General Orders 1946 - Fort Benning

WAR DEPARTMENT
WASHINOTON 25. D. C.. 30 August 1946
Section
JERSEY CITY QUARTERMASTER DEPOT-Discontinued ..................... I
BATTLE HONORS-Citation of nnit ....................................... I1
ILJERSEY CITY QUARTERMASTER DEPOT.-Efectiue 91 Augunt 1946.
the Jersey City Quartermaster Depot, Jersey City 2, New Jersey, is discontinued.
[AQ 322 (30 Aug. 46) I
II..BATTLE HONORS.-As authorized hy Executive Order 93% (see. I, WD
Bul. 22, 1413), superseding Executive Order !XI75 (sec. 111, WD Bul. 11, 1942),
citation of the following unit in the general orders indicated is conflrmed under
the provisions of section IV, WD Circular 333, 1943, in the name of the President
of the United States as public evidence of deserved honor and distinction. The
citation reads as follows: I
The Ed Battalion. (Reinforced), 47th Infantry Regiment, is cited for conspicuous
battle action and outstanding p~rformance of duty during the period 2
to 5 April 1945. The town of Oberkirrhea. Germany, one of the key points in
the enemy escape route and so situated that it controlled the road net vital to
the enemy communications and supply. was ansigned as an objective to the
Zd Battalion (Reinforced) and at Om hours, 2 April 1945, the battalion Jumped
off to sei~e this objective. Advancing over 7 miles of diacult, hilly, and expo&
terrain and under intense srrall-arms and motar fire along the entire route, the
battalion, Company G leading, passed through Weiminghnusen and ran into
heavily fortifled positions, nnd, aftcr an extremely hitter and aggressive handto-hand
flght, cleared the woods with the following results: 30 enemy dead, 8
enemy wounded, and 52 captured. The battalion continued onward with supporting
machine-gun and tank fire from the 2d Platoon, 746th Tank Battalion.
though still under intense enemy small-arms and now artillery flre, and entered
Vewald, where Company G, under direct tire from three Mark IV tanks and
artillery, dnwe the enemy from .the town and caused the tanks to withdraw,
after a hand-to-hand, house-to-house struggle, which caused the enemy the following
casualties: 10 enemy dead, and 40 captured. The advance, which now
Came under heavy artillery and self-propelled-gun flre, continued to the abjective,
where, after an intense artillery barrage, Companies E and F advanced
Over exposed terrain, whieh was under deadly emall-arms, mortar, artillery,
sew-propelled, and point-blank fire from five erlemy tanks, entered the town at
1500 hours, and, bs 18DO hours, cumpletels cleared the town of enemy, after a
bloody hand-to-hand encounter. An enemy counterattack, composed of 200
infantrymen and 6 tanks, was launched at 1W hours, which overran part of
Company E and penetrated two-thirds through town, isolating 2 platoons of
Company E. At this Point, the battalion railed for, and received, all available
artillery fire from the 84th Field Artillery Battalion and Cannon Company, 47th
Infantry Regiment, on its own positions, whieh inflicted many easualtiea upon
the enemy. Company B then launched a vigorous atpack, which succeeded in
making contact with Company E. The lines became very fluid, with enemy
remaining in scattered groups in the town. Preparations were made for ex.
pected counterattacks, including the laying of mines by the 1st Platoon, Com-
Pany B, 15th Engineer Battalion. At 03.W hours the following morning, the
enemy launched another sttack, consisting of 200 infantrymen and R tanks, in
a last deeperate effort to drive the battalion from the town. Three platoons
AGO 51OB--Sent. 706668'-4%