I was jarred awake by an artillery shell exploding outside my window. Tom Myers of the 110th Infantry recalled: "About 5:45 a.m.
German patrols became less frequent, the sounds of tracked vehicles could be heard behind German lines and strangely large spotlights began to search the American lines, illuminating the pitch black of the night. In the quiet of the European winter, Keystone Division soldiers noticed a change on the battlefield. That would change dramatically in the early hours of Dec. At first, the positions served their purpose, allowing a light schedule of patrolling, stationary guard and time to integrate replacements. The sector was intended to allow the units of the division to recuperate, train replacements and shuffle leadership worn by months of fighting through difficult objectives. Still, the division endured, and new men were incorporated into its ranks to fill the gaps left by the fallen.īy mid-November, the battle-hardened remnants of the division filed out of the Hurtgen Forest and made their way to the VIII Corps sector, assuming a 25-mile defensive line from Bollendorf to Sevenig along the Our River and north to Lutzkampen. The repeated assaults on the Siegfried Line and the "Green Hell" of the Hurtgen Forest had drained its ranks of experienced officers and men. Against nine divisions it has held so firmly that the German timetable has been thrown of completely." - Morely Cassidy, New York Times/CBS Radio.ĭespite months of near constant fighting in late 1944, the spirit of the 28th Infantry Division was not broken. “The 28th Division has performed one of the greatest feats in the history of the American Army.
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