The 115th Infantry Regiment in World War II

By Joseph Binkoski and Arthur Plaut

On 3 February 1941, the First Maryland Infantry Regiment, Maryland Army National Guard, was inducted into federal service as the 115th Infantry Regiment and sent to join the 29th Infantry Division. They arrived in England on 11 October 1942, and then were attached to the 1st Infantry Division in preparation for the D-Day invasion. They moved with the 1st Infantry Division from 2 June 1944, and remained with 1st Infantry Division until 7 June 1944, when they returned to the 29th Infantry Division for further operations. Their participation in the Normandy Campaign continued until it was over on 24 July 1944. They immediately moved into the Northern France Campaign on 25 July 1944, which continued until it was over on 14 September 1944.

During this period the 115th Infantry Regiment was engaged in one of the war's forgotten chapters, "The Battle of Brest". The Battle for Brest was one of the fiercest battles fought during Operation Cobra, the Allied breakout of Normandy which began on 27 July 1944, during the Battle of Normandy during World War II. The 115th Infantry then started participation in the Rhineland Campaign on 15 September 1944, whereupon the 115th Infantry crossed from France to Belgium and the Netherlands both on 27 September 1944, and entered Germany on 30 September 1944.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcole Publishing
• Release date: Jan 13, 2019
• ISBN: 9781789123944

Joseph Binkoski

JOSEPH J. F. BINKOSKI (October 13, 1921 - May 19, 1991) served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War II. A native of Shamokin, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Coal Township High School in 1939. He received a bachelor’s degree from Loyola College and a master’s degree from George Washington University. In 1940 Lt. Binkoski began working at Westinghouse Electric Corp. in Sunbury, PA as a senior administrator and pricing analyst. Following the plant’s closure, he moved to the Baltimore-Washington International Airport plant in 1953, and remained with the company for more than 50 years. In 1984, he received a President’s Quality Achievement Award from Westinghouse and later a citation from the governor of Maryland for his service with the company. He received a battlefield commission and a presidential citation for his services during World War II, and a Purple Heart for his services in the Korean War. He passed away in Baltimore, Maryland in 1991, aged 69. ARTHUR PLAUT (November 7, 1922 - November 30, 2006) served as a Private in the U.S. Army during World War II. He graduated from Walnut Hills High School and attended the University of Cincinnati until the outbreak of World War II. He served in the Army in the 29th Division, one of the armed forces’ most decorated battle units. Following an honorable discharge, he completed his college studies, graduating magna cum laude. He married Bette Ginsburg in 1948 and served in a variety of jobs in broadcasting and public relations throughout the 1950s and ‘60s. In 1964 he began his own advertising agency and served a wide variety of local and national clients. In 1967 he moved his family to San Diego after becoming a broadcasting executive with KSDO radio. In 1971 he became director of communications for United Way of San Diego County, an organization he remained with until his retirement in 1989. He passed away in Horsham, Pennsylvania in 2006, aged 84.

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Text originally published in 1948 under the same title.

© Arcole Publishing 2018, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

THE 115TH INFANTRY REGIMENT IN WORLD WAR II

BY

JOSEPH BINKOSKI AND ARTHUR PLAUT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3

DEDICATION 4

MAPS 6

SKETCHES 6

FOREWORD 7

INTRODUCTION 8

CHAPTER 1—PROLOGUE TO GLORY 10

CHAPTER 2—D-DAY AND THE BATTLE OF THE BEACHES 14

CHAPTER 3—THE DRIVE INLAND 36

CHAPTER 4—THE DRIVE ON ST. LÔ 62

CHAPTER 5—EXPLOITATION OF THE BREAKTHROUGH 83

CHAPTER 6—THE BREST CAMPAIGN 109

CHAPTER 7—FALL OF A FORTRESS 137

CHAPTER 8—INTO THE REICH 157

CHAPTER 9—THE DRIVE TO THE ROER 186

CHAPTER 10—THE WINTER MONTHS 216

CHAPTER 11—THE ROER TO THE RHINE 251

CHAPTER 12—THE REGIMENT TAKES A BREAK 284

CHAPTER 13—THE FINAL DRIVE 301

CHAPTER 14—BREMEN AND HOME 320

BATTLE HONORS 333

MAP 343

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 344

DEDICATION

TO THE MEN OF THE 115TH INFANTRY REGIMENT

TO THOSE WHO SUFFERED AND ENDURED

UNTOLD HARDSHIPS

TO THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR BLOOD

TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE WHO GAVE LIFE ITSELF

THIS HISTORY IS DEDICATED

MAPS

1: THE OMAHA BEACHHEAD AREA

2: THE INUNDATED AREA

3: THE ELLE RIVER BATTLEGROUNDS

4: THE APPROACHES TO ST. LÔ

5: BREAKTHROUGH INTO NORMANDY

6: THE BATTLE FOR BREST: INITIAL PHASE

7: THE BATTLE FOR BREST: SECOND PHASE

8: THE BATTLE FOR BREST: CONCLUSION

9: INTO THE REICH

10 : THE NOVEMBER OFFENSIVE

11: TACTICAL MAPS OF NOVEMBER OFFENSIVE

12: EXTENT OF GERMAN ADVANCE IN THE BULGE

13: FROM THE ROER TO THE RHINE: FIRST PHASE

14: FROM THE ROER TO THE RHINE: SECOND PHASE

15: TO THE ELBE: I

16: TO THE ELBE: II

SKETCHES

1: HILL 103

2: THE KERGONANT STRONGPOINT

3: FORT MONTBAREY

4: 1ST AND 3D BATTALIONS AT THE ROER

FOREWORD

HEADQUARTERS 29TH INFANTRY DIVISION A. P. O. 29, U.S. ARMY

14 November 1945

This book will bring to you of the 115th Infantry Regiment remembrances of difficult days and a feeling of pride for a job well done. To others, wives, mothers, fathers of the Regiment, it will serve as a tribute to those who died fighting for their country. To the casual reader it will be the story of a fighting Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division which in the long fight from Omaha Beach in Normandy to the Elbe River answered every call.

If, in these few pages, the reader shares in some measure the cold and mud and hardships of war, if he feels the dog-weariness and utter fatigue of battle and if he feels that same pride in the Regiment, that same triumphant feeling—then this book has accomplished its mission.

I have known the men of the 115th. I have in a small way shared their heartbreak and misery and I have shared their joy now the battle is won. To one and all I offer these two words—‟Well done."

C. H. GERHARDT,

Major-General, U.S. Army

Commanding

INTRODUCTION

IN THE list of combat divisions of World War II, the name of the 29th Infantry Division stands high. Its record is a proud and enviable one and the men who wore the Blue-and-Gray shoulder patch through France and Germany may justifiably boast of its accomplishments. The division, however, was only as successful as the regimental combat teams of which it was composed. It has often been said battles are fought and won at battalion level, and the coordinating and guiding force of battalions is the regiment.

In the pages that follow is the story of one of the regiments of the 29th Division—the 115th Infantry. Together with its brother regiments, the 116th and the 175th, it made the 29th Infantry Division one of the great combat outfits of the war. The 115th Infantry makes no claim that it was The regiment of The division. Any honest observer or participant in combat knows that without the assistance and the support of countless other units, no one group could successfully gain its objectives and no operation would be a success.

In reading the pages to come the story of the 115th Infantry will unfold. The Regiment had its bad days, its blunders, its strategic withdrawals just as did every other combat unit. Its leaders were not always blessed with Divine guidance—they sometimes erred; its men were not always inspired heroes—they occasionally stumbled and lost the way. The 115th, however, had its measure of well fought and hard-won victories; it had its quota of heroic deeds by the men in the ranks and their leaders, and it had its share of instances of men rising above themselves to almost superhuman levels to preserve the things for which they fought. The men of the 115th are proud of their Regiment for they know it was a good one. It proved itself time and again in close, bitter combat with the enemy. In many battles it came up against the best fighters the Germans possessed. Sometimes it took beatings and yet it picked itself up, brushed off its ODs, and came back for more, ultimately reaching every objective it had been assigned. This is the real test of an infantry regiment and no one can deny that the 115th met and passed that test with flying colors.

The decision to write the history of the 115th Infantry Regiment was made late in June 1945, after the Regiment had become established in Bremen, Germany. Originally it was planned for a man from each battalion, working under one officer, to compile the story. The problems of redeployment and the constant shifting of personnel in to and out of the Regiment throughout the summer months prevented this plan from succeeding and eventually all of the work of the preparation of the final manuscript devolved upon two persons. When the regiment left Europe in January 1946, work on the book was nearly completed. What remained to be finished was done at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, in February 1946.

Without the helpful aid and co-operation of those who assisted in numerous ways, this book would never have been completed in its present form. The authors wish to acknowledge their indebtedness to the following personnel: Col. Alexander George, Col. William Witte, Lt.-Col. Carleton Fisher, Capt. Robert Peron, Lt. Malcolm Baer, Cpl. Joseph Koretz, and Pfcs. Ronald duBois, Chester Mark, and James Curtin. We also wish to thank persons who graciously lent us photos for the book, in particular Mr. Holbrook Bradley of the Baltimore Sun and Mr. Louis Azrael of the Baltimore News-Post; Headquarters 29th Division; Signal Corps, U.S. Army; International News Photos; Mrs. A. L. Glidewell; David Scherman and Life; Lt. Colonel Glover S. Johns; Chester Mark; and James C. Jernigan. To all others—officers and enlisted men who gave us much needed information on certain phases of the campaigns go our most sincere appreciation and thanks.

When work on the Regimental history was begun, many of the men who could best give firsthand accounts of the action were on their way home. Accordingly, the writers were limited in their sources of eyewitness accounts. A few of the key officers who were with the Regiment in its early days of combat remained available until the Regiment left Europe and from them a great deal of information was obtained. Other accounts were gathered from interviews with and stories written by the officers and men who had participated in the various actions. Principal sources of basic facts upon which the more detailed accounts were written included the Regimental after-action reports, Regimental and battalion journals, and S-3 files. Using these sources as a skeleton, the authors then proceeded to question as many persons as were available for further details in order to fill in the whole structure to the end that a well rounded narrative might be written. The task was not always a simple one but it never was uninteresting.

Maps have been redrawn to illustrate each campaign by Cpl. Joseph Koretz. Each map has been adapted from the sheet generally used in the actual fighting. In most cases this was the 1:50,000 sheet. Photographs were obtained from the files of the division historian and from personal collections of members of the Regiment, as well as from several outside sources. Prior to the publication of the book there was considerable discussion as to the advisability of printing rosters of all the men who were in the Regiment during the combat period. In the eleven months of combat there were, perhaps, over ten thousand men serving at one time or another with the 115th Infantry. Unfortunately the Regimental Personnel Office had neither the time nor the personnel available to prepare a complete and accurate listing of all these men. Rather than reprint an incomplete listing and one which is known to be as much as thirty per cent inaccurate, it was decided to forego rosters altogether. Under the circumstances we feel that our decision was the wisest one possible.

The authors sincerely hope that in the pages to come the reader will find more than enough material to stimulate his memory with thoughts of the past. The names of as many men of the Regiment as possible have been included in the text with the hope that these names will bring others to mind.

For the sins of omission and commission which have undoubtedly occurred in a book of this type, we accept full responsibility.

J. B.

A. P.

CHAPTER 1—PROLOGUE TO GLORY

WHEN the men of the 115th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division landed on the Normandy beaches in June 1944, they were as well trained for the tasks that lay in front of them as it was possible for the Army to make them. Behind most of the OD-clad warriors lay a year and a half of physical training and simulated battle conditioning in England, and behind that, almost another two years of training in the United States.

The story of the 115th Infantry in World War II began back in the days of February 1941—when America still slumbered in the belief that she might avoid war. It was the period of ‟National Defense, of the start of the draft, of the popular song, ‟Goodbye, Dear, I’ll Be Back In A Year. To Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, one raw February day came the men of the 29th Division—a National Guard outfit from Maryland and Virginia. The 115th Infantry, one of the four regiments of the old-time ‟square" division, was made up of men from the counties of Maryland—from places like Frederick and Hagerstown, Annapolis and Crisfield, Salisbury and Laurel, and Cumberland and Hyattsville. On February 4, 1941, the 29th Division was inducted into federal service and a week and a half later, on February 13, the division reported to Fort Meade. Training began on February 24—training which at the time seemed rather pointless and foolish since there really seemed to be nothing for which to train. Most everyone knew that Germany had no designs on the Western Hemisphere, that England was keeping her pretty busy over there in Europe, and the Japanese—well, the Japanese weren’t worth bothering about. Our Pacific fleet could knock their island right out of the water.

A month later new blood arrived for the 29th Division to bring it up to strength. Selectees, draftees, inductees—recruits fresh from the farms and cities of the eastern United States arrived, bewildered, some of them, at the new way of life that was to swallow them up. It would just be for a year, though, they thought—just a year out of their life and then they would go back to the civilian life that would be the same as before. These new men went through the rigors of basic training, grumbled at Army life and Army chow and Army methods and at the ‟damned National Guard clique" that kept all of the ratings and choice positions for its own. During the summer of 1941 the men gradually became welded into a unit and participated in regimental maneuvers for two weeks at the A. P. Hill Military Reservation in Virginia. On September 13, the division moved out of Meade on the first leg of a trip to North Carolina for First Army maneuvers. En route, the Regiment participated in a divisional problem at A. P. Hill, and then arrived at Fort Bragg on September 23. At first, the 29th and the 28th Divisions participated in corps maneuvers and, in October and November, army war games were held. Then, on the way back to Meade for Christmas furloughs, the men heard the news that from now on the training wouldn’t be just for the hell of it. The Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, plunging the United States into war with the Axis. There was no turning back now and the men of the Regiment thrust their hands into their pockets, pulled up their overcoat collars, and walked from the radios to their tents to think grimly of things to come.

In January 1942, the 115th was scattered piecemeal throughout Pennsylvania and Virginia guarding factories, bridges, railroad yards, and warehouses. Maj.-Gen. Milton A. Reckord, CO of the 115th during the first World War, and commanding general of the 29th upon the outbreak of World War II, was given a new assignment, and Maj.-Gen. Leonard T. Gerow assumed command of the division in mid-February. Shortly after he took over, the 29th was triangularized—the 176th Infantry was detached and sent to Washington to do guard duty there. On April 8, the division again left Fort Meade for the familiar grounds of A. P. Hill for further field training until the second set of Carolina maneuvers at Fort Bragg began early in July. Maneuvers were less of a game than they had been the year before—they were as realistic as the Army’s G-3s could make them. Late in August the Regiment, and the remainder of the division, moved down to Camp Blanding, Florida, where the division was scheduled to stay in garrison for a comparatively lengthy period. Furloughs were handed out and the men who had had ailments bothering them were sent to hospitals for treatment. Unexpectedly, without prior warning, General Gerow was ordered to reassemble the division and prepare for something big. Men were recalled from pass, from the hospital, from temporary duty.

The ‟something big" was overseas duty and the days that followed were bedlam in the rush to issue equipment, contact personnel, and straighten out records. The division was some three thousand men understrength as it boarded trains at Blanding and headed for Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, in mid-September. It was hard to believe that the 29th was headed overseas and yet almost before some of the men could realize what had happened, the first units of the Blue-and-Gray were loaded on the Queen Mary, to be followed, a few days later, by the remainder of the division on the Queen Elizabeth. The 115th Infantry, commanded now by Col. Eugene N. Slappey, traveled on the latter ship and reached the harbor of Grenock, Scotland, after a speedy, unescorted voyage. From Grenock, the Regiment moved to barracks near Oxford, England, where the men sweated out the North Africa landings and wondered if they might not end up in the Mediterranean Theater. At the end of the year, the Regiment moved on to Tidworth Barracks on Salisbury Plain. This post had been a former British cavalry station and had permanent barracks. Training designed to toughen the men and make them ready for whatever might come was carried on at Tidworth for the next five months. In a never-to-be-forgotten four-day march, the Regiment closed out of Tidworth for its next station in Cornwall. Here the 115th was scattered at three different areas and here it remained until the eve of the invasion. The 3rd Battalion, Regimental Headquarters, and Service, Cannon and Antitank Companies were at Bodmin, the 2nd Battalion was at Launceston, and the 1st Battalion at Fort Tregantle. The last was a permanent fort built during the Napoleonic Wars while the other stations were temporary camps.

During the stay in Cornwall the Regiment maneuvered on the rainsoaked moors of southwestern England. The problems involving the capture of a prominent hill called by the men ‟Brown Willie were many and almost all of them were accompanied by the worst sort of weather for outdoor living. On weekends the men went on pass to Plymouth or Torquay. On 48-hour passes, trips to London and Bristol could be squeezed in. Furloughs were given occasionally and the men had opportunities to visit more remote parts of the British Isles. Many of the GIs formed close friendships with the Cornish people and a few of these friendships led to marriage. The natives, by and large, were willing to go at least half way to make the Yanks comfortable, but there were inevitable unpleasantnesses. Men who seized upon these incidents to bait the British forgot that had the men been at a camp in the States, the same sort of friction would have developed. So long did the 29th stay in one area that the men who wore the Blue-and-Gray shoulder patch were sometimes laughingly referred to as ‟England’s Own.

As the pace of training quickened and the field problems became longer and more like the conditions that would be met in combat, there were numerous changes in the personnel of the Regiment. Some of the men who were unable to meet the gruelling standards set by an infantry outfit training for imminent combat were transferred to other less strenuous jobs. To fill those gaps, as well as to bring the Regiment up to strength, numerous replacements were brought in. Before being assigned to companies, these new men were required to train for a month under competent non-coms in the arts of infantrymen. Then they were sent to their outfits where they learned the more complex details of company and battalion tactics in problems on the moors. Climax to the training came in November 1943, when the Regiment journeyed to the Assault Training Center at Woolacombe, on the north coast of Devon. Here special landing techniques that had been developed were used and the men were reconstituted into tactical landing groups.

All of this training that had been impressed upon the men again and again was designed to teach them what to do under almost any forseeable circumstance without stopping to think. It was hoped that the men would become so familiar with the solutions to the problems that they would have to face that these solutions would be automatically carried out. The work was physically tough and carried out under far from pleasant climatic conditions, but when the 29th Division landed on Omaha Beach, its members were in as excellent physical shape as it was possible for them to be. In addition the men and their leaders had the self-confidence and know-how that comes after a long period of training. They believed that they could overcome, somehow, most any problem that they might have to face. Few of the men had been under enemy fire prior to D-day and each man had his own idea of what combat would be like. Most of them were intelligent enough to admit that they would be scared at their first encounter with the enemy but the repeated training had been designed to carry the men automatically through this first stage so they would not have to stop and think and falter and fail to gain their initial objectives. How well this training paid off can be judged by the story of the Regiment as it unfolds in the following pages.

CHAPTER 2—D-DAY AND THE BATTLE OF THE BEACHES

OFF THE coast of Normandy, France, one morning in June 1944, a strange sight was unfolding. Hundreds of ships seemed to circle aimlessly off the shore—huge battlewagons, cruisers, transports, freighters, and the multitude of landing craft that ingenious minds had devised to bring cumbersome equipment and personnel onto the beaches. Aboard these ships waited men from every branch of the Allied military organization, waiting to begin a task that most of them realized had to be completed before there could be peace in the world again. The invasion of what the National Socialist leaders of Germany’s Third Reich called Festung Europa or ‟Fortress Europe" was about to begin. The plans made by thousands of men and the hopes and dreams of millions more were about to bear fruit. Every possibility, had been accounted for. Each man had been told what he was to do, why he was to do it, and how he was to do it, every contingency that could be thought of or imagined. The lives and ways of life of countless millions depended upon the success of the impending operation. It could not fail!

It had all been written out very clearly in precise military language so that there could be no questions, no doubts, no uncertainties in anyone’s mind. Every detail had been planned and reconsidered and written and rewritten over and over again. All of the problems that could possibly arise had to be settled well in advance of the landing. There would be no time for arguments and discussions on the beaches. When the top commanders had made their decisions and the broad outlines of the operation had been sent down to lower echelons, these subordinate units carefully prepared their plans to fit into the big picture. Then, in the utmost secrecy, orders were typed, stencils cut, and copies mimeographed so that all those concerned might read and study and learn.

V Corps, part of a large Allied Force, will assault the coast of FRANCE, to establish a beachhead for further operations and continue to advance inland....

With those words Field Order No. 1 of 115th Regimental Combat Team began. That was all there was to it—just a few lines of simple English. To carry that order out, however, meant an almost unbelievable amount of planning and an even greater amount of human suffering and endurance.

29th Inf. Div. (less 116 CT) with 26 CT and other troops attached will land on beach OMAHA behind the initial assault force on orders of CG V Corps. It will complete the mopping up of enemy resistance and defend the D-day objective in the right half of the Corps zone of action...

That was the assigned mission of the 29th Division and, more specifically, of the 115th Infantry Regiment. The remaining pages of the field order of Operation Neptune told, in greater detail, of the Regiment’s job and of the objectives assigned to each battalion.

The planning was one part of the job. The training was another, equally important. For many months the troops of the 29th Division had worked out one exercise after another on the bleak moors of England, and on the beaches of the Assault Training Center at Slapton Sands. The men had been told and had used in practice maneuvers the techniques necessary in any given situation. It remained for them to put those techniques into practice in the face of the enemy. In the final analysis, though, the success of the undertaking depended upon the men. They had been trained, they had the tools, and the plans had been carefully laid. All that remained was for the men to put those plans into execution. If they failed, all of the planning, all of the months of training, all of the millions of dollars’ worth of equipment was lost.

As May came to the pleasant English countryside, the tempo of living quickened. From their base camps in Cornwall on Wednesday, May 17, troops of the 115th Infantry began moving into assembly areas around Camp H.M.S. Raleigh, three miles west of Plymouth, and Fort Tregantle, about five miles southwest of the town. Some of the troops lived in the camp itself while others were billeted in tents within a six-mile radius of the base. All civilians had been evacuated from the area before the troops moved in and the men themselves were restricted to the area as a security measure. For the two weeks that followed equipment was checked and rechecked, basic loads of ammunition were carefully inspected and ordnance equipment was waterproofed. While battalion commanders and their staffs had been briefed for the first time while still in Cornwall (on Monday, May 1), the majority of the troops were unaware of the impending operation. There was considerable speculation as to whether what was happening was the prelude to another in a lengthy succession of ‟dry runs" or the first chapter in a great new adventure. All doubts were removed when the men learned the facts from their company and battalion commanders on Sunday and Monday, May 28 and 29. All personnel were briefed on such items as the sector of the beach on which the landings would be made, the mission and objectives of the Regiment, the location of adjacent units, air and naval support plans, and other pertinent topics. The men were given an opportunity to study the terrain from sandtable models of the beach and inland areas until the details of Omaha’s Dog Red and Easy Green beaches, the designated landing areas for the 115th CT, became familiar to all. As the second week in the Camp H.M.S. Raleigh area ended, the Regiment was engaged in small-unit problems in the surrounding countryside and was reviewing for the last time the lessons that had been learned on the moors.

Concentrated at Camp H.M.S. Raleigh at the end of May were all of the regimental troops scheduled to land on D-day. Kitchen crews and the men from the Regimental Personnel Section had gone to Bournemouth prior to the move to Raleigh and there they waited until some days after the first landings. The remainder of the Regiment was fed and quartered hotel-style by personnel from the 5th Armored Division and the meals were good—the best that the men had received in many months and the best that they would get for months to come. Training slackened at the end of the month and for the most part, the troops were allowed to do as they pleased, within the limits of what the camp had to offer. Mail service was poor and letters were subjected to the most strict censorship yet imposed. As part of the final preparation and orientation, each NCO was given a map of the invasion area, together with an oblique photomap of the beach area. In addition everyone was given a partial payment of four dollars in the new French invasion currency.

On the night of Sunday-Monday, May 28-29, the heavily laden troops were assembled into boat groups according to prearranged loading tables, and marched a mile and a half to the Tor Point ferry for embarkation. Here the men loaded on LCVPs, moved out into the harbor, and boarded the larger LCIs which would carry them to the Continent. The men carried full loads of ammunition in their cartridge belts and some of them carried extra bandoleers. Ammunition bearers for the crew-served weapons carried two boxes of ammo. In addition to the boxes they carried their own individual weapons which had been encased in waterproof cellophane-like bags. Mortars and machine guns had also been treated with a water-repelling substance for it was considered likely that some of the weapons might be dropped in the water while being carried ashore. Each man carried a one-day supply of K and D rations, in addition to a full canteen of water and fourteen packs of cigarettes. In his roll each soldier carried underwear, socks, toilet articles, and a raincoat. The troops were wearing field jackets and impregnated ODs, shoes, and leggings. Special assault-type gas masks that could be strapped either to the leg or chest were carried. Communications personnel, in addition to their radios, switchboards, and power generators, were loaded down with batteries, telephones, and extra reels of wire.

On the landing craft the men settled down to a routine of continuous card-playing, talking, and relaxing. The boats remained in Plymouth Harbor and for the next few days the men waged a continual battle against boredom. The food was poor—10-in-1 rations prepared by Navy cooks. Company barbers set up shop on the top decks and business was rushing with most of the men preferring the ‟ Baldy type haircut. One enterprising rifleman who had been a sign painter in civilian life started a fad which spread from one boat to another. He spotted some paint with which a sailor had been touching up the ship, and an old desire came back to him. The rifleman sat down, took a brush and painted his sweetheart’s name on the stock of his rifle. The idea was an immediate success and by the time the Regiment landed there was scarcely a weapon unmarked by the feminine name of a sweetheart, sister or mother, or perhaps a slogan like ‟ On To Berlin, ‟ Victory Bound, or ‟ No Gum, Chum.

General Eisenhower’s First Order of the Day had been distributed to each man and the soldiers read the challenge seriously. Most of the men realized that each person had to do his job in order to insure the success of the plan. Some additional late intelligence data revealed by aerial reconnaissance and sources ashore was received and disseminated but in the main plans were complete and the troops were anxious to get on with the job. According to the original plan set by Supreme Headquarters, D-day was to be Monday, June 5, providing weather conditions were favorable. On Sunday, June 4, the troops were notified that the landings were scheduled to begin shortly after 0600 the following morning. Church services were held by the three battalion chaplains, Captains Eugene O’Grady, George Metcalf and Paul Travis. The men became more quiet and many of them spent the day lying in their bunks staring at the ceiling, wondering and speculating, dreaming and hoping. Late in the afternoon an LCVP pulled alongside the various landing craft and all company and battalion commanders were ferried to LCI 408 where the regimental commander, Col. Eugene N. Slappey, had his headquarters. There they were notified that because of a rough sea D-day had been postponed one day and twenty minutes. When the men found out about this change a few of them entertained the fleeting hope that perhaps the entire performance was just another dry run. On Monday morning, June 5, the GIs on some of the boats were treated to a breakfast of fresh eggs to break the monotony of the 10-in-1s. Tension had been eased by the delay and there were once again numerous poker and crap games. The weather was partially cloudy but late in the afternoon the sun broke through the overcast. The sea was moderately calm—not perfect for landing operations but better than it might have been. Later it became known that further postponement would have meant a two-weeks delay in the entire landing operation because of unfavorable tides and light conditions.

At 2000 Monday night all officers and NCOs were informed that the landings would begin as scheduled on Tuesday morning, with the assault elements landing at 0630. The night was moonless but clear; the sea was none too smooth and some of the men were sick. Most of the troops went to sleep but there were a few who stayed awake all night to watch the vast armada set sail from Plymouth harbor at 2200, move to an assembly area for Landing Force O off Weymouth, and then head toward France. Before dawn the ships had reached the assembly area off shore and made huge circles in the sea prior to making the run into the beach. Air activity increased as planes of the Ninth Air Force patrolled the skies above the beaches and inland areas.

The 115th Infantry Regiment, according to Operation Neptune, was scheduled to land in the vicinity of les Moulins on Dog Red and Easy Green sectors of Omaha Beach. The Regiment was to be initially under operational control of the 1st Infantry Division commanded by Maj.-Gen. Clarence R. Huebner. The 115th was to follow the initial assault of the 116th Infantry whose mission primarily was to clear the beach. The 115th, moving off the beach as rapidly as possible, was to proceed through the village of St. Laurent-sur-Mer, and then move to its D-day objective in the vicinity of Longueville. The 1st and 2nd Battalions were to move toward the town in a semi-deployed formation with the 3rd Battalion in reserve, one thousand yards behind the 2nd. After Longueville had been secured, the Regiment was to defend positions in its sector north of an inundated area which ran from Isigny to Trévières, and to send patrols south of the swampland before pushing south and west of the Aure River. This was the first priority plan of operation, based on the premise that the leading assault units (the 116th Infantry, and the 16th and 18th Infantry Regiments of the 1st Division) found the enemy defenses and dispositions as available intelligence reports indicated and were able to make the progress expected. In the event of an unforeseen contingency, the 115th Infantry was ordered to be prepared to take over the mission of either the 16th, 18th, or 116th Infantry Regiments or any combination of those missions ordered by the commanding general of the 1st Infantry Division.

Dawn broke on the morning of Tuesday, June 6, about 0330. The sky was slightly cloudy. Troops coming to the decks of the landing craft could see ships of all kinds as far as the eye could reach. The time passed rapidly now. Formation after formation of planes passed overhead and the faint sound of exploding bombs could be heard. Naval guns from the supporting battleships, cruisers, and destroyers began their bombardment of coastal emplacements. The men crowded the rails of the vessels for some glimpse of the tremendous spectacle that was unfolding before them.

In the 29th Division’s zone, the men of the 116th Infantry began the assault on Dog Green, Dog Red and Easy Green sectors of Omaha Beach. Landing at H-hour, the assault elements ran into unexpectedly heavy resistance not only from the static defenders of the coastal area but from unexpected troops of the German 352nd Infantry Division on anti-invasion maneuvers. Casualties in the 116th were heavy and although small groups of men were able to get off the beach, they were stopped before they could secure their objectives of St. Laurent-sur-Mer and Vierville-sur-Mer. The Ranger battalions, charged with reducing the gun emplacements on Pointe du Hoe and Pointe de la Pércée also ran into unanticipated resistance and for a longer time than expected some of these powerful coastal batteries swept the beaches with a deadly fire.

First elements of the 115th began moving toward the shore about 0930. The powerful enemy guns located in the cliffs below St. Laurent were still firing as naval gunfire and air bombardment had not succeeded in silencing all of them. These guns held up the advance of the 116th Infantry on the beaches over which the 115th was scheduled to move in order to reach its objective. Just before the landing craft nosed in to the beach the Navy commanders in charge of getting the troops ashore made the decision to land the Regiment on another beach. The Navy decided that the risks of putting the 115th ashore on a beach that was still under heavy fire and held elements of another regiment were too great. The order was given for the landing craft to head eastward to the Fox Green beach, some two thousand yards to the left, in the 1st Division’s sector, where the fire was not nearly so great. Some of the vessels were almost in on the original shore when the order came to land at the new spot and there was some confusion as the men began to wonder what had happened. Only a few of the troops, however, were aware that there had been any change in the original orders and most remained confident that everything was going according to plan. It came as quite a shock to many when, just prior to going ashore, the men assembled on the decks of the landing craft and heard that they might have to land fighting. Briefing had stressed the fact that the landing itself would be relatively simple; that the troops would merely walk ashore, make for the high ground, and then walk until the objective was reached. Many of the men had put on clean socks the night before in anticipation of a long hike their first day ashore.

Owing to varying beach defenses erected by the Germans, the conditions of going ashore varied on the different craft. A few of the boats were able to pull up to the beach and land their passengers dry while others were forced to drop anchor a considerable distance out, and the troops had to wade in through water neck-high. Aboard LCI 619 were 180 men from Company B and Lt.-Col. John Cooper, CO of the 110th Field Artillery Battalion and reconnaissance party. As the ship nosed in for a landing the navy skipper told the men that he would land them dry if it took all day. On deck the men thronged the rail trying to make out the action ashore. Outside of the noise from the big guns, very little could be heard and not much more could be seen, strengthening the belief that plans were being carried out as scheduled. About 1000 the boat hit the beach and the men assembled around the ramps, preparing to walk ashore. Just before they did, they were told that the landing area was a new one and that there was the possibility that they might have to fight before they got off the beaches. As the impact of this news struck, mouths dropped open, eyes popped, and a sudden silence descended as the men suddenly realized that lying ahead of them was no practice hike but a desperate struggle. Then, as the ramp went down, the men surged forward without hesitation, shouting at the top of their lungs. The captain of LCI 619 had kept his promise. The men walked ashore without getting the soles of their shoes wet!

Landing dry, however, was the exception rather than the rule. The LCI carrying Lt.-Col. William Warfield, CO of the 2nd Battalion, and part of the battalion headquarters group, came within ten yards of the beach. The troops waded through the water waist-deep but they were not forced to float their equipment ashore. This wading spelled trouble for the communications personnel. Their delicate electrical equipment, although waterproofed, usually was damaged by the salt water. A valiant sailor aboard LCI 408 (carrying Company G and the forward regimental CP) captured the admiration of all aboard by his heroism as the ship was hung up on an underwater obstacle placed off shore by the Germans. While the crew worked to get the vessel loose, the sailor jumped overboard and carried a rope through the dangerous waters to the beach where he made it fast. Fortunately the LCI was able to work itself off the obstacle and came closer in to shore.

As the first troops of the 1st and 2nd Battalions swam, stumbled, waded, and walked up a brief stretch of sand to the rocky, narrow beach, the panorama of activity and confusion was something never to be forgotten. Troops from the 1st and 29th Divisions milled around seeking their leaders and attempting to reorganize and get off the beach as quickly as possible. There was an occasional burst of fire from an enemy machine gun in an emplacement that had not yet been captured and there was a moderate amount of enemy artillery falling at the water’s edge and out among the landing craft. In some instances the artillery caused the untested men of the 29th to freeze up, adding to the congestion on the beach. In other cases the men scattered off the cleared pathways into minefields. Exits from the beach to the high ground were jammed and movement up the hill was slow. The primary concern of the men was to get off the beach and to the high ground where reorganization would be possible prior to a movement by the Regiment back to its correct sector and assigned objectives.

The regimental forward CP landed with Company G (the reserve company of the 2nd Battalion) at 1030. This was composed of Colonel Slappey, the regimental commander; Capt. George Nevius, S-3; Capt. Lucien Laborde, S-1 and acting S-2; Capt. Edward Stewart, Ammunition Officer and acting S-4; Lt. Everett Bryant of the S-3 Liaison Section; Capt. Christian Martin, CO of Company A, 121st Engineer Combat Battalion; and Capt. Theodore Cross, the Regimental Surgeon. Among the enlisted men of the regimental staff sections were M/Sgt. Theodore Hundley, Operations Sergeant; Sgt. Jack Hayes of the S-2 Section;