311 regiment, 78th Division info

hello. I'm trying to find some info on what may have happened to my fathers cousin who was a member of this group. I don't know what his individual unit was. He was killed on Feb. 3rd, '45. I wonder if he was killed during the battle for Kesternich? His name was Harvey Osmon & he was a corporal.

I'm also trying to find out if he's buried in our home town, or if he's still in Europe. Most off the family is gone, & what remain seem to think he didn't come home. Any help would be appreciated.
Mike S

 

Searching Harvey Osmon came up nill on NARA - AAD - Fielded Search - Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938 - 1946 (Enlistment Records)

Was Harvey maybe his nickname?

 

Hello, thanks for the help. His nickname was "Bud", & it is even listed on the headstone. As marked on the stone: Harvey L "Bud" Osmon. I'm beginning to think he is actually buried in the hometown cemetary (Allendale,IL) & that my family's memory is a little fuzzy.

I've found another relative that I'm going to call tonight to see if they can shed any light on him. I'd like to find out if he was indeed at the battle of Kesternich, or if he was somewhere else.
Mike S

 

Oh, I did find what I think is his serial number: 39951554.
Mike S

 

Hi,
The (2nd) battle for Kesternich was over on the 1st of February. So we can rule that out.
I think he got killed somewhere allong the attacks on the Schwammenauel Dam. So you have to look East of Kersternich I guess...
Here some more information regarding Kesternich.
http://www.ww2f.com/living-history/21314-kesternich-then-now.html

 

Looking at this map it must have been near Kesternich... if you see the frontline on 5 febr. is just outside the village.
Wikipedia isn't always right...

 

Thanks for the map. Yes, I also think he must have met his end during some mopping up actions just outside the village.

I had already found the "before & after" thread on Kesternich & it was very interesting. In fact, it's provided the best clues so far. I hope to visit with a relative this weekend. I hope they will have a few clues also.
thanks,
Mike S

 

Sorry for the late reply. I've not been monitoring this Forum. A good place to ask this type of question is the 78th Division Association Website. I have Osmon, Harvey L. 36951554 PFC INF KIA. He is on my list for 311th Infantry, but I do not have his company. If you know what company he was with I can likely give you the place where the unit was engaged on the day of his death. On the 3rd, the most of the fight had moved beyond Kesternich and on to Schmidt and the Schwammenauel. Only the 2nd Battalion of the 311 Infantry was at Kesternich. So if he was in Company E, F, G, or H then he was likely there. Otherwise he would have been involved in some of the other fights the 78th was involved with during this offensive. Hope this helps

 

Don't mean to hijack this thread but the topic is the regiment/division I'm supposedly looking for. A little hockey history lead me here. The Turner Cup (championship trophy of the old International Hockey league) is in memorium of promising future NHL goaltender Joe Turner who served and died in the war.

Original research states that he was a Marine and died in Holland, but I'm quite sure the Marines only served in the Pacific theatre and certainly NOt in Holland. I've also read he was in the US Army with no more info. I have since found that he was supposedly a part of this regiment/division, and part of Company K as a 2LT. Wikipedia has him listed as MIA in the Hurtgen Forest during the Battle of the Bulge, Dec. 13, 44. Is there anyway to confirm this information?

He had just finished his last season in professional hockey, and got his first NHL start but felt the need to serve in the war and enlisted in '42 as a Canadian in the US Army.

 

Hello Mike,

I have 2nd Lt. Joe Turner, ASN O1055434, Company K, 3rd Battalion, 311th Infantry Regiment, 78th Division. He was initially listed as MIA, but later was listed KIA on 13 December 1944. His unit initially occupied the line on 9 December 1944. His unit replaced the 13th and 28th Infantry, 8th Infantry Division in defensive positions in vicinity of Jagerhaus in the Hürtgen Forest along the Kall River. The area is between Rollesbroich and Vossenack, Germany. I assume that based on his rank he was a platoon leader. Sounds like he was killed in his first attack. The description below is from the Division history.

On December 9, four days prior to the main attack, the 311th Infantrv Regiment had moved into the line east of Jagerhaus, Germany, in the southernmost sector of the 8th Division zone. At midnight the lst and 2nd Battalions of the 311th officially relieved the 13th Infantry Regi­ment, but the remainder of the relief was accomplished during the day, in a blinding snowstorm and under cover of smoke laid down by mortars.

The mission of the 311th was diversionary The ,311th was to attack on the morning of the 13th at the same time its companion regiments of the 78th Division launched the main drive farther south. Although this constituted a diversion, it was rough going. Enemy mortar shells fell all that night.
As the morning of the 10th dawned, the infantrymen began to look around. They were in the dark Hürtgen Forest. All around them were pine trees covered with snow and shutting out the light. Ahead of them the forest dipped down into a deep valley, in which the darkness seemed to be nearly opaque. Many of the trees had been stripped of foliage by artillery.

The regiment occupied positions prepared by the 13th Infantry: fox­holes, shallow trenches, and dugouts covered with logs. The 2d Bat­talion held the northern part of the front, while the 1st Battalion pre­pared for the main diversionary effort in the south. The 3d Battalion was temporarily in reserve near regimental headquarters in the Jager­haus, the only building in the area.

The first few days were spent in -convincing the enemy of a build-up of force opposing him. Mortars of Companies D and H blasted at the enemy night and day and patrols were sent out into the forest to make sure that the Germans continued to occupy their positions down the hill, in the darker part of the forest.

A patrol in Hürtgen Forest was more serious than the 311th Doughs had ever conceived in training. Every tree was a possible hiding place, every clump of bushes might have been a machine-gun nest. Treading softly through this no man's land was impossible. When a party of men moved through the forest inevitably some stepped on twigs which cracked loudly, broke through the forest floor into holes and depressions, stumbled over roots. The advantage lay with the man who saw his enemy first, or with the patrol which was able to lay silently in ambush.

During the time the 311th was preparing for its attack the men learned to dread one thing in particular . . . the tree-burst. An artillery or mor­tar shell exploding against a tree was more destructive than one land­ing on the ground. Exploding high in the branches of the pines it would scatter death over a fifty-yard area. There was no warning other than the usual whistle of artillery coming in. Then a blast overhead and wounded and dying men lay about. Even dugouts covered with logs were not complete protection against tree-bursts.
At 0300 on the 13th, the men of the 1st Battalion moved up to begin the attack, and at 0630, shortly after the main 78th Division attack had begun to the south, they struck at the enemy entrenchments and pill­boxes down the hill. The forest was as bad a place for offensive warfare as it was good for defense. It was especially difficult to place exactly the enemy's positions.

Company B and C men crept forward against the deadly defenses devised by the Germans, as the dawn began to sift through the trees. The enemy had placed boobytraps and trip flares throughout the forest along the routes of approach. Unwary men, stepping on wires placed beneath the snow or hung between the trees, set off blazing flares which warned the enemy of our approach, or exploded charges of TNT. The advance was a nightmare. By the time the men had reached the enemy outposts they were wet with melted snow and perspiration. But despite the warning trip flares, the enemy was surprised. Before the sleepy Germans realized that an attack was beginning they found American infantrymen all around and amongst them.

Company K attacked on the right flank, A on the left flank. The enemy threw in reserves and showered the attackers with mortar shells. Jerry machine guns began to open up. Though their feet were half numbed with cold, their minds dulled in this first action, the 311th men kept moving ahead. Within a few hours they had progressed several hundred yards beyond their line of departure. There they dug in, the first objective taken.

This diversionary advance was now completed. It remained to make secure the newly won positions, and to get accustomed to unprotected life in a primeval forest.

On December 17 Company K again tasted the bitter action of an attack. Enemy troops attempted a penetration from the north. Com­pany K got them out. The men of the Company were more cautious this time. They had learned to look for trip flares and boobytraps. Their tuning improved as they hit the ground. German soldiers who survived the attack withdrew rapidly and in a disorganized manner.

This completed the offensive action by the 311th in the Hürtgen Forest.

 

Hey Tom
Wow, that is a lot more info than I hoped to get, nice research and Thanks!!! Joe Turner was property of the Detroit Red Wings and was expected to battle Harry Lumley as the Red Wings' top goaltender, prior to Terry Sawchuck coming on scene in '49.

 

I have spoken to veterans of the 13th Infantry Regiment. Several felt bad about turning their positions in the Huertgen Forest over to units of the 78th Infantry Division. They considered the 78th "green." Lacking combat experience is one thing, getting on the job training in the Huertgen Forest was another.

Greg C.

 

My mother's cousin Leo Miclette Co K, 311 Inf, 78 Division was listed as MIA on Dec 15, 1944. I see that his name is no longer on the list of MIA's for the 311 Inf. Can anyone tell me where I might locate information as to whether his remains were ever found. There is a burial stone for him in Prevatt Cemetery in Florida, but I don't know if it is a memorial only, or if his remains may have been found.

Thanks

 

My father was in that unit. And looking at his combat journal it looks like the 311th Infantry Regiment was attacking a place called Dedenborn after fighting at Kesternich on 3 Feb 45.

My father's combat journal also listed a Osmon Harvey L. that is buried at the Henri Chapelle cemetery in Belgium.

I hope this helps

 

is there any mention of Company I? This is the Co that my father was in Willie C Davis