103 Division 410 Regiment 1st Platoon Anti Tank Unit: The Battle of the Voges Mountains

New Men and Old Mountains

This was the bloodiest campaign Frank and his troops
fought.The German defenses overlooking them from
the mountain tops could also be camouflaged in areas
where a sniper could take you out if you were traveling on a
road or in the open. Also roads were blocked with large logs
and full of mines. The dreaded 88 mm canons could fire
these large bullets or "Flack" for over 2 miles that could
explode a tree!
Progress was very slow and many
men died. While the odds were even with the 2 armies
the Germans suffered from lack of supplies and they were
not as flexible to adapt to losses and chaos. Eventually
we exploited their weakness and pushed
through the, natural geographic defense of
the mountains and pushed the Germans back and
completely out of France.

The ominous road ahead into the Voges and full of krauts.

Never in history had an army fought it's way successfully
through the Voges mountains. The
French revolutionary armies of the late18th century finally
went around them, The Germans in the Franco-Prussian war
went north of them. German's and French in WW1 ended up
fighting only in the foothills.

When the German's took Northern France during WW2 They
went around the Voges and the huge concrete bunker called
the Maginot line that was over 200 miles.

Frank took a picture of part of the Maginot Defense Line

The French didn't
extend the wall to the north through the Ardenes mountains
as they were thought too full of rugged terrain to get through.
But it wasn't a problem for the Panzer Tanks, and the
Germans took Paris and most of Northern France by June of
1940.

Remnants of the Maginot Line
The Voges mountains are high in elevation at points and long
but gentle slopes in others, perfect for the Germans to build
in some flat fields for direct fire infantry,also for heavy
artillery weapons, particularly mortars, and 88 canons.
There is also good viewpoints where you can build
observation posts to sight oncoming intruders. The
German General Hermann Balck using German workers
and Alsatian forced labor to built a plethora of
solid fortification bunkers and obstacles at all mountain
passes making it nearly impossible to get through.

It is now fall of 1944 and the 103rd are newbie American
soldiers that have never seen battle and are soon to take on
this seemingly impossible task. The Germans are on
the high ground and ready for these young dough boys.

The 410 was set for battle. Where ever they were told to go

they set up 3 lines of defense you might say. The infantry

with the rifles were in front and the antitank guns were next

and behind them were the mortars and other heavy artillery.

Behind the heavy artillery was the headquarters (CP or

Command Post) where the officers were and also the

mobile kitchen.

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Nov16, 1944

The Anti Tank company during a battle was situated behind
the front lines. The soldiers schedule was 2 hours on 4
hours off or you wouldn’t be sharp enough to spot
small movement using their peripheral vision as they were
trained for. You could wear yourself out much faster moving
your head back and forth. If there was a farm house nearby
they would stay in the basement when the shift was done
and get some sleep. The family didn’t mind, they were glad
the Americans were there, and there was generally room
because the boys in the family were all out fighting.

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Nov 17, 1944

The daily grind was to try and gain as much ground as you

could. You would move ahead as far as possible then dig

another fox hole. If the ground was too hard for a shovel you

would find large rocks to hide behind, pillars in a town or

even a set up guns in a barn. Some days you would only go

a few feet or no feet and some days you would go miles. You

may dig 3 or more fox holes. The fighting would go on during

the day as long as the supply line could get you ammunition.

Frank Block said a lot of fighting stopped because one side

would run out of ammo. Sometimes the supply line would

get stalled because of weather or they were under attack.

The 103 won many battles simply because the Germans ran

out of ammo and they had to retreat.

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Nov 18, 1944

This must have been a sunny day and the air force could do

a fly over and bomb some of the enemy positions.

P-47 Thunderbolt, one of the main fighter planes in WW2

more about P-47

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Nov 21, 1944

If the riflemen were outnumbered in a battle and couldn’t

make progress they would retreat behind the anti tank

company. The Germans would then advance and expose

themselves and the riflemen would then fire at the Germans

while the anti tank company hunkered down in their fox

holes. the battle would quit at night because the riflemen

couldn't see to shoot anything. However sometimes mortars

would keep firing so you couldn't get out of your foxhole.

If there was no heavy artillery the anti tank men

would crawl out quietly and attach ropes to their guns and

pull them back so they could load them onto the trucks.

Then they would get the hell out of there. The anti tank guns

were not mechanized like they are today. They had two

trails on the end that held the gun in place. They had to

be moved carefully by ropes.

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Nov. 22 1944

When battles ended several times Frank had to take a jeep

and go through the front lines and see all the dead bodies.

There were platoons that had the job to bury these men,

both American and German. The dog tags and burial

locations were recorded and sent to the proper persons.

This was a Geneva Convention rule. It was followed

because of quid pro quo.

Frank Block's squads anti tank gun.
He painted lucky "11" on it to represent the number in his
squad.

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The Battle of St. Die

The Battle of St Die was a significant one. The German's

were trying to hold the area, but were unsuccessful. The

German's left the city in shambles as part of their scorched

earth policy. First they burned the famous house that

cartographers first used the name America on a map in 1507.

The American Memorial Building
Where Cartographers first set the name America on Maps

St Die was in shambles when the Cactus soldiers

came in to occupy.

Most all the houses were burned by the Nazi's before the
left,but that didn't deter the French. They celebrated and the
mayor broke open wine for the Cactus soldiers.

Pouring wine for a U.S. Soldier

On November 22, 1944 St.Die was liberated from Germany

by the 103rd Division. The French made a monument to

honor those that gave their lives.

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Nov 23, 1944

Thanksgiving was spent in a Barn in the Voges mountains.
President Roosevelt ordered that all soldiers would get a hot
Thanksgiving meal. It arrived to the barn via truck about 10
to 11 pm in large metal cans. Turkey, dressing, gravy was
all scooped out in the dark. Not very warm meal but a
welcome meal.

Here shows the mess kit all soldiers were issued.
Frank Block took home his military issue spoon you
were given ******************
Nov 24, 1944

The Fave or La Fave is a river and also a town in the Voges now called Provenchères-sur-Fave
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Nov 25, 1944

Outflanked their opponents through mud and mine fields

taking the town of Ville.

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Nov 28, 1944

Franks Platoon moved from the Middle Voges to the Low
Voges in Weiler.

Their guns were set up in the streets because that was the
only entry point that the German's could enter.

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Nov 29, 1944

The Germans with their typical thoroughness blocked every
mountain pass through the Voges with large sunk trees and
also booby trapped them with mines. The German snipers
just waited for a soldier to step out in the open and they
were easy pickens then from their position.

Overreach was killed because he was too close to the large

objects, like a tank that was used for water storage. They

would put it in place then fill it with water. a Jeep couldn't

get around that.This road block was something the krauts

hiding could zero in on.

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Nov 30, 1944

Krauts broke through the lines with the their tanks.The

Canon co had canons larger than the anti tank guns that

Frank Block was in charge of. Anti-Tank 57's were not great

against German Panzer tanks unless they were at close

range.

Harlan Tainter drove the Prime Mover for Frank Block's

Squad. Here depicts one of many times they were stuck in

the wintry wet mud. Often they needed to borrow a farmers

ox or cow to pull the jeep out, if the winch attached to a tree

didn't work.

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Dec 2, 1944

They waited for the French army attachment to join them.
Unfortunately they came in 2 or 3 of our trucks, well
inebriated with on the truck they brought women and trailing
behind were cows.

They didn't feel the need to work with Frank Block's platoon
and listen to them about sweeping for mines or watching
out for snipers so they just kept pushing forward going to
take on the Germans by themselves. The booze induced
bravery proved to be their demise, when Frank's platoon
judiciously advanced and they found them dead with the
trucks destroyed.

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Dec 3, 1944

Franks platoon was suppose to go off with the crazy French

men but they waited and then decided to go back

and reattach to the 410. Poor Paulson stepped on a "Schuh

Mine" a German mine that detonates when you step on it

with your shoe. The road was fairly safe as long as the mine

sweepers went out ahead to scour before you advanced.

However some soldiers got too eager or they couldn't wait

and had to take their chances.

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Dec 4, 1944

Dad stayed with a German speaking family here and they
were very nice to Frank's platoon. When ever they could find
a home it was so much better than sleeping in the woods.
The Platoon brought food to the family. Waltenheim was still
in Allied territory even though they spoke German.

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Dec 5, 1944

Not sure but I think they were getting better winter uniforms.
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Dec 8, 1944

The 410 was moving north to relieve the 45th and 79th

division on the flooded Zintzel river. The German's were

aware of the relief troops coming in so heavy shell fire and

strafing from German airplanes was the reality most of the

day and the camps were raided during the night.

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Dec 10, 1944

The fight continued, As you hit the forest the Germans had
the critical spots zeroed in all neatly pegged out on their
maps. They waited till you got there and then mortars
started coming at you. Trees would shatter and the the
huge splinters could kill. You learned to dig a hole as fast
as you could. Your shovel most of the time was as important
as your rifle.

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Dec 11, 1944

When Frank Block said they settled into buildings he said
that as they moved towards the front in the wintry Voges
Mountains if they could find an abandoned farm house or
even one with a lot of room they would stay there. Most of
the time they were welcome, and lots of room because the
husband and sons were out fighting.

Frank Block at a bar playing around. They had a gun enplacement and they took turns
manning the gun. When they were off they stayed in this small French hotel nearby.

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Dec 13, 2014