Spring, 1987 - 70th Infantry Division Association

Counter-attack!
• • • but the 70th repulses a desperate enemy
By DONALD C. PENCE
This installment is a flash-back to the period which was recounted
in the Fall, 1986 ''Trailblazer." That covered a single day
of combat, February 23, 1945. The Division had captured the high,
wooded ground from the Kreutzberg Ridge, below $tiring­
Wendel, to the Saar at Buebingen. By sheer numbers, foot soldiers
make up the major portion of an infantry division and Division
records naturally reflect this. But support units play an essential role,
too, in any infantry victory. So this installment will take a look at
some of the units supporting the 70th.
The heroic efforts of Feb. 23 are a proud chapter in the Trail-
blazer annals. We overcame the German infantry's stand-or-die
defense supported by lavish use of artillery and armor, including
Mark VI ''Tigers." Too, the enemy defense was aided by the rugged
terrain improved by bunkers, trenches and tank ditches, for our
assault battalions had now entered the outer defenses of the
Siegfried Line. German SS Lt. Gen. Max Simon, after inspecting the
complex around Spicheren Heights in November, 1944, wrote
with apparent grim satisfaction about its excellence as a defensive
position. It was Simon's Xlllth SS Panzer Corps that made the main
effort west of the Bitche during the German Norwind offensive in
January.
HAY ING BEEN FORCED back from
this key defense line on February 23,
the enemy reacted with a series of
violent counterattacks over the next several
days. The German 347th Division had borne
the brunt of the recent fighting, and its 36th
Infantry on Spicheren Heights was in particularly
bad shape even though it had received
replacements diverted from the Division's
other two regiments, which had been less heavily
engaged. During the period, elements of the
2nd Mountain, 559th Yolks Grenadier and 19th
Yolks Grenadier Divisions were fed into the
battle to add their weight to the counterblows.
Trailblazer casualties, light during the first
several days of the Saar offensive, but increasing
sharply beginning on February 21, remained
high. The impassive language of the
Division Report of Operations for Feb. 24 was
accurate enough in its reflection of units,
events, times and locations. There was no room
in such reports for the human drama attending
these happenings:
"(1) 274th lnf: Co. F, 276th lnf atchd.
Enemy counterattack from NW at 0830 consisting
of infantry only. Enemy in small groups
continued to harass troops in GIFERTW ALD
WOODS. Mop-up of woods continued during
the day. At I 400 enemy counterattack from vic
STIRING-WENDEL; no armor used . Contact
regained with Co. E and enemy driven from
woods. Co. F, 276th Inf. in regimental reserve.
"(2) 275th lnf: Enemy artillery fell in 3rd Bn
area at 1030. lst Bn received small counterattack
consisting of infantry and four tanks . All
attacks repulsed. Positions on Division objective
being consolidated and secured.
"(3) 276th lnf (less Co. F): Regiment holding
positions along railroad tracks in FOR­
BACH . Continued mopping up and patrolling
Supporting troops
share team victory
10
streets. Cos. E and F relieved by elements of
lst and 3rd Bns. 2nd Bn (-Co. G and Co. F)
assembled in COCHEREN. Harassing enemy
artillery continued throughout the day.''
The 274th's Col. Conley did not take lightly
the counterattack in hi s area. He asked G-3
about getting back his troops tied up in the
Gifertwald in the 275th sector, pointing out that
he didn't have a "damn thing to guard that
hill. " He noted that the enemy was behind his
Co. E and judged that the Kreutzberg Ridge
below Stiring-Wendel could be lost unless he
received additional forces.
That the enemy was taking fearful casualties
in its continuing counterattacks was indicated
in a POW interrogation report obtained the next
day and forwarded by the 274th S-2 to Division.
The POW stated that the total strength of
the 1st Battalion, 1126 YG Regiment, 559th
YG Division had been reduced to 50-60 men
and that it had 50 KIA 's during the counterattack
of Feb. 24. According to a German unit
history, the 559th had been committed to recapture
the " Spicheren fortifications. " The unit
history noted further that, contrary to the recommendation
of the CG, 347th Division (cited
above), the first regiment of the 559th VG to
have arrived in the area was committed immediately
without waiting for the arrival of the
entire division, the result being a piecemeal
attack.
·'Snow, Ridges and * Pillboxes.'' ·'Sometime
during the hours of darkness, the Krauts succeeded
in moving up the draws undetected, and
by daybreak they were ready to charge our
foremost positions. Capt. Sisson's Easy Company
(274th) bore the brunt of the attack. 'The
Krauts were on top of us before we knew what
happened, ' recalls Sgt. Barrett. 'They went
through the gaps in the woods, past the front
line defenses, and headed for the mortar positions
on top of the hill. Fighting raged at close
quarters.' "
Sgt. Edward Kachursky, 274th Co. B., was
hit four times in the German counterattack that
overran his position on Kreutzberg Ridge. Motioned
by his captors to come with them, Kachursky
struggled to his feet, then fell, too weak
to stand. A very young German medic gave him
first aid, and Kachursky gave the boy his watch
and some rations when the others left them
alone. Then armed Germans reappeared, Kachursky
judged, to finish off any wounded
Americans. The young medic covered Kachursky
with a blanket hiding his GI identity.
Kachursky was liberated when the same
ground was retaken by an American counterattack,
during which the young German medic
was killed, his head blown off.
Co. B, 274th was digging in after a tough
day's fighting when the enemy suddenly
counterattacked. Dropping their shovels and
picking up their M-1' s, Sgt. Elmo Chappell and
two of his buddies found the weapons, fouled
with mud, wouldn't fire semi-automatically.
Motioning his buddies to cover where they
could load each round manually, Chappell
took up an exposed position and fired each rifle
as it was loaded and passed to him. He accounted
for eight Germans, and the enemy
attack was turned back.
*
THE GERMAN A IT ACK that hit the I st
Bn, 275th, was not so easily repelled
as the quoted Division report of operations
seemed to indicate. It hit at 8:45 a.m.
between Cos. A and C, and a request was made
for tank support. Two of the four enemy tanks
broke through, one through Co. C, which had
been forced back 250 yards. It was not until
12:41 p.m. that the tanks were cleared from the
Co. C area, and from the Co. A area not until
later. Then both units moved up to their earlier
positions. Several friendly tanks which had
bogged down and had been abandoned in the
Pfaffenwald were fo und to have been stripped
by the enemy, gas and oil drained. General
Barnett ordered the 270th Engineers to recover
the tanks, but it was found that the engineers'
winches weren't strong enough for the job. The
70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER