The Bulge and Germany, 1945

After sustaining very heavy casualties from enemy artillery fire and the cold dreary weather in the Stolberg Corridor, the entire division was sent to a rest camp on 12 December 1944. The stay was short, because Hitler launched Operation Wacht am Rhein four days later and the Battle of the Bulge was on. The division was sent to bolster the northern shoulder of the bulge near Camp Elsenborn. The 16th Infantry was ordered to positions near Robertville and Waywertz, Belgium. For the next month, the men of the 16th Infantry held defensive positions there, conducted heavy patrolling toward the German positions near Faymonville, and engaged in a number of firefights with troops of the 1st SS Panzer and 3rd Fallshirmjaeger Divisions. All of this was conducted in heavy snows during one of the coldest European winters on record.

On 15 January 1945, the Big Red One launched its part of the Allied counteroffensive to reduce the Bulge. Over the next seven weeks, the regiment conducted numerous attacks in western Germany culminating in the capture of Bonn on 8 March 1945. From there the Big Red One moved north to the Harz Mountains to eliminate a German force cut off there by the rapid advance of the First and Ninth US Armies. On 22 April, the Big Red One finished clearing the Harz Mountains and soon received orders to once again head south. This time, the division was reassigned to the Third Army for its drive into Czechoslovakia. On 28 April, the regiment arrived near Selb, Germany, and began advancing east into Czechoslovakia. For the next ten days the 16th Infantry pushed into that country arriving near Falkenau by 7 May. At 0800 that day, a net call went out to the entire regiment to cease all forward movement. The war was over.

  • A 16th Infantryman reports via field phone somewhere near Waimes, Belgium during the Bulge.

  • A 16th Infantryman on patrol near Weywertz, December 1944.

  • These 16th Infantrymen received makeshift camouflage snow garments during the battle of the Bulge.

  • A camouflaged grunt takes aim.

  • Schoppen, Belgium, the 16th Infantry Regiment’s first objective after going on the offense during second half of the Battle of the Bulge.

  • Troops of I Company ride a tank into the attack on Schoppen, 15 January 1945.

  • Two lieutenants from I Company examine German weapons abandoned at Schoppen.

  • A column of 16th Infantrymen trudging forward during the Battle of the Bulge.

  • C Company advances to attack Faymonville, Belgium, 16 January 1945.

  • A paratrooper from the 3rd Fallshirmjaeger Division captured near Weywertz, Belgium, 15 January 1945

  • More German paratroopers captured by the 16th Infantry near Weywertz, Belgium, 15 January 1945.

  • The 100,000th POW captured by the 1st Infantry Division in WWII. He was captured by soldiers of the 16th Infantry near Weywertz, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge.

  • A captured German Sdk. 251 halftrack used by L Company, 16th Infantry to bring supplies to the front near Schoppen, Belgium, 22 January 1945.

  • German Sdk. 251 halftrack, captured and used by I Company, 16th Infantry.

  • A 16th Infantry half-track plows its way through a muddy road in the Hurtgen Forest, 15 February 1945

  • 16th Infantry soldiers prepare a ration breakdown point at Grosshau, Germany, 15 February 1945.

  • A patrol from A Company enters Kufferath 25 February 1945.

  • Infantrymen of Company A, 16th Infantry move out of Kufferath, Germany, heading for a bridge across the Roer River, 25 February 1945.

  • These troops were just given orders to begin movement to the Roer River crossing site.

  • Infantrymen of Company B, 16th Infantry move out of Schneidhausen, Germany, en route to cross the Roer River on 25 February 1945.

  • Pvt. Michael Swinkin of Company B, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, rests near the Roer River, Kreuzau, Germany, 25 February 1945.

  • Infantrymen of Company K, 16th Infantry heading for the the Roer River crossing near Lendersdorf, Germany.

  • Troops of M Company crossing the Roer just south of Duren on a pontoon bridge, 25 February 1945.

  • A light macine gunner pauses briefly on the Roer River bridge.

  • B Company troops crossing the Roer on a footbridge near Kreuzau, Germany, 25 February 1945.

  • George Cap and James McFarland, I Company, play cards while awaiting orders to attack Vettweiss, 28 February 1945.

  • Soldiers of the regiment advance deeper into Germany about February 1945.

  • Soldiers of I Company sitting under a wall after they captured Vettweiss, 28 February 1945. The slogan reads, “We win because we believe in Adolf Hitler and our Greater Germany.”

  • Troops of G Company and a 57 mm crew from AT Company rest after entering Vetweiss. The corpse in the foreground was one of the German defenders of the town.

  • H Company passes by troops of the 80th Chem Bn as they set up their 4.2 inch mortars in Weilerwist to support the 2nd Battalion attack on Metternich, 5 March 1945

  • Pvt. Michael C. DiCarlo, Company H uses a “liberated” wheelbarrow to transport 81mm mortar ammunition to his mortar position in a nearby field.

  • Pvt. Stockov, Company D, loads a captured German mortar as his fellow soldiers watch.

  • F Company men move out to attack Metternich, 6 March 1945

  • Troops of G Company moving to attack Metternich, 6 March 1945.

  • Weapons Platoon, G Company advance toward Metternich in the distance, 6 March 1945.

  • 2nd Battalion troops advancing through a churchyard in Metternich.

  • Men of C Company move past a dead German soldier as they advance through Bonn 8 March 1945.

  • These troops are watching for movement near the Rhine River bridge at Bonn, 9 March 1945. The attack on Bonn was considered the regiment’s most successful attack of the war.

  • A few brave German troops stay behind in Bonn long enough to take pot shots at these troops.

  • The Rhine Bridge at Bonn. The bridge went up in a tremendous blast as the 16th Infantry approached the west end on the morning of 8 March 1945.

  • Those Germans who did not leave Bonn in a hurry were rather quickly captured and led out of the city into captivity.

  • A 16th Infantryman on guard in the streets of Bonn.

  • Once the 16th Infantry took the north half of Bonn, tanks quickly followed to help secure the city.

  • After capturing Wehrden, the regiment crossed the Weser River on rafts on 8 April 1945 and immediately advanced on Furstenburg.

  • Infantrymen of Company B, 16th Infantry, having just crossed the Weser River, advance under sniper fire toward Furstenberg, Germany, 8 April 1945.

  • Troops of the 16th Infantry advance through a forest near Furstenburg, Germany, 8 April 1945-USASC

  • The 1st Infantry Division was diverted north after crossing the Weser to clear out the Harz Forest. Here 16th Infantrymen take cover behind a tank of the 745th Tank battalion in St. Andreasbuerg, Germent, 14 April 1945.

  • G Company troops warily move into St. Andreasburg.

  • Resistance in St. Andreasburg was stiff and the town was subsequently heavily damaged from US artillery fire.

  • G Company passes through St. Andreasburg onto their next attack, 15 April 1945.

  • Soldiers of L Company gather to receive some sweets from a Donut Dolly, somewhere in Germany.

  • Lt. Gen. Fitz Benicke surrenders his command to Brig. Gen. George A. Taylor at Elbogen, Czechoslavakia, 7 May 1945.

  • T/Sgt Jake Lindsey receives the Medal of Honor before a joint session of Congress 21 May 1945. General George C. Marshall reads the citation while President Harry Truman stands by to place the medal on Lindsey’s neck.