The morning of January 16 saw the two battalions trying to do just that. Other units along the front would attack as well. Once the way was cleared for the M-4s, Sparks climbed aboard and led them up the trail toward his trapped and wounded men. The 158th Infantry takes its lineage directly from the Confederate Arizona Scout Companies raised by Arizona Territory Governor, John Robert Baylor The Arizonians engaged in hit and run tactics against the invading Union forces of the California Column, their most successful encounter being the Battle of Picacho Pass. He recalled the punishing American artillery, which never seemed to cease. “Our commander had proved once again that he valued his soldiers’ lives and was willing to take large risks on their behalf.”. The 12th SS Mountain Regiment, part of the Nord Division, extended too far and became encircled by American troops from several regiments. Witnessing Patton’s Failure: A Prisoner’s View of the Task Force Baum Raid, Rampage on the Riviera: Operation Dragoon, A Screaming Eagle’s Journey: The Story of Lud Labutka, Assault on Ludendorff Bridge: The First Allied Crossing of the Rhine. The regiment was a subordinate unit to the 45th Infantry Division, initially formed in Oklahoma. More snow was falling as tired soldiers staggered back from their foxholes to board trucks lined up to take them to the rear. At 4:15 pm, a company of German troops counterattacked Company K, hitting hard on its left flank. Voss viewed the man through his binoculars and thought he was an officer. After a while they reached their objective, a position directly behind Company I and near the trail the Americans were using to bring up supplies. Artillery and armored assets were also given to the division. A quick search found a soldier who had lived in Chicago before the war and spoke fluent English. In turn, this exposed the flank of another battalion of the attached 314th Infantry, 79th Division, forcing them back as well. The officer was not one for casual conversation and often carried a shotgun pitched over his shoulder. A newspaper article from 45th Division News, a publication for the U.S. Army's 45th Infantry Division of the 157th Infantry Regiment. “Wham! Yet, those who were there remember it vividly as a desperate struggle to stave off a German attack and rescue beleaguered comrades. As he began pulling off Neff’s boots to look at his injuries, another soldier, Private Lawrence Mathiason, volunteered to go. Newspaper account of Stephen Burbage Jr. (K Company, 157th Infantry Regiment) Letters home from John W. Kendall Jr. (H Company, 157th Infantry Regiment) Interview of Murray Levine He ordered his men into it, gaining a temporary reprieve. Fresh bruises covered his body, and he was cut on his left knee and right hand. Sparks was thrown several yards away, flying through the air to land on pristine white snow nearby. The Germans had no food, and everyone was hungry. Dedicated to presenting and preserving the history of the 45th Division in WWII. The core of the 157th, including much of its leadership, were those who managed to survive Sicily, Salerno, and Anzio before invading France. Despite his experience, it was the first time the young soldier had seen a tank destroyed. Shell bursts churned up the snow, mixing it with soil into a dirty brown color. Voss couldn’t tell who had the upper hand in the deafening battle on the hilltop above, but he did know the enemy was determined. Since viewing Sparks’s rescue, Corporal Voss had experienced cold, hunger, and long hours without sleep. Somewhere out there, he knew a few soldiers had been posted along the trail with Panzerfaust antitank weapons, but he couldn’t see them. Several times he halted so he could get out on foot and scout the route before remounting to continue. The only cover Fleming could see nearby was a large hole made by a fallen tree. This design is a unique way to remember which campaigns the Thunderbirds fought in during WWII. In effect, Sparks’s 3/157 had been wiped out, and the other two battalions had taken grievous casualties. The entire group threw themselves flat into the frigid snow as the rockets struck the earth a scant 30 meters in front of them. The Germans were so impressed by the courageous resistance their foe had offered, the prisoners were treated with full honors before they were marched off to captivity. On January 29, 1945, my late father Felix A. Cizewski was assigned as a replacement to the 45th Signal Company. The advance continued until 12:30 pm. Private Emmett Neff, a radioman, volunteered to go. There was no mention of a muster out date. In fact, 3/157 had advanced farther than any of them. The Americans knew this because each time they tried to push the enemy back concentrated rocket and artillery fire fell upon them. The 157th Regiment was pulled off the line on January 21. An estimated five German battalions would be committed in the 45th Division sector. They would attack in an attempt to end the siege. Arriving as a new lieutenant during training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, he had spent the entire war with the 157th except for a short time while wounded. In the afternoon several men evacuated earlier for exhaustion were reorganized and placed in the line to plug gaps. Still, the order stood, and Sparks began trying to relieve his surrounded men. Seconds later, Sparks’s tank slid sideways, leaving its right side exposed to the enemy. After a month of hard fighting across Sicily, followed by the amphibious landings at Salerno and then at Anzio where the division prevented German efforts to split the Allied beachhead, the Thunderbirds were nearly worn out. Some men hadn’t eaten for two days. The tank stopped cold and jerked off the road,” Voss wrote. By late afternoon Company B was down to 22 effectives in its rifle platoons, and there were only two machine gunners left from the weapons company. Sparks fired back with the tank’s .30-caliber machine gun, shooting wherever he thought enemy troops might be hiding. One historian called the unit the best German infantry formation in the Vosges in early 1945, perhaps the best on the Western Front. The American attack jumped off at 8:30 am but immediately bogged down in the face of intense artillery fire. As the tanks neared Fleming’s men, German machine gunners began firing at the Shermans. It joined with the remnants of Company B outside the encirclement; both units had about 19 soldiers left. Company E, unaware its platoon was lost, assembled clerks and cooks for an attack that failed to make headway. General Frederick, who once commanded the 1st Special Service Force, apparently thought a retreat would show weakness. Sparks sent his reserves, the antitank and engineer platoons, to open up the supply route to his rifle companies. As they watched, the rounds bounced from the metal behemoth’s armor and it drew closer on the trail.

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