As the weather began to turn cold in Autumn of 1944, the divisions of the First Army were slowly, but steadily, moving toward their goal to capture the German capital of Berlin. German forces were not going to give up that easily. An area of some of the most unyielding enemy resistance was centered around the area where the countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany join. The 121st Infantry Regiment, Georgia National Guard, which was mobilized in September of 1940 at the beginning of World War II, was assigned to the 8th Infantry Division of the First U.S. Army, under the command of General Courtney Hodges, a native of Houston County, Georgia. The regiment, originally made up of Georgians, was enlarged to include men from all over the country. Co. K of the 121st and HQ Co., 3rd Battalion were headquartered in Dublin. Some Laurens county guardsmen served in other companies of the regiment. By 1944, most of the original members were serving in other army units.
At midnight on the morning of November 20, 1944, the order came for an attack on the towns of Hurtgen, Kleinau, and the Brandenberg-Bergstein Ridge. The 8th division was assigned to relieve the 28th division, which had been engaged in bitter fighting for two months. American generals believed that one more sustained push would break the German lines. When the attack began on the morning of the 21st, the 121st, with Col. John R. Jeter in command, was moving northward from Luxembourg. The 1st battalion was assigned to take the woods south and west of Hurtgen. The 2nd battalion would be on the left flank in the Hurtgen Forest west of the town. The 3rd battalion, including Companies I, K, L, and M, was sent to the toward the woods south of town in open trucks in a cold rain. Maj. Wesley Hogan’s troops halted their ride near the Weisser Weh Valley southwest of Germeter and began a long and arduous march. When the Germans saw movement, they directed mortar fire in its direction. By now the rain had turned to sleet. The sleet would soon turn to snow. The 2nd battalion was in a “pickle.” Fortunately, Co. K had a little time to rest.
The 3rd battalion moved into a position on level ground near the Wilde Saw minefield. Anti personnel and anti-tank mines posed extreme hazards for the infantry, as well as the American tanks and vehicles. Co. I was able to move the closest to the German lines before Thanksgiving day on the 23rd of November. At the end of the day, the 3rd Battalion had made the most progress of any of the units.
Photo: Thomas Kilgore, Company A, 121st Infantry, Macon, Georgia.
In a move that dumbfounded some, the soldiers of the 121st were pulled back from their positions for Thanksgiving dinner. They got in lines for a cold and soggy turkey dinner. By this time, General Hodges had become furious with Major General Donald Stroh for the 8th Division’s lack of progress.
On Friday, the 3rd Battalion made a push up the Germeter to Hurtgen Road and the adjoining woods. The tanks of the 70th Tank Battalion suffered heavy losses and were forced into a withdrawal. Major Hogan ordered Co. K to attack without armor protection. The mines were becoming deadlier. Twelve engineers were killed or wounded along with thirty riflemen. When a second attack failed to succeed, Hogan removed the company commander at 1820 hours. During that night, the engineers set out to remove mines from the road and is shoulders.
Nearly as fast as they could remove the mines, German soldiers placed new ones to thwart the American advance. By the end of the 4th day of the battle, casualties in the 121st stood at 50 killed and 600 wounded. They were still three miles from
the Roer River, while Hurtgen remained under German control.
In a move of desperation, an attack on Hurtgen was ordered on the 25th. The CCR, 5th Armored Division moved through the positions of the 3rd Battalion. Their were serious concerns that the 3rd Battalion couldn’t keep up with the tanks due to mines and wet ground conditions. German forces began firing on the tanks as soon as they got on the road. When the attack stalled, Col. Jeter was relieved by Col. Thomas Cross. On the morning of the 26th, the 1st and 2nd Battalions moved toward Hurtgen. General Stroh was also relieved of his command. Stroh, who had lost his son in battle several weeks before, was the highest ranking American officer to lose his job in the Hurtgen Forest campaign. Brigadier General Walter Weaver took over command of the Division.
Sgt. Ira T. Garnto was head of intelligence in HQ Co. 2nd Battalion. Garnto remembered: “The trees, mostly pine trees, were in bad shape, all split and splintered. I remember sleeping sitting up some nights. I served in the headquarters 2nd battalion under the command of Lt. Col. Henry B. Kunzig. I was in the forward Command Post with Col. Kunzig. He wanted a messenger from each company and wanted someone in charge of the messengers. I took four messengers from each of the four companies in our battalion and went back to Col. Kunzig’s bunker and remained there with him. I was walking into the Town of Hurtgen after it was captured. I had just come into the edge of town and was standing by a German tank in front of the first building on the left. I was waiting on my next orders when I heard an artillery round coming in. It hit the tank with a strange thud, but it didn’t explode. I was lucky. It started snowing after a few days, but the snow was much better than the sloppy mud. The slop was worse than the snow. It slowed us down. Many of our casualties came from frostbite. The tanks had no way to go in the mud in the forest. I guess we just outlasted them.”
On the 27th, the final attack on the town of Hurtgen began. The 1st and 2nd Battalions led the assault. Co. K followed Co. I toward Hill 54. From that vantage point, mortar men pummeled the town of Hurtgen, which eventually fell. One passing soldier was stunned at what he saw. There were men loading frozen, dead bodies into a two and one-half ton truck. One man would grab one end and another the other end and place them in the truck like firewood. After nearly three months of the fighting, the attempt to take the Hurtgen Forest ended. It is criticized by some to have been one of the biggest waste of men during the European Campaign. The V Corps casualties were twenty five percent, 4,000 out of 16,000 were killed, wounded, or missing in action.
Despite the questions raised about the military advisability of the attack, the men of the 121st and the Laurens County guardsmen kept on fighting until the could not fight any more. In the early days of December the 8th Division supported the taking of Kleinhau and the Brandenburg-Bergstein Ridge. One officer of the 121st remarked, “ The men are physically exhausted. The spirit and will to fight are there, the ability to continue is gone. These men have been fighting without rest or sleep for four days and last night were forced to lie unprotected from the weather in an open field. In some instances men were forced to discard their overcoats because they lacked the strength to wear them. These men are shivering with cold, and their hands are so numb that they have to help one another on with their equipment.”
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, on behalf of Pres. Harry S. Truman, recognized the men of the 121st Infantry with a residential Unit Citation, which read in part: “The 121st Infantry and attached units are cited for extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance of duty in action from 21 to 28 November 1944. During this period they made a relentless and determined drive to overcome bitter opposition in the Hurtgen Forest and the capture of the town of Hurtgen. The bloody and bitterly contested advance, which taxed individual fortitude and stamina to the limit, represented the major offensive effort of the 8th Infantry Division and V Corps in effecting a breakthrough in this heavily defended sector.
Despite its high casualty rate, the 121st displayed extremely courageous fighting qualities in attack a strongly fortified enemy.”
The men of the 121st gave up their Thanksgiving fifty five years ago. They dreamed of being at home - eating mamma’s turkey and dressing and taking in the traditional Dublin High School football game that morning. But, there was a job to do. Most of them had made it from Utah Beach, where they arrived on Independence Day, all the way into Germany - an accomplishment that they all were thankful for. They just wanted to do their job and come home - back to mamma’s house for next Thanksgiving. David Gladstone Daniel was killed in the Hurtgen Forest - he never had another Thanksgiving.
My father, Leonard Sapp, was with the 394th Infantry under the command of Col John R Jeter. I wrote to the National Archives several years ago and they sent back a copy of the 394th's story. A lot of These very brave men went through hell in these battles. God bless all of them.
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