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Winter Defense

The 70th Infantry Division in Dambach, France

By Diane Kessler, Secretary-Editor

Thank you for including the history of the 70th Infantry “Trailblazer” Division in your commemorations this
weekend. I only wish that I could be here with you.

On 20-21 January 1945, fearing that American forces were too far forward and risked being surrounded and
cut off by the Germans, 7th U.S. Army ordered a 25 mile strategic withdrawal or “straightening of the line” to
locations behind the Moder River. This withdrawal still angers men of the 70th Infantry Division and local
citizens alike. Despite the hard fought combat in the area and the many men who had been killed, Germans
regained control and remained in place until mid-March when the 42nd Infantry Division liberated this area.

While all of the 70th Infantry Division were in

the area, it was the Second Battalion of the
274th which was directly on the Maginot Line.
They called this period “Winter Defense.” I
will tell you about some of their experiences
and observations. Seventh U.S. Army feared
larger attacks from the Germans along the
thinly defended Maginot Line. The mission
was to halt the Germans long enough so that
positions could be prepared for an effective
counterattack.

On 8 Jan, the 274th’s 2nd and 3rd Battalions

were ordered into the woods north and west
of Niederbronn-les-Bains. On the 9th, late in the afternoon, 3rd Bn went up to the Wintersberg. “It was only a
four mile trek (approx. 6.5 km.) but never had we encountered such a steady, uphill, death-sweating climb.
Snow and ice covered the trail and the ever-present winds were at gale speed. We hadn’t hiked very long
when cries of “Break, break” could be heard all along the twisting column. But the break never came. Soon all
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was quiet as everyone tried to conserve energy. It was 2100 when we finally reached the top. It had taken us
five hours to make the four mile trip.”

A day later, 2nd Bn followed the same route and in the same conditions. They were to relieve a battalion of the
45th Division directly on the Maginot Line. “We contacted the 45th Division and they told us to wait until after
dark because the enemy was so close. Easy Company patrolled above Dambach. F Company extended from
Neunhoffen to Dambach Sud. George Company was on the right flank down to Winkckerthal.

So here are some of their memories.

Most of the Trailblazers had no idea where they were located during this time. In fact, one 2nd battalion, 274th
Infantry medic wrote that they “were somewhere north of Wingen-Sur-Moder.”

The weather was awful. According to the unit history, ”The temperature remained below freezing. Heavy
snow storms and biting winds prevailed. Automatic weapons froze and heavy shelling slowed delivery of
supplies and ammunition over the narrow mountain trails. Foxholes and dugouts were burrowed through the
snow; evergreen boughs were used to insulate sleepers from the cold earth; thick logs and dirt were placed
over the dugouts to protect from artillery fire. Primitive stoves were used at night when Germans could not
see the smoke. Candles, for heat as well as light, became both valuable and scarce.

“In our area, the Maginot Line, consisting of a series of large pillboxes, extended from Neunhoffen to
Winckerthal. Our defense was built up from inside and around these pillboxes. They were out in the open and
provided good fields of fire. But they also provided the enemy with excellent targets. Daytime movement was
impossible. The enemy lines were a bare hundred yards away. F Co was both in pillboxes and dug in at the
base of the hill across from Dambach Sud. These dugouts are still there. About 500 meters east was a hunting
lodge or white farm house which became the G Company headquarters. Although it received frequent
German artillery fire, it was rarely hit. The headquarters staff loved the beds and indoor plumbing! Further on
down the road was the forester’s house which was used as the headquarters for the G Company Weapons
Platoon.

The 2nd Battalion medics were kept together at the base of the hill across from the Dambach Sud Casemate.
Medic Vern Staley continues the story. He and a few other medics had to go down to Dambach Sud one night
to get a soldier who had shot himself in the foot. They had to drag a litter down through the snow which was
waist deep in some places. The medics were challenged for passwords which they did not know. The
companies frequently forgot to give medics the daily password. Inside the bunker, soldiers were huddled
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around a single candle. It was cold and miserable. And it was a very tough job to get the wounded soldier back
to the base of the hill where their jeep could evacuate him up over the Wintersberg. It was too dangerous to
take the jeep down to the Maginot Line. Vern was so angry to have to carry a soldier who had shot himself in
the foot that he applied for a transfer to H Company, the Heavy Weapons Company which had many more
vehicles. He was tired of slogging through the snow, especially for a soldier who had shot himself.

Stanley Smith from F Company’s 2nd platoon wrote that “the center of Dambach was in no-man’s land.
Neither we nor the enemy wanted it. The buildings were mighty tempting for protection from the cold
weather but there was too great a chance of being cut off from behind if we ventured down into it. The
Germans felt the same way. So the town was quiet but there was considerable activity going on around it.”

He spent 4-5 days in what was probably the Neunhoffen Casemate. He writes, “It was very dark as we
followed our guide. We were very close to German positions. Also the area around the pillboxes was
mined and had booby traps with trip flares. We had to stay on the path. Once we arrived, we were given
a quick tour and briefing by the departing soldiers. We were in what had once been the most elaborate
and supposedly the strongest section of the Maginot line. Our pillbox was entirely underground except for
the entrance, two gun ports and two observation turrets. Entry was through a heavy steel door and through a
chamber and then another heavy steel door. This opened up into a large room which was in the center, and
had apparently been the control area of the pillbox. Off this room was a large sleeping area which originally
had bunks for maybe 20 men. The bunks were now gone as was just about everything else that
could be moved. A lavatory area was also off the main room.

Going off in the opposite direction from this central room were two corridors. At the end of each was a
steel ladder leading up into an observation turret. These two turrets were manned by us continuously, to
prevent any surprise by the enemy. Also off each corridor was another room with a steel door at the
entrance. These rooms each had machine gun slits where we set up our Browning Automatic Rifles. Each
one covered a large field of fire, overlapping those of the other pillboxes which were about 150 to 200
yards apart. Off the main room was a stairway which led to a tunnel, at the bottom of which was a set of
rails. This tunnel had connected all the pillboxes to each other underground, but it was now flooded with
water and could not be used. The pillbox itself was located part way down a long hill which then
continued down another hundred yards to the bottom of a long valley. The Germans occupied the hill on
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the other side of the valley. Our side, where the pillboxes were, was almost bare of trees, but the slope
on the German side was densely wooded.

We didn't leave the pillbox during the daylight hours. It was tricky even at night, because the
Germans fired artillery continuously. Some of the shells were timed to explode at any time from
minutes to hours after landing. There were always unexploded shells lying around the area and we
never knew when one would explode.

We rather enjoyed being in the pillbox, since it was relatively safe. There was no heat but we were
sheltered from the snow and wind. But we did worry that the enemy would sneak up and put explosives
through the gun ports. The Germans were continuously patrolling around us at night, just as our First
and Third Platoons sent out patrols to check on their movements.

On the 19th of Jan., we were relieved. During the night, the men took over our pillbox and we headed back
to join the rest of the company across from Dambach Sud. Since we were to move out the next day, we did
not dig our own positions, but instead shared foxholes with some of the First and Third Platoon soldiers. The
position I joined was a large hole with a log roof covered with at least a foot of dirt and then snow on top of
that. It was good shelter against the snow and cold. However during the night, it warmed up and started to
rain. The rain came down in torrents and along with the melting snow, soon had the area covered with
streams of water and big puddles. Our roof on the dugout started to leak and soon we were soaked to the
skin.

Also, Stanley Smith also writes about seeing a lot of Christmas tinsel hanging on snow-covered branches
on mostly evergreen trees in the forest around Dambach. This made no sense to him and his fellow
soldiers. Who would be decorating trees in the middle of the forest? Later they would learn it was
“chaff,” thin aluminum strips dropped by planes to confuse enemy radar. It was impossible to
distinguish aircraft from the echoes caused by the chaff. Instead of shooting at the planes, ground
artillery would aim at the chaff. The British called it “window” and the Germans called it “Dueppel” after
the town where theirs was developed.
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G Company, on the right flank, was close to the tiny village of Wineckerth. Like Dambach, it seemed lifeless
and apparently deserted. The saddest story is of the four soldiers who were captured at the Winckerthal West
Casemate on 21 January 1945. Two men from G Company’s Heavy Weapons Platoon were there along with
two men from C Company whose mission was to provide rear protection for the withdrawal of 2nd Battalion.

In the confusion of the withdrawal, these four men were left behind.

Frank Yarosh, C/274 and Dean Banker, G/274 both have written about their experiences. When the order to
leave did not arrive, the men went out at night to try to find American troops. But they found none. Now they
were getting very frightened. Frank wrote that he felt like a trapped rabbit. “I glanced at my wristwatch. Both
hands were straight up; it is exactly midnight on 21 January 1945. I opened a fresh pack of Camel cigarettes
and as I am exhaling the first puff, suddenly there is a blinding light accompanied by a swift, strong force
against my body and a deafening noise. When I come to, I find myself flat on my back in the now very dark
room. Nearby small stars of various shades of brightness are dancing and ringing noisy bells in my sore head.
Maybe we’ve been hit with an artillery shell. Are you OK, I ask the three others. Then there is a heavy sound of
a falling object in the room across the hall, a thudding sound. The four of us in the dark automatically crawl up
against the back wall. My heart is racing wildly and my face is dripping sweat. One of them heard what he
thought was a burning fuse.

Suddenly, in perfect English with a German accent, they hear, “You Americans. You are our prisoners. Your
buddies have left you. There is no one to help you now. You have two minutes to come out.” With much
anxiety, they did come out one at a time. After being searched by the Germans, they were ordered back into
the casemate. They were allowed to smoke their cigarettes and gather their equipment together. “Just no
weapons,” they were told.

They reported being marched to a nice house about one half hour away through the deep snow. It is assumed
that it was in the Winckerthal Valley since German artillery always was coming from that direction. The men
were separated and each was interrogated separately. Three shots were fired outside, trying to convince each
of them that the other three had been executed. This behavior was a violation of the Geneva Convention.

Of the four, three survived the war. C Company’s Frank Yarosh was sent to Stalag 4B Muhlberg and Vernon
Glen ended up in the Stalag 9B hospital. G Company’s Dean Banker came close to death at Stalag 11B
Fallingbostel and Russell DeMuth died of pneumonia and malnutrition at Stalag 9B Bad Orb on 24 March 1945.
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At frequent company reunions, until the G Company Commander died in 2003, Dean Banker would ask him
how he could have left them behind. In the confusion of the withdrawal, he had forgotten.

One last memory, medic Vern Staley reports the following incident by the Jaegerthal Road during the
withdrawal. When they got to that intersection, it was snowing hard. A Colonel was in the middle of the road,
directing traffic, waving his pistol in the air. His mission was to get his 105 and 155mm field artillery pieces out
of there. As he explained to the privates, he would lose his job if any of these artillery pieces were left behind.
Vern always assumed he was from the 45th but he really doesn’t know. But it was a scene he remembers very
clearly to this day.

So this concludes memories of 2nd Battalion of the 274th Infantry Regiment during their time in Dambach.
Thank you for the opportunity to share some of these memories. Despite the danger and difficiult conditions,
none were killed and very few were wounded during this period. It could have been lot worse.

I would like to thank Damien Bauer for reading this account, Rodolph Lanzi who toured Dambach with Vern
Staley in 2016, Eric Schell for his knowledge of the 45th Division, and Pierre Lindauer who helped us identify
Winckerthal West as the casemate where the four men were captured.