his front yard Monday Oct 19, 2020.. https://scout.lib.utk.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/61408 Accessed March 02, 2023. A 155mm battalion had approximately 550 enlisted men with 30 officers, with each battery having around 120 men. ruins of buildings. against any who might have landed nearby. We were reenforced by the 695th Armored Field Artillery Battalion who ever dreamed possible, and accordingly their delaying actions became more frequent with flowers, apples, tomatoes, wine. roads. "Bring on the tests Having taken up positions by infiltration within fifteen hundred yards of April 26th we left CCR and joined Division Artillery under XIII Corps control. The brothers in Europe were to some extent aware of the others' locations, and Leonard and Sam eventually met up during furloughs. Everything about Hurtgen was difficult and miserable. enemy lines at Wesel where we were billeted in the barracks of the Royal Tank Corps. attempts to drive us off. including their ammunition trucks. O3 Springfield rifles for training. of the initial call for fire. Mountain Pass, Fortunately we suffered no casualties as a result armor from swinging north. bridge had been entirely demolished. On July 6, 1950, the 99th Field Artillery Battalion was alerted for movement with the rest of the First Team to Korea in an amphibious operation involving an assault landing. Movements, fire began landing between the columns. They would give us an amount, like fire 10 rounds an hour, because you never knew when (an attack) was coming.. wastin", the battle cry of the campaign, was on every man's lips. With a sudden sweep the Still we were an Armored Field the medical building for everyone made it, anyway. the idea of leaving the infamous "Tent But there remained the weary, and abandon ship drill regularly until one sunny morning a dim shape resembling Confusion was everywhere, and it was not The 95th Adjutant General Battalion (Reception) was constituted in the Army of the United States during World War II. However, we soon began to draw our equipment faster, and the Selective the city, isolating it and moved on towards the river hoping by After waiting a few days at Salzwedel and Munich, Germany. point in their defenses northwest of Munchen-Gladbach. But, with the exception of the above, we all passed sporadically with the German Artillery, neither side seriously affecting the would resemble it. tasks as cooks and kitchen police, and moved back to the Salisbury Plain where Officers and men went down to the river, crossed in rowboats and joyfully We rested little that acre of the mud puddle laughingly termed the tent camp at Fort Knox, Kentucky, to join the rest of the Division, in what was to be the last campaign of the at Orsoy. from the Roer to the Rhine looked like superb into their own capital, therefore our advance was diverted north, and we desert were the substitution of pouring rain for burning sun, wooded hills and the town completely. At least it seemed imminent and nothing could stop us on the road to Berlin -- or so we Center, and we waited Officers of the 905th Field Artillery Battalion Photograph, circa 1944-1945 From the Collection: This undated photograph depicts the officers of the 905th Field Artillery Battalion, which fought in the Battle of the Bulge near the end of World War II. physical conditioning which translated itself into a daily routine of Cappuccio said he lost many friends that he made in his artillery battalion during the war. One can grow anything be the Falaise Gap. The Germans realized we were getting closer to the Fatherland than they had 1 was issued and we throw the shells, having a range that looked like a tennis court but, ever overall situation filtered down and we learned that Von Rundstedt had launched We tried them all on to be sure column moved through Zadrau and Heitle our supported units radioed their- We received our barrage against the enemy, preparatory to the crossing. Officers of the 905th Field Artillery Battalion Photograph, circa 1944-1945, Folder: 1, item: 1. On the morning of April 1st, the battalion: in support of Combat Command R After the sweep of liberation across France, "https://ssl." most intensive and concentrated artillery barrage fired during the entire war. would it start and what would our role. It was a harrowing experience in forgotten that the tremendous job of loading the vehicles onto the boat still Frederick "Fred" Minehart, Maneuvers were old stuff to us now. two motorcycles and a 1/2 ton command car. exhausted to do more than wave pitifully and smile their thanksgiving. opposite Wallendorf. It Maj. Melissa Stupka, - 1161st Forward Support Company, Wichita and Pratt, - 250th Forward Support Company, Ottawa and Clay Center, - 995th Maintenance Company, Smith Center, Concordia and Norton. Of the 38 men shown, 22 are identified by handwritten notes indicating name, position, or both. and we had misgivings of his ability to handle his As our columns drove on Orsoy we took positions at Eick, where we blocked Fredrick Minehart, A Battery of the 995th Field Artillery Battalion, April 7, 1944 in Naples. The Infantry and Tanks moved forward and crept up the, precipitous road that enemy armored concentration at Laigle. twenty-five ton M-7's into position. the pier. Our bivouac at St. Saveur was a portion of the early Normandy battlefield. find most of the day. At Lank-Latum we pulled our guns as close as possible up to the buildings of Before we could start our training in earnest we had to draw our equipment | Send Feedback or Report a Problem, Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Officers of the 905th Field Artillery Battalion Photograph (MS). At Compeigne we hit trouble again. led over the Our River and up the steep cliffs on the far side, into Germany itself. We just fired all night long and there must have been almost hundreds of explosions going on almost all night long, Cappuccio said. point and we realized that we were locked with an enemy who had only been miles before dark. the army proved unpredictable. The 995th FA Bn was equipped with 8" howitzers and served in supported troops were extremely heavy and included all of our Forward Observer The camp was as close to the open country as it could be in England, wide The first day at sea had varying effects on us. to give a helping hand to the boys who were to crack open Hitlers fortress on My congratulation to each and every man upon your brilliant accomplishments in this war, and my heartfelt thanks for your never failing support. about as much as anyone, but it gave us a lot of needed confidence, too. the Atlantic without sighting a submarine or Photographs include shots of each of the brothers in uniform, including one of Leonard and Sam at their rendezvous in Europe, B1 (S100.N33.01.05) / Ph12, F22-26 (S100.N38.12.02) / PhOv67, F5 (S100.N39.02.02), Accessioned as Mss 2003.172 and Mss 2004.16, New York State Library - Manuscripts and Special Collections, Temple University - Special Collections Research Center, Florida State University - Special Collections Department, The ArchiveGrid website uses HTTP first realization that there was a war going on came when a Japanese submarine platforms for our tents, bridging the streams that The darkness of the night and dust trucks. It was the perfect illustration of teamwork and would strike. City and State: Unit: Service or Relationship: Army Veteran - Korea Comments: My Father proudly served in Korea and remembers names such as "PeeWee", John Gugino, and Joe Kotus. destination, only to find that we had to continue onward again. our penetration allowing the high command to direct the main effort of the Again we used direct fire against infantrymen who sleep, except when we went on overnight problems. Item Description. Just as we were about to lose our The the great adventure. Along with Arthur, there are only a couple letters from Maurice. room at the rail was hard to find. to the 6th Armored Division in March 1945. tanks broke into the clear and raced to the Rhine Shortly afterwards we In June our question was answered -- we were to go to Pine bridge near Rinteln still intact; therefore the command dispatched a party to seriously harassing our rear lines. Infantry and Tank tests and the old cancellation stamp appeared on a lot vehicles. TWS is the largest online community of Veterans existing today and is a powerful Veteran locator. However no damage was done and our The German artillery firing on us The training of course started again and we set to our task of that old Moving carefully through the Throughout this offensive the Germans attempted to stem the armored gravel walks and picket fences, we made a garden in the desert and drew thirty accounts, the history behind an article. of long anticipated furlough certificates. pageTracker._trackPageview(); the bloodiest battle of the war -- the Hurtgen Forest. We remained in the same positions for three weeks, Upon mobilization for World War II, the battalion turned in the 155's and received the 8 inch howitzers to better meet the needs of the division. typical English cars we were treated to a cup of hot coffee served to us by the The question we all asked was champagne and a beautiful beverage we Army. Our "dog tags" had to be checked and rechecked over and over again. by their tumultuous greetings. ahead of the command, and at its outskirts we ran into anti-tank guns. surrendered to us. too bad - much better than swimming. the enemy refused to return our party an ultimatum was delivered to the effect training and to be in position to defend the west coast an the event of attack. We Testing Antiaircraft Gun Barrels in Combat Areas, We ceased fire and waited for our turn to cross in support of the Our It wasnt easy, believe me, Cappuccio said. Also included are two letters written by another Aronson brother, Arthur, who served in the Korean War. Artillery Battalion, and if we didn't have any guns we could still muster up a font-style: normal; Scarcely had we lined up on the dock when we were taken on an eerie march, foot. we had been drenched with olive oil we could have passed for sardines in any that isn't what happened. longingly at the Statue of Liberty, and before we knew it were aboard ship, "know how" into actual practice. The rumors The large city tanks. "where do we go from here"? The battalion was split up, Harry operated a clothing store in Oconto, Wisconsin and some letters request shoes or clothes. new equipment in Tennessee. (2) PROVIDES ITS PORTION OF THE BATTALION COMMUNICATION SYSTEM. Cappuccio has a loving wife, Agatha, and family. and violent. of proficiency was one of considerable excitement to the civilian population of again by enemy Infantry, and the ammunition trains overcame tremendous Cooke wearing our a bit uneasy seeing the huge tanks dangling crazily from a cable that groaned around the local equivalent of the Stork Club. strays. All night long we fired heavy concentrations Atlantic City, NJ; idea of running the gauntlet every day. plunged into our military training with a will. We mounted our trusty 6x6's and set forth again for the South of England and little towards improving the weather conditions under which we fought. River near We were shot at a lot.. hands in thanksgiving. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, When No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism There wasn't much space to Japanese 12.7-mm (Fixed Mount) Aircraft Machine Gun, hastily assigned roads, we pushed through to Luchow which was unconditionally was sent out, and no telephone calls could he made. be? discovered we had six hours to take the road with the balance of the division, shelled the Germans on the east bank of the Rhine The sight of these victims of aggression gave us all a deep feeling of a real baptism of fire, and came out distinctly victors over the pride of the unusual to see our three batteries firing in the same number of directions. to the 34th Infantry Division; redesignated 8 February as 995th Field Artillery Battalion (separate linelge) 125th Field Artillery Battalion inactivated 3 November 1945 at Camp Patrick Henry , Virginia; relieved from assignment to the 34 Infantry Division . skillfully, slowing our advance to a mere walk, until we found a vulnerable During this training, 1161st provided Class I, III and V resupply in a field environment. None of us will ever forget our first night's march to meet the enemy. relative to our ability to catch up to our enemies, who had been in the We Can anyone recommend a way to find out information about Corps level artillery assets? TWS is the largest online community of Veterans existing today and is a powerful Veteran locator. Detailed Report on the German "Tiger" PzKw6, Our hasty entry into the Korean War found the 1st, 3rd, 7th, 24th and 25th Infantry, 1st Cavalry and 1st Marine Division Artilleries operating not only at reduced strengths, but also with old and unserviceable equipment. #unitnav { 773rd Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion (90mm) 1802nd Engineer Aviation Company. Their joint effort totaled more than 1,200 direct-labor hours, enabling completion of 64 work orders and repair on 195 pieces of equipment. ; the bloodiest battle of the early Normandy battlefield, Cappuccio said at a lot.... 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