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1995-10-09
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A FEW FINAL WORDS TO THOSE STILL ALIVE
I would like to address a few words to those who served in
the 4th Infantry Division during World War II. They will
understand better than most that it has not been easy to
write this book. At the same time, it has been a remarkable
experience. For the first time I have begun to understand
what happened between the time I arrived in England and
when I left the US Army. As I look back, I find it difficult to
believe that all those events actually took place, with me as
a participant.
If I have been critical of individuals or decisions, it has not
been out of malice. Rather it has been the result of my
efforts to find out why certain puzzling occurrences took
place. I have presented them here in the hope it will help
others to know what was happening to them. We cannot
undo the past, but it can be useful to understand it.
It is difficult for people who have not experienced combat to
understand the bonds that develop between those who wage
war. Since leaving the Army, I have belonged to various
groups, but none have fostered the feelings I have toward
the men I knew in the 4th Division.
Since the war, I have maintained contact with a few of those
I was close to. The reunions the 29th Field Artillery
Battalion held in Augusta, Georgia in 1980 and in Virginia
in 1993 were memorable occasions. Since beginning work
on this book, I have reestablished contacts with people I
have not seen for nearly half a century. The excerpts the
Fourth Division Association's The Ivy Leaves has published
have led to touching and informative correspondence. My
regret is that I have not kept in touch with more of my
former comrades. If, after reading this book, any of them
would care to write to me, it would be most welcome.
I would like to thank those who have read all or part of the
book and given me their comments. These have been
extremely helpful.
Finally, let us remember those of our comrades who
perished in the struggle to defeat Germany and destroy the
Nazi scourge. May their sacrifice - and the unforgivable
errors that produced this terrible war - not be forgotten.
John C. Ausland
****************
THE 4TH INFANTRY DIVISION HAD MORE CASUALTIES THAN ANY
DIVISION IN THE US ARMY DURING WORLD WAR II
Between June 6, 1944 and May 8, 1945, the 4th Infantry
Division had a total of 34,309 casualties. Of these, 21,879
were battle and 12,430 non-battle casualties. The authorized
strength of the division was a little over 14,000.
The 29th Field Artillery Battalion had 50 men killed, three
officers and forty-seven enlisted men. Of these, thirty nine
died as a result of the B Battery landing craft hitting a mine
on D-Day.
A LIST OF THOSE IN THE 29TH FIELD ARTILLERY BATTALION WHO
WERE KILLED. MOST OF THESE PERISHED WHEN B BATTERY HIT A
MINE ON THE WAY TO THE BEACH
1st Lt. Jacob L. Armeen
2nd Lt. L.C. Blanchard Jr.
1st Lt. Otis E. Finnel
Sgt. Richard E. Boylan
Cpl. Chester Brookhart
Sgt. Mark E. Buckler
Pvt. William Cananenberg
Pfc. Sidney G. Dudgeon
Pvt. Theodore Fabiszak
T/5 Joseph Fedish
Cpl. Charles Giambrone
Cpl. George P. Greygor
T/5 Joseph G. Hardy
Pfc. Floyd Hardzog
T/5 Felix Harper
Pvt. Ralph W. Hershman
Pfc. Harold E. Ingenito
Pfc. Carl F. Jackson
Cpl. Joseph Jezak
Cpl. Ervin T. Johnson
Cpl. William B. Keller
Pvt. Edward J. Kozlowski
Pfc. James D. Lake
Cpl. Michael Leavor
Pfc. James P. Mahoney
Pfc. Conrad C. Mason
T/5 James H. Miller
Pfc. Carrol A. Morgan
Pvt. Anthony C. Morgia
T/5 Fred M. Newton
Pvt. Noel N. Nichols
T/4 Bernard L. Pataky
T/4 John W. Phelps
Pfc. Andrew J. Relosky
Cpl. Clarence V. Sanders
S/Sgt. Robert Schlott
Pfc. Charles W. Schaff
T/4 Robert J. Shanley
Pvt. John B. Singleton
Pvt. Sidney R. Smart
Daniel C. Smith
Pvt. Harry J. Smith
Pvt. Irving Spector
Pvt. Thomas Spina
Pfc. Horace S. Stephens
Pfc. James G. Tillman
Pvt. Robert H. Turner
Pvt. Raymond F. Vosen
T/5 Lugher L. Waugh
Pvt. Benjamin E. Williams
***************
THE SOURCES USED IN PRODUCING THIS BOOK
The main sources for this book have been my letters and
memory. I have used about half the letters I wrote home.
Other than a few amendments for the sake of clarity, the
portions of the letters which appear are just as my parents
saw them.
Memory can be a tricky thing. Hence, I do not guarantee
everything that I have said. People involved have, however,
read and commented on various chapters. My best
protection against error has been documents about the 4th
Division in the National Archives. The After Action Reports
were particularly useful. There was also a fifty-four page
summary of the documents related to the 8th Infantry
Regiment, prepared in 1946. I have also drawn on interviews
made immediately after battles by historians headed by Lt.
Col. William Gayle.
Among the accounts of the war in Europe, I have
particularly valued David Eisenhower's book about his
grandfather, Eisenhower at War 1943-1945, and Stephen E.
Ambrose's The Supreme Commander. The autobiographies
of various generals, including Eisenhower and Bradley, have
also been helpful. There are also references in the book to
various sources.
For military events, I have leaned on the US Army series
about World War II, six volumes of which are devoted to the
events covered by this book. You will find references to them
in the text.
The US Army War College at Carlisle Barracks in
Pennsylvania has kindly sent me a copy of its case study for
academic year 1992 on Operation Overlord.
For sorting out dates, I have drawn on Donald Summerville's
World War II Day by Day and a book in the US Army series,
Chronology 1941-1945, compiled by Mary H. Williams.
For the German point of view, I have read those books in
the twenty-four volume series World War II Germany Military
Studies, edited by Donald S. Detwiler, which concerned
actions in which the 4th Division was involved. The record
of some of Hitler's meetings with his generals in Hitler
Directs His War, edited by Felix Gilbert is fascinating
reading. I have also valued the comments of my German
electronic mail correspondent Dr. Werner E. Klotzbuecher,
who read the entire manuscript in draft.
Unfortunately, no one has yet written a book about the 4th
Division in World War II. However, I have long had 4th
Division Artillery published by Army and Navy Publishing
Company, Baton Rouge, in 1946. This is helpful particularly
because it has pictures of the men in the 4th Division
Artillery when the division broke up, as a well as a list of
people who had been in the various artillery units. In 1987,
Turner Publishing Company of Paducah, Kentucky published
4th Infantry "Ivy" Division, which reprinted things written
about the Division.
The pictures were for the most part either from my private
collection or obtained from the National Archives. Bill Sydnor
was kind enough to make his picture collection available to
me, and I used one from the Huertgen Forest. Col.
Thomason sent me the picture of Montgomery inspecting the
29th and Jim Flannigan the one of our award ceremony.
THE TECHNOLOGY USED IN PRODUCING THIS BOOK
For those interested in the technology, I used the following
hardware: an AST Premium 386SX computer and a Hewlett-
Packard IIP laser printer with a PacificPage PE postscript
cartridge. The maps were scanned with a Logitech 32 hand
scanner, using Graytouch and Cleopatra software. My
desktop publishing program was GEM Ventura Publisher. My
bible has been Malcolm E. Barker's Book design and
production for the small publisher.
If I had not had a modem hooked to my computer, it would
have been much more difficult to write this book. I would
like, therefore, to acknowledge the help given me by users
of the Compuserve Information Service in Ohio and the
Internet academic and research network.
The Reference Center of the American Embassy in Oslo, with
its electronic bulletin board, and the Norwegian library
system, with its online database, have also been of great
assistance.
Finally, I would like to thank the personnel of the National
Archives in Washington, DC and Suitland, Maryland for
their help in finding pictures and documents.