CARL THOMAS THORNTON

526th Armored Infantry Battalion

Headquarters Company

Intelligence & Reconnaissance

History in Words and Photos

04/13/14

THORNTON GENEALOGY PROJECT 2011

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526th Armored Infantry Battalion

Headquarters Company

Intelligence/Reconnaissance Platoon

Left to Right

Back Row

Middle Row Seated, Front Row
A - Steve Zazula

B - Thomas Brewer

C - Tommy Williams

D - Clint Tabor

E - Lewis J. Schumann

F - Joe Borowy

G - Donald Shoffstall

H - Albert L. Kiefer

I - Leonard Cerda

J - Richard Wurm

K - Glenn Damron

L - Okla D. Sloan

M - Norman J. Owens

N - Louie Lopez

O - Carl Thornton

P - Walter Hees

Q - Edwin Carpenter

R - Larry Stiglbauer

S - James L. Goddard

T - Roy Boehm

U - Peter Jagunic

V - Bob Stevenson

W - Isadore J. Anderson

Not Pictured

Leon Briggs and T. H. Welch

Shield: Azure, a chevron, between in chief a battleaxe

fesswise and in base three bugle horns stringed, all argent.

Motto: Validi Milites (Valiant Warriors). The Chevron is

used to represent the line shield at Malmedy, Belgium,

in World War 11. The 526th Armored Infantry Battalion,

on its first combat mission, was the first combat force

to reach Malmedy. The three bugle horns are taken

from the coat of arms of the province of Liege in Belgium,

where the town of Malmedy is located. The battleaxe,

an ancient Infantry

526th Armored Infantry Battalion

Lineage

Constituted in Army of United States 26 February 1943

as 526th Armored Infantry Battalion.

Activated 20 March at Fort Knox, Ky.

Inactivated 25 November 1945 in European Theater.

Campaign Streamers - World War 11

Northern France, Ardennes-Alsace,

Rhineland, Central Europe

Decorations

Cited in the Order of the Day, Belgium Army,

for the ARDENNES (DA G) 43, 1950)

The Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) is the U.S. Army combat service recognition decoration awarded to soldiers—enlisted men and officers (commissioned and warrant) holding colonel rank or below, who personally fought in active ground combat while an assigned member of either an infantry or a Special Forces unit, of brigade size or smaller, any time after 6 December 1941. The CIB and its non-combat analogue, the infantry skill-recognition Expert Infantryman Badge (EIB) were simultaneously created during World War II as primary recognition of the combat service and sacrifices of the infantrymen who would likely be wounded or killed in numbers disproportionate to those of soldiers from the Army’s other service branches. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_Infantryman_Badge

The 526th Armored Infantry Battalion Association WWII

Newsletter: Published quarterly March - June - September - December

The Sole, Separate and Remaining Combat Armored Infantry Battalion of World War II

Volume 20 December 2000 Issue 4

"OUR JET"

By Glenn Damxon

Walt Hees and Norman Owens

I & R Platoon

Hdqs Company

 

On July 25, 1944 there appeared in the embattled skies over Europe, a type of aircraft powered by engines so revolutionary that it would open a whole new era of aerial warfare and aerial transportation.

Manufactured by the Germans, the plane was the Messerschmitt ME 262 nicknamed Swallow. These were the only jet planes used in combat in World War 11.

The two engines that powered it were jets, the first on any operational aircraft. With these engines, the plane could fly higher at 37,664 feet and faster at 540 miles an hour than any other fighter aircraft then in existence.

With a range of 660 miles and armed with four 30 MM cannons, with a total of 360 rounds of ammo, it was a deadly fighting machine. Twenty four unguided rockets could be mounted in racks under the slightly swept back wings. By comparison the allies' fastest aircraft, the P51 Mustang and the P47 Thunderbolt, could only go about 450 miles an hour.

The new airplane was not invulnerable, however. Some of the approximately 300 that were operational were shot down in aerial ;ombat, some were blown from the sky by ground fire. Of the more than 1,400 of these craft that were produced, most were destroyed on the ground by bombing and strafing.

 

How the 526th AIB became involved.

 

March 26 was a beautiful clear day in the early spring of 1945.

Headquarters Company of the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion was in convoy coming from Koblenz, Germany enroute to Frankfurt, Germany. They were traveling on the Autobahn and should have been able to make good time but care had to be taken. The Germans were fighting hard and the roadway was fringed by trees and dense underbrush. For this reason the convoy was moving cautiously with at least a fifty yard interval between each vehicle and greater intervals between platoons.

The 526th was the fighting part of a tack force who's mission was to capture and hold assigned German personnel or buildings until the targets could be interrogated, the building secured and documents processed.

The lead two jeeps from the Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon were a good distance ahead of the rest of the convoy. In the first jeep was asst. squad leader Cpl. Walter Hees and driver Joe Borowy with lead scout Leonard Cerda. The second jeep contained driver Carl Thornton and scout Richard Wurm. There may have been a third soldier in the second jeep.

Things were going well. There was no immediate apparent danger although shooting could be heard in the distance. The warmth of the sun felt good. The scouts and the asst. squad leader scanned the trees and brush with their eyes, their guns ready for trouble.

Suddenly Wurm in the second jeep shouted, "Hees, look over there." In the trees and underbrush, faintly discernible was the outline of a large, well camouflaged piece of machinery. They radioed the convoy that they had found something and stopped to investigate.

They approached the object cautiously on foot. As they came closer , the outline of an airplane took shape. An airplane? By the Autobahn?

After checking the surrounding area for guards or booby traps and finding none, they carefully approached the plane. Unbelievable! What they had found was a complete, undamaged, two engine airplane with no propellers, and on the ground just waiting for them, this had to be the latest German secret weapon.

Unfortunately they couldn't inspect it as closely as they would have liked. They couldn't even uncover it. After making their report, they had to continue leading the convoy to Frankfurt. (It is not known by this writer who took photos of them them, but I have seen pictures of the plane with the camouflage still on it and after it had been removed.)

Others in the convoy stopped, removed the camouflage cover and examined the plane thoroughly. After securing it they were relieved and continued on to Frankfurt.

The ME 262 was next to the Autobahn because German airports had been considerably destroyed and they were using the highway for a runway. Besides, who would ever think of looking there for it?

Another curious twist occurred in 1970. Here is an excerpt from a letter Walt Hees wrote to Glenn Damron.

Quote: "1 was attending a General Atomic lunch meeting in San Diego. I was there as an Automotive Representative and still stationed in Detroit. One of the other representatives there was Jack Edgemond, the Engineering V. P. for Emerson Electric during WW11. Jack was (now deceased) a man of many interests - boating (he owned a yacht) and aircraft - a couple of his associates owned jets. Jack flew them.

During the lunch Jack started to talk about his jet flying experiences. I commented that during the war I was in an outfit that discovered the first intact Messerschmitt". Jack stopped me and said, "Yes, I know about that. That plane was taken by rail to Paris under top priority, disassembled and flown directly to Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio." I was floored! Jack than explained that he didn't know anything about the 526th (like everyone else we never did get any credit for our part.) What Jack did know was that a close friend of his during the war was the one at Wright Field who did all of the initial testing of "Our Jet".

Photos and stories of finding the jet has been on TV, CNN, The History Channel but the 526th A.I.B. was never mentioned.

Walt continued saying, "I don't expect you to use all this Jack Edgemond stuff in your story; it's minor to the point of the story. I just wanted to give you all the background to what I always considered a very unusual incident." unquote.

Ed comment: At the outset of operations on continental Europe, it was realized in the higher intelligence echelons of the Theater that existing organic intelligence agencies would be inadequate to the mission of exploiting fully the larger and more important cities and areas containing intelligence and counterintelligence targets. It was therefore decided at Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force to organize intelligence collecting units known as "T-Forces", designed to operate at army group level with the mission of seizing, safeguarding and facilitating the exploitation of important intelligence and counterintelligence targets in the larger cities and in designated areas which would be uncovered in the course of the advance of the Allied forces across Europe. As a result, this operation and names of units involved became classified information. This classification status was not lifted until the early '50's.

 

Malmedy Survivor Statement

December 20, 1944

Sworn Statement

 

The following article appeared in THE PEKAN NEWSLETTER of October 2007 which is the newsletter of the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion. And in THE BULGE BUGLE, February 2008.

Battery "B", 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, in convoy going south three miles from Malmedy, stopped the convoy at 13h00 when motor fire and machine gun fire was heard.

We got out of the truck and jumped in a ditch beside the vehicles. Some men took off when they saw we were being captured. They took watches, gloves and cigarettes from the prisoners then they put us inside a barbed wire fence.

Tanks passed for 15 minutes. Everything was alright until a command car turned the corner. At that time an officer in the command car fired a shot with his pistol at a medical officer who was one yard away to my left; then he fired another shot to my right.

At that time a tank followed the command car and opened fire on the 175 men inside the fence. We all fell and lay as still as we could.

Every tank that passed from then on would fire into the group laying there. At one time they came around with a pistol and fired at every officer that had bars showing. (One officer put mud on his helmet to cover the bars).

The tanks stopped passing about 14h45. At 15h00 someone said let's go. At that time 15 men got up and started to run north from where we were laying on the side of the road.

Twelve of the men ran into a house (northwestern part of the crossroad) and three of us kept going. There was a machine at the crossroads plus four Germans.

When we got in back of the house they could not fire the machine gun at us. They burnt the house down into which the 12 men ran. When the three of us were in the back of the house we played dead again because a German in a black uniform came around with a pistol looking over us. We lay there until dark, when we rolled into a hedgerow where we weren't under observation.

Laying there was a S/Sgt from the 2nd Division shot in the arm. We started to walk but stayed 200 to 300 yards from the main road. In about a quarter of a mile we met a medic who was shot in the foot and a fellow from my outfit. The four of us came into Malmedy.

All I got was a scratch on my fingers from a machine gun.

 

Source: Battle of the Bulge February 2008

526th Armored Infantry Battalion
Attached Image 526th A.I.B. Battleaxe Patch

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2197

"I have very little information on this unit. Here are a few comments from a website. Apparently they were the only Armored Infantry Battalion to get overseas. Their campaigns were Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe, Northern France, Rhineland. Left the US 19 March 1944, Arrived England 12 April 1944, Arrived France 24 August 1944, August 1945 in Wiesbaden, Germany (Order of Battle US Army WW2 by Shelby Stanton)"

526th Armored Infantry Battalion

From http://history.sandiego.edu/news/article.p...021101103106880

"The battalion was the only American armored infantry battalion that trained with top secret Canal Defense Lights, a British armor-infantry tactic. They trained in one of the camps of General George Patton's Desert Training Center, and in Rosebush, Wales. The lights were never used in battle. Before and after the Battle of the Bulge the battalion was part of "T" Force, a 12th U.S. Army Group unit that would move into captured towns in Europe and seize material of intelligence value. They would take over factories, police stations and other government buildings. At times they would escort scientists and intelligence agents to pre-selected targets.

"One company of this battalion served as an honor guard for top Allied Generals. The battalion also guarded Nazi military and civilian officials in Weisbaden after the war."

 
 
 

WW2 526TH ARMOR INFANTRY BATTALION

THEATRE MADE PATCH

http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/usarmy/infantry.aspx

In addition to the divisions, there were also a large number of separate infantry, parachute infantry, and glider infantry regiments and battalions. Most of them were utilized as garrisons or for guard lines of communication. For example, only a single separate armored infantry battalions (the 526th) saw combat, the remaining fourteen were disbanded or converted to other units.

In the ETO; the 3rd, 29th, 65th (Puerto Rican), 118th, 156th, 159th (arrived March 1945 after service in the Aleutians) 442nd (Nisei), 473d (organized by the Fifth Army in Italy on 19 December 1944 from three AAA battalions), and 474th (organized in France on 6 January 1945, with the 99th Battalion and remnants of the 1st, 3d, and 4th Rangers and 1st Special Service Force), and 517th Parachute regiments; and the 1st-5th Ranger, 99th (Norwegian), 100th (Nisei, which in mid 1944 replaced the old 1st/442d which was disbanded -- the 100th retained its original designation), 509th Parachute, 526th Armored, 550th Glider, and 551st Parachute battalions.

HQ Company

526th Armored Infantry Bn

Campaigns

Battle of the Bulge,

Belgium

 

http://www.battleofthebulgememories.be/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=501:the-526th-armored-infantry-battalion-in-the-bulge&catid=1:battle-of-the-bulge-us-army&Itemid=6&lang=fr

The 526th Armored Infantry Battalion

in the Bulge

On October 26, 1944, the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion, assigned to the 10th Armored Group, was located in the vicinity of Granville, Normandy, France. This battalion claimed the distinction at that time, and still does, of being the only separate armored infantry battalion in the Army. On that day orders came in for the battalion to move to Verdun and become a part of Special Troops of 12th Army Group. From Verdun the battalion departed for destination in Belgium and Luxembourg.

From October 30 to December 17, 1944, the battalion was “permanently” stationed with the headquarters at Harze, Belgium.

It was here that the battalion received its first taste of Buzz bombs and V-2’s. In one incident a bomb landed 500 yards away from the battalion C.P. and broke windows and damaged the building.

At 1600 hours, Sunday December 17, the battalion was ordered by First U.S. Army to move to Malmedy, Belgium, with Company “A” 825th Tank Destroyer Battalion attached, and to join the 99th Infantry Battalion (Norwegian) at Remouchamps en route. At 1900 hours the battalion was formed on the Aywaille-Remouchamps road and waiting to fall in with the 99th Infantry Battalion at Remouchamps. The 99th Infantry Battalion failed to show up by 2100 so this battalion was ordered to move alone at once, picking up Company “A” 825th en route at La Reid, Belgium. It was during this period that the Luftwaffe suddenly came to life, strafed and bombed roads between Spa and Malmedy.

The battalion plus Company “A”, 825th Tank Destroyer Battalion, then proceeded on to Malmedy. Road conditions were bad and it was exceedingly difficult to maintain control in the blackout. En route one rifle squad half-track and one half-track with a towed 57mm AT gun dropped out of the column as a result of accidents. The 57mm AT gun and half-track, in following, took position at Trois-Ponts and engaged an enemy column of 18 tanks (Kampfgruppe Peiper), knocking out the lead tank which blocked the advance. However, the 57mm was, in turn, knocked out and four men killed and one wounded.

Shortly after midnight December 17-18, a message was received from First U.S. Army that enemy tanks were approaching Stavelot and ordered one rifle company and one platoon of tank destroyers dispatched there to form road blocks and hold the enemy. Company “A” with 1st Platoon, Company “A”, 825th Tank Destroyer Battalion attached was selected for this assignment, and the executive officer was placed in command of the task force.

3rd Squad: AT 57mm gun “B” Company, 526th AIB

First row – left to right: Edward R. Berdine, Doyle Isaacs, Donald D. Hollenbeck (KIA), John H. Surdo, and Albert Smith.

Second row: Dallas N. Buchannan (KIA), Ralf J. Bieker, Donald J. Devoto (transferred to another Company few days before the battle), Lillard B. McCollum (KIA) and James L. Higgins (KIA). (Document: The Pekan)

The balance of the force continued on to Malmedy. On arrival, it immediately began to set up road blocks and defensive positions. This battalion, plus the tank destroyers, were the first combat unit to take up positions for the defense of Malmedy. The 99th Infantry Battalion arrived immediately following the arrival of the 526th and took positions in and around the town. The 117th Infantry began to arrive about daylight on the morning of December 18.

Company “A” plus the platoon of tank destroyers, reached Stavelot at 0400 hours, and two rifle platoons with one section of tank destroyers were sent across the river (L’Ambleve) to set up road blocks. At 0500 contact was made with the enemy, and, in the ensuing fight, the town of Stavelot changed hands several times. As a result of this engagement, the enemy was prevented from going on into Spa or accomplishing his mission.

At Stavelot was a gasoline dump with an estimated three million gallons, and in his drive to the west, Rundstedt had relied heavily on capturing gasoline and other supplies for his forces. Some of this gasoline was destroyed by the task force to prevent it from falling in the hands of the enemy and to form a road block, and the Germans never got beyond this block which was covered by fire of Company “A” weapons. Spa was only about 11 miles away and with no other combat troops to stop the enemy, this one company with the attached platoon was possibly the only force that saved First U.S. Army Headquarters from capture by the Germans. The casualties for this small force were heavy, but the mission was accomplished.

Meanwhile, the situation in Malmedy consisted of strong enemy reconnaissance in force and by fire, but all attacks were repulsed with heavy losses. The Germans were attempting to take Malmedy in order to complete a road net for their spearheads into Liege, but never succeeded in getting more than a few patrols into the city, and they were either captured or annihilated. The assault gun, machine gun and mortar platoons of Headquarters Company were on the lines continuously and fired thousands of rounds.

On January 3, 1945, the battalion was ordered to make a limited objective attack on the high ground (Houyire's hill) a few thousand yards to the front. This attack was to be made by one rifle company supported by a platoon of tanks and artillery with a rifle platoon protecting the flank at Baugnez. It was to be made in conjunction with a general attack by the forces on the northern side of the Bulge. Since the battalion was near the hinge of the Bulge, it was a diversionary attack to draw the attention of the enemy from the main attack farther west. The attack was successful in that the enemy drew his reserves away from the main effort in order to meet the push of this point. However, the cost of the attacks was high, and out of approximately 250 men who participated, 65 were casualties. Nineteen were killed and eighteen were missing.

On January 17, 1945, the battalion was relieved from First U.S. Army. The battalion had been in the line for 31 days.

During the period of combat at Malmedy and Stavelot, casualties were: 33 killed, 58 wounded, and 24 missing. The orders were to hold Malmedy and Stavelot at all costs. The two towns were held and the enemy did not gain use of the road nets offered by them. Losses in vehicles were as follows: for the 526th, 2 half-tracks, one ¼ ton truck and three 3-inch towed tank destroyer guns.

Source: Article written by George L. WENDT on December 27, 1989.

 

http://www.526th.org/

For information about the

526th Armored Infantry Battalion, please contact:

 

Sherrie Morrison
Pekan Editor - Secretary / Treasurer
P.O. Box 456
Yolo, CA 95697
e-mail: 526aib@sbcglobal.net
Ph: 530-662-8160

http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=29211

The 526th Armored Infantry Battalion
World War II

The 526th Armored Infantry Battalion Marker Photo, Click for full size

By Bill Kirchner, March 14, 201

1. The 526th Armored Infantry Battalion Marker

Inscription. In honored memory of those soldiers of the battalion who trained here at Camp Bouse and gave their lives in combat to preserve the freedom of the United States and to set the Peoples of Europe free.

Headquarters Company
Donald D. Hauger, Harry J. Moyles, Robert R Sullivan

"A" CompanyHarland S Bittinger, Raymond R. Dukes (Kia, Korea), Jack W. Ellery, James A. Evans, Lloyd E Fisher, Dale B. Nelson, Ralph Quesenberry

"B" CompanyDonald J Banks, Gordon I Blaisdell, Warren Blankenship, Hugo G. Brossman Dallas W. Buchanan, Harry B. Burlile, John C. Bush, Sam Colosi, James Coslett, Robert B. Craven, Leo J Day, William C. Duncan, Joe G Farina, William D Ferguson, David J. Heron, John A. Hess, James L. Higgins, D. B. Hollenbeck, Ralph L Iverson, Delbert J. Johnson, Warren H Knoelke, Rosco Lively, John Lopez, Oliver I. Love, Ralph G. Manis, Lillard B. McCollum, Moises A Moreno, Ralph, C. Russell, Warner Schuster, Francis L Snyder, Bernard J Ward

Medical Detachment
Joseph A Ricks

They did not grow old, as we that were left grew old, age did not weary them, nor the years condemn, at the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.

Erected 2005 by The Citizens of Bouse, The Lost Dutchman and the Billy Holcomb Chapters of E Clampus Vitus and the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion Association.

Marker series. This marker is included in the E Clampus Vitus marker series.

Location. 33° 55.888′ N, 114° 0.289′ W. Marker is in Bouse, Arizona, in La Paz County. Marker is on Broadway Avenue (Arizona Route 72 at milepost 27) south of Main Street, on the right when traveling west. Click for map. Marker is in this post office area: Bouse AZ 85325, United States of America.

The 526th Armored Infantry Battalion Marker Photo, Click for full size

By Bill Kirchner, March 14, 2010

2. The 526th Armored Infantry Battalion Marker

The 526th Armored Infantry Battalion Marker is second marker from right in photo.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. In Memory of Eight Ball - Morale Officer (here, next to this marker); Camp Bouse (here, next to this marker); Monument Row (a few steps from this marker); 738th Medium Tank Battalion, Special (a few steps from this marker); 739th Tank Battalion (SP) (ME) (a few steps from this marker); a different marker also named Camp Bouse (a few steps from this marker); a different marker also named Camp Bouse (a few steps from this marker); George L Wendt (within shouting distance of this marker). Click for a list of all markers in Bouse.

Monument Row, Bouse, Arizona Photo, Click for full size

By Bill Kirchner, March 14, 2010

3. Monument Row, Bouse, Arizona

Credits. This page originally submitted on March 28, 2010, by Bill Kirchner of Tucson, Arizona. This page has been viewed 711 times since then. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on March 28, 2010, by Bill Kirchner of Tucson, Arizona. • Syd Whittle was the editor who published this page.

Camp Bouse The 526th A. I. B. - Canal Defense Light Project

Quick Description: Monument Row in Bouse Arizona is dedicated to the various battalions that trained at Camp Bouse. Camp Bouse was established in 1942 by Gen George Patton as one of the eleven bases of his "Desert Training Center". 9000 GI's were housed there.

Long Description:
"Camp Bouse
The 526th A. I. B.
Canal Defense Light Project
Desert Training Center
California – Arizona Maneuver Area

Camp Bouse was established in Butler Valley 30 miles behind this monument in Sept. of 1943. It was one of twelve such camps built in the southwestern deserts to harden and train United States troops for service on the battlefields of World War II. The desert training center was a simulated theater of operations that included portions of California and Arizona. The other camps were Young, Coxcomb, Granite, Iron Mountain, Ibis Clipper, Pilot Knob, Laguna, Horn, Hyder and Rice.

Camp Bouse was the home of the 9th tank group which consisted of six tank battalions, one armored infantry battalion, an ordnance company and a station hospital. The group trained in absolute secrecy mainly at night. The light device consisted of a high powered search light, mounted in an armored housing on a tank. Its purpose was to temporarily blind the enemy at night. The role of the 526th infantry was to defend the operations of the CD tanks and attack if security of the tanks was being threatened.

The 526th AIB was separated from the 9th tank group in France, August 1944 and was assigned to the 12th Army group HDQ under command of Gen. Omar Bradley, "C" Company became a security unit for Gen Bradley in Luxembourg. The remainder of the battalion was heavily involved during the Battle of the Bulge, fighting the enemy in the Belgian towns of Trois-Ponts, Stavelot, Malmedy, Hedomont, Bougnee, and Geromont.

After the Bulge and until VE Day the 526th became part of "T" force. The purpose of "T" Force missions were to seize, safeguard and process enemy documents, archives and material of intelligence or counter-intelligence and capture enemy agents, military officers and key collaborators.

This monument if dedicated to all the soldiers that served here and especially for those who gave their lives in battle, ending the Holocaust & defeating the armed forces of Nazi Germany.


Plaque placed by the Lost Dutchman, Billy Holcomb, John P. Squibob Chapter of the Ancient & Honorable order of E Clampus Vitus, The 526th Armored Infantry Battalion Assoc and in Co-operation with the Bouse Chamber of Commerce.

January 18th, 1997"

 

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/super-rare-526th-armored-battleaxe-ike-jacket-idd

The 526th is truly a unique and elite unit.

The 526th Battleaxe was the only Armored Infantry Battalion to get overseas. Their campaigns were Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe, Northern France, Rhineland. They left the US 19 March 1944, Arrived England 12 April 1944, Arrived France 24 August 1944, August 1945 in Wiesbaden, Germany (Order of Battle US Army WW2 by Shelby Stanton)
526th Armored Infantry Battalion
From /news/article.p...021101103106880
"The battalion was the only American armored infantry battalion that trained with top secret Canal Defense Lights, a British armor-infantry tactic. They trained in one of the camps of General George Patton's Desert Training Center, and in Rosebush, Wales. The lights were never used in battle. Before and after the Battle of the Bulge the battalion was part of "T" Force, a 12th U.S. Army Group unit that would move into captured towns in Europe and seize material of intelligence value. They would take over factories, police stations and other government buildings. At times they would escort scientists and intelligence agents to pre-selected targets.
"One company of this battalion served as an honor guard for top Allied Generals. The battalion also guarded Nazi military and civilian officials in Weisbaden after the war."

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/megarare-german-silk-526th-armored-150989641

The BATTLE AXE of the 526th Armor Infantry Battalion, was the attack unit of “T” Force for the 12th Army Group. Not only was in NOT a Tank Battalion, but it was in one ASMIC article stated well as… rather a separate Armored Infantry Battalion, the ONLY one to serve in the European Theatre” The 526th was also instrumental in the St Lô, Avranches, Operation Cobra and on into the Ardennes. In Stavelot there is a memorial to the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion!

Now, as to a lengthy history:

The 526th AIB is the sole remaining, separate armored infantry battalion from World War II, whose soldiers defended the Belgian villages of Stavelot and Malmedy on December 16TH, 1944, the first day of the Battle of the Bulge. The 117th Infantry, first of the 30th Division regiments to be fed into the line, had been deploying on the morning of 18 December around Malmédy. Its 1ST Battalion (Lt. Col. Ernest Frankland), under orders to occupy Stavelot, circled through Francorchamps to approach the town from the north.

On the road Colonel Frankland met officers of the 526TH Armored Infantry Battalion who told him that the enemy was in Stavelot. Although without artillery support, Colonel Frankland launched his attack at Stavelot. On the slope north of the town a platoon of 3-inch towed tank destroyers from the 823RD Tank Destroyer Battalion made good use of positions above the Germans to knock out a brace of Mark VI tanks and a few half-tracks.

The two leading companies of the 1st Battalion had just reached the houses at the northern edge of the town when ten hostile tanks, returning in haste from Trois Ponts, counterattacked.

It might have gone hard with the American infantry but for the fighter-bombers of the IX Tactical Air Command and XXIX Tactical Air Command, which opportunely entered the fray. During the afternoon the American planes had worked east from the La Gleize area, where the little liaison planes had first signaled the presence of German columns, and struck where-ever Peiper’s tanks and motor vehicles could be found.

Perhaps the trail provided by the rearward serials of Kampfgruppe Peiper led the fighter-bombers to Stavelot; perhaps the 106TH Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, which broke through the clouds to make one sweep over the town, tipped off the squadrons working farther west. Before the German tanks could make headway, planes from the 365th Fighter Group, reinforced by the 390TH Squadron (366TH) and the 50TH Squadron (404TH), plunged in, crippled a few enemy vehicles, and drove the balance to cover, leaving the infantry and tank destroyers to carry out the cleanup inside Stavelot on more equitable terms.

By dark the two American companies held half of the town, had tied in with the 2d Battalion between Stavelot and Malmédy, and were On the morning of 21 December the American forces in and around Malmédy were substantial: the 120TH Infantry (minus a battalion in division reserve); the “Norwegians,” that is, the 99TH Infantry Battalion; the 526TH Armored Infantry Battalion; a company from the 291st Engineer Battalion; and a tank company.

http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/bulge/5.html#526thArmoredInfantryBattalion

526th Armored Infantry Battalion

Carl Smith (526th Armored Infantry) "The Gas Dump at Stavelot." Pursued by a Panzer tank, they set a gas dump alight.

Vic Brennan (526th Armored Infantry Battalion). A vain attack on a German Tiger.

Private Walker Fields (526th Armored Infantry Battalion) on destroying a German fuel dump near Stavelot.

John V. Pehovic (526th Armored Infantry Battalion), "12 Hours in Stavelot". Gripping narrative.

 

"The battle at Stavelot erupted with such quick dynamic force that it almost defies description. A full pitched battle developed and was underway as soon as the task force arrived. We knew nothing of the terrain, there were no lines of communication, we had no idea what troops were in the area, nor what this disposition was — we moved into a complete vacuum with no time to evaluate the situation nor time to develop a plan of resistance."
"I confirm that the 526th AIB, and especially Company "A", while they may bow their heads in deference to other famous units in the Army, they never have to bow in humility."

 

Charles A. Mitchell (526th Armored Infantry) "Action at Stavelot: 17-18 December 1944"

http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/bulge/10.html

"The German attack of 16 December 1944"

The German attack of  December

http://www.9thdivision.com/Members_Only_Pages/membersonly_callsigns.htm

RADIO CALL SIGNS

526th Armored Infantry Battalion (Hq 526th Arm’d. Inf. Bn.)
BATTLEAXE

World War II
Phonetic Alphabet

World War II
Phonetic Alphabet

NATO*
Phonetic Alphabet

A

Able

A

Alpha

B

Baker

B

Bravo

C

Charlie

C

Charlie

D

Dog

D

Delta

E

Easy

E

Echo

F

Fox

F

Foxtrot

G

George

G

Golf

H

How

H

Hotel

I

Item

I

India

J

Jig

J

Juliette

K

King

K

Kilo

L

Love

L

Lima

M

Mike

M

Mike

N

Nan

N

November

O

Oboe

O

Oscar

P

Peter

P

Papa

Q

Queen

Q

Quebec

R

Roger

R

Romeo

S

Sugar

S

Sierra

T

Tare

T

Tango

U

Uncle

U

Uniform

V

Victor

V

Victor

W

William

W

Whiskey

X

X Ray

X

X Ray

Y

Yoke

Y

Yankee

Z

Zebra

Z

Zulu

Army Song Book from WWII

http://www.9thdivision.com/Members_Only_Pages/membersonly_cadences.htm

THE CADENCES WE USE

SO YOU CAN LEARN THE WORDS

Jody Cadence

She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

My Girl

The Infantry, The Infantry

http://www.eucmh.com/tag/stavelot/

Stavelot Photos

http://home.planet.nl/~wijer037/Bulge/default.htm

Video of the Battle of the Bulge.

http://home.planet.nl/~wijer037/Bulge/default.htm

Video made by AFN (Armed Forces Network) during one of my tours with the Dutch Army. Special Guest was Rolf Odendahl, German veteran of the 3rd Fallschirmjäger Division. He told his story about the fightings in January 1945 and how he - after being captured - was being interrigated by US Troops. (his complete story is in the book 'Operations of the 3rd Fallschirmjäger Division' during the Battle of the Bulge).



http://home.planet.nl/~wijer037/Bulge/default.htm

Parts of the Battlefield Detectives in which we see several veterans and myself plus others giving their opinion on the BoB.

Bronze Star

The Bronze Star Medal was officially installed by Executive Order 9419 on 4th February 1944. It was based on the idea of Colonel Russell P. “Red” Reeder in 1943. He had launched the thought that it was good for moral of the military if there was a decoration that could be awarded by Captains of a Company or Battery to the personnel who served under their command. Colonel Reeder saw this medal as the ground version of the Air Medal and first introduced the name “Ground Medal”. At first the decoration was to be instituted with the U.S. Navy to be given to ground and surface personnel for heroic or meritorious deeds. For not known reasons the institution did not occur. The idea was picked up by General George C. Marshall who wrote a memorandum to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The president installed the medal the very next day.

The decoration could be awarded to any military who, serving within or together with the army of the United States after 6th December 1941, decorating himself by heroric or meritorious deeds during the acting as military, not participating in air operations, during military operations against an armed enemy or during an armed conflict in which the United States was not participating as belligerent. The decoration could be awarded for the described heroic actions, not sufficient to be awarded the Silver Star of for meritorious actions or meritorious acting of service which did not qualify for the Legion of Merit. In 1947 the possibilities for awarding were enlarged. From that moment on the medal could also be awarded to any member of the United States Army that were mentioned in orders after 6th December 1941 or who had received a certificate for exceptional service in ground-battle against an armed enemy between 7th December 1941 and 2nd September 1945 or who’s merit could be proven by documents dated before 1st July 1947. This made it possible to award the Bronze Star to any person who had received the Combat Infantryman Badge or the Combat Medical Badge.
The Bronze Star can also be obtained by veterans or next of kin. Military that took part in the struggle on the Philippines between 7th December 1941 and 10th May 1942 could receive the medal when the action took place on Luzon, the Bataan peninsula or the Harbour Defences on Corregidor Island and were entitled to the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation. Military who had received the Purple Heart during the early days of the Second World War specifically for merit and not for wounds could in some occasions also exchange the Purple Heart to the Bronze Star. The rule that any soldier that fought together with the American Army, the decoration could also be awarded to foreign military.

The Bronze Star Medal was designed by Rudolf Freund of Bailey, Banks and Biddle who also designed the Silver Star. The decorations measures 1,5 inch (38 mm) over all. In the middle can be found another bronze star with a diametre of 3/16 inch (4,8 mm). All radials in the centre of both stars continue in one each other. The back bears the inscription “HEROIC OR MERITORIOUS ACHIEVEMENT” and a space to engrave the recipient's name.

The medal hangs on the ribbon with a square loop with rounded corners. The ribbon measures 1 3/8 inch (35 mm) wide. Left and right can be fond a 1/32 inch (1 mm) wide white line, followed to the inside by a scarlet 9/16 inch (14 mm) broad band. In the middle can be fond an ultramarine blue band measuring 1/8 inch (3 mm) flanked by two 1/32 inch (1 mm) lines.

For additional awards, every next decoration was to be shown by a bronze oak leaf cluster (US Army, Air Corps and Air Force) or a golden star (US Navy, Marines and Coast Guard). At every fifth award, the bronze and golden were replaced by a a silver oak leaf cluster or silver star. A bronze “V” for “Valor” was awarded when the Bronze Star was received for heroism in battle, thus distinquishing the award from the Bronze Stars warded for merit. This “V” was introduced in 1945. The action it was to be awarded for had to be of significant value. Only one “V” was permitted to be worn on the ribbon.

http://www.ww2awards.com/award/245

http://www.ww2awards.com/picture.asp?url=http://www.ww2awards.com/images-award/8071070118002640p.jpg&fototekst=

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Star_Medal

 

Personal Stories - 526th Armored Infantry Battallion

PFC Joseph G. Farina - 526th Armored Infantry Battallion

Stavelot - Belgium

http://www.theblitz.org/scenarios/Campaign-Series/Return-to-Stavelot/action=scenario_details&sid=780&ladder=2&venus_nav_page=2

WWII veterans wind up reunion

Willard S Ingraham
Stockton man spent years trying to forget his war experiences
Side profile of army soldiers with military tanks, Company A, 526th Armored Infantry Battalion
Gas Dump at Francorchamps 1944

 

On Monday December 18 1944, Headquarters Company, US Armored Group, received orders from Lt Col Lowell S. Love, Armored Section, 1st US Army, to take up defensive positions south of the gas dump in the vicinity of Stavelot and provide radio security net for 1st Army. The company have never been in action before.

 

Stavelot-Gasoline-06
526th Armored Infantry Bn Stavelot Dec 1944

 

  • 1 – Crossroad Bagatelle where the Peiper Task Force turned left to Baugnez

  • 2 – Baugnez (Five Points Crossroad) Massacre Flield

  • 3 – Malmedy (Center of the City)

  • 4 – Malmedy (Exit Pont de Warche direction to Stavelot)

  • 5 – Malmedy (Exit to the North – Hockay – Mont Rigi)

  • 6 – Hédomont (Town will be takeover from US troops)

  • 7 – Thirimont (Town where the Peiper Task Force came from)

  • 8 – Falize (Town where the German into American outfit came from)

  • 9 – Chôdes Another exit from Malmedy (Robertville – Ovifat)

SS Kampfgruppe Peiper & 1. SS Panzer Division LSSAH

 

Joachim Peiper (SS #132) was born in Berlin, Germany, on Jan 30, 1915. His father, Waldemar Peiper, was a career Army officer in German’s Imperial Army who fought in East Africa during World War I. He married, in 1909, Charlotte Marie Schwartz from Berlin. Joachim Peiper had two brothers, Hans-Hasso and Horst (both in the SS, one drowned with the Bismark while the other was ‘suicided’ in Poland for obscure reasons. Peiper was just 18 when, in 1933, he decided to join his brother Horst in the Hitlerjugend. In order to learn riding, he first enlisted in the 7. SS Reiterstandarte, on Oct 12. In 1934 he caught the attention of SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler who convinced him to enlist with the SS Verfügungstruppe. In 1935, Peiper attended the SS officer’s training school (Junkerschule) in Braunschweig and was commissioned the following year.
On Apr 1, 1936, he was transferred to the Leibstandarte, where he was later appointed adjutant to Himmler. He held this position until Aug 1941. During this period, he temporarily left his duties and actively took part in the Battle of France. In August 1941, he returned to the front lines and commanded various infantry and panzer units within the Leibstandarte, by now expanded to a full division. While on Himmler’s staff, Peiper also met and married his wife, Sigurd ‘Sigi’ Hinrichsen, (she war working in Himmler’ General Staff) with whom he had three children : Heinrich, Elke, and Silke. Himmler was particularly fond of Peiper and took a keen interest in his ascension towards command. By age 29, Peiper was a full colonel of the Waffen-SS, well respected and a holder of one of wartime Germany’s highest decorations, the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, personally awarded to him by Adolf Hitler.

joachim-peiper-01

Battle of the Bulge: Hell at Bütgenbach/ Seize the Bridges

By Hans Wijers

http://books.google.com/books?id=XJ2oJQhr0-wC&q=thornton#v=onepage&q=thornton&f=false

Roll of Honor - 526th Armored Infantry Battalion - Ardennes Campaign.

526th-AIB-Shoulder-Patch.jpg

ROLL OF HONOR

526th Armored Inf. Bat.

ARDENNES CAMPAIGN

526th-AIB-Shoulder-Patch.jpg

'Only those are dead who are forgotten.'

'Gob bless and

rest their spirits'

 

Created : January 08, 2002

Updated : October 19, 2008

Copyright © 2001-2011 Eddy LAMBERTY

 

Please send your comments, WWII accounts, anecdotes, pictures to:

 

Eddy Lamberty

Avenue Joseph Lejeune 45

4980 Trois-Ponts

Belgium

Name A.S.N. Rank Cpy Date & place of death Brl. Place
ALFANO Humbert F. 01012642 Capt - 11-21-1944 H-C
BANKS Donald J. -- -- B -- --
BITTINGER Harland E. -- -- A -- --
BLAISDELL Gordon L. -- -- B -- --
BLANKENSHIP Warren -- -- B -- --
BROSSMANN Hugo G. -- -- B -- --
BUCHANAN Dallas W. -- -- B KIA 12-18-44 Trois-Ponts --
BURLILE Harry E. -- -- B -- --
BUSH John C. 39127193 Sgt B KIA 01-03-1945 H-C
COLOSI Sam -- -- B -- --
COSLETT James C. 35798454 Pvt B KIA 01-11-1945 H-C
CRAVEN Robert E. -- -- B -- --
DAY Leo J. -- -- B -- --
DUNCAN William C. -- -- B -- --
ELLERY Jack W. -- -- A -- --
EVANS James J. -- -- A -- --
FARINA Joe G. -- -- B -- --
FERGUSON William D. 39696018

PFC

B KIA 01-15-1945 H-C
FISHER Lloyd E. 35700616 PFC A KIA 12-18-1944 H-C
HAUGER Donald D. -- -- Hq -- --
HERON David J. -- -- B -- --
HESS John A. -- -- B -- --
HIGGINS James L. 39041885 Pvt B KIA 12-18-44 Trois-Ponts H-C
HOLLENBECK Donald E 39695978 Cpl B KIA 12-18-44 Trois-Ponts H-C
IVERSON Ralph L. -- -- B -- --
JOHNSON Delbert J. 39288520 Pvt B KIA 01-03-45 H-C
KNOELKE Warren H. -- -- B -- --
LIVELY Rosco -- -- B -- --
LOPEZ John -- -- B -- --
LOVE Oliver L. 39289795 Pvt B KIA 01-03-45 H-C
MANIS Ralph G. -- -- B -- --
McCOLLUM Lillard B. -- -- B KIA 12-18-44 Trois-Ponts --
MORENO Moises A. -- -- B -- --
MOYLES Harry J. -- -- Hq -- --
NELSON Dale B. -- -- A -- --
QUESENBERRY Ralph -- -- A -- --
RICKS Joseph A. -- -- Medic -- --
RUSSELL Ralph C. -- -- B -- --
SCHUSTER Warner -- -- B -- --
SNYDER Francis L. -- -- B -- --
SULLIVAN Robert R. -- -- Hqs -- --
WARD Bernard J. -- -- B -- --
H-C: Henri-Chapelle Cemetery (Belgium)
Action at Stavelot

Vice President's Remarks to Veterans and Friends of the 526th Armored Infantry

National World War II Memorial
Washington, D.C.

9:35 A.M. EDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT: At ease, please. Well, thank you very much. And I want to wish all of you a good morning. It's a little damp out here this morning, I recognize. But I'm honored to be invited to join in your ceremony, and want to welcome all of you to the nation's capital, as well as to this very special place, our National World War II Memorial.

I count it a privilege to stand in the presence of men who were sent into battle by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and who, by your courage and your honor and your devotion to duty, helped win a war and change the course of history. To the soldiers, widows, and family members here today, I bring personal regards from President George W. Bush.

More than six decades ago, after training in the heat of the Arizona desert, members of the unit ended up fighting in the intense cold of the Ardennes. As very young men, you experienced the hardest aspects of war -- ferocious combat and the loss of comrades. There must be times when you think back on it all and wonder how you made it through. Some of the recollections, also, must be a little tough to dwell on. Yet I hope you'll carry with you always the memory of the nations you helped liberate, the images of the people you freed, and the feeling of accomplishment that is uniquely yours, for you served honorably in a desperate hour for our country. And in the pivotal hours of the Second World War, the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion was a valiant unit and earned a permanent and respected place in the story of liberty.

One of the great strengths of this country is the unselfish courage of the citizen who steps forward, puts on the uniform, and stands ready to go directly in the face of danger. It is that quality, more than any other, which has kept us free for more than 200 years. Yet Americans are a peaceful people. And so, as this very memorial testifies, we number the casualties of war not as a statistic of history, but as an enduring, irreplaceable loss to our country. For some of the men in the 526th, there was to be no homecoming. These men, last seen on duty so long ago, are still loved and remembered. How wonderful it is, how American it is, that more than 60 years after the end of the war, you should be here today, honoring their service and speaking their names.


Your group has gathered over the decades, and you have brought into your circle of friendship family members of different generations. Your ranks have naturally grown smaller with time, but the spirit of these reunions never changes. You are patriots and loyal friends. You are a credit to the uniform you once wore, and an inspiration to the young Americans who wear that uniform today.

Many years ago you proved yourselves to be selfless men. Today, at this place of reflection, I hope you will permit yourselves a moment of pride. Be proud of the way you have lived your lives. Be proud that you were good soldiers, faithful and true, when the nation needed you most.

Thank you very much. (Applause.)

END 9:39 A.M. EDT

Vice President Dick Cheney talks with veterans of the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion Friday, Oct. 7, 2005, after delivering remarks during a wreath-laying ceremony at the National World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. "...You served honorably in a desperate era for our country. And in pivotal hours of the Second World War, the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion was a valiant unit...One of the great strengths of this country is the unselfish courage of the citizen who steps forward, puts on the uniform, and stands ready to go directly into the face of danger," said the Vice President during his remarks. The ceremony was in honor of the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion which is the sole remaining, separate armored infantry battalion from World War II, whose soldiers defended the Belgian villages of Stavelot and Malmedy on December 16, 1944, the first day of the Battle of the Bulge. White House photo by David Bohrer

Vice President Dick Cheney talks with veterans of the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion Friday, Oct. 7, 2005, after delivering remarks during a wreath-laying ceremony at the National World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. ".You served honorably in a desperate era for our country. And in pivotal hours of the Second World War, the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion was a valiant unit.One of the great strengths of this country is the unselfish courage of the citizen who steps forward, puts on the uniform, and stands ready to go directly into the face of danger," said the Vice President during his remarks. The ceremony was in honor of the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion which is the sole remaining, separate armored infantry battalion from World War II, whose soldiers defended the Belgian villages of Stavelot and Malmedy on December 16, 1944, the first day of the Battle of the Bulge. White House photo by David Bohrer

Vice President Dick Cheney shakes hands with veterans of the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion Friday, Oct. 7, 2005, after delivering remarks during a wreath-laying ceremony at the National World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. "I count it a privilege to stand in the presence of men who were sent into battle by President Franklin D. Roosevelt...and who, by your courage and honor and devotion to duty, helped to win a war and change the course of history ," said the Vice President to the soldiers, widows and family members who attended the ceremony. The 526th AIB is the sole remaining, separate, armored infantry battalion from World War II whose soldiers defended the Belgian villages of Stavelot and Malmedy on December 16, 1944, the first day of the Battle of the Bulge. White House photo by David Bohrer

Vice President Dick Cheney shakes hands with veterans of the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion Friday, Oct. 7, 2005, after delivering remarks during a wreath-laying ceremony at the National World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. "I count it a privilege to stand in the presence of men who were sent into battle by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.and who, by your courage and honor and devotion to duty, helped to win a war and change the course of history ," said the Vice President to the soldiers, widows and family members who attended the ceremony. The 526th AIB is the sole remaining, separate, armored infantry battalion from World War II whose soldiers defended the Belgian villages of Stavelot and Malmedy on December 16, 1944, the first day of the Battle of the Bulge. White House photo by David Bohrer

PEKAN_p.01_MAY09

526th Armored Infantry

526th Armored Infantry Battalion - Ruhr Pocket Frankfurt Germany 1945 digicolor #WW2 - orig: http://bit.ly/k5Ftz4

Description

Men from the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion rest a moment during a reconnaissance mission in the Ruhr Pocket near Frankfurt, Germany, Spring 1945. From left to right, Saba Herrere, Jack Mocnik, Chris Breuninger, Louie Belezzuoli and Harlan Baker.(rudeerude)

First Across the Rhine: The 291st Engineer Combat Battalion in France

Mario Estrada
Ardennes 30th Inf Div 16-25 Dec 1944

526th Armored Infantry Battalion Association

Address: PO Box 456 Yolo, CA 95697 USA
Contact Name: Morrison, Sherrie
Phone: (530) 662-8160
Email: 526aib@sbcglobal.net
URL: http://www.526th.org

Founded: 1976
Members: 620
Membership dues: individual, $30 annual; exchange, $30 annual.
Staff: 2
Languages: English, French, German.

Description: Veterans who served in the 526th armored infantry during WWII. Promotes comradeship among the surviving members and their families and friends. Informs members of social events and disseminates historical information on 526th infantry battalion. Conducts research programs; maintains speakers' bureau.

Publications: The Pekan (in English and French), quarterly. Newsletter. PRICE: included in membership dues. CIRCULATION: 710. ALTERNATE FORMATS: online. * Directory, quarterly. ALTERNATE FORMATS CD-ROM.

Warren Watson
US CDL in Wales

Churchill was impressed, as doubtlessly was his daughter Mary. The machines had fought their way to within twenty yards of his position on the top of the heather clad hill in the midst of a dark December night in the Lakes of Cumberland and not a single one had been seen. The cloak of invisibility had hidden the tanks from the gunners and the great British leader was sure that the army had a war winning weapon. The generals and other cabinet members in his entourage were likewise persuaded that the demonstration they had just seen was the start of something big, something that would help defeat the German foe.

It was thus that the British army committed itself to the project known as Canal Defence Light (CDL). It was to involve the expenditure of millions of pounds and the occupation of some of the most technically minded and highly trained tank crews in the war time army. Almost total paranoia was achieved in the preservation of the secrecy of the device. It would also play a role in the life of war time Pembrokeshire.

An earlier demonstration in front of United States Army officials had been equally convincing and it was decided that First Lieutenant John Savage should take details of the device with him to the United States as a matter of urgency so that the industrial might of Britain’s closest ally could build them in their hundreds for the use of her own troops.

So what was this secret device? How did it work? The idea was glaringly simple. A powerful carbon arc lamp was housed in the armoured turret of a tank. The light was so arranged that it shone through a narrow slot in the front of the turret (2 inches wide and 24 inches high), producing a beam which fanned out at an angle of nineteen degrees and reached forward for a distance of over 1000 yards with the brilliance of thirteen million candle power. The slot through which the light shone also had a mechanical shutter which could be opened and closed rapidly to give a very disorienting flicker effect, just like the strobe lights in a discotheque. Experiments had shown that unsuspecting troops, advancing in darkness towards a line of CDL tanks, would be temporarily blinded by the painful intensity of the lights once they were switched on. The flickering of the beam induced sickness in some and a general feeling of nakedness as the cloak of darkness was swept away.

However, the ability to cut through the darkness of the battlefield at night was only part of the theory behind CDL. We have all experienced it. Whether on the stage or behind the wheel of a car at night, the dazzling effect of the stage lights or the lights of oncoming vehicles makes all else behind them invisible. It was this that was felt to be the greatest advantage of CDL. During a night assault attacking troops could advance behind the bright glare of the lights and be safe from the aimed fire of the defenders.

It was quickly realized that if the Germans got to know about this secret device, they would find ways of countering it, so absolute secrecy was vital, at least until it could be used in some decisive encounter. The degree of security surrounding the CDL project was unprecedented. Ultimately this was to play a role in its downfall.

The components for the light projectors were built by different companies. One company would build one of the mirrors from inside the turret, another company the second mirror and yet other engineering firms would build the electrical connectors or the shutter apparatus. All the components would only come together for final assembly in the secret confines of the stables at Lowther Castle in the Lake District. In the case of the American CDL tanks, final assembly took place at the Rock Island Arsenal.

Following the demonstration of the concept by the British in 1942, and Lieutenant Savage’s high speed dash across the Atlantic, the United States Army started to train six tank battalions in the use of CDL as part of a project referred to as the Leaflet Program. Members of each battalion were selected for the project on the basis of their aptitude and, above all, their discretion. The six battalions trained initially on the Fort Knox military reservation in Kentucky, but due to the visibility of the bright lights at night, more advanced training took place at Camp Bouse in the middle of the Arizona desert. Conditions were strict. When granted night passes to the nearest towns, soldiers had to remain in groups of up to seven “buddies” at all times so that they were not tempted to talk about their training to the outside world. All soldiers wore a special sleeve flash designed to warn Military Police patrols that they were operating the “buddy” system. They were even obliged to “go to the John” in pairs!

With their training finished, the units were ready, in March 1944, to move overseas. And so they came to Pembrokeshire, a world away from the warm, well wooded hills of Kentucky and even further removed from the heat and dust of the Arizona desert.

The first battalions to arrive, in early May 1944, were camped in pyramidal tents along the field edges to the north and west of Trefach Manor and Capel-y-Fferm in Mynachlog-ddu parish. These units were the 736th and 748th Medium Tank Battalions (Special). The 526th Armoured Infantry Battalion had moved into the camp at Rosebush in late April, having guarded the secret “Gizmos” - as the Americans called their CDL tanks - during their transportation from Arizona to South Wales. Further west the 701st and 738th Medium Tank Battalions (Special), set up camp on the edge of Puncheston. Later, in August 1944 the 739th and 740th Tank Battalions took up residence alongside the 526th at Rosebush.

The historian of the 740th Tank Battalion said this of their new camp site:

We will never forget Rosebush. The camp was nothing more than the windswept side of a rocky hill. It turned out that when it wasn’t raining it was blowing, and that most of the time both came together. When one or the other was absent the camp was enshrouded in fog so thick you could cut chunks out of it with a knife.

The prevalent wet weather in the spring and summer of 1944 changed the camp sites into seas of mud. It proved difficult to keep kit dry and both uniforms and tents soon developed a rather greener hue than normal due to the all pervasive dampness. Indeed the men of the 701st Battalion at Puncheston were convinced that they had come to Wales to undertake amphibious training!

It soon became apparent that the Preselis were not an ideal training area for CDL tanks. The ground was too boggy and uneven in many places This prevented the crews from practicing the large formation manoeuvres required by the CDLs. It was envisaged that when attacking enemy positions CDL tanks would advance in line abreast, about 50 yards apart. The combined power of the intersecting beams of the carbon arc lights would present a wall of light to the enemy. Behind this, in the triangles of darkness between beams, would be concealed other tanks and infantry in armoured half-track vehicles. To increase the confusion amongst the enemy, coloured filters could be placed over the beam. On the command “Moon” a blue filter was inserted over the light slot to give the illusion that the light was further away and on the command “Sun” an amber filter was fitted to make the light look closer than reality.

The importance of maintaining formation was vital for the success of a CDL supported attack and all members of the CDL crew had to be trained to a very high level of proficiency. The tank chosen by the Americans for mounting CDL was the Medium Tank M3, otherwise known as the “General Grant”. This tank was, in reality, already obsolete as a normal fighting vehicle, but the advantage it had over others was that it mounted two guns. One 37 mm gun in a turret on the top of the tank and a bigger 75 mm gun in a sponson on the right hand side of the tank. The “Gizmo” tanks had the top turret replaced by one carrying the light projector, but this still left the Grant with the ability to use its 75 mm gun. The British had originally used Matilda and Churchill tanks to mount CDL, but these had no armament apart from a machine gun, the light replacing their main weapon in the turret. By late 1943 the British too had adopted the Grant as the platform for CDL.

The American tanks which came to the Preseli Hills had a crew of 5. A driver, gunner, loader, commander and light operator. The light operator in the CDL tank was able to adjust the direction and elevation of the beam of light within certain limits, but the rapid up and down motion caused by the tank crossing the boulder strewn moors of the Preseli Hills made keeping the light on the objective almost impossible. However, night after night the battalions continued their training, mainly on Mynnydd Cilciffeth, Preseli Tops, and on the open moors to the west of Crymych and around Brynberian.

The command “Scatter” was the signal for the light operator to set the shutter to open and close rapidly at up to two or three times per second. This gave the very disconcerting flicker effect. When the British had tried flicker on the moors above Penrith in 1943, it had given rise to rumours of a secret “Death Ray”, The War Office did little to refute these rumours! The whole of the Preseli Mountains area was put under restrictions that included night curfews. Anyone entering the area could only do so with a special pass and although the bright lights shining over the hills must have been conspicuous, the sleeping population seems to have paid little heed to them. Clearly “Death Rays” held no fear for the inhabitants of Maenclochog, Mynachlog-ddu and Puncheston - they were made of sterner stuff!

D-day, 6 June 1944, came as a surprise to many of the American units in the Preselis. They had all hoped that they would be involved, but in talking about it in later years some veterans believed that their involvement in the CDL programme probably saved their lives, for whilst they would later take their turn in the fight on the continent, they had missed the blood bath on Omaha beach.

Whether it was a celebration or not isn’t clear, but many men of the 526th Armoured Infantry Battalion spent much time at the end of D-day sweeping the roads around Rosebush, whilst their comrades listened to the latest news flashes on the radio. Discipline was clearly harsh at times, as the locals at both Puncheston and Rosebush remember men being confined to a low tent in some distant part of the camp area for breaches of good conduct.

Then, in mid-August, things were on the move. Three of the CDL battalions, the 701st, 736th and 748th Tank Battalions, along with the 526th Armoured Infantry Battalion, moved with all their equipment to the South Coast and from there to the beaches in Normandy. Mr Ryan John of Rosebush, then a young boy, recalled taking time off school to see the Americans leave his home village. For his pains he received lines when he went back to school the next day! Private Bill Yates and Corporal Harry Muhly from the medical detachment wrote to Mr John’s family at Tygrig once they had arrived in France. The bivouacking conditions in Normandy were very basic and they missed the comforts of eggs, fresh meat and milk left behind in Wales. They were to spend much time sitting and waiting over the coming months whilst the fate of CDL was debated.

The remaining units in the Preselis moved to Castlemartin Range towards the end of August and there found the training conditions for CDL much more suitable. However, the days of CDL were numbered. The decision was made in late September to convert all the battalions to other more conventional roles. By the end of September 1944 all the units had left Pembrokeshire on their way to the battle front in Europe, where they all distinguished themselves in combat.

Opinion amongst the Americans on the merits of the device were very mixed. Those who trained with it almost unanimously expressed relief that they never actually went in to combat behind the glare of the bright lights. However it could be said that this was a real case of familiarity breeding contempt. Ironically it was probably the secrecy surrounding the whole program that eventually led to its downfall. No commanders in the field knew anything of its capabilities. Many of the Gizmos never made it back to the United States, with a large number of them being destroyed in a huge fire at the ordnance dump at Cherbourg. Others were lost in a collision between a tanker and a Liberty ship carrying them to South Wales and a few were lost in action on the Rhine. Whatever happened to the rest is unknown, but today not a single example of the American Gizmo remains extant.

The British involvement with Canal Defense Light was very similar to the experience of the Americans, but the role played by Pembrokeshire was greater. That, as they say, is another story!

And so Pembrokeshire’s role in a little known, but highly secret war time affair was ended. Some of the “tankers” involved in what they called The Candle Light Caper, have returned periodically to the county to revisit old haunts. Some married local women and others fathered local children.

Over fifty years on the young people of Crymych act out the stories passed down to them by their elders. The memories of gum, bright lights and images of Hollywood in the hills of North Pembrokeshire have been added to the rich patina of folk lore on this beautiful, rugged landscape.

The truth of what was played out in the hills is little known. At the reunion of the 736th Tank Battalion -The Kid Battalion - in Paris Crossing, Indiana in the Summer of 1998, the men who had kept the secret of the Gizmos in the Preselis spoke avidly of their time in Pembrokeshire. They recalled the friendliness of places like Narberth, Cardigan, Fishguard and Crymych and spoke of the wild adventures of youth on the eve of the most momentous time of their lives.

This article originally appeared in "Pembrokeshire Life" , December 1999 - January 2000

The American Gizmos

and

The Candle Light Caper

The geometry of the CDL Beam

Attack by CDL on Different Axes

It might have been the greatest lost weapon of World War II.
Matilda with CDL - Canal Defense Light

Secret Strobelight Weapons of World War II

 

It might have been the greatest lost weapon of World War II. Major-General JFC Fuller, the man credited with developing modern armored warfare in the 1920s, called failure to use it "the greatest blunder of the whole war." He even suggested that British and American tank divisions could have overrun Germany before the Russians — if it had been deployed, that is.

I’ve been looking at a new range of strobing weapons, which use flickering lights to subdue criminals and insurgents. But it turns out that the disorienting power of such lights was discovered decades before.

The secret weapon Fuller was referring to was the Canal Defense Light — a powerful searchlight mounted on a tank, with a shutter allowing it to flicker six times a second. The 13-million candlepower searchlight — intended to illuminate the battlefield and dazzle the enemy — was described in a fascinating article on the CDL Tanks of Lowther castle:

The angle of the beam dispersion was 19 degrees which meant that if the CDL tanks were placed 30 yards apart in line abreast, the first intersection of light fell about 90 yards ahead and at 1000 yards the beam was 340 yards wide by 35 feet high. This formed triangles of darkness between and in front of the CDL’s into which could be introduced normal fighting tanks, flame-throwing Churchill Crocodiles and infantry.

A further refinement was the ability to flicker the light. On the order given for ‘Scatter’, an armour plated shutter was electrically oscillitated back and forward at about six times a second. When first produced it was thought that this flicker effect (similar to the modern disco strobe lights) would have a damaging effect on the eyes of any observer and might cause temporary blindness.

It was the flickering aspect that made the CDL special. The makers found that when it was employed, it was impossible to locate the vehicle accurately. In one test, a CDL-equipped vehicle was driven towards a 25-pound anti-tank gun. Even as it closed from 2000 yards to 500 yards, the gunners (firing practice rounds, one assumes) were unable to hit the tank. When asked to draw the route taken by the CDL tank, the observers drew a straight line, while in fact the tank had been crossing the range from side to side.

Spraying the area with machine-gun fire would not work either; the armored reflector of the searchlight kept functioning, even after being hit repeatedly

Although the CDL did not have the kind of disabling effect that the light-based personnel immobilization device currently being developed by Peak Beam for the US Army has, the type of disorientation seems quite similar. If it had been used at much closer range then more dramatic effects — dizziness, loss of balance and the infamous nausea — might also have been observed. However, with its mechanical shutter, the technology was much more primitive than the strobing Xenon light developed by Peak Beam. It produces a ’squarer’ pulse and is significantly more effective than earlier strobes.

Over three hundred CDLs were built — using Matilda, Churchill and Grant tanks — and might have played a major role after D-Day. But instead, they remained unused. There seem to have been two reasons for this. On the one hand, the power of the CDL was kept extremely secret. "Even the Generals who should have used it did not know what the tank could do," complained its inventor, Marcel Mitzakis. And those that had heard of it had trouble believing that a simple flickering light could have any effect. Fuller was one of the few who appreciated what the CDL might have achieved.

Another use of flickering lights in World War II was the proposal by Jasper Maskelyne, a stage magician employed by the British military. (A very colorful account of Maskelyne’s role is given in the book The War Magician - reading it you might think he won the war single-handed.) The magician was given the task of making the Suez Canal invisible to enemy bombers. When the idea of constructing an illusion using mirrors was rejected as impractical, another plan was formulated, as this site on Maskelyne describes:

Maskelyne came up with the unorthodox idea of constructing 21 ‘dazzle lights’ along the length of the Canal. These powerful searchlights, containing 24 different spinning beams, projected a swirling, cartwheeling confusion of light up to nine miles into the sky. A barrage of light to confuse and blind the enemy bombers, which Maskelyne dubbed Whirling Spray.

Fisher claims that this radical defensive shield of light was highly effective and was a major reason why the Suez Canal remained open for the duration of the war.

However, in spite of the book’s claims, the dazzle light were never actually built (although a prototype was once tested). Is the power of strobe lights just an illusion based on hype, like Maskelyne’s whirling spray? Or a significant new weapon that will be ignored or shelved because people are either ignorant of it or don’t believe…?

By David Hambling Email Author

May 17, 2008

Canal Defense Light
Information Forwarded by Erik Brun
Here is a write up on T-Force for the 6th AG

http://www.insigne.org/T-Force-I.htm

I have seen offered for sale the triangular patch, with BATTLE AXE tab, of the 526th Armor Battalion, which was identified as the attack unit of "T" Force. The 526th did, in fact, play such a role, but for "T" Force of the 12th Army Group, not for the 6860th.
Thursday May 9, 2013
From: erik brun 
To: "osssociety@yahoogroups.com" <osssociety@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 8, 2013 3:17 PM
Subject: [osssociety] T Force, 526th AIB

I have been looking into the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion, for its operations during the Bulge and noticed that their main role as the 12th Army Group's Tactical Reserve. There they operated as muscle behind the its T-Force. To train and be ready to secure the "crime scene" of German factories, research facilities and other targets identified to them.

&&&&&

From: Jonathan Clemente 
To: "osssociety@yahoogroups.com" <osssociety@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 8, 2013 3:33 PM
Subject: Re: [osssociety] T Force, 526th AIB

OSS was very active in the T-Forces. The OSS T-Force Section was attached to the ETO SI Section, Technical Branch. These were all related efforts. T-Forces were for rapid exploitation of captured enemy material in newly liberated territory, followed by the Combined Intelligence Objectives Subcommittee (CIOS) and British Intelligence Objectives Subcommittee (BIOS) in the post hostilities phase. CIOS and BIOS fell under the Technical Industrial Intelligence Committee (TIIC) After VE-Day these were combined into FIAT (Field Information Agency, Technical) OSS and then SSU were deeply involved in targeting and site exploitation. Paperclip was a separate but related effort. ALSOS mission was and offshoot of T-Force and hence CIOS. ASUSZA (atomic warfare intelligence ) and TOLEDO (biological chemical warfare intelligence). I interviewed the members of the ALSOS bacteriological warfare team and the only OSS medical officer briefed on TOLEDO

Jon Clemente

Friday May 10, 2013 Operations of T Force 12th Army Group in the Liberation and Intelligence Exploitation of Paris

The U.S. Army T-Forces- Documenting the Holocaust

Tuesday, June 11, 2013 526th IPW report -1100 22 December 1944

This report contains information regarding German soldiers dressed as American GI's infiltrating the American lines.

   

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOUND BY TCT

31 JANUARY 2014

 

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/2197-526-battleaxe-patch-us-armored-rare/

Side profile of army soldiers with military tanks- Company A 526th Armored Infantry Battalion

Side profile of army soldiers with military tanks

Company A 526th Armored Infantry Battalion

 

Posted 27 January 2007 - 06:35 PM

I have very little information on this unit. Here are a few comments from a website. Apparently they were the only Amored Infantry Battalion to get overseas. Their campaigns were Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe, Northern France, Rhineland. Left the US 19 March 1944, Arrived England 12 April 1944, Arrived France 24 August 1944, August 1945 in Wiesbaden, Germany (Order of Battle US Army WW2 by Shelby Stanton)

526th Armored Infantry Battalion

From http://history.sandi...021101103106880

"The battalion was the only American armored infantry battalion that trained with top secret Canal Defense Lights, a British armor-infantry tactic. They trained in one of the camps of General George Patton's Desert Training Center, and in Rosebush, Wales. The lights were never used in battle. Before and after the Battle of the Bulge the battalion was part of "T" Force, a 12th U.S. Army Group unit that would move into captured towns in Europe and seize material of intelligence value. They would take over factories, police stations and other government buildings. At times they would escort scientists and intelligence agents to pre-selected targets.

"One company of this battalion served as an honor guard for top Allied Generals. The battalion also guarded Nazi military and civilian officials in Weisbaden after the war."

 

http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/CGSC/CARL/nafziger/944ULAA.pdf

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR PDF FILE

Battleaxe Forward: A History of the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion

http://books.google.fr/books?id=s9xNOAAACAAJ&hl=fr&sitesec=reviews

Couverture

No content available: TCT
http://harrellshistory.org:443/peresonal/vets/Danahy/links/ARMOR%20ASSOCIATIONS.htm 526th Armored Infantry Battalion Association
Mr. George Wendt
1420 Roosevelt Drive
Modesto, California 95350-4219
(The PEKAN)
(209) 524-4615

Men from the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion rest a moment during a reconnaissance mission in the Ruhr Pocket near Frankfurt, Germany, Spring 1945. From left to right, Saba Herrere, Jack Mocnik, Chris Breuninger, Louie Belezzuoli and Harlan Baker.

http://www.shorpy.com/node/10505

Comments on page:

****

Ruhr or Frankfurt

Either is was Frankfurt or the Ruhr pocket. The distance between the two is 250 kilometers!

****

Wrong lineup

I think the photographer has the lineup incorrect. Harlan Baker looks to be on the far left, not on the far right. Jack and Chris look to be in the right lineup anyway.

****

Name Your Poison

I see what I think are at least 3 different weapons here. From L to R: 1) An M1 carbine 2) A BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) and 3) an M1 Garand. The rarest of these is the BAR, since I believe a company only had a few guys armed with these.

****

 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/125190318/American-Independent-Infantry-Battalions-1941-to-45UXIC

526th Armored Infantry Battalion: Raised 20 March 1943

http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=29149

Camp Bouse
The 526th A. I. B. - Canal Defense Light Project
— Desert Training Center - California – Arizona Maneuver Area —

 

Camp Bouse Marker Photo, Click for full size
By Bill Kirchner, March 14, 2010

1. Camp Bouse Marker

 

Inscription. Camp Bouse was established in Butler Valley 30 miles behind this monument in Sept. of 1943. It was one of twelve such camps built in the southwestern deserts to harden and train United States troops for service on the battlefields of World War II. The desert training center was a simulated theater of operations that included portions of California and Arizona. The other camps were Young, Coxcomb, Granite, Iron Mountain, Ibis Clipper, Pilot Knob, Laguna, Horn, Hyder and Rice.

Camp Bouse was the home of the 9th tank group which consisted of six tank battalions, one armored infantry battalion, an ordnance company and a station hospital. The group trained in absolute secrecy mainly at night. The light device consisted of a high powered search light, mounted in an armored housing on a tank. Its purpose was to temporarily blind the enemy at night. The role of the 526th Infantry was to defend the operations of the CD tanks and attack if security of the tanks was being threatened.

The 526th AIB was separated from the 9th tank group in France, August 1944 and was assigned to the 12th Army Group HDQ under command of Gen. Omar Bradley, "C" Company became a security unit for Gen. Bradley in Luxembourg. The remainder of the battalion was heavily involved during the Battle of the Bulge, fighting the enemy in the Belgian towns

 

Monument Row, Bouse, Arizona Photo, Click for full size
By Bill Kirchner, March 14, 2010

2. Monument Row, Bouse, Arizona

This marker is the 3rd from the left on monument row.

 

of Trois-Ponts, Stavelot, Malmedy, Hedomont, Bougnee, and Geromont.

After the Bulge and until VE Day the 526th became part of "T" Force. The purpose of "T" Force missions were to seize, safeguard and process enemy documents, archives and material of intelligence or counter-intelligence and capture enemy agents, military officers and key collaborators.

This monument is dedicated to all the soldiers that served here and especially for those who gave their lives in battle, ending the Holocaust & defeating the armed forces of Nazi Germany.

 

Current Google Earth Photo of the roads of the main camp area

http://www.azbackcountryadventures.com/bouse.htm

A Ride Out To Camp Bouse

A Top Secret WWII Tank Training Base

In Western Arizona

 

This old WWII tank training base is located in the desert of Butler Valley about 30 miles northeast of Bouse in western Arizona. 

The most interesting features that remain of the old camp are the stone markers left by the units that were stationed there during the camp's active period.

 

Other features of the old camp that can be seen today are a very large concrete reservoir, water well placements, several concrete foundations, sidewalks and rock-lined walkways.

Northwest of the main camp site about a mile away is an interesting grid of old roads.

 

Camp Bouse was a top secret tank training base established in August of 1943 by General George Patton. 

It's purpose was to develop and test modified tanks that carried "Canal Defence Lights". 

These lights were 13 million candle power arc lamps that were going to be used to light up battlefield action at night. 

The light from these lamps passed through shutters that opened and closed 6 times per second. 

This strobing effect was intended to disorient enemy fighters. The concept was perfected, but very few, if any, of the modified tanks actually saw any battle. 

There were 5500 soldiers stationed at the base including six tank battalions, one armored infantry battalion, an ordinance company and a station hospital. 

The base was abandoned in 1945.

A Grant tank with modified turret to accomodate the CDL lighting system

 

   

    

 

CAMP BOUSE

http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/az/campbouse.html

 

CAMP BOUSE

 

NAME: Camp Bouse
COUNTY: La Paz
ROADS: 2WD
LEGAL INFO: 1
CLIMATE: Hot Summer

 

COMMENTS: Top Secret WWII Tank training base. Midway between Swansea and Alamo Lake in the Butler valley north of Bouse.
REMAINS: Foundations, roads footpaths, Division insignia.

 

Established in 1942 by Gen George Patton as one of the eleven bases of his "Desert Training Center". 9000 GI's were housed there. Training was conducted with the secret "Canal Defense Light". Dismantled and abandoned in 1945. A few foundations, Roads, rock foot paths, rock decorations and the Division insignia laid out in rock are all that remain. Submitted by: Tim Manley

http://apcrp.org/CAMP_BOUSE/Camp_Bouse_Text_072608.htm

CAMP BOUSE, AZ

 

Camp Bouse “Happy Valley” – August 1942 – April 24, 1944

 

“Bouse World War II Desert Training Camp

 

Established in August of 1942 this camp was a top secret post for developing and testing “Gizmo” – tanks

 with modified turrets, carrying a 13-million-candlepower searchlight that passed through a narrow slot, using shutters that opened and closed six times per second.

 

The tanks were designed to light up the battlefields for nighttime frontal assaults. 

The flickering lights made it difficult for the enemy to focus on the tanks. Although successful, the tanks were never deployed to the war. 

The post was occupied by the 9th Tank Group and the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion.”

 

Today (March 6, 2008) little remains that the creosote plants aren’t reclaiming. 

A patch work of graveled streets laces the former camp with hand made stone sidewalks leading to former tents for the soldiers. 

Some of the roads are still drivable and the flag still flies high with honor at this deserted desert outpost Northwest of Wenden, AZ. 

To locate Camp Bouse follow the Alamo Lake Road over Cunningham Pass. Within a mile of cresting the pass, look for the Powerline Road on the left – 

as the name implies the road follows the Powerline power wires.

Proceed NW for approximately 10.25 Miles. You will pass through one gate and proceed only 2/10ths mile and watch for a road on the right. 

Turning to the North (right) you are now at the main gate of the former top secret facility. Follow this main road until you come to the flag on your left about ¾ mile. 

At this point you can walk the desert and witness many remains of the former Camp. Concrete sidewalks as well as footers and building slabs are easily identified.

If you proceed to the Southeast approximately ¼ mile you will witness many stone walkways that the soldiers made to identify their tent homes. 

There is a well stand painted Mann’s Well and Mill and there is another spring slightly south on this property.

Very interesting is a man made circular depression approximately 150’ across. 

We are told this was the boxing ring for recreation for the soldiers that were stationed there.

 If you observe closely and walk the perimeter of the circle you will see eight equally spaced walkways of stone, 

the soldiers used to get to the center of this depression. We are told that each pie shaped section had wooden bleachers 

the soldiers could cheer on their favorite boxer. All wood was disassembled and burned before they decommissioned this camp.

Camp Bouse Stadium – Flag in upper left of picture

In 1950,  the military again returned to Camp Bouse and “ Happy Valley ” this time to complete the policing of stray ordnance. 

Thirty-one tons of scrap were cleared and warning signs posted at strategic locations alerting visitors not to molest stray objects or to do any sub-surface digging

 

http://bousechamber.org/explore.htm

WWII troops trained at Camp Bouse to use a top-secret new night-fighting weapon 

they dubbed, "The Gizmo." 

 

Camp Bouse

 

Sequestered between rugged mountain ranges in the remote Butler Valley is the site of a top secret WWII training base, 

Camp Bouse. New night fighting tactics and an ultra-secret tank-mounted weapon designed to "change the course of the war" necessitated complete secrecy. 

The men named their new weapon "The Gizmo."

 

General George S. Patton, Jr. led a reconnaissance party through the desert Southwest in 1942 and reported not seeing one inhabitant in four days. 

This led to the establishment of the Desert Training Center (DTC) and California-Arizona Maneuver Area (C-AMA): 31,500 square miles, or 35 million acres, 

of desert in southeastern California, western Arizona and southern Nevada.

 

Camp Bouse was so extremely top secret, it was not listed with the dozen other training camps of the DTC. To this day, 

historian/authors often miss Camp Bouse when writing about the DTC.

 

 

Come visit! The first full weekend in February, the Bouse Chamber of Commerce hosts an annual Camp Bouse Dedication 

at the tank memorial site on Highway 72 Saturday, and a Camp Bouse tour & picnic Sunday. Bring your ATV or 4-wheel drive and join the fun.

  

How to get there from Bouse:

 

 

East of Hwy 72, drive north east on Main Street to the stop sign. Turn left on Rayder, which turns into Swansea Road. Go 2.2 miles 

to the Bouse Y trail head (look for the BLM information sign on the left) and continue on the Swansea Road (left fork).

 

Camp Bouse is approximately 25 miles from Bouse, accessible by four-wheel drive or ATV. Passenger vehicles might make the trip, but there is deep sand along the way.

 

 

 a brief history of Camp Bouse

 

September 1, 1939 - World War II breaks out in Europe

 

December 7, 1941 - Japan attacks Pearl Harbor

 

1942 - Poston Japanese Internment Camp opens along the Colorado River

 

1942 - General George S. Patton, Jr. led a reconnaissance party through the desert Southwest in the autumn of 1942 and reported 

not seeing one inhabitant in four days. This led to the establishment of the Desert Training Center (DTC) and California-Arizona Maneuver Area (C-AMA): 31,500 square miles, 

or 35 million acres, of desert in southeastern California, western Arizona and southern Nevada.

 

1943 - Fighting ends in North Africa

 

1943 - Desert Training Center annexes an additional 11,000 square miles.

 

August, 1943 - Troops begin arriving in Bouse, Arizona. One trooper reported, "It was so hot, you could fry an egg in your hand."

 

Paranoia and deep secrecy were the orders in Bouse. Camp Bouse was so top-secret it was not listed 

among the training camps of the Desert Training Center's (DTC) California-Arizona Maneuver Area (C-AMA). Troop movement was extremely restricted -- 

once in Camp Bouse, there was no chance of transferring out. Gold miners working active claims in the mountains around Camp Bouse were encouraged to evacuate -- 

usually a little over-their-heads target practice encouraged their departure. Even all the dogs in Bouse, 25 miles away, were rounded up and relocated. 

To this day, researchers often miss Camp Bouse *.

Our Bouse troopers were deployed in Europe, but The Gizmo never got a chance to prove its worth in battle --

 the powerful light was used for night advances, stream crossing and to identify and seek out the enemy. The tanks were later exchanged for a different model.

 One report said the Gizmo-fitted tanks sank in the mud in France and were left to rot.

For more on Camp Bouse, read Where Heroes Trained, written by the troops who were stationed here.

1944 1-Apr

   Camp Bouse declared surplus

1944 30-Apr

   Desert Training Center land returned to

    Department of Interior and private landowners

1945 8-May

   Germany surrendered

1945 6-Aug

   United States bombed Hiroshima

1945 9-Aug

   United States bombed Nagasaki

1945 14-Aug

   Japan surrendered

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/62070-battle-of-the-bulge/page-2

Here one of my favorite item, he s acts of a bag model (swit case) with a name and a registration number that comes from the Ardennes

 with a superb history

 Captain Charles A Mitchell captain 526th armored

 Here is a small page of history

 On December 17, 1944, "A" Company 526th Armored Infantry Battalion under Captain Charles A. Mitchell, were ordered into combat in the town of Stavelot, Belgium. 

It was near the Ambleve River that German soldiers who were dressed in the American Military Police uniforms of soldiers they had killed and left their bodies stacked 

on top of one another alongside the road directed us into Stavelot. We were in armored vehicles called half-tracks with 50 caliber machine guns mounted on the center of them.

 We had just crossed the bridge over the Ambleve River, when Captain Mitchell was apprised that German soldiers were in the area. Captain Mitchell gave orders

 to dismount and dig in, but time did not permit us to dig a foxhole. All hell broke loose at that time, flares went up, small arms fire was everywhere and our squad was scattered all about.

 There were four personnel from our squad and one displaced Belgian person. The Belgian could speak German and the area was familiar to him. I asked him to show us 

across an open field so we could get back across the river. The Germans had set up an ambush on this side of the river. After we were across, we had to go up a grade through some timber.

 It was here that I saw some German soldiers each taking two 5-gallon cans of fuel from a fuel dump. I informed Captain Mitchell of this activity and he immediately ordered me 

to burn the fuel dump. I was able to use my bayonet to quietly open a five gallon can which I splashed onto the ground and someone had shot holes into other fuel cans 

which had also leaked on the ground. I was pouring fuel as I backed away and when I lit the fuel it was only a matter of seconds that we had a huge fire.

 I credit the Belgian friend for saving my life because of his knowledge of the terrain. I know that others have been praised for burning the fuel dump and that is okay, 

but Captain Mitchell and I know that the 526th Armored Infantry destroyed that fuel dump, slowing the Germans to a stop.

 I was just a young kid, scared to death, but our trust in God is what defeated the Germans.

 bag captain charles a mitchell

 

Camp Bouse Images

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=%22camp+bouse%22+images&qpvt=%22camp+bouse%22+images&FORM=IGRE#view=detail&id=4BB2E8126B77203E9A53B4F0EB6C528241641062&selectedIndex=5

    

 

 

http://www.denix.osd.mil/perchloratesummaries/upload/AZ_Camp-Bouse.pdf

Facility and Location

Camp Bouse was constructed as part of the Desert Training Center, later known as the

California-Arizona Maneuver Area (C-AMA). The C-AMA provided an area for large scale

infantry and armor maneuvers. The former Camp Bouse Maneuver Area site is located

northeast of the town of Bouse in La Paz and Yavapai Counties, Arizona. The actual tent camp

was centrally located in the maneuver area about 15 to 20 miles from the town. The 352,300

acre training site lies in a northeast direction about 35 miles up Butler Valley and extends from

the western side of the Harcuvar Mountains on the east to the Bouse Hills and foothills of the

Buckskin Mountains along the west boundary. The site is remote desert north of Vicksburg and

Aguila, Arizona. Camp Bouse and the C-AMA were declared surplus February 1945.

Seven Army tank battalions are known to have trained at Camp Bouse, and numerous

munitions usage areas (e.g., small arms, machine gun, tank, grenade, mortar firing ranges)

were established within the site boundary. Other army improvements included dirt roads and a

large tent city. Dedudding activities are known to have occurred in certain sectors of the camp

during the late 1940s and early 1950s, but munitions items continue to be discovered on the

site.

 

World War II Desert Training Center

California-Arizona Maneuver Area

http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/needles/patton.html

Map showing general overview of various camps

Detailed area map of the training center camps

World War II Desert Training Center, California-Arizona Maneuver Area

 

Historical photo of tanks in action at the World War II Desert Training Center.  BLM Photo  Photo General George Patton.  BLM Photo

In the earliest days of World War II, when this Nation was thrust into the greatest global conflict the world has ever seen, 

the War Department realized the necessity for troops well trained under harsh conditions to withstand the rigors of battle 

over rough terrain and in inhospitable climates. 

Thus, the Desert Training Center, California-Arizona Maneuver Area (DTC-CAMA) was created in 1942.  

This simulated theater of operation was the largest military training ground in the history of military maneuvers.  

These young troops would carry that early training on to victory in the sands of North Africa, the mud and mire

 to Europe, the ice and snow of Alaska, and even into the Pacific jungles

A site near Shavers Summit (now known as Chiriaco Summit) between Indio and Desert Center, was selected 

as the headquarters of the Desert Training Center (DTC). This site, called Camp Young, was the world's largest Army post.


Map showing general overview of various camps 

Detailed area map of the training center camps

Printable Patton Brochure

Major General George S. Patton Jr. came to Camp Young as the first Commanding General of the Desert Training Center. 

His first orders were to select other areas within the desert that would be suitable for the large-scale maneuvers necessary to prepare American soldiers for combat against the German Afrika Korps in the North African desert. Ten other camps were established in an area stretching from Boulder City, Nevada to the Mexican border, and from Phoenix, Arizona to Pomona, California.

After General Patton was sent to North Africa, the name of the training center was changed to the California-Arizona Maneuver Area (CAMA). 

Twenty separate divisions consisting of more than one million men trained here.

When the direction of the war shifted to the Allies' favor in 1944, the camps, plagued by shortage of supplies and equipment, 

were closed, thus ending the largest simulated theater of operations in the history of military maneuvers.

Although most of the structures were removed, much of the infrastructure, including rock-lined streets, staging areas, 

flag circles, and tent areas remain

Historical photo of a chapel at Iron Mountain Camp.  BLM Photo

 

 

 

 

 

THE CAMPS TODAY

Now the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), charged with managing the public lands on which the camps lie, 

is engaged in an effort to protect and interpret them.

Camp Iron Mountain, designated as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern in 1980, is perhaps the best known 

and certainly the best preserved of all the camps. The area has been fenced to provide protection from vehicular traffic.

 Despite the ravages of time, a contour map, many rock mosaics, two alters, and numerous rock alignments along roads and walkways have survived.

Do´s and Don´ts - To protect these resources, vehicle use within all Camps, except Camp Pilot Knob will be limited 

to designated routes of travel.   Vehicle use in Camp Pilot Knob will be limited to Sidewinder Road.

Historical photo of a camp during World War II.  BLM Photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOOKING TOWARD
THE FUTURE

The BLM has made a dedicated effort in preserving the remaining features at these historically significant sites 

through protection and interpretation for the benefit of future generations. Much more was here, but thoughtless 

visitors have stolen the remains which were easy to carry. When you visit these or other historic sites in the desert, 

please leave all historic objects as you found them, so they can be enjoyed by those who follow you. These sites

and artifacts are protected by Federal and State law, with substantial penalties for violators.

 

 

   
WWII in color amd B&W photos

http://www.ww2incolor.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

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