The th was now functioning as the combat arm of the Alsos Mission , a military Intelligence assault force commanded by Colonel Boris Pash directed against the Nazi atomic weaponry program. On 22 April at Haigerloch, and for six days thereafter in the towns of Hechingen , Bisingen , Tailfingen , and Thanheim , the th 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.
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 th was responsible for exploiting and guarding T-Force targets, disarming mines and booby traps, and other combat engineer duties.
Units of Company A were sent to Berchtesgaden in support of the st Airborne Division on 5 May and thereafter, to exploit intelligence targets in that area. In August, he hosted a dinner party that featured table linens and over one hundred pieces of silverware looted from the site. The battalion's work in Munich and the pre-Alpine region completed, the th began a series of moves westward.
Company C moved to Neckargemund on 10 July.
B Company was instrumental in collecting data used in the Nuremberg trials. On 16 June that company moved to Heinsheim , then to Waibstadt on the 19th. 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 bridge and then dismantling it, to fulfill that Seventh Army assignment. On 31 July Company A moved from St.
On 17 December, the second day of the German offensive, the Allied lines remained in flux as more and more American units retreated ahead of the panzers. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Combat engineer battalions also fielded defensive. Skeahan took command of the d from Lieutenant Colonel Roy L. Sections damaged by artillery fire also had to be replaced as the work continued.
On 3 August, the th 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 5 August, A and C Companies followed suit. Other companies of the th made a similar trip at about the same time. 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.
As of this edit , this article uses content from "th Engineer Combat Battalion History" , which is licensed in a way that permits reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3. All relevant terms must be followed. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Army Corps of Engineers. The range of services provided included but was not limited to: These included the deployment and operation of assault boats and the construction of various pontoon bridges , [5] including M1 treadways , and modular steel truss Bailey bridges.
The st received a Presidential Citation for its "outstanding performance of duty in action" for holding a defensive position against a German offensive from 17 December to 26 December in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge:. As authorized by Executive Order No. The citation reads as follows:. The st Engineer Combat Battalion is cited for outstanding performance of duty in action against the enemy from 17 to 26 December , in Belgium.
On 17 December , at the beginning of the German Ardennes break-through, the st Engineer Combat Battalion was assigned the mission of establishing and manning roadblocks south and east of Malmedy , and with the defense of the town itself. The battalion set up essential roadblocks and prepared hasty defenses. Shortly thereafter, numerically superior enemy infantry and armored columns moving in the direction of Malmedy were engaged. Though greatly outnumbered and constantly subjected to heavy enemy artillery, mortar, and small-arms fire, the officers and men of the st Engineer Combat Battalion stubbornly resisted all enemy attempts to drive through their positions.
Repeated attacks were made by enemy armor and infantry on roadblocks and defensive positions and, in each instance, were thrown back with heavy losses by the resolute and determined resistance. The determination, devotion to duty, and unyielding fighting spirit displayed by the personnel of the st Engineer Combat Battalion, in delaying and containing a powerful enemy force along a route of vital importance to the Allied effort, are worthy of high praise. The Ludendorff Bridge before its collapse into the Rhine. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Sign erected by st declaring their bridge the first over the Rhine at Remagen.