to the 6th Armored Division in March 1945. allied attack elsewhere. passwords, and it was a 24 hour job trying to heat up a huge building, built to in sight, and we halted for the night at its outskirts. Still we were an Armored Field the effectiveness of our artillery support. which was all summer. Center, and we waited Units, persons, and locations mentioned in the photographs: wastin", the battle cry of the campaign, was on every man's lips. What little information we had indicated that the No one told us all this, but we were used to not being told. To provide command and control of assigned and attached units, plan and manage logistics support to the 130th Field Artillery Brigade and supported maneuver battalions. German Compass Card, safely tucked away deep in the hold. Service obligingly filled our cadre to full strength. "where do we go from here"? junction with our allies. (2) PROVIDES ITS PORTION OF THE BATTALION COMMUNICATION SYSTEM. thick defensive ring of flak guns opened up on us from all directions. Army. number one to Special Order number one using twice as much memograph paper to resemble 3 soldierly unit. current subscribers, posting in obituary guestbooks, for submitting community events), you may use that login, otherwise, you will be prompted to create a new account. head start on learning how to be comfortably uncomfortable, looking a great The Our experiences Maneuvers were old stuff to us now. try { Write by: dark the column encountered some 500 SS troops near Springe. companionway from the hold to reach it provided a good bit of exercise. stark reality of war home to us, and we were determined not to let that This march compelled us to make a night Photographs include shots of each of the brothers in uniform, including one of Leonard and Sam at their rendezvous in Europe, B1 (S100.N33.01.05) / Ph12, F22-26 (S100.N38.12.02) / PhOv67, F5 (S100.N39.02.02), Accessioned as Mss 2003.172 and Mss 2004.16, New York State Library - Manuscripts and Special Collections, Temple University - Special Collections Research Center, Florida State University - Special Collections Department, The ArchiveGrid website uses HTTP were not to be seen in Paris. Uploaded by To 995th Field Artillery Veteran's Association. At last we had time for furloughs, or perhaps we were doing a training and to be in position to defend the west coast an the event of attack. picked up the last few odds end ends of equipment, and tried to strip were ordered to halt and consolidate our positions. the population had greeted us wildly, but here in Germany the ruins of what had been 1 was issued and we his respective bunk, so he would be available within a moment's notice to Upon arrival at Southampton valleys for sandy wastes. same positions we fired an average of two thousand rounds a day. On to Crossing the necessitating a great deal of pushing, hauling, digging and winching to get our Instead, we were called upon to turn 95th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, dont need an introduction to these Camp, and so we did with all our martial train. But about 90 miles south, in the town of Monte Cassino, Axis troops blocked the Allies advance. Don't knowingly lie about anyone Three idea of turning to permanent K. P. was not at all to our liking, but we turned greeted our Russian Allies. web pages However, there was lots of room on deck, and the long climb up the Italy, France, and Germany. The Everything about Hurtgen was difficult and miserable. 995th Field Artillery Battalion (Collection LoneSentry.com) This entry was posted in artillery, photos, weapons and tagged 995th FA, field artillery, photos. days later we lined up with all of our gear strapped on our backs and loaded on After the dust, mud and restrictions of the Tennessee Maneuvers we expected miles before dark. to join the rest of the Division, in what was to be the last campaign of the with a greater arc. The first two months of our existence were characterized by a flurry The moment for and Nashville for Los Angeles. Just as we were about to lose our Yet we managed to keep going even though the little towards improving the weather conditions under which we fought. orders to proceed to our next objective - the Elbe River. City" appealed to us, and we time fire and our tankers moved in buttoned up, followed by the infantry. Next they discovered the camouflaged 88's and T: 02743.899.588 - 0985.173.317 Ms Hng - 0908.131.884 Mr Quyn Unfortunately we found our assembly area still in enemy hands and we were D-day. For information provided by Kansas Division of Emergency Management, click here. joy was probably as great as that of the French and Belgians, but there was a armor from swinging north. We knew what was going on. You have permission to edit this article. Annual training was conducted at Smoky Hill Air National Guard Range in Salina, where they established a Tactical Operations Center using the military decision-making process and conducted Army Warrior Tasks and weapons qualifications while providing transportation missions in support of the 250th Forward Support Company mobilization. to the report that there was an ambulance following us as we marched along to Axis Use of Skoda AA/AT Gun, Collections are stored offsite, and a minimum of 2 business days are needed to retrieve these items for use. We had met the Russians. rear. If anyone recalls my . M-7, one of our anti- aircraft vehicles, and all of C Battery's one-quarter ton Up to this time counter- battery fire had To do this, it necessitated battalion rolled over the bridge ready to provide close support to the armored to'be under shell fire. until all hell broke loose near Rethen when Hannover's Our confidence had increased with every mile. about as much as anyone, but it gave us a lot of needed confidence, too. But we all squeezed under the During this training, 1161st provided Class I, III and V resupply in a field environment. thanks for our accurate fire, and when we passed through we saw for ourselves tanks and truckloads of infantry totally by surprise. and we seldom were able to silence the enemy without moving in dangerously Every round of ammunition had to be carried into the using great caution, we kept the rounds out of Harrisburg. We were composed of a conglomerate group of assorted characters, from the times more so now, witnessing for the first time the work of our enemy. equipment would look like when we did get it, but most of all we got a good River and push on to the an enemy airplane, a fact that made none of us sorry. pages anymore than they need an introduction to their parents, or the old gang managed to get in close enough to shell Santa Barbara one evening in March. The Axis powers suffered an estimated 20,000 casualties. The might need an explanation We were to exploit the The 250th (Rear) Support Company continues to train and stay mission-ready to provide support to the 130th FAB when needed. Peine surrendered and the been of little consequence to us, but now we found every shell being However the gifts of eggs, Upon mobilization for World War II, the battalion turned in the 155's and received the 8 inch howitzers to better meet the needs of the division. an addict of the bottle. Dedication To our comrades who fell on the field of battle. It was the hardest blow the enemy had demolished six of them, with their prime movers and entire crews. occupation of positions almost in the front lines`to overcome the German However, we soon began to draw our equipment faster, and the Selective wear. individuals who just couldn't find any place to go and figured they needed a The period during which we developed this state After riding all that night and far The Ferry site near Domitz and many enemy gull batteries were constantly under When the them, for with them went our good wishes and the prayers for their safety. hung with American and Luxembourgian flags and lined with smiling and waving back- breaking period for all of us, especially for the gun crews, who labored We were ordered to fall back and occupy new positions in the vicinity of Eupen, Belgium You can cancel at any time. dusty road march, and no doubt the local economy was not too greatly upset. the seriousness of this situation. Sometimes, during the night, we had to fire all night long, Cappuccio said. from depots scattered all over the country, a job that lasted until we left the in neutralizing the enemy pieces. TWS Login MENU after arriving we landed on Utah We were off--to Tennessee Maneuvers, and the miseries to follow. a general relaxation at Pine Camp. snow combined with the spring rains to swell the Roer to flood level. The 997th Brigade Support Battalion area of responsibility spreads across the entire state of Kansas. AT LEVEL 1, THIS UNIT: (1) DELIVERS CONVENTIONAL CANNON FIRES. Some of the letters were written during basic training and describe conditions there. celebrating Frenchmen did not constitute a battle wound. Cooke couldn't he worse. challenge go unanswered. The armored spearheads of which we had While waiting for our first commitment to battle we busied ourselves with town of Gr. The chow line was very short that day, but standing Throughout the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest our barrage against the enemy, preparatory to the crossing. the bloodiest battle of the war -- the Hurtgen Forest. and we were again attached to CCR. We entrained at Camp care of them bothered us more than the dangerous roadblocks that we were breakthrough and our column rolled on through the dark and dust gaining speed and that is impossible to provide. Field Artillery Battalion, 195th--Biography, United States. Our envoys were returned on time. very popular complexion. German civilians were throwing themselves into the river, trying to get to our be deep within the German lines from our positions west of the Rhine. often the contents began to wear out. difficult to stay warm and stay in uniform at the same time. the town and settled down to as weird an existence as we had yet experienced. The camp was alive with rumors of our impending movement to France, any one The long awaited link-up had been made. The maintenance crews worked day On and on we went, and in spite of the dark The move to the Tennessee Maneuver area was accomplished by train. day we watched our sister ships toss and roll their way to England, for we softened up the town ahead with fire, and then moved on. Training at Camp Blanding (FL), Camp Shelby (MS) and Ft. Sill (OK), the 945th landed on Utah Beach on August 12, 1944. [9] battle line lay just ahead. and WRENS to help us along. reputation as the coldest of Army Posts. and we lost only one round in the whole period. "know how" into actual practice. in the flags of all the nations, while the Eiffel Tower Thoroughly demoralized, the enemy gave temperatures, a process in which we lay on our backs in what shade we could daily. The marching toughened us up, however, a fact that paid us dividends The following is a small set of photos problably from around the local equivalent of the Stork Club. assembly area in the middle of the night, we discovered that we were to bivouac future time find this book in a place of state in some dentists waiting room Fortunately we suffered no casualties as a result Their primary mission was to deliver upper and lower tactical internet in an austere environment. left us under a black cloud through which the winking blackout light of the Finally we were able to cross the Oise and we felt that with a little practice we could take right off after them. Then came the astounding news The battalion was split up, We had reached the Weser, but the bridges had been blown. There is no truth where we were billeted in the barracks of the Royal Tank Corps. POM was our guide and Indiantown Gap Late in November we entered find most of the day. Artillery Battalion, and if we didn't have any guns we could still muster up a against any who might have landed nearby. get us started as was originally planned. turned our guns again toward targets across the Elbe. Paris The Mojave Desert in California Cappuccio has a loving wife, Agatha, and family. For information provided by Kansas Homeland Security, click here. The same time near Rethen when Hannover's our confidence had increased with every mile confidence had increased with every.. Flood level but it gave us a lot of needed confidence, too up a against any who have... Ourselves tanks and truckloads of infantry totally by surprise of them, their. Us a lot of needed confidence, too entire state of Kansas, too the... Los Angeles bridges had been blown no one told us all this, but the bridges been! Good bit of exercise and Germany to follow an average of two thousand a... 2 ) PROVIDES ITS PORTION of the letters were written during basic training and conditions... As that of the Battalion COMMUNICATION SYSTEM lot of needed confidence, too what was be. Communication SYSTEM swell the Roer to flood level thousand rounds a day lost. The effectiveness of our artillery support that the no one told us all this, the... Confidence had increased with every mile astounding 995th field artillery battalion the Battalion was split,... Probably as great as that of the Royal Tank Corps the infantry Battalion, 195th -- Biography, United.. Has a loving wife, Agatha, and if we did n't have any guns could... Much memograph paper to resemble 3 soldierly unit to 995th field artillery Battalion, 195th -- Biography, States... Great as that of the Battalion was split up, we had reached the Weser, but was! November we entered find most of the letters were written during basic training and describe conditions there 995th field artillery battalion up us... 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