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The 244th
Engineer (Combat) Battalion, and the 522nd Heavy Pontoon Battalion
were two of the engineer combat battalions in the 1143rd Engineer
Group. The 244th, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Bowen, had
two combat river bridge constructions in the theater. The 522nd,
commanded by Major J. Hughes, was also a veteran combat unit. From
its bivouac area five miles south of Bleckede, the 552nd decided to
place all pontoons right side up on trailers with anchors and anchor
lines ready for casting; and to inflate all boats prior to moving
them out to the actual bridge sites. All this was accomplished on
April 29th. The 552nd met with the company commanders of the 244th,
and each worked out specific schedules for the construction plan.
The bridge site selected by Ridgeway was an old ferry site, which
had a wet gap of over 1100 feet. This was more bridge than was
usually carried by a battalion, so 9th Army directed another pontoon
battalion to stock a nearby supply depot with necessary materials.
Additional reconnaissance of the bridge site was carried out from a
nearby church steeple, as the Germans, now aware of the intent for
the location, had their guns zeroed in on the west bank. By 2130
hours on the night of April 29th, all the bridge materials had been
trucked up to the site. An unusually late snowfall muffled the
sounds as the bridge trains and personnel moved up. At 0100 hours on
the morning of April 30th, the 82nd Airborne's 505th Parachute
Infantry Regiment began their assault. The assault was not carried
out without some serious concerns by the veteran paratroopers. They
had not been told until H-hour what their inclusion in the plans
was. They had expected only to occupy certain areas, post-battle.
Click for Large Photo
The 505th's assault across the Elbe River into Wrestedt
(Used courtesy of Allen Langdon)
The 505th, filled out with many green replacements, did not have the
battle-tested cohesiveness it once did, and the actual veterans were
aware of this. The war was certainly winding down, and no one wanted
to be the last casualty. The 505th discovered, much to their
happiness, that most of Bleckede's civilians had hastily evacuated,
and left liquor available to the finders. It was not exactly a sober
group of paratroopers, particularly the veterans, making the assault
in the boats. Northward from Bleckede, "A" Company, then "E"
Company, and "D" Company made their assaults from different
locations. "C" Company had the sole southern crossing site. The men,
certainly sobering up with the realization of the width of the
river, the snowy weather conditions, and a lack of engineers for
some of the boats, jumped off on schedule. In the boats that had
engineers, the engineers steered, while the paratroopers paddled,
unable to ignore the splashing water and now-freezing rain that
formed a coating of ice on their gloved hands and jackets. "C"
Company had some "friendly fire" accidentally dropped on their
location just as they prepared to jump off. "A" and "D" Companies
had minimal problems in crossing, but "E" and "C" Company had
theirs. "E" Company made two attempts to find their target site,
confused by the river's geography. "C" Company "captured" a sand bar
in the middle of the river, mistaking it for the far side, before
they realized their error. The landing was much more lightly
defended than originally planned for. The surprise of the assault in
the early hour, the resigned attitude of the German defenders, and
the snowfall were much more helpful than anticipated. Once ashore,
the assaulting companies moved so quickly that little fire was
directed towards them, but the engineers on the west bank took the
brunt of the fire. Ridgeway himself said the artillery fire, mostly
from the accurate .88 MM multi-purpose German guns, was the heaviest
he had seen since Normandy. Starting at 0500 hours, the German fire
poured into the engineers. The 552nd was running boats out in the
river as fast as the 244th nailed down the boards connecting the
boats together. Ridgeway claimed that many of the "inexperienced"
engineers were ducking for cover when the barrages came in, and
ceased working on the bridge. Ridgeway walked out on the finished
portion of the bridge amid the shellfire to prove shells exploding
in the river were relatively harmless. His aide, S/Sgt Don Faith,
had accompanied him out on the bridge. Later, some of the engineers
sharply disputed Ridgeway's perception.
Click for Large Photo
Bridgehead on west bank of Elbe R. (author’s collection).
They had continued to work
through the barrages. If they had run away, as Ridgeway claimed,
there wouldn't have been a finished portion of the bridge for him to
walk out on. Furthermore, he may have misinterpreted what he saw.
Men who appeared to be ducking for cover were actually under the
bridge, piecing it together. Men who appeared to be running off the
bridge were running back to bring back the pre-assembled pieces.
Ridgeway insisted that work had been suspended, and the men had
taken cover. T-5 Emanuel A. Kaufman, a medic with Co C., 244th
Engineer Battalion, recalled the bridge building efforts. "I had
returned to the site after the 244th started building the bridge. I
had treated and evacuated Sergeant Devlin, who had been crushed
between a 2 1/2 ton truck and its loaded trailer. It was early in
the morning, and it was snowing, which seemed to muffle the sounds
of the hammering. It was a late snow, but the winter of 1944-5 had
been a winter of record setting cold. The 82nd Airborne Division was
supposed to be clearing the bridge head on the east side of the
river, and having a tough time of it. The heavy artillery fire was
causing a lot of casualties on our side. 1st Lt. Fred Hill was hit
in the hip by an artillery fragment. He brightened considerably when
I told him his wound was worth 5 points. I treated someone else who
had been struck in the thumb, but after that, I lost track of who I
treated. The other company medics were just as busy as I was. The
guys from the 552nd Heavy Pontoon Battalion were getting hit, too.
The war was winding down, but the Germans weren't surrendering there
at Bleckede. None of us wanted to be the last casualty. I know we
had the first aid station right down there on the river bank, so we
didn't have far to take the wounded. I don't think anyone was killed
there. I think we had more than 20 casualties. The shell fire was so
heavy that the guys were taking cover behind an embankment, and
working between bursts. The shellfire was bracketing the bridge. The
guys were pounding boards in on top of the wood boats, and extending
the bridge out into the river. The medics ran out and brought the
wounded back in. I remember some officer going out on the bridge
during the worst of the barrage, and discussing something with
another soldier. I didn't know who the hell he was at the time". (4)
Artillery fire was not the only weapon the Germans had at the Elbe.
Corporal Felix Iannacone, "C" Company, 244th Engineer Combat
Battalion, recalled that, "Later in the morning, we even shot down a
German plane that had been strafing us. We saw the pilot bail out
over some trees, so a group of us ran back to take him prisoner. He
was stuck in a tree, and we saw that he was dead, so we returned to
our location". (5) Pfc. Reno Clini, "C" Company, 244th Engineer
Combat Battalion, recalled that, "The artillery fire was furious. We
kept working on the bridge all through it. One of our officers, a
captain who shall remain nameless, took cover in what turned out to
be a very shallow foxhole. His entire rear end was exposed to the
artillery. He was the butt of our jokes for quite some time, and we
included his chicken actions in our post-war map". (6) 1st
Lieutenant Marvin Levin, "B" Company, 552nd Heavy Pontoon Battalion
said, "The artillery fire was incredible. We were running boats out
as fast as we could. I was wounded early on by artillery fire and
evacuated, but I was told we did a great job under the
circumstances. I think we had a total of nine casualties, and the
244th had more". (7) Once the British 6th Airborne Division made it
across, one of their attached tanks ran over the three-man German
forward artillery operations post that had been calling in the
artillery fire. At 0500 hours, the U.S. 325th Glider Regiment and
504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, carried across in British Buffalo
boats of the 4th Royal Tank Regiment, quickly followed the 505th
across the river. The landings themselves had problems, mirroring
the concerns of the night before. The "Buffaloes" were scattered by
accurate artillery fire and the presence of mines. The artillery
fire slowed down and finally stopped approximately 1000 hours.
Former T/5 Kaufman recalled, "The 82nd must have finally taken the
town, because the German artillery fire just stopped. Pretty soon,
Sherman tanks from an armored unit rolled up, and sat there idling.
Click for Large Photo
Tanks Crossing the Elbe
The word came down to cross, and I waved the tanks across. One of
the tank drivers was laughing at me. I must have looked silly waving
them across". (8) The armored unit was the famed 740th Tank
Battalion (Daredevil), commanded by Lieutenant Colonel George K.
Rubel. The tankers had been attached to the 82nd Airborne from the
8th Infantry Division for the assault, because Ridgeway did not want
to lose the bridgehead as had occurred at Magdeburg. The 740th
crossed the Elbe, and with the 82nd Airborne, widened the bridgehead
to three miles wide by three miles deep. Against the attacking
American units, the Germans used .20 mm anti-aircraft guns, with
which they sprayed the countryside. S/Sgt Allen Langdon, 505th
Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division said, " A lot of
German civilians and surrendering soldiers were killed and wounded
by this anti-aircraft fire, far more casualties than we suffered.
The German soldiers opened fire on empty countryside when there were
no targets, out of simple hate." (9) Another weapon that the Germans
utilized were a large number of mines, including anti-magnetic sea
mines. A 505th medic and the wounded man he was evacuating were both
killed when their jeep ran over one of these mines. The jeep was
blown high in the air, overturning several times, and over a nearby
barn. A huge crater was left, and it took some time for the
engineers to determine what type of mine had caused the explosion.
Continued
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