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From D-Day to V-Day

February 1945

February 2, 1945 - D-Day + 241

In the course of the day, the 78th Infantry Division under the Ninth Army’s XIX Corps was moved to the operational command of the V Corps.

Assault units from the 9th and 2nd Infantry Divisions under the US First Army’s V Corps emerged from the Monschau forest and headed towards Dreiborn and Schlieden. Supported by battalions from Col Van H. Bond’s 39th Infantry Regiment, the 9th Infantry Division’s 60th Infantry Regiment under Col John G. Van Houten advanced to the foothills southwest of Dreiborn while Col George W. Smith’s 47th Infantry Regiment mopped up the hills near Hammer. The 2nd Infantry Division’s 9th Infantry Regiment conquered Schoneseiffen and Harperscheid. In the meantime, battalions from the division’s 23rd Infantry Regiment continued to attack to the northeast towards the Monschau forest. It was 4 a.m. when assault battalions from the XVIII Corps’ 1st Infantry and 82nd Airborne Divisions went on an offensive, breaking through the rows of “Dragon Teeth” anti-tank reinforced concrete fortifications and conquering a number of pillboxes and other Siegfried Line defense shields. The 1st Infantry Division came out of the Buchholz forest near Ramscheid and attacked through the positions of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment under Col William E. Ekman. In the meantime, the division’s 325th Glider Infantry Regiment under Col Charles Billingslea broke through the enemy’s defense and took Udenbreth and Neuhof while Col Reuben H. Tucker’s 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment advanced to positions about two miles southeast of Neuhof. In the course of the day, the 99th Infantry Division was attached to the Corps while units from the 30th and 84th Infantry Divisions were detached and posted away from the area.

Operating on the left flank, the 87th Infantry Division’s 347th Infantry Regiment from the US Third Army’s VIII Corps conquered Losheim in the night from February 2-3. Meanwhile, maneuvering on the division’s left flank, Col Curtis Renfro’s 346th Infantry Regiment carried out a nighttime raid and occupied and secured Krewinkel by daybreak. Units from the 4th Infantry Division’s 8th Infantry Regiment advanced to the hills located west of Radscheid while the 2nd Battalion under the division’s 12th Infantry Regiment entered Bleialf. The 90th Infantry Division remained in and continued to reinforce its positions throughout the day. The XII Corps’ Task Force Oboe mopped up Hosdorf on the western bank of the Our River. In the sector of the XX Corps, the 94th Infantry Division continued to carry out local attacks. The 302nd Infantry Regiment’s 1st Battalion under “Patton’s Golden Nugget” division mopped up the remaining area in the Campholz Forest.

The 36th Infantry Division under the US Seventh Army’s VI Corps continued to fight for Oberhoffen and Rohrwiller. With support from tanks and self-propelled howitzers, troops from the 36th Infantry Division’s 142th Infantry Regiment conquered the southern and southeastern sections of Oberhoffen. The 14th Armored Division’s Combat Command B under Col Francis J. Gillespie advanced out of Bischwiller to the northeast, but in the end was halted by enemy fire. Attack battalions from the 36th Infantry Division’s 143rd and 142nd Infantry Regiments crossed the ford on the Moder River and, in an attempt to conquer the town and the bridges southeast of the town, launched a coordinated attack against Rohrwiller. Battalions from the division’s reinforced 141st Infantry Regiment prepared to attack Offendorf and Herrlisheim, but flooding on the road between Weyersheim and Gambsheim halted their advance.

With support from tanks, the 3rd Infantry Division’s 7th Infantry Regiment under the French First Army’s US XXI Corps advanced southwards through Artzenheim along the main road between the Rhine – Rhône Canal and the Rhine River towards Biesheim in the area northeast of Neuf-Brisachu. In the meantime, the 75th Infantry Division advanced up to the fringes of Colmar. The 28th Infantry Division halted in front of the city, let Major General Lundsford E. Oliver’s tanks from the 5th Armored Division ride through first, and then continued their mopping up operations.

The Czechoslovaks serving in the No. 311 Squadron out of Tain, Scotland, took off on another series of flights over the North Sea. A new crew commanded by F/O Polívka also joined the mission. The crew’s co-pilot was F/Sgt Bohumil Prokopec, originally an airplane mechanic who worked on two-engine Wellingtons.

Fighting was once again fierce in the area east of Dunkirk. In the evening hours, the enemy launched strong artillery fire against Allied positions, injuring two French soldiers who fought alongside the Czechoslovaks. One of the soldiers later died of his injuries.