By Sidney A Salomon (1913 - 2004)
2 Silver Stars; Purple Heart w/Oak Leaf Cluster
CONCLUSION
In a little less than a four week period, 14 November - 11 December, the 2nd Ranger Battalion accomplished missions in the Germeter-Vossenack-Hurtgen-Bergstein perimeter that three infantry divisions and one armored division had been unable to do. And yet, during part of that period, the Rangers were in a reserve position and performing abbreviated training programs with their new replacements.
The weather conditions facing the divisions during this Germeter / Bergstein period were no different than those facing the Rangers, which meant frigid temperatures, sleety and snowy conditions and cold oozy mud. During the critical situations confronting the Rangers, there was never any breakdown in control from the officers to the noncoms to the privates. It came down to the point that well-trained and disciplined Rangers knew what had to be done and did it. When officers in the various Ranger companies became casualties, leadership at the company and/or platoon level did not suffer, as the noncoms immediately assumed command and control as they had been trained to do.
When the six Ranger line companies, supported by battalion headquarters personnel, were ordered to defend a specific plot of ground, that ground was held. When two Ranger companies had objectives to assault a dominant and heavily defended enemy observation hilltop, they completed the mission successfully and with great intensity, even though horrendous casualties resulted. Two other Ranger companies, one relieving the other in the Hurtgen Forest, also withstood tremendous artillery and mortar barrages, plus anti-personnel mine fields which resulted in heavy casualties to those companies, as they protected the flank of an infantry division.
Total cooperation existed between battalion and company level, and most important, the discipline, control, training and aggressiveness, and confidence of enlisted personnel and officers gave ample proof of the high respect for and value of an organization such as a Ranger battalion during World War II.
A Ranger line company has only a limited number of men (68) compared to an infantry division line company of 200 +. Vehicle transportation is non-existent. What you have in the way of weapons and ammunition is carried on your person. The lack of enemy defensive information that was passed along from the division to the Rangers did not prevent the Rangers from fulfilling their mission or objective. If proper intelligence information had been made available to the Rangers, the high casualty rate of the Rangers could have been reduced.
The German Ardennes offensive was to start in mid-December 1944. Part of the reason for the tenacious defense by the Germans of that Hurtgen-Vossenack-Bergstein area was due to the fact that possession of that ground was a key factor in their offensive plan. Hill 400, or Castle Hill as it is officially known, dominated that area. Artillery spotters with German artillery waiting for their target coordinates would be able to protect the hinge or flank of the great German army as it made its last desperate effort to defeat the Allies.
The 2nd Ranger Battalion had succeeded where others with far, far greater number of men and firepower had failed in neutralizing and holding this most important observation post. The retreating Germans had been badly hurt in losing this ground and battle, which at that time was the deepest penetration into Germany of any of the Allied Forces. It caused the Germans to narrow the approach of their assault from and through the Ardennes. With the loss of Hill 400, the Germans lost a large part of its ability to control the artillery fire against the Allies in the Roer Valley.
According to the U.S. 8th Division commanding general, General Weaver, "General Model, Chief of the German General Staff, had offered seven day furloughs and the Iron Cross to each member of the unit which was successful in the retaking of Hill 400." Among the units which tried and failed was one battalion of paratroopers, who at that time, were stationed in the Obermaubach area just to the north of Bergstein.
The actions of the 2nd Ranger Battalion in their possession of this area, played an integral part in helping to defuse the grandiose German offensive plans in the Ardennes. This German effort would be referred to as the Battle of the Bulge. Six months later, the war would grind to a halt with the Allied Forces on the victorious side.
Footnote to the aforementioned and attached Recommendation for the Presidential Unit Citation (Oak Leaf Cluster).
A number of years after the end of the war, a group of Rangers were informed for the first time that a recommendation for a Presidential Unit Citation had been submitted by a higher headquarters for the action of the 2nd Ranger Battalion in and around Bergstein. But, that it had been turned down. Since so many years had transpired, there was no information available as to why a negative response for the requested Citation. Further inquiry to re-open the matter was discouraged.
Bergstein and Castle Hill had been a key piece of ground in Hitler's personally orchestrated attack plan for a massive German breakthrough in the Ardennes to end the war in his favor.
It was the 2nd Ranger Battalion which had successfully secured Bergstein and assaulted Castle Hill, a very important enemy artillery OP, after an American infantry and an armored division had been unsuccessful in that attempt. The number of casualties and loss of life in this 48 hour terribly intense offensive action was extremely high for this small town and hill. The men of the 2nd Ranger Battalion had clearly demonstrated their high calibre of leadership, fortitude, discipline, bravery and overall ability in this successful drive against numerically superior enemy troops, led by a top enemy Field Marshall, General Model, who was Chief of the German General Staff.
The following is an excerpt of a five page letter signed by E.N. Harmon, Major General, U.S. Army, Commanding, recommending a Presidential Unit Citation for the Second Ranger Infantry Battalion.
Index
Posted here with kind permission of the family of the late Sidney A. Salomon.
Many thanks Peter.