Talk:1269th Engineer Combat Battalion (United States)

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Unit history doc

1269th Engineer Combat Battalion An Outline of its History

by William H. Allison

   The battalion was activated at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas on 30 March 1944.

   A senior cadre was organized under the command of Major Willard White.  In April a core unit of 18-year-old ASTP volunteers and Army Air Corps trainees arrived for five months of engineer basic training.  Many of that group were promoted to round out NCO cadre vacancies, after which replacements were brought in to fill the unit to T/O strength.  The battalion moved by train to Camp Kilmer, NJ, arriving 18 October 1944.

   The battalion sailed unescorted from New York harbor aboard a converted luxury liner, the SS Mariposa, on 27 October, docking in Marseille, France on 6 November 1944, after passing through a great storm.  The unit marched to CP 2, a Mistral-buffeted, miserably cold staging area near Aix-en-Provence, spending three weeks in advanced training, demolitions mostly (in which one trainee was killed), while waiting for equipment and vehicles.  The battalion was now part of the U.S. Seventh Army.

   On 29 November the battalion traveled by motor convoy to Nice, France.

   From 30 November 1944 to 23 March 1945 the battalion was attached to the 44th AAA Brigade, in support of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (Japanese-American [Nisei] troops) and later the 65th Infantry Regiment (Puerto Rican troops) on combat duty in the Maritime Alps, on the southern Maginot Line above Nice and Menton.  In that time the 3rd platoon of Company A built a timber trestle bridge under fire, naming it in honor of Pfc. George I. Bernay, the first among our unit to be killed in action (7 Dec 1944).

   Company A line platoons were located at Peira Cava, St. Martin Vesubie, and La Bollene--engaged in minefield work, demolitions, bridge building, road work, patrol activities and other combat engineer assignments, confronting the enemy-held forts Mille Fourches and La Forca, on the Alpine heights of l'Authion above the Turini forest.  HQ units were in Nice and St. Martin-du-Var.  Early in March 1945 Company A units were pulled back to duty on the Côte d'Azur, guarding key points on the shore between Nice and Menton.

   Company B units were in Menton and Sospel and Company C was at Nice and l'Escarene.  Battalion HQ was located at Beaulieu-sur-Mer.

   On 18 March 1945 the battalion began the move from Southern France to Germany, going by way of Montelimar, Lyon, Dijon, Rosieres-aux-Salines, and Sarreguemines, France, reaching the battle front at Frankenthal, Germany on 23 March 1945.

   Operating under the command of the 6th Army Group T-Force (an intelligence assault force) the battalion advanced to the Rhine River at Ludwigshafen on 24 March under a heavy artillery barrage, seizing and holding T-Force targets at the I. G. Farben factory and elsewhere in the city.  At 08:00 on 29 March the battalion left Ludwigshafen, crossed the Rhine on the Seventh Army's pontoon bridge near Worms, and advanced to T-Force targets in Mannheim.  The battalion moved with the battle front in the weeks thereafter, rushing forward with assault forces to secure vital intelligence targets with their records, equipment, and personnel intact.  Heidelberg, an open city, was entered on 1 April--the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute being a main target there.  Würzburg was next (10 April), then Heilbronn (16 April), and on 22 April the column brushed the outskirts of Stuttgart, heading for the Black Forest.

   The 1269th was now functioning as the combat arm of the Alsos Mission, a Military Intelligence assault force commanded by Colonel Boris Pash, which was directed against the Nazi atomic weaponry program.  In the final rush to seize the German atomic research center at Haigerloch, Alsos and the 1269th ECB, less Company B, crossed through the French First Army's spearhead column (which was moving on Sigmaringen and Stuttgart, contrary to Sixth Army Group command).

   On 22 April at Haigerloch, and for six days thereafter in the towns of Hechingen, Bisingen, Tailfingen, and Thanheim, the 1269th ECB participated in taking atomic scientists into custody, seizing laboratory records and equipment, and securing uranium, heavy water, and other items and materials important to the U.S./British Manhattan Project.

   Leaving the Alsos Mission on 28 April, the battalion became one of the first combat units to enter Munich, advancing with Company C, 30th Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division.  Elements of the battalion were among the first troops to come upon the concentration camp at Dachau.

   In Munich the 1269th was responsible for the exploitation and guarding of T-Force targets, as well as for disarming mines and booby traps and for other combat engineer duties.  Units of Company A were sent to Berchtesgaden on 5 May and thereafter, to exploit intelligence targets in that area.

   The 2nd Platoon of Company A was instrumental in the discovery of the Reichsmarschal Herman Goering art treasures hidden in a cave near Goering's house at Berchtesgaden.

   Their work in Munich and the pre-Alpine region completed, the battalion began a series of moves westward.  On 14 May, H&S and C Companies moved to Augsburg to open a camp for some 250 to 300 special investigators of the T-Force.  Company A moved from Munich to Bad Rappenau on 16 June.  Company C moved to Neckargemund on 10 July.  On 13 July, H&S Company and the Medical Detachment moved to Heidelberg.  B Company was instrumental in collecting data that was used in the Nuremberg trials.  On 16 June that company moved to Heinsheim, then to Waibstadt on the 19th.

   Changes of location and assignments continued, with Company A moving from Bad Rappenau to St. Ilgen on 15 July.

   The battalion was ordered to work with a German contractor charged with building a bridge across the Neckar river at Heidelberg.  Company A spent three days, beginning 27 July, crossing the Neckar with a Treadway (pontoon) bridge and then dismantling it, to fulfill that Seventh Army assignment.  Then on 31 July Company A moved from St. Ilgen to Seckenheim.

   On 3 August, the 1269th ECB was relieved from attachment to the Seventh Army T-Force, under orders that the Battalion be depleted and its personnel transferred to the 3rd Reinforcement Depot, near Marburg.

   On 4 August, B Company personnel were transferred to the 3rd Reinforcement Depot, except for the company CP, which moved to Heidelberg.  On 5 August, A and C Companies followed the same course of action.  Then on 6 August, the Battalion HQ and H&S Company CP, plus some other personnel, were transferred to the Reinforcement Depot.

   Most of Company A troops were moved by train (40 & 8 boxcars, [forty men, eight horses] dating from the 1st World War) from 14 through 16 August to Camp Top Hat near Antwerp, by way of Kassel, Maastricht, and Liege.  Other companies of the 1269th made a similar trip at about the same time.

   Most of Company A sailed from Antwerp on 19 August aboard the NYU Victory, reaching New York Harbor on 29 August.  From there, a ferry boat took the troops up the Hudson river to Camp Shanks, where they were welcomed with a lavish feast, then swiftly sent home on furloughs.

   Other battalion members sailed from Antwerp in August 1945 as conditions permitted--transported on various ships including the SS Samuel Ash, SS Mariposa, and Claymont Victory.

   The battalion remnant was deactivated at Camp Kilmer, NJ on 2 March 1946.

   The record of 1269th Engineer Combat Battalion activities outlined above comes mostly from National Archives records and from the memories of comrades from Company A.  It is our purpose to expand and correct the record of our old outfit and to share what information we have.

   We invite whoever may be interested in sharing their information about the 1269th ECB to contact us.  To do so, please click on the email address given below.

[1]

Battalion achievements doc

Record of Battalion Achievements

   The 1269th was credited with battle stars for the Rhineland and Central Europe campaigns.  Combat credit was painfully earned and well deserved for our winter campaign on the Southern Maginot Line in the Maritime Alps of southern France, but a technicality denied us that recognition.

   The battalion was recorded among American troop units having the highest number of days of continuous combat service in the European Theatre of Operations.

   Lt. Col. Willard White, in a statement dated 18 July 1945, informed all battalion personnel of the 1269th’s share of credit for a 6th Army Group commendation, saying:  “As a member of the “T” Force since its entry into Germany, you can be justly proud of this commendation because of the excellent work which you have accomplished.”
   That commendation, dated 30 June 1945, states in part:

   “The Commanding General is pleased to give official recognition to all officers and men of the 6th Army Group “T” Force for outstanding performance of duty during the period 22 November 1944 to 8 May 1945.

   “Organized as an intelligence assault force, you have served as the operational arm of G-2 in the field.   By seizing and protecting targets of the utmost importance in Alsace and in Germany, thereby aiding in the production of critical intelligence, the “T” Force contributed directly and successfully to the imposition of the Supreme Commander’s will on the enemy along the entire front.  The immediacy and exacting nature of your task required that you operate in the very front lines, frequently clearing the enemy by actual combat from important objectives before their destruction could be accomplished.  The low number of casualties suffered, the excellence of the results obtained, the reliance placed upon the “T” Force, all are significant of the complete success which have marked its operations.

   “By your initiative and devotion to duty each officer and enlisted man has merited the commendation of the Army Group Commander.”

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Misattribution of 1279th Engineer Combat Battaltion

Correcting an Error

  Credit for the 1269th Engineer Combat Battalion's support of the Alsos Mission at the German atomic research center in Haigerloch has been wrongly attributed by some authors to the 1279th ECB, a battalion which served in the Southwest Pacific.

  That error was initiated by General Leslie R. Groves in his prestigious book Now It Can Be Told (1962). Other publications which copied that error include The Hunt for German Scientists (1967) by Michael Bar-Zahar; The German Atomic Bomb (1969) by David Irving; A History of the War Department Scientific Intelligence Mission (Alsos) (1981) a Ph.D. thesis by Leo J. Mahoney; British Intelligence in the Second World War (1984) by F.H. Hinsley, et al. and Time Bomb (1986) by Malcom C. MacPherson.

  Books which have correctly cited the 1269th ECB for its action at Haigerloch include The Alsos Mission (1969) by Col. Boris T. Pash, and The Corps of Engineers: The War Against Germany (1985) by Alfred M. Beck, et al., of the U. S. Army's Center of Military History.

  A letter I wrote to the office of Military History of the Department of the Army brought a response from Edward J. Drea, Chief of the Staff Support Branch (5 Oct. 1988) stating that the 1279th ECB "served in the Southwest Pacific theater under General Douglas MacArthur." Commenting on the error in General Groves' book, Mr. Drea stated: "Most likely this was a simple typographical error for the 1269th Combat Engineer Battalion that everyone missed. Our conjecture is that subsequent authors and historians relied on the Groves account and perpetuated the error."

[3]

Wikiuser100 (talk) 13:17, 5 August 2017 (UTC)

All members of The 1269th Combat Engineering Battalion WW2

My father was 1st Lieutenant Cecil Edward Hedgepeth in the 1269th Combat Engineering Battalion stationed in France and Germany. Their battalion saw the horrors of Dachau concentration camp. They were so much more than just grunts. My father never talked much about what he and the others saw there but his memories would haunt him all of his 94 years. He passed away in 2012 as the result of a stroke. My husband and I took care of this strong man. We. Did the things he could no longer do in hopes that he might recover. It was his decision to keep on fighting when his doctor told me if I loved him I would let them stop feeding him through a tube and make him comfortable while he starved. My dad stayed awake at night and slept during the day. I was to make the decision. The doctor told me I could blame him if I wanted to. I asked him how do you do this to someone that still introduces you as his baby girl. The doctors eyes got big. He had never e even tried to talk to my dad. I told him that we would be in the hall away from my dad's sight and HE could ask him if he was ready to give up. I would abide by my dad's wishes. My dad said he wasn't ready to give up and neither was I. That is when he said he wanted to come home and we made that happen. We set up his bedroom with two easy chairs, television and feeding and medical station and on the other side his hygiene station. I learned to bathe, change the bed, tube feed him, give him his shots and meds. I was a mere dental assistant but my daughter was a Registered Nurse in Hospice. She loved her Grandpa more than anything. He showed her the soft side of himself and he loved her more than you could imagine. What did we get in his remaining 6 months of his life? We got to know an amazingly strong man. We heard of his life. His father was accidentally shot by his father's brother leaving his mother a widow with 4 children and 1 infant daughter. His Mother died when he was 12 leaving them orphans. They lived with their mother's family. They owned a farm in northern Virginia. My father and his brother basically became work horses for his uncle. His uncle raised tobacco and my father at twelve plowed fields, harvested and hung tobacco leaves to dry. He was beaten with a razor strap when things weren't done right. He once plowed a field with a broken foot because the mule had stepped on it for fear of retribution. When grown he left with his clothes in a box and entered Virginia Tech. He paid his own way by working and graduated. He became Judge of the Honor Court while he attended. I'm am so sorry for rambling but he was one great father and grandfather. He was also one hell of a soldier along with his 1269th batallion brothers. I have a copy of Company "C" s story written by one of the men of Company C. There are pictures my father took of his brothers in combat. The Eagle's Nest, Hitler's "shelter" home. The ruins in France as they went through. I am on Facebook under elainesuth55@yahoo.com the pictures can be viewed there. If you have read this rambling mess. God bless you and especially if you had someone who served in the 1269th Combat Engineering Battalion of WW2. Company "C" one hell of a battalion. 108.44.116.27 (talk) 12:53, 15 February 2022 (UTC)

Hi, I am one of W. H. Allison's daughters. His was the first article on this page. I am researching all I can regarding his time in the army, 1944-1945 and would love to exchange stories that I have from my dad. These were remarkable men for sure!!!

Thank you Daughter of 1269 WWII (talk) 23:02, 20 June 2024 (UTC)