On Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:37:51 +0100, "Heinrich"
<Heinrich@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>FOR Hein Severloh the 'Longest Day' meant nine hours constantly
>machine-gunning American soldiers as they attempted to land on Omaha
Beach.
>One image still brings tears to his eyes. A young American had run from
his
>landing craft and sought cover behind a concrete block. Severloh, then a
>young lance-cor****al in the German army in Normandy, aimed his rifle at
the
>GI. He fired and hit the enemy square in the forehead. The American's
helmet
>flew away and rolled into the sea, his chin sank to his chest and he
>collapsed dead on the beach.
>
>Tormented by the memory, Severloh now weeps at the thought of the unknown
>soldier's death.
>Severloh was safe in an almost impregnable concrete bunker overlooking
the
>beach. He had an unimpeded view of the oncoming Allied forces. He was the
>last German soldier firing, and may have accounted for about 3,000
American
>casualties, almost three-quarters of all the US losses at Omaha. The
>Americans came to know him as the Beast of Omaha.
>He had been saved from the waves of Allied bombing by the poor weather.
The
>US aircrews were worried that if they allowed their bombs to fall too
soon
>they might destroy their own landing ****ps. As they flew over they
lingered
>before releasing their weapons, meaning the bombs often landed far behind
>the Nazi bunkers.
>
>The Germans joked that the 'Amis' - their slang for the US forces - had
>merely bombed French cows and farmers rather than the German
installations.
>Alerted by the bombers, Severloh and the 29 others in his bunker rushed
to
>their firing holes and prepared for the onslaught. Severloh, then just
20,
>gasped when he saw the ocean. He was confronted by what seemed to be a
wall
>of Allied ****ps. He said: "My God. How am I going to get out of this
mess?"
>The veteran explained: "What could I do? I just thought that I was never
>going to make it to the rear. I thought that I was going to shoot for my
>very life. It was them or me - that is what I thought."
>As the landing ****ps neared the beach, Severloh listened to the final
orders
>from his commander, Lieutenant Berhard Frerking. They wanted to stop the
>Americans while they were still in the water and could not move easily.
But
>if he fired too soon - while the soldiers were still some way out in the
>water - he risked missing them.
>Frerking explained: "You must open fire when the enemy is knee-deep in
the
>water and is still unable to run quickly."
>
>Severloh had seen little action before. His previous stint on the Eastern
>Front had been cut short by tonsillitis. But he was anything but
>enthusiastic. Severloh said: "I never wanted to be in the war. I never
>wanted to be in France. I never wanted to be in that bunker firing a
machine
>gun.
>
>"I saw how the water sprayed up where my machine gun bursts landed, and
when
>the small fountains came closer to the GIs, they threw themselves down.
Very
>soon the first bodies were drifting in the waves of the rising tide. In a
>short time, all the Americans down there were shot."
>He fired for nine hours, using up all the 12,000 machine-gun rounds. The
sea
>turned red with the blood from the bodies. When he had no more bullets
for
>the machine-gun, he started firing on the US soldiers with his rifle,
firing
>off another 400 rifle rounds at the terrified GIs.
>
>A leading German historical expert of the Second World War, Helmut Konrad
>Freiherr von Keusgen, believes Severloh may have accounted for 3,000 of
the
>4,200 American casualties on the day.
>Severloh is less sure about the number, but said: "It was definitely at
>least 1,000 men, most likely more than 2,000. But I do not know how many
men
>I shot. It was awful. Thinking about it makes me want to throw up. I
almost
>emptied an entire infantry landing craft. The sea was red around it and I
>could hear an American officer shouting hysterically in a loudspeaker."
>Lt-col Stuart Crawford, formerly of the Royal Tank Regiment, and a
defence
>consultant, said it was entirely possible that a single German soldier
had
>killed so many GIs.
>He said: "I have fired that machine-gun. I did it as part of my training,
>and it has an extremely high rate of fire. He was in a position which was
>almost impervious to the weapons which the Americans could bring to bear
on
>him. The Americans made the mistake of not landing tanks with the first
wave
>of troops, so they had no sup****t or protection."
>http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1166&id=643752004
Battles: The Battle of Belleau Wood, 1918
Updated - Sunday, 15 December, 2002
Comprising two related actions, firstly at Chateau-Thierry from 3-4
June and then at Belleau Wood itself from 6-26 June, the Battle of
Belleau Wood saw the re-capture by U.S. forces of the wood on the
Metz-Paris road taken at the end of May by German Seventh Army forces
arriving at the Marne River around Chateau-Thierry and held by four
divisions as part of the German Aisne offensive.
Chateau-Thierry formed the tip of the German advance towards Paris,
some 50 miles south-west. Defended by U.S. Second and Third Divisions
dispatched at the behest of the French by AEF Commander-in-Chief Jack
Per****ng, the Americans launched a counter-attack on 3-4 June with the
assistance of the French Tenth Colonial Division; in a spirited action
together they succeeded in pu****ng the Germans back across the Marne
to Jaulgonne.
Rejuvenated by success first at Cantigny (at the end of May) and now
at Chateau-Thierry, General Bundy's Second Division forces followed up
Chateau-Thierry two days later with the difficult exercise of
capturing Belleau Wood.
Second Division's Marine Corps, under James Harbord, were tasked with
the taking of the wood. This perilous venture involved a murderous
trek across an open wheat field, swept from end to end by German
machine gun fire, a fact that continues to generate controversy today
among some historians.
As a consequence of the open nature of the advance on the wood,
casualties on the first day, 6 June, were the highest in Marine Corps
history (a dubious record which remained until the capture of
Japanese-held Tarawa in November 1943).
Fiercely defended by the Germans, the wood was first taken by the
Marines (and Third Infantry Brigade), then ceded back to the Germans -
and again taken by the U.S. forces a total of six times before the
Germans were finally expelled. Also captured were the nearby villages
of Vaux and Bouresche.
The battle ran from 6-26 June and by its end saw U.S. forces suffer
9,777 casualties, of which 1,811 were fatal. The number of German
casualties is not known, although some 1,600 troops were taken
prisoner. More critically, the combined Chateau-Thierry/Belleau Wood
action brought to an end the last major German offensive of the war.
The French name for the wood, Bois Belleau, was subsequently
officially renamed Bois de la Brigade de Marine, in honour of the
Marine Corps's tenacity in its re-taking.
http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/belleau.htm
Named for: Belleau Wood, near Chateau Thierry, France, was the scene
of a battle between the 4th Marine Brigade and elements of three
German divisions in June 1918. This was part of the larger Battle of
the Aisne, launched on 27 May by Germany in the hopes of defeating
French forces near Paris before significant American forces could
arrive at the front. The German Southern Army Group broke through the
British and French divisions defending Chemin des Dames ridge on the
first day of the attack, forcing the defenders across the Aisne and
Vesle Rivers. German forces continued their advance, reaching the
Marne River on 1 June before the offensive slowed.
Meanwhile, the American Army's 2d Division, with the 4th Marine
Brigade attached, was ordered from its training areas north of Paris
to a position northwest of Chateau Thierry. Attached to the French XXI
Corps, the American troops took up positions astride the Paris-Metz
highway on 1 June. The following day, a limited German attack rolled
back the French outposts and occupied the towns of Tourcy and
Bouresches, including the woods called Bois de Belleau between them,
in front of the marine positions. As the French fell back through the
marines, an officer advised Marine Corps Capt. Lloyd Williams to
withdraw his men. Williams replied: "Retreat, hell! We just got here."
On 3 June, the German infantry advanced toward the 4th Brigade but
were driven back by heavy artillery and long-range rifle fire. By the
5th, when it became clear that the Germans had ****fted to the tactical
defensive, the French corps commander ordered the 4th Brigade to
attack Bois de Belleau. The month-long action remembered as the Battle
of Belleau Wood began on 6 June with a battalion-level attack on a
hill near Torcy. Although the assault companies suffered devastating
enfilade fire, Hill 142 was taken after bloody hand-to-hand combat.
The following day, three battalions attacked the woods and Boureches
from the southwest. Short on artillery sup****t and hobbled by poor
maneuver tactics, the marines again suffered heavy losses as they
tried to clear the woods of machinegun nests. By evening, they held
the edge of Belleau Wood and had cleared Boureches after desperate
street fighting. Reinforced and resupplied, they held the town all
night against repeated counterattacks. The day's fighting had cost the
marines over 1,000 casualties, more than the Corps had lost in its
entire history.
The 4th Brigade continued assaults into Belleau Wood for the next
twelve days, fighting an attrition-style battle of platoons and squads
in the confined wooded terrain. The advance slowed to a crawl as units
were decimated in close combat and the entire brigade was forced to
pull out of the fighting to regroup on 18 June. Returning to Belleau
Wood on 25 June, the marines launched the final two-battalion assault
that drove the last German battalion from its trenches. Early in the
morning on the 26th, the tired marines re****ted "Belleau Wood now U.S.
Marine Corps entirely."
Although the operation had cost 4th Marine Brigade 4,719 casualties,
and over 1,000 killed, the marines had proved their courage to both
the French and the AEF. Heartened by the American performance, the
French awarded the division's infantry brigades, including 4th Marine
Brigade, unit citations for "gallant action" and officially renamed
the wood Bois de la Brigade Marine.
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b4/belleau_wood.htm
Deep in Belleau Wood, just outside of Paris, the Marine Corps fought
relentlessly against German soldiers in World War I. Four days into
battle, Marines suffered heavy casualties and were surrounded by
machine-gun assault.
After 20 days of intense fighting, the Marines had won the Battle of
Belleau Wood. The German survivors, exhausted and wounded, gave a
fitting nickname to their relentless opponent: Teufelhunden, or "Devil
Dogs."
http://www.marines.com/main/index/winning_battles/history/missions/belleau_wood
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