Directory. It contains the information you need to stay in touch with members of congress, federal agencies and state governors. Order your copy online today at cspan store. Org. Army heritage days is held in may at u. S. Army heritage and Education Center in carlisle, pennsylvania. Hundreds of living history hobbyists conduct demonstrations and talk to the public about the military, from the American Revolution to the war on terror. The theme this year was the dday 7 55th anniversary. Next we go to a camp to learn about the 517th parachute Regimental Combat Team, u. S. Soldiers who fought in the Maritime Alps of france during the autumn of 1944. Good morning. My name is matt holmgren. I am part of a Group Representing f company of the 517th parachute infantry regiment that was part of a unit called the 517th prct which was short for parachute Regimental Combat Team. It was a world war ii unit that fought in italy and the hulken forest it was a small irunit, numbered about 2500 men throughout the war. It was comprised of three smaller units, the 517th infantry unit and the 460th parachute Field Artillery battalion and they made the Regimental Combat Team which made the command, throughout the war their campaigns would attend them to larger units and larger divisions when they were needed throughout the war. We are representing them during their time and during the Maritime Alps campaign in autumn of 1944 and that was near the french alps near the italian border and they were tasked near protecting the main advance of the 7th army from the river valley. That came from the operation rangoon, and the second invasion of france, the forgotten invasion overshadowed by operation overlord, the famous normandy operations. Originally both operations were designed to take place simultaneously. They were conamed hammer and anvil being that the hammer and anvil would trap the germans and liberate france and due to Landing Craft and aircraft, the command was want able to have both operations at the same time and normandy was the more important operation and as we know from history what happened there, but operations were doing the Southern Operations war delayed until august 1944 and that originally took place on august 15th. Troops began to scramble up the beach. They were prepared for an enemy onslaught, but not a single german soldier appeared. Not even a lift bopper soared overhead. Mine detector squads cleared the roads to permit our tanks to continue on their way. German prisoners were herded on to the beaches for removal to ships. By midnight august 16th, the french commandos had been contacted. Operations had progressed so smoothly that by noon the following day a beachhead 20 miles long and nine miles deep had been established. As i said, we were representing them during the Maritime Alps campaign which was after the initial invasion when they were protecting the right flank they were approximately from 90 days from august 44 which they were on the lines fighting against the germans down in the south of france. They were in the Maritime Alps protecting the right flank and it was aggressive patrolling that they were going hill top to hill top, routing the germans out of that area because the germans were dug in there from the entire occupation of france and they had to go hill top to hill top to fight the well dugin germans. What we have here is an outpost which would be ahead of the main line of the troops that were dug in. It would be an Early Warning system, a twoman fox hole. We have sandbags and shelter halves from more protection from the weather. You would see instances of logs and tree limbs to provide more heavy duty protection from artillery and mortar fire. Normally the longer youre in an area the deeper you would dig to give yourself more protection for troops to stop for a day or two, you would dig yourself some protection where the 517th, at the time they were in the Maritime Alps they were in the maritime area so they had time to dig deeper and more elaborate fox holes because the germans were firing on them with artillery motor pieces and there were instances of the soldiers needing better fox hole protection like we have here and to our right, we have a larger fox hole that would sleep three or four men that would be an example of the 517th fox hole that was behind the o. P. Thats what essentially the soldiers were living in at that time during the campaign. We like it do this here, it gives the kids, they get an opportunity to see what it was like with some of these soldiers how their life was during the war. You can slide that on. You might be surprised how heavy that is. Put it on straight. We dug these for the Army Heritage days. It took several hours among the several of us that are here. We had the entrenching tools that the soldiers were issued. We used the sandbags for the dirt and filled up the sandbags and being that the area that they were in the south of france for that prolonged period of time, this gives the idea of themore well entrenched fox hole during that particular campaign. It was as simple as digging down into the earth and digging up around you because what that gives you is protection with the german artillery mortar fire that theyre receiving where their lines were, you get below the ground level and the more cover you have on top, that will protect you from any artillery blast or mortar blast as opposed to you standing out in the open. World war ii shelter halves, you can only waterproof so much. The rain that we had last night they kept us relatively dry from that rain, but the time period in the autumn of 1944, the soldiers ran into snow in the end of september in 1944. They woke up and they had six or eight inches of snow with the shelter halves and they found out because they were in the Maritime Alps and they were down on the riviera where theyd come from. There were days that they woke up and they felt like a piece of plywood on them because it got that cold because they felt there was a piece of plywood on top of them instead of a piece of canvas. They have one over here. They would make a bed roll which is essentially one shelter half with either one or two blankets tied with a shelter half rope that was a suspension line that soldiers could carry with them and it would kind of be like a sleeping bag, but you would easily carry to keep you warm as best as you can. With the 5917th being that they were in an established area for almost 90 days they didnt carry too much around. If they went on a patrol they would take their ammunition and rifles with them depending how long that patrol would be, maybe a ration or two, because they would come back to the main line and main fox hole, but other units throughout the war as units were advancing and pushing into germany, soldiers would just carry what they would need on their back. They might have a bed roll like that for when they would stop and they would carry essentially what they have in their pockets and they may carry a gp bag or a gas mask gag. Like this, this is a gp bag or a gas mask bag and they would carry rations and an extra pair of socks and just the bare essentials because theyre on their feet all of the time and the more they carry the heavier it will be so they want to be as light as possible. This is a small supply unit and we have k rations and that was your basic field ration of world war ii that the army had. A k ration was a box meal. There was three meals, three boxes and you had a breakfast, dinner, lunch and supper and various menu and you had canned ham or canned eggs. Youd have canned chicken and two types of cracker. A club cracker, a four pack of cigarettes in each box. Cigarettes were an issued item. Y youd have instant coffee, lemon, sugar, fruit bar, chock bat bar, maybe caramels and it was designed to get the needed calories in the meal for the soldiers that were away from a regular meal. Unfortunately, instances behind the war, and it was a month or two at a time that it was not designed for that long of intake where they were actually having adverse effects where they werent getting that regular meal ask they were suffering from that. This is a squadlevel stove and not all soldiers would have this. From our instance and from our research and photographic evidence there are instances and they have almost a whole field kitchen because they were where they were established, but this would be carried and shared by a squad. It just runs on modern coleman camp fuel, but its enough to fill up multiple canteen cups of coffee or if they were fortunate to have a pot to make proper meals. In fact, talking to one of the f company vets who passed away, rich hess who was have bethlehem, pennsylvania, he told me a story when they were in the Maritime Alps, they had a can of roast beef that they were cooking actually on a camp fire, but they were cooking the can of roast beef and the next thing they knew they heard german artillery and he had a cup of coffee and they dove into fox holes like this just as artillery shell came in, they had zeroed in on their fire and he said he dove in and luckily didnt spill his coffee cup, and he said if we hadnt moved we would have been wiping out by that round because theyd zeroed in on the camp fire and the roast beef was gone and we were looking for it. The field rations, they could eat them cold or heated up. If the soldiers had the luxury of a stove like this, they would heat up the coffee or canned meat. Other instances, you would rip up the box and you had tw layers and it was a waterproof box and your outer cardboard layer to mach a small fire that they could possibly heat up their rations with. So this is an idea that you would not see with all soldiers during the war, but in the case of the 517th during the maritime out campaign and that was an item that we saw that they used. What we have here, this is a standard riflemans for an mr grand and the cartridge belt which was use the 30odd six rounds for the m1 grands and this was for the folding entrenching tool. You have the carlisle pouch that held the first aid kit which was a bandage which also had a pack of powder which would be administered to the wound that would help fight infection and were missing the canteen pouch. Right here we have an m1 carving and an m1 grand and it was the paratrooper airborne model of the standard air1 carving by paratrooper units and it was for the ease of jumping. At the time we were portraying the 517th, even though they were an Airborne Unit, through our research of the unit the longer they were on the lines due to damaged or lost a1, m1 carvings they were resupplied with whatever what was available and we would see the nonstandard a1 carving at that time in the campaign in the Maritime Alps. This is a browning automatic rifle. It fired a 30odd six round that the m1 grand took. It had a 20round magazine. This was a weapon that you did not see with the Airborne Unit as it was not part of their equipment. In the case of the 517th, though, we saw evidence of them using it in the Maritime Alps. They found it was a good weapon to help clear out the dugin germans of the pill bockes and their areas and it was their type of warfare in that theater. Y they found it was a good way to put down suppressive fire as they cleared out suppressive germans. We were fortunate that the 517th prct association has a great website. The association was started by their vets and run by their family members because many of the vets have passed away or up in years, but there is a ton of information. Photograph, history personal accounts that the vets had submitted and thats one of our resources that we take from personal accounts, personal photographs that we were able to build our impression and our display based solely on those photographs and accounting. There are also great books out there battling buzzards on the 517th First Airborne Task force which was a reference book which covers the First Airborne Task force which was the Airborne Division that was part of operation rangoon. Where the normandie operation you know the first 82nd divisions that went on the night before with the main beach forces. Airborne soldiers went in the night before to secure important towns and crossroads behind the invasion beaches before the infantry divisions hit the beachheads and tattoo on the 101st and Airborne Divisions were already in normandy. There were independent Airborne Units which one of them was the 517th that were pulled together to make the First Airborne Task force which was another ad hoc units and the others involved is the 509 Infantry Battalion and 550th and 550th first and there was an independent British Airborne regiment and if you heard about the 442nd, the famed japaneseamerican unit of the war there was a company of their antitank unit that was actually giving very quick lighter training. They were pulled from their unit and saying youre going in with gliders and they were attached to the 517th for a month, month and a half. So thats important to know because the airborne troop, you had paratroopers and your glider troops that were trained and these were just standard infantry and that was not part of their training and they were pulled and said youre going in gliders and heres some quick training and youre getting attached to this Airborne Unit. This aerial vanguard was to destroy the enemy defenses and ease the task of their comrades still at sea by keeping troops from rushing on to the coast. Our attack planes, troop asks supply trains with telling effect. In the calm of a summer morning, these bombers rain destruction. While the allied war ships were steaming along the coast within range of enemy batteries. So when they went in the night of the invasion and they were jumping out of their aircraft, you hear story of the normandy operations and the airplanes making evasive maneuvers to avoid the antiaircraft and that caused many misdrops. It was the same units, and the same pilots and planes that had dropped in normandy and did the operation dragoon drop. So they tried their best to stay on course. Unfortunately what happened was there was heavy fog in the area and there were misdrops due to heavy fog because the pilots could not see the pathfinder beacons to zero in on the proper drop zones. So many soldiers and many of the airborne that dropped that night, when they dropped out of the airplanes and they saw the heavy fog, they actually thought they were dropping into the mediterranean ocean. They stripped their equipment off to lighten the load because they were preparing for a water landing and many soldiers as stripping the gear off and their life vest prepared for a water landing and preparing for that hit of water they start going through the fog and the next thing you know theyre on the ground. Thats how thick the fog was. Unfortunately, we dont have any because of the campaign that were touring, but the 517th along with the first task force are a unique uniformed item. There was experimental camouflage at that time first airborne tried out which they literally spray painted their uniforms. If you see the m42 paratrooper jump uniform which was a khakicolored uniform, the what the First Airborne Task force did, they had the engineers had paint guns filled with green and black and they had the guys line up and put a Cardboard Box over their head and the engineers would hit them with the camouflage paint and off they go. It was from the commander that came down to camouflage the uniforms. You have the overspray and you have the green and the plaque and then you would put the helmet on and spray for a silhouette. Another example of the 517th helmet is they did not have the proper jump helmet that you saw with other Airborne Units. They had the standard m1 helmet that the infantry had which was not good for jumping and they rigger modified their chinstraps of what we have an example of here. But going back to the camouflage uniforms they have. Youre on the mediterranean in august 1944, it was a very hot, humid area at that time. Its a cotton uniform with paint that actually made it thicker and heavier and smelled bad. So the soldiers did not like that very much because it made them more uncomfortable and the more serious issue was at the time with the paint, fresh paint, the soldiers that got wounded, they found the paint would go into their wounds and the paint made the uniforms stink and the wound issues. There were accounts of soldiers moving between objectives and if they came across the stream they would go and walking through the stream to get back on the road soaking wet just to try to get rid of the paint. It was an improvised camouflage system that didnt work the best. A said, before the 517th was an overshadowed somewhat forgotten unit because they were a smaller unit in an overshadowed in the mediterranean and south of france and we do that to keep their story alive to tell the public about their tore and to keep the memories of the men ashlgs life aand this is a great way to do it, and you can tell it in a book, but to do firsthand account, and to have the children try the equipment on and see what the soldiers went through in those campaigns, its another way to teach and learn about them because were always researching the unit. Theres always something to learn about them and theres always something coming out of the woodwork, with the photographs or more personal accounts that we can learn and we can pass on their stories so theyre not forgotten. The final line had been forged between our forces which landed in Southern France on august 15th, and those which had landed in normandy on the 6th of june. This junction closed for the germans remain in the south and west of france. Thus the soldiers, airmen of the United Nations defeated the enemy in Southern France, their valor, stamina and devotion to duty were beyond praise. You can learn more about the 517th parachute Regimental Combat Team at 517 prct. Org where you will find the regimental history, photographs and a collection of soldiers stories and you can watch this and all other American History tv programs online at cspan. Org. Wooe featuring American History tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on cspan3. Tonight at 8 00 eastern, a look at cor ran war oral history. The veteran carl house recounts his part in inchon, a victory for u. S. Forces which turned the tide earlier in the war. He talks about the surprise chinese counterattack and intense combat at the battle of chosin reservoir where he was capture period watch oral histories tonight beginning at 8 00 eastern on cspan3. Enjoy American History tv this week and every weekend on cspan3. Have you watched lectures in history, lately . Every saturday at 8 00 pchl m. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3 go inside a Different College classroom and hear about topics ranging from the American Revolution, civil rights and u. S. President s to 11. Thanks for your patience and for logging into class. With most College Campuses closed due to the impact of the coronavirus, watch professors transfer teaching to a virtual setting to engage with their settings. Gorbachev did most of the work to change the soviet union, but reagan met him half way. Reagan encouraged help. Reagan supported him. Freedom of the press, which well get to later. Madison called him the fred om to print things and publish things. It is not a freedom for what we refer to as institutionally as the press. Lectures in history on American History tv on cspan3, every saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Lectures in history is also available as a podcast. Find it where you listen to podcasts. Good morning. My name is al coast, and im one of the volunt
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