Photos Photos of the US Army in the ETO

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Spring 1945, a GI of the 104th "Timberwolves" Division poses in front of a destroyed German "Jagd Tiger". The picture must have been taken somewhere in Germany.

 

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Photos of Chester (Jack) Hoyt, 83rd ID, 329 INF, Company M.

 

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Normandy 1944, a GI in front of a destroyed "Ack-Ack".

 

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One year after the D-Day landings in Normandy , German prisoners landscape the first U.S. cemetery at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer , France , near " Omaha " Beach, on May 28, 1945

 

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GIs of an Armored Division pose in Germany shortly after VE-Day.

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On Friday, December 29, 1944, the German Führer Begleit-Brigade gathered in the morning at the southern edge of the forest near Chenogne for the counter-attack on Sibret. But German Colonel Otto Remer his troops had not yet left the forest when they were welcomed with heavy shelling by the field artillery battalions that had advanced to repel this expected German attack. Flanking fire from Villeroux in the east, which the Americans had captured after a fierce battle on December 28, 1944, caused many casualties among the Germans. The forest to the south-east of Chenogne changed hands several times. One of the guns of the Führer Begleit Brigade knocked out several American tanks during the battle, but the crew of the German gun was eventually overpowered, even though they defended their guns like infantrymen in hand-to-hand fighting. A Sherman tank smashed their cannon under its tracks. Towards the evening Colonel Otto Remer reported that the Führer Begleit Brigade was too weak to carry out another attack on Sibret. After the loss of Sibret and the attempts to recapture it, both the German General Hasso von Manteuffel and von Lüttwitz saw that the chance of re-establishing the encirclement of Bastogne had now diminished.

 

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At 7 am on December 30, 1944, the silence at Bastogne was suddenly disrupted by the most violent bombardment that the city had to endure during the entire battle. After this it becomes quiet again in Bastogne, while the cannon fire can be heard in the area. This is due to the fact that the Führer-Begleit-Bataillon and the 3rd Panzer Brigade are attacking from the west towards Bastogne, while a Kampfgruppe of the 1st SS Panzer Division with the 14th Fallschirmjäger Regiment and the 167th Volksgrenadier Division, just arriving from Hungary, launched the attack from the east around Lutrebois. This attack, which was carried out in the fog before sunrise, overran a battalion of the US 35th Infantry Division in Villers-la-Bonne-Eau. Two companies were eliminated, but again the field artillery played an important role in the rescue. Guns of the 101st Airborne Division and Corps fired grenades with new Prozit fuzes, "chopping up" the 167th Volksgrenadiers, their commander later stated. The Prozit, an artillery fuze, detonates at a preset height above the ground. This grenade inflicted significant injuries and the demoralizing effect on the German forces was enormous. During the fighting, Sherman tanks and tank destroyers of the 4th Armored Division joined the chaotic fighting. In the end, the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler suffered heavy losses and blamed the 5th Fallschirmjäger Division for the failure. The Americans also suffered heavy losses, but in the end the German offensive to capture Bastogne failed. General Patton said later about this: "This was the most critical day of the entire battle.
Picture by: Robert Capa

 

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LORIENT U-BOAT BASE BOMBED BY U.S. FORTRESSES - PICTURES MADE DURING ACTUAL ATTACK.
Original wartime caption: Photograph taken later during the attack. 21-10-1942.
Part of: AIR MINISTRY SECOND WORLD WAR OFFICIAL COLLECTION.
Source: © IWM C 3217

 

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US 1st Army near Bütgenbach Belgium - January 1945
WARNING: some pictures of fallen soldiers
LIFE Magazine Archives - George Silk Photographer

 

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GIs of the US 9th Army make their way past some KO'd German vehicles during the Allied advance into Germany, March 1945.
The vehicle on the left is actually a Bergepanzer III...a recovery vehicle based on the hull of the ubiquitous SdKfz 141 / Panzer III.
This turretless vehicle had a crew of three and was fitted with a 1,000 kg crane within a box-like wooden superstructure.
Note the logs lashed to the hull. These would be used to help bogged-down tanks gain some traction.
Some Bergepanzer III variants were fitted with a 20mm canon for self-defence but evidently not this example.
At the rear was a large spade intended to stabilize the vehicle whilst recovering heavy tanks.
Only around 150 conversions were completed making it a rather scarce type.
Note that the avenue of trees have all been painted with a white band as an aid to driving at night.
(LIFE / Vandivert)

 

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A young US artilleryman yanks (no pun intended!) on the lanyard of an M1 155mm howitzer to send its HE projectile down-range towards enemy positions. Rhineland operations, March 1945.
He's wearing some nifty headgear!
(LIFE / Vandivert)

 

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An M4A3 (76mm / W) crosses the Rhine on an improvised motorised pontoon, March 1945.
(LIFE / Vandivert)