82nd MEMBERS WWII

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The Men of the 82nd Engineers WWII

This combat unit of 700 men, assigned to the XIX Corps, 1st and 9th Armies, fought with distinction throughout the European Campaign from Omaha Beach in June 1944 to Germany's Elbe River in may 1945.

SOME OF THEIR HISTORY

The 82nd Engineer Combat Regiment was authorized as a unit of the United States Army on December 19, 1942 and activated in January 1943 at Camp Swift, Texas. Under the army's reorganization plan of March 1943 the regiments battalions became separate units and regimental headquarters became the 1115th Engineer Combat Group.

The 82nd was ordered to Louisana for maneuvers on August 23, 1943 but within a few days the battalion was alerted for overseas service. Returning to Camp Swift on September 13th the battalion spent the next several weeks obtaining additional equipment and troop replacements. Then a series of confusing orders began. On October 24th orders were received designating Hampton Roads, Virginia or Los Angeles, California as ports of embarkation. The next day, October 25th, orders were received assigning the 82nd to the Los Angeles port. The battalions equipment, accompanied by the supply officer and assistant supply sergeant, sailed for India, the battalions destination, on November 3, 1943.

First units of the Battalion touched down on Omaha Beach between June 10th and the 16th 1944(depending on individual units) A severe channel storm, which extensively damaged docking facilities, delayed the landing of some of the of the battalions units until June 25th.

Upon arrival, the 82nd was placed in support of the 29th Infantry Division. The battalions primary mission was to remove mines, open supply routes, construct bridges, establish water points and a myriad of other engineering duties. Because of the confined area of the beachhead, the battalion was under constant artillery and mortar attacks. The 82nd managed, however, to avoid casualties until July 13-16. During this time the battalion, while in support of the 29th Divisions drive to capture the City of St. Lo, took its first battle casualties ..one killed and seven wounded.

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D-Day

By mid-1944 early mobilization of manpower and resources in America was beginning to pay off. Millions of American men had been trained, equipped, and welded into fighting and service units. American industrial production had reached its wartime peak late in 1943 . While there were still critical shortages -- in landing craft, for instance -- production problems were largely solved, and the Battle of the Atlantic had been won. Ever increasing streams of supplies from the United States were reaching anti-Axis fighting forces throughout the world.

Opposed to the Allies was the so-called Army Group B of the German Army, consisting of the Seventh Army in Normandy and Brittany, the Fifteenth Army in the Pas de Calais and Flanders, and the LXXXVIII Corps in Holland -- all under command of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Commander of all German forces in western Europe was Field Marshal von Rundstedt who, in addition to Group B, also had at his disposal Group G composed of the First and Nineteenth Armies. In all, Von Rundstedt commanded approximately fifty infantry and ten Panzer divisions in France and the Low Countries.

Despite unfavorable weather forecasts, General Eisenhower made the decision to attack on June 6, 1944. At 0200 that morning one British and two American airborne divisions were dropped behind the beaches in order to secure routes of egress from the beaches for the seaborne forces. After an intensive air and naval bombardment, assault waves of troops began landing at 0630. More than 5,000 ships and 4,000 ship-to-shore craft were employed in the landings. British forces on the left flank and U.S. forces on the right had comparatively easy going, but U.S. forces in the center (Omaha Beach) met determined opposition. Nevertheless, by nightfall of the first day, large contingents of three British, one Canadian, and three American infantry divisions, plus three airborne divisions, had a firm foothold on Hitler's "fortress Europe."