Time Frames to Remember in European Theater in WW II (Post #11B)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

 The Battles of the 2nd Infantry Division

The 15th Field Artillery Battalion was ordered to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin on 16 October 1942, for intensive training with the 2nd Infantry Division. (Charles David Knight will join them by 28 Dec 1942). At the end of September 1943, it was ordered to move to Camp Shanks, New York, from where it sailed in a large convoy on 7 October 1943 and arrived in Belfast, Ireland, on 17 October 1943. From there it was moved by train to County Armagh and County Down in Northern Ireland. Here again, the division conducted training, including combat as well as driver training, engineer training, supply and everything that was to be expected in anticipated deployment in the planned invasion to France.
In mid April 1944, the division was moved to Tenby in Northern Wales through England. They will arrive a few week later. Final preparations were made here before the invasion, especially sealing of all the vehicles and equipment against water.

After 5 June 1944 any letters my Uncle Charlie wrote were no longer in the training camps of Northern Ireland or Wales. He along with the other soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Division and the 15th Field Artillery Battalion will be in battles starting at Omaha Beach on D plus 1 (7 June 1944) near St. Laurent-sur-Mer.
Will Uncle Charlie's letters "change" once on the battlefield? Their frequency?
I would encourage you to keep this post nearby to refer back to as a quick reference point to determine where Uncle Charlie is on a specific date when he writes a letter. I will also do posts that will go into more detail about the major Campaigns in which he was involved, but this will be a great post to get a quick summary of his location in relation to a specific Campaign and the date of his letter.

The following site is where I obtained the below information.
https://armydivs.squarespace.com/european-theater#normandy

Campaign Overviews

D-Day and Normandy 6 June 1944 - 24 July 1944
Early on D-Day airborne troops landed in France to gain control of strategic areas. Aerial and naval bombardment followed. Then the invasion fleet, covered by an umbrella of aircraft, discharged Eisenhower's assault forces. Soon the beachhead was secure, but its expansion was a slow and difficult process in the face of strong opposition. It was not until late in July that the Allies were able to break out of Normandy. The 2nd Artillery Division will land on Omaha Beach on D plus 1, 7 June 1944.

**OMAHA BEACH (7 JUNE 1944)

**TREVIERES OFFENSIVE

  The Battle for Trevieres (Omaha Beach on D plus 1 (7 June 1944) near St. Laurent-sur-Mer. Attacking across the Aure Riveron 10 June 1944, the division liberated Trévières) (June 7-10, 1944)

**CERISY OFFENSIVE June 11-19, 1944

**ST GERMAIN D'ELLE, ST. GEORGES D'ELLE, LE PARC DEFENSIVE 

June 20, 1944-July 10, 1944

**HILL 192 OFFENSIVE July 11-12, 1944

**ST. GERMAIN D'ELLE, LA CROIX ROUGE, LE SOULAIRE DEFENSIVE July 13-25, 1944

Northern France 25 July 1944- 14 September 1944
Bombardment along a five-mile stretch of the German line enabled the Allies to break through on 25 July. While some armored forces drove southward into Brittany, others fanned out to the east and, overcoming a desperate counterattack, executed a pincers movement that trapped many Germans in a pocket at Falaise. The enemy fell back on the Siegfried Line, and by mid-September 1944 nearly all of France had been liberated. During these operations in France, while light and medium bombers and fighter-bomber aircraft of Ninth Air Force had been engaged in close support and interdictory operations, Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces had continued their strategic bombing.

**VIRE OFFENSIVE July 26 - August 7, 1944

**TINCHEBRAY OFFENSIVE August 8-16, 1944

**DAOULAS PENINSULA, HILL 154 OFFENSIVE August 21-30, 1944

**BREST OFFENSIVE August 21 - September 18, 1944

Rhineland 15 September 1944 - 21 March 1945
Attempting to outflank the Siegfried Line, the Allies tried an airborne attack on Holland on 17 September 1944. But the operation failed, and the enemy was able to strengthen their defensive line from Holland to Switzerland. Little progress was made on the ground, but the aerial attacks on strategic targets continued. Then, having regained the initiative after defeating a German offensive in the Ardennes in December 1944, the Allies drove through to the Rhine, establishing a bridgehead across the river at Remagen.
**Division took a brief rest 19–26 September 1944
**Defensive positions at St. Vith, Belgium on 29 September 1944. 
**Entered Germany on 3 October 1944,  
   The Move to Belgium 
**SCHNEE EIFEL DEFENSIVE October 4 - December 12, 1944
**Ordered, on 11 December 1944, to attack and seize the Roer River dams.
**WEHLERSCHEID OFFENSIVE December 13-16, 1944

Ardennes-Alsace 16 December 1944 - 25 January 1945
During their offensive in the Ardennes the Germans drove into Belgium and Luxembourg, creating a great bulge in the line. For some time the weather was bad, but when it cleared the Allies could send their planes to assist their ground forces by bombing and strafing the enemy's columns, dropping paratroops and supplies, and interdicting the enemy's lines of communications. By the end of January 1945 the lost ground had been regained and the Battle of the Bulge, the last great German offensive, was over.

**Rockerath, Krinkelt, Wirtzfeld defense 17 Dec 1944 -19 Dec 1944

**Elsenborn Ridge defense (ridge) 20 Dec 1944 - 29 Jan 1945

**Wehlerscheid – Harperscheid offensive 30 Jan 1945 - 05 Feb 1945

**Harperscheid, Dreiborn defense 06 Feb 1945 - 28 Feb 1945

**Overcoming the Rhine 06 Mar 1945 -12 Mar 1945

**2nd ID advanced south to take Breisig 10 Mar 1945 -11 Mar 1945 Guard the Remagen bridge 12 Mar 1945 - 20 Mar 1945                                      **Defending the Rhine bridgehead 13 Mar 1945 - 20 Mar 1945 Crossed the Rhine 21 Mar 1945

Central Europe 22 March 1945 - 11 May 1945
Following the Battle of the Bulge the Allies had pushed through to the Rhine. On 22 March 1945 they began their assault across the river, and by 1 April 1945 the Ruhr was encircled. Armored columns raced across Germany and into Austria and Czechoslovakia. On 25 April 1945, the day American and Russian forces met on the Elbe, strategic bombing operations came to an end. Germany surrendered on 7 May 1945 and operations officially came to an end the following day, although sporadic actions continued on the European front until 11 May 1945.

**Ruhr 28 Mar 1945 - 31 Mar 1945
**Advanced to Hadamar & Limburg an der Lahn, relieving 9th Armored Division 28 Mar 1945
**Ruhr to Leipzig  01 Apr 1945 - 12 Apr 1945
**The 2nd Infantry Division crossed the Weser at Veckerhagen 6–7 April 1945
**Captured Göttingen  8 Apr 1945 
**Battle for Leipzig 13 Apr 1945 - 18 Apr 1945
**Established bridgehead across the Saale 14 Apr 1945 seizing Merseburg on 15 Apr 1945
**Mulda River defense 19 Apr 1945 - 30 Apr 1945
**2nd moved 200 miles, 1–3 May 1945 to positions along the German-Czech border near Schonsee and Waldmünchen where 2 ID relieved the 97th and 99th ID's. 

**Crossed over to Czechoslovakia on 4 May 1945 and attacked in the general direction of Pilsen liberating that city the day before V-E Day. Uncle Charlie's 15 FAB will liberate a nearby town.
The division moved, in the first days of May 1945, on a long route along the Czechoslovak border in rain and snow over Bayreuth to the section between the 97th and 90th Infantry Division on the Czechoslovak border. On 4 May 1945 it accepted the surrender of the German 11th Panzer Division, which was withdrawing from the vicinity of Nýrsko to the west.

**On 5 May 1945, in group with the V Corps of General Huebner, it started to advance into Bohemia in two streams that divided into three streams from Draženov; the Division entered Pilsen on 7 May 1945. The day before, on 6 May, it had to release the 16th Armored Division, which was the first to liberate Pilsen, through its positions. Simultaneously with the advance of the 2nd ID the division headquarters moved as well; it was located in Klenčí pod Čechovem on 5 May, in Horšovský Týn on 6 May and in Pilsen on 7 May 1945


VE Day - Victory in Europe Day - was first celebrated on May 8th 1945 marking the end of World War II in Europe.





The words I highlighted in red have a short definition below if the reader needs it.
beachhead- a defended position on a beach taken from the enemy by landing forces, from which an attack can be launched.
pincer movement- or double envelopment, is a military maneuver in which forces simultaneously attack both flanks (sides) of an enemy formation
interdictory operations- to cut or destroy (a line of communication) by firepower so as to halt an enemy's advance
outflank- (Military) to go around the flank (the right or left side of a body of soldiers) of an opposing army
bridgehead-a strong position secured by an army inside enemy territory from which to advance or attack.
bulge in the line- For those forces part of the bulge, the danger is that you are surrounded on 3 sides by German forces. You can be ‘pinched’ off if the enemy assaults the origins of the bulge, and you can be exposed to fire from 3 sides, precluding a solid front line due to the need to defend on three sides.
strafing- attack repeatedly with bombs or machine-gun fire from low-flying aircraft

VIDEO ON THE 2nd ARTILLERY DIVISION HISTORY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMz1F3wX6q0 

MAP WITH NUMBERS 1-22 JUST TO GUIDE YOU THE DIRECTION THEY WENT