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An American Infantry Division s Baptism of Fire in Nazi Germany
In their first combat experience, a handful of American soldiers accomplished its objective and held against powerful German counter-attacks.
Here s What You Need to Know: In November 1944, an American infantry division underwent its baptism of fire in the worst conditions imaginable and acquitted itself with honor beyond anyone’s expectation. The final outcome of the campaign, however, was determined by the heroic action of only 100 men who found themselves in a hopeless situation and simply would not give up.
The men of the 84th Division the Railsplitters were, to use the GIs’ own language, “green as grass,” fresh off the boat from the States, and they were not going to a quiet sector to get combat experience on the cheap. Their first combat mission was to assault and reduce the Geilenkirchen Salient, a chunk of the German Siegfried Line that featured dragon’s teeth, minefields, and layer after layer of c
Battle for Hill 112: The Allied Key To Victory in Normandy
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel declared that whoever held Hill 112 would hold the key to all of Normandy. It would become the scene of one of the fiercest battles of the campaign.
Here s What You Need to Know: Although the British failed to secure the summit of Hill 112, they succeeded in denying it to the Germans.
The Allied landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944, produced a bitter struggle for control of the invasion beachhead. Slowly, the Allies expanded and reinforced, fighting all the time in dense bocage country dominated by hills and hedgerows against an enemy whose skill and determination extracted a high price in men and equipment.