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151 pages

English

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Tenth Armored Division's epic stories of combat in WWII in Europe, as recalled by Major (Retired) Dean M. Chapman.

Sujets

Military history of the United States

Seconde Guerre mondiale

Informations

Publié par	Turner Publishing Company
Date de parution	15 juin 1994
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781681621388
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0848€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Growl of the Tiger

Tenth Armored Division s Epic Stories of Combat
in World War II in Europe,
as recalled by
Major (Retired) Dean M. Chapman
1993
Copyright 1987 Reg. #TXU - 303 - 978 and 1993 Reg. #TXU - 601 - 306
Foreword
This book was almost never written! For years I could neither write about nor discuss my experiences in World War II. It was not uncommon for me, in the middle of the night, to wake suddenly from a sound sleep and find myself sitting bolt upright in bed bathed in cold sweat, re-living again those screams of burned and wounded men and officers of some battle long, long ago. At such times I had to rise and walk the floor until my nerves settled down once again. Gradually, time healed both my fears and tears.
By the time our two sons were in high school, I began to tell some of these stories. Every member of my family urged me to write about them. Encouragement also came from several war-time friends. These included Owen McBride, who was the Captain of B Battery of the Four Hundred Twenty Third Armored Field Artillery Battalion of our Tenth Armored Division. He was the first officer I reported to as a very green second lieutenant. Over the intervening years, Owen and I have become the best of friends. Another friend from the Division Headquarters who encouraged me was Lieutenant Colonel William Eckles, who was our (G-2) Intelligence Officer.
For my readers to use this book with ease, it is divided into two sections. The first entitled From New York Harbor to the Zugspitze , contains stories of battles in chronological sequence. These stories and reminiscences are not meant to be technical logs, but rather interesting recollections of events, men and officers who played pivotal roles in many successful battles of that great war. As the only aide to the Commanding General of our great Tenth Armored Division, during all of the fighting from Metz onward, I was privy to much information never before revealed.
The second section of this book - Reflections Ponderings, and Musings - consists of random stories about many men and officers. Some stories are humorous, some sad and some speak of our great love of country and compassion for each other.
A book of this nature would not be complete without a tribute to the First Lady of our Tenth Armored Division, Mrs. Priscilla Newgarden, the widow of General Paul Newgarden. She still comes to our annual reunions and is dearly loved by all. In the spring of 1991 she broke her arm playing tennis. By our Division s Labor Day reunion that year, she not only arrived on time for the festivities, but also informed us she had already begun playing tennis again. For a young lady approaching her ninetieth birthday, she is a most remarkable person.
The poem America, Beloved Land was written by my mother-in-law, Mrs. L.O. Poole. Besides being an excellent poet, she was also a fine artist. This poem, like most of hers, was published in the Sunday Edition of the Omaha World Herald newspaper, during the years 1930 through 1948. At age eighty, she collected all her poems and published them in Bits of Life circa 1974.
This book is dedicated to all the fine men and officers who were the great Tenth Armored Division. I would like to single out two persons for special mention here - Wally Bunt and Billy E. Hanel. Along with myself, they graduated in 1943 from Michigan State University. The three of us were assigned to the Tenth Armored Division and so we fought the war across Europe together.
I sincerely hope you will enjoy my descriptions of events, character studies, observations and commentaries, insights, and just my stories and ruminations! Here goes, -

A special thank you must be given to my friends, Theodore Ridley and Wilma Kyvig for proof-reading this book. Also, I give credit to my dear wife, Shirley, who labored many hours to type and re-type it.
AMERICA. BELOVED LAND

America, America, beloved land Whose birth made suffering people free Born from rebelling pain and strife To glory reaching out from sea to sea.

America, the hour once more has come The time to justify thy holy birth To prove the cause for which our father died Is great enough to cover all the earth.

America, so noble, great and fine Fight on against the enemies without, within Nor let a despot s cruelty and power Deter us from the good, since we must win.

Fight on until you wear the victor s crown Fight on till all the men of earth are free Remembering your heritage of right And grateful to the God of liberty.
by Laurel O. Poole 1974
The Author
Dean M. Chapman
Dean M. Chapman was born in Lansing, Michigan on June 20, 1920. He graduated from Michigan State University in June of 1943, where he completed the senior R.O.T.C. course. With the war engulfing this country, no cadets were to receive commissions as second lieutenants directly upon graduation because summer field training had been eliminated between junior and senior years. On March 1, 1943 all the senior R.O.T.C. cadets at Michigan State University were taken to Fort Wayne in Detroit, given physicals, and sworn in as privates. They then returned to college and billeted as privates with all chores except K.P. After graduation, they were sent to basic infantry training until there was room as the appropriate O.C.S. Dean graduated from Fort Sill, Oklahoma with class 90 on December 10, 1943. Shortly thereafter, he volunteered for the Tenth Armored Division at Camp Gordon, Georgia. There he was assigned to B Battery of the Four Hundred Twenty Third Armored Field Artillery Battalion and later became the Aide to General Morris, our Commanding General, and continued as such all during combat.

Dean M. Chapman - Then
At present he lives with his wife, Shirley, in Muskegon, Michigan.

and Now
ISBN: 1-56311-159-4 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 94-60920
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

America, Beloved Land
Section 1 FROM NEW YORK HARBOR TO THE ZUGSPITZE
1 Ferry Boat Whistle Stop
2 Terrify and Destory
3 Sparks of Genius - Fires of Hell
4 Leadership
5 Mars LaTour
6 Down Wind from Trouble
7 Mystery at Division Headquarters
8 A Star Falls
9 Switch Position - Siegfried Line
10 Stretchers
11 Cold Sweat and Hot Flashes
12 Bastogne - Out of the Fog
13 Patton s Prayer
14 Unit Citation
15 Siegfried Line
16 Zerf, Germany
17 Sergeant T-
18 Advanced Command Post
19 Ayl, Germany
20 The Bridge
21 Behemoths
22 Orchards
23 Heilbronn - Ashes and the Phoenix
24 Crailsheim, Germany
25 Ulm, Germany
26 Drums
27 A Child in Distress
28 Low Boots and High Water
29 Green Salad (Dachau)
30 By Example
31 Ricochet
32 The Barricade
33 Search
34 A Three-Legged Stool
35 A Horse of a Different Color
36 Air Power
Section 2 REFLECTIONS, PONDERINGS AND MUSINGS
37 Armored Artillery
38 Copy of Letters by General William W. Beverley
39 Able Battery - 423rd AFA.Bn
40 Baker Battery - 423rd A.F.ABn
41 A Little Night Fishing
42 Battery C - 423rd A.FA.Bn
43 The Night the Cannoneer Wept
44 Shadows of the Mind
45 Keys
46 Road Block
47 The Palatinate
48 Patton
49 Barger and Ludzinski
50 Counterpoint
51 Mansueto
52 Wounded - But Unbowed?
53 Our Fifty Fifth Engineers
54 White Crosses
55 The Rose Garden
56 Twenty One Dollars Per Month
57 Intelligence

Road to the Future

Timeless Questions for a Leader

List of Division Headquarters

H.V. Kaltenborn s Radio Address - 1944

Earl Mazo of Stars and Stripes Staff - 1945

Little Group of Yanks

Notes from 103rd Infantry Division

Units our Division Fought Beside

Map of Europe

Map of Luxembourg

Fact Sheet World War II

Bibliography
Section 1
FROM NEW YORK HARBOR TO THE ZUGSPITZE
1 Ferry Boat Whistle Stop
All day long officers and men of our Tenth Armored Division slowly climbed single file up the six story high Navy Pier stairs to reach the Alexander s gangplank, then crossed over on that ramp to walk down five or six stories to their assigned spot inside the ship. All this time each was carrying his duffle bag on his shoulders. When we began our climb up those bags weighed about sixty pounds but later in the day I swear they weighed one hundred pounds.
The stairs on this pier were all open to the weather. It was a gray day and spitting rain off and on. It took the better part of daylight that day to load this old Alexander . It had been a German ship that the British had seized as a prize of war in 1914. The engines were the steam reciprocating type. About dark, on 11 September, 1944, the ship began to move away from the pier in preparation for high tide which was due later that evening. The ship was a large roomy vessel. Our contingent fitted in quite well even though all of us were bunked five high having barely two feet between our bunk and the next one above. Officers and men were in different sections of the ship but everyone had identical bunk set-ups.
As soon as the ship began to move the loud speaker issued the following orders: All port holes must be closed, locked, and black-out curtains put up from sundown until daylight. A shift was set up for a few men to go top side during daylight hours. Time on deck would be no longer than thirty minutes. Each man and officer would be allotted one pint of fresh water per day. We could drink it, wash our socks in it, or shave. Salt water showers would be available after we were at sea. Each section s number would be called twice a day for the two meals. All officers and men would be fed separately during these staggered shifts. We had to take our mess kits. Our first meal was to be breakfast the next day.
After setting in and putting up the black-out curtains, there was not much to do except write letters and play cards. Even for such limited activity, we were cramped for space. With so many troops on board, we could not even stroll about the ship. At this point most of us turned in with the rhythmical throb of t