Timberwolves patch

On frequent occasions, complete divisions fronting the th had to be replaced. The drive on Cologne — once a great German city but now a brooding, conquered rubble heap — is a typical result of the division's speed and effectiveness.

The massive offensive for the "Queen City of the Rhine" jumped off after a pulverizing artillery barrage flashed and rumbled along the east bank of the Roer River where Duren lay in the Timberwolves' path. In one of the numerous night attacks which has gained the division world-wide recognition, the th spanned the Roer Feb.

Racing ahead and gobbling up thousands of prisoners, Timberwolves smartly outflanked Duren with a succession of brilliant maneuvers that saved lives yet took objectives ahead of schedule.

Hardly pausing at Duren, the th roared on. Fighting 24 hours a day, elements moved in for the kill as the Wehrmacht became confused, uncertain, stumbled, finally fell. Whole battalions were captured by the fury and speed of Timberwolf tactics. Ancient Rhineland castles, scarred and battle-pocked, were the settings for spectacular fights.

By Feb. Again in a night operation, the division hurdled the rivers with comparative ease. Constant pressure, the result of unrelenting attacks, was paying amazing dividends. Once across the rivers, a great team — the th and the 3rd Armored Division — lashed out at Cologne, clearing one perimeter town after another until the spires of the Dom, the city's famous medieval cathedral, were visible.

Germany's third largest city fell March 5, , a symbol of the disintegration of Nazidom and its once-feared Wehrmacht. The men under Maj. Terry Allen, Division Commander, always have turned in a superb performance. Everywhere — in Belgium, Holland, Germany — Timberwolves have let actions speak for themselves.

During the days of the division's initial action in Germany, Maj. I am taking advantage of the first lull in our current fighting The mission of seizing the great industrial area Eschweiler-Weisweiler-Stolberg, which was assigned to the th Division in the first phase of our operations, was a difficult, nasty task.

The division cleared this important area in much shorter time than I had expected and with the minimum of loss.

The speed with which this was accomplished is a tribute to the leadership, dash and sound training of the division. The second phase involving the crossing of the Inde River and the advance to the Roer was even more difficult, but with characteristic skill and dash, in a series of brilliant night attacks, the th Division forced a crossing of the Inde and in a few days had cleared its entire sector to the Roer River.

I regard the operation as one of the finest single pieces of work accomplished by any unit of the VII Corps since D-Day. During the entire time that the th Division was under my command, I and my staff were tremendously impressed with the cooperative spirit and exceptional fighting ability of the officers and men of all ranks. We regard the Timberwolf Division as one of the finest assault divisions we have ever had in this Corps The officer who answered repeated what he heard.

This was the signal. The Timberwolves were to begin their battle through Germany. Preceded by a crushing, record-breaking air bombardment, attackers kicked off at the following night. Long embattled Stolberg and Hill , directly to its right, were the prime objectives.

Third Bn. Controlling the surrounding area, the hill had withstood three major assaults before the Timberwolves' entry into the line. Second Bn. Robert J. Warner, Pomona, N. Hill held out two more days while it was battered from the air, assaulted by tanks and rocked with artillery. The defense cracked Nov. This valley of factories and dingy stone houses dominating the industrial valley below had been transformed into a bristling hedgehog of defense. Doughs soon were to discover how Germans would defend their industrial towns.

Timberwolves were to fight from house-to-house, from cellar to-cellar, for every fortress-factory. Every inch was mined; every house booby-trapped. Rain was followed by more rain. Doughs slogged ahead in ankle-deep mud. Visibility was limited and lashing winds threatened to blow observers from vantage points. Paced by veterans like Sgt. Clifford P. Haynes, Paducah, Ky. I , the th Inf. The sergeant set up his machine gun in a fully exposed position, then knocked out an enemy gun after a vicious, short-range duel.

Siegfried Line pillboxes with eight-foot thick concrete walls crumbled to TNT, flame-throwers, eight-inch guns and courage — raw courage. Garrisons died, surrendered or pulled out. Pushing on from Verlauntenheide, the battalion took over a portion of the famous Adolf Hitler Autobahn, a foot wide superhighway. First Bn. Moving as silently as ghosts, the battalion stole through this integral part of the Siegfried Line without a man being injured or a shot fired.

Some of the fiercest fighting of the campaign followed next day as the th bore down on Rohe, Helrath and Durwiss. The th was temporarily held up at Volkenrath, Bergrath and Hastenrath, while the th slugged forward to Eschweiler, a city with a normal population of 36, In swift, slashing strokes, the th buttoned up the three towns.

Germans used everything but armor against the battalion which insisted on victory. Lucky C. Harkey, Davidson, N. E , crawled across yards of fire-swept ground to lead his imperiled platoon to safety. A bitter bayonet and grenade battle raged but Germans were "kaput" by morning. L plunged forward to gain a yard area north of Durwiss. It had been quite a day: yards of Germany changed hands; Nazis said goodbye to three of their battered towns; PWs continually asked about the division's "automatic artillery.

Patrols probed Eschweiler shortly before noon Nov. By , 1st Bn. The next night, Cos. A and C, th, tossed a nightmare at napping Nazis. In an attack launched at , Co. C, th Engrs. Four hours after the jump-off, doughs were in the heart of Eschweiler; five hours later they had blazed their way completely through the city.

It was an incredible performance — moving through a staunchly-defended German town and seizing it from a non-plussed enemy who had yet to learn how to deal with these Timberwolves who fought by night. In the fighting east of the city, Sgt. Anthony J. Schukes, Mechanicsville, N. D, th, virtually thwarted an enemy counter-attack single-handed when he killed seven Germans and routed their companions. By now, Timberwolves were tired. But the Germans were just as tired and considerably weakened by punishing body blows they were absorbing.

Putzlohn was next. The th bellied ahead under raking fire until 3rd Bn. Fighting reached a furious high Nov. K attacked in the pre-dawn darkness, wrenching the southeast corner of the town while heating off vicious counter-thrusts by Nazi tanks and infantry. L pushed ahead to seize Hill Putzlohn capitulated finally to indomitable Timberwolves. Confronted by open ground over which Germans had grazing fire, the th decided to attack Weisweiler, the next objective, at night.

In the glum dusk, one attack jumped off; another followed several hours later. By , 3rd Bn. By the time the battalion had readied itself for an assault on the slag pile next evening, Capt.

Bernard E. Barker, New Raymer, Colo. Cornell E. Bryhn, Madera, Calif. C and E respectively, had drummed up a plan. A shifting barrage of covering fire followed attackers so close that three men were wounded. The pay-off was, however, that not another man was lost to the deeply-entrenched and numerically superior enemy. One German, forced to keep his nose buried in the earth by the blazing fire, finally looked up to stare straight into the smudged faces of three Timberwolves. The commander of an adjacent task force called this mission the "best example of an infantry attack I ever have seen.

Weisweiler was rough. Germans threw every conceivable weapon at the th whose grenades and bayonets took a heavy toll in the savage, house-to-house fighting. Charles Glotzback, Paxico, Kan.

B commander, supervised the pulverizing of enemy forces when he asked for, and received, fire on his own position in a factory. By Nov. In the original plan, the Timberwolves were to be pinched out of the offensive as soon as they reached Weisweiler. A higher commander smilingly told Gen.

Allen: "You'll be pinched out, Terry, when we reach Berlin. The division hadn't even called for the help of another combat team which had been expected to join it.

That assistance never was necessary for a good reason — the Wolves were moving just a trifle too fast! S TILL a comparatively new outfit, the th was being mentioned in the same breath with famed veteran units. A correspondent for Newsweek wrote: " By the third week of the big push, it became apparent that Terry Allen had trained a very good division indeed The th now was drawing close to the Inde River and three more towns — Frenz, Lamersdorf and Inden.

Timberwolves looked to the east in cool, clear weather, hung more grenades on themselves and prepared to jump off again. Mopping up Weisweiler by noon, Nov. After an advance of only yards, the regiment was pinned down by everything in the ammunition chest. The th FA then laid down a thunder of punishing artillery and Cos.

C and E ripped forward. Eight hours later, weary doughs secured Frenz against counter-attacking Germans. Tanks of the th, spurting death-dealing support, immeasurably aided the Timberwolf assault. The Germans were snarling now. Though the Inde River was only 20 feet wide, they were going to fight for it — fight hard. Open ground sloped gently down to Lamersdorf and Inden, ground that would be deadly to cross in daylight.

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