The History Of The 29th In Real Life part 2

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UNE 6, 1944: D-Day. The 29th came in at H-Hour. Doughs of the assaulting 116th RCT, led by Col. Charles D.W. Canham, Howell, Mich., were hit even before they reached the beach. Landing craft hung up on underwater obstacles, hit mines, blew up. German automatic weapons poured deadly cross-fire on the men climbing from the boats. Some doughs threw away their helmets, rifles and leaped into the water in an effort to save themselves.

This was not only an invasion. This was a struggle for personal survival!

Those blasted into the water tugged at their equipment, tried to reach shore. Some drowned. Others were hit while struggling to reach the beach. Gaining the beach, some doughs turned back, splashed into the water up to their necks for protection. Concertina and double apron fence criss-crossed the flat beach. Mines were buried in the sand. Mortar fire was deadly; 88s, set in the side of the cliff, were zeroed in on the landings.

"Hell, men," said Gen. Cota, Asst. Div. Commander, to the doughs crouching on the sand. "We're getting killed here on the beach. We might as well go a little farther in and get killed there!" Small groups crept forward a few yards, then on further until they reached the protecting cover of the cliff.

Infantry, engineers and artillery suffered heavy losses in both men and equipment. The 111th FA Bn, landed with only one 105mm gun. Lt. Col. Thornton L. Mullins, battalion CO, said: "To hell with our artillery mission. We've got to be infantrymen now!" Col. Eugene N. Slappey's 115th Inf. Regt. came in at 1100, then fought up the heights to St. Laurent and to positions south and west of the town.

Maj. Gen. Charles H. Gerhardt, Division Commander, personally directed the fight on the beach at 1300. His CP, set up in a rock quarry 200 yards from the water's edge, was functioning four hours later.



Vierville-sur-Mer and St. Laurent were taken next day by the 116th, while the 115th shifted south toward Longeuville and Formigny. The 175th, held offshore in Corps reserve, came in June 7 and seized Isigny two days later.

Resistance was fierce up the narrow coastal strip. Machine gun fire pinned down 116th doughs on the approaches to Grandchamps and artillery couldn't knock out the German position. T/Sgt. Frank D. Peregory, Charlottesville, Va., did it alone.

Working his way up the side of an enemy-held hill, the sergeant dropped into a trench. As he inched forward, he suddenly came upon a squad of German infantry. Sgt. Peregory killed eight Nazis with hand grenades, took three others prisoner at the point of his bayonet. Threading his way down the trench, he captured 32 more riflemen and the machine gunners who held up the 116th's advance. The Congressional Medal of Honor was awarded Sgt. Peregory posthumously. He was killed in battle six days later.

As the beachhead expanded, the 29th ripped inland to the hedgerows and St. Lo. Omaha Beach was costly. Never again would such a terrific price be paid for ground won by the Blue and Gray.

At Omaha Beach and St. Lo, 29th doughs wrote new chapters to a story already famous in American military annals. The 29th's regiments could trace their origins to the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. The 115th grew out of Maryland's "Fighting First" Regt.; the 116th combined elements of the First, Second, Fourth and part of the Fifth Virginia Regts.; the 171th stemmed from the Maryland Fifth, the "Dandy Fifth" of Revolutionary War days. In World War I, the three regiments and the 176th formed the 29th Division which fought in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

On its return from France, the 29th became part of the National Guard but wasn't assembled as a unit until 1936. Mobilized again in 1940, the division was called into active service Feb. 3, 1941, at Ft. George Meade, Md.



After preliminary training, the division moved to A.P. Hill Military Reservation. Carolina maneuvers came in 1941 and 1942. Following a month's rest at Camp Blanding, Fla., the 29th shipped overseas, Sept. 26, 1942.

In England, the division underwent additional training at Tidworth Barracks. Men learned British currency, frequented pubs, became accustomed to tea and muffins, went sightseeing in London. After further training at Cornwall and Devon, 29th doughs rehearsed at Slapton Sands for the invasion.

Organized with men selected within the division, a Ranger battalion under Lt. Col. Randolph Millholland, Cumberland, Md., trained with British Commandos in Scotland. Many 29th men participated in the Commando raids on Norway's coasts long before the Normandy invasion.



Nineteen months of training had made the 29th rugged, sharp. It was ready for D-Day.

July 26, 1944: Eight days after the capture of St. Lo, the 29th was in the line again. Replacements and supplies had been brought up through the torn countryside and rubbled towns. Kicking off with the 30th Inf. and 2nd Armd. Divs., the Blue and Gray drove southward over the dusty, winding country lanes to seize Percy, Tessy-sur-Vire, St. Germain de Tallevande, Vire, Villebaudon.

German resistance was stubborn. Self-propelled 88s and small infantry units harassed the 29th as the Nazis fought delaying actions. The 121st Engr. Combat Bn. probed the roads, pulled mines and blasted openings in hedgerows for the 747th Tank Bn. and the 821st TD Bn. which supported the division. Leveling its guns at the hedgerows, the 419th AAA Bn, covered the attacks.

In late July, the Nazis launched a desperate counter-offensive designed to cut off American troops on the Cherbourg peninsula. In the 29th's sector, the 116th Panzer Div. battered Blue and Gray positions at Percy and Villebaudon but was driven back with heavy casualties. The 110th, 111th, 224th and 227th FA Bns. pounded enemy positions, prepared the way for the next lunge.

"The Battle of Normandy" produced many heroes, T/5 Harold O'Connor, Westbrange, N.J., 175th Medic, dragged his wounded company commander from the Vire River, administered first aid, then braved murderous machine gun fire to stay with him until help came. Lt. Richard N. Reed, Canandaugua, N.Y., 175th, crawled within 10 yards of a Nazi machine gun before he charged the position, killing the gunner with the last round in his carbine and clubbing the assistant gunner with the butt. Pfc Robert Moore, Silver Springs, Md., 115th, stalked a German tank escorting American prisoners to enemy lines. After shouting to them to disperse, he fired his anti-tank grenade, drove off the tank.



East of St. Sauveur de Chaulieu, enemy tanks and infantry infiltrated behind the 115th's lines, Aug. 10. The regimental CP was moved forward as a perimeter defense was set up. Despite heavy losses, the 115th held firm. Relief came the next day.

After 63 days of action, the division came out of the line at Yvrandes, Aug. 15, its part in the battle of Normandy over. The 29th had been the cutting edge of every attack -- out in front each day of the long offensive.




I expect every parachutist to bear in mind his important mission, to execute his duties with fanatical zeal... The defense of the sea fortress of Brest must become the same glorious page in history for the Second Parachute Division as Monte Cassino has been for the First... The whole world lookes to Brest and its defenders, of which the Second Parachute Division is the main pillar... Long live the Fuehrer!
Gen. Herman Ramcke