746 Field Artillery

This helps so much. I don't know if Dad would have just posed for a picture with a jeep of a commander just for the sake of having his picture made unless he was actually associated with the batallion. He wasn't that much into having his picture made. I believe he probably was driving or working on this jeep at some point. He was very mechanical on these old vehicles.

 

I have found his division to be in the Ruhr pocket during March and April with the 82nd Division from several searches on the internet. So, I am pretty sure that he was there. Where he went from there after the germans surrendered is not known to me. I know he said he saw a concentration camp, and that I have the picture that I posted which he said was in Munich. That would put him at Dauchau concentration camp. I have contacted Fort Sill, and hopefully, they will let me know his precise whereabouts.

Charlie

 

This was from April 4-25, 1945.

 

Does anyone have any idea how to get a copy of the 746th roster?

 

My grand father was with the 746th FAB, and I have done some pretty decent research on the Battallion to include visiting the Military archives in Adelphi Md. It contains alot on the 746th where they went and what they did. It is not a well documented unit, however, from what I remember my grand father talking about, they did go through a concentration camp, but he wouldn't say which on or talk about it unless he had drank a little then some of the horrors were revealed, but believe me he kept himself in check with it. He also mentioned that they were part of the 100 mile drive with Patton to relieve the guys in Bastogne. If you want to compare notes let me know and we can discuss via phone.

Cheers,
Lou

 

I have gotten a partial copy of the roster from the national archives. I didn't go back far enough to see about Bastogne. I am going to get them to research further. It is interesting to see the roster as it pretty much tells day to day where the units were. I'd be interested in discussing what you know. Email me and we can exchange particulars. cljar@insightbb.com.

Charlie

 

Charlie,
I have sent you an email with the particulars.

Lou

 

I just stumbled across this site yesterday looking for information about the 746 Field Artillery Battalion and found some interesting information about the unit here. Thanks to all the guys who contributed to the thread.


I was in the 746[SUP]th[/SUP] from early April 1945 to late August and I might be able to fill in some gaps for you. What was your grandfather's name?


Harry Dunn

 

Harry, welcome to the forum and thank you for your service!

It's been a while since the original poster (Proudofdad) has been on the forum. It looks like he did provide his email address in post #28, so you could try to contact him that way.

I hope you will consider posting your own recollections and thoughts regarding your service. We have a great appreciation of our veterans and the stories they have to tell. You will, I am certain, receive a very warm welcome from everyone on this forum.

All the best to you,

Tom

 

Thanks, Tom. I'll act on your suggestion and see if I can contact Proudofdad. And I'll try to put together something in a week or so to add to the thread from my viewpoint.

Harry

 

mr.Dunn thank you for your service. ps nice to see another cannon cocker on here.

 

I I've been unable to contact proudofdad by e-mail but in case he checks back here and for anyone else who might be interested in this thread I've written what I remember from my personal experience as a member of the battalion. I believe it is very likely that proudofdad's father was one of the fifty as you will see below. I'm not a diary keeper so my time line was reconstructed from the few surviving letters
I wrote to my sister. Most of the dates I mention are not exact but probably close.


The 746[SUP]th[/SUP] Field Artillery Battalion, Tenth Corp Artillery, 15[SUP]th[/SUP] Army took up positions in Koln, Germany just two or three miles from the Koln Cathedral about April 5,1945 and was attached to the 82 Airborne Division. In that urban setting it was probably felt they needed more protection and to that end fifty infantrymen were assigned to the battalion and arrived a day or two later. Ten men went to each battery and I was one of the ten assigned to HQ Battery.


A little personal note about our arrival.


Our four truck convoy crept into Koln after dark, very cautiously and at little more than walking speed with only cat lights. The trucks finally stopped and we were told, in a low, hushed voice, to unload, line up beside the trucks and hold on to the pack of the man in front of us. It was overcast, black dark and eerily quiet. You could hear a pin drop and we couldn't see anything around us. What we didn't know was they were conducting harassing fire that night and we were probably less than 200 feet from an eight inch howitzer about to let one go. When my ears quit ringing and I spit out a filling that the blast jarred out of my tooth, I heard the truck driver say, very calmly and quietly, “that's going out”. And that was our very abrupt introduction to the field artillery and 8” howitzers.


Just before the war ended the battalion moved to Euskirchen where we set up a facility to handle displaced persons, manned road blocks and secured a large German ammunition dump in the forest near Euskirchen. In July the battalion moved to Mittenvald, a small alpine village just north of the Brenner Pass where we processed displaced persons leaving Germany going back to Italy, Albania, Greece and Bulgaria. We were billeted in a regimental size kasernen (German for barracks) which had been home for a German mountain division regiment. Much of Bavaria, especially the rural areas was unscathed by the war and very beautiful.


In August, just after the Japanese surrender, the 746[SUP]th[/SUP] turned in its equipment getting ready to go home. Low point men were transferred to the 204[SUP]th[/SUP] Field Artillery Battalion, First Division, Third Army, a 155 howitzer battalion. We were in the Munich area and that's when troops in the area were encouraged to visit Dachau, a sobering experience. We turned in our equipment and by mid September some of us were transferred to the 84[SUP]th[/SUP] Field Artillery Battalion, 9[SUP]th[/SUP] Inf. Division, Third Army, a 105 howitzer battalion. That's where the picture of the jeep, Able Boss 84 FA, fits in this thread.


The 84[SUP]th[/SUP] moved batteries from one small town to another in Bavaria just to show a presents. In October, several of us not having the slightest idea when we would get out on points, signed up for eighteen months in the regular army and we got to go home for a months leave. That was a good deal. We knew when we would get out and being RA had its advantages. Besides I spent about four months coming and going with a month of that at home during Christmas 1945.


How I got back to A Battery 84[SUP]th[/SUP] is another interesting story. Reporting back after leave I got a brand new clerk typing up his first set of travel orders. He asked about this RA business, RA having been appended to my serial number. I explained to him about joining the regular army and how we got to choose the unit we wanted to go back to and that I wanted to back to A Battery 84[SUP]th[/SUP] FA. He had just typed Camp Kilmer, N.J. so he added “for further transfer to A Battery 84[SUP]th[/SUP] FA”. At Camp Kilmer the company I was assigned to began processing us for the Pacific theater. I spoke to a warrant officer at the scheduling office who said the needs of the service takes president. But when I showed him the copy of my travel orders and pointed out for further transfer to A battery 84[SUP]th[/SUP] FA. he had a conversation with someone else about the name of the colonel who signed the order. Not knowing who he was or why he wanted me back in the 84[SUP]th[/SUP], he decided he'd better send me back to Germany.


Back in Germany at a replacement depot in Bamberg, everybody was upset because the word was out that we were all going to newly formed, spit and shine, Constabulary units to be trained for the army of occupation. Next morning several hundreds of us fell out to be transported to our new units. But my name was called out and a jeep picked me up and took me to the railroad station. I was told to catch a train to Munich and go to 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Army HQ, they would know where the 84[SUP]th[/SUP] FA was located. At 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Army HQ they told me to go to 9[SUP]th[/SUP] Inf Div. HQ in Augsburg, that they could get me to the 84[SUP]th[/SUP]. Realizing that nobody had a clue where 84[SUP]th[/SUP] was, much less A battery, and that my orders did not specify a date to report, I figured I might as well do some sight seeing. Those quartermaster companies that provided meals and quarters for GI's in transit did a nice job They checked your travel orders, fed you, gave you a bunk to sleep in, cleaned your uniform and as long as you didn't stay but one night no questions were asked .


When I finally got back, in late February or early March 1946, A Battery was in Ottobeuren . In a few weeks we moved to Mimmingen where we managed SS PWE 315 with about a thousand SS prisoners. A Polish Army company was attached to us to provide perimeter security. When those prisoners were moved to France to help clean up the battle field we moved to Kaufbeuren briefly. Then in early August 1946, what was left of the 84[SUP]th[/SUP] FA battalion moved to Darmstadt, Germany. In Darmstadt we managed C.I.E. #91, a large prison camp for SS prisoners still being held by the CIA for interrogation. Again a Polish Army unit provided security. Now down to two batteries, HQ and A battery, both less than a quarter strength, we turned in all our equipment and were attached to the CIA for rations and billets. When I left to come home to be discharged in March 1947 they were closing C.I.E. #91.


A few closing notes:


If my memory is correct, I believe the nucleus of the 746[SUP]th[/SUP] FAB was a National Guard Coastal Artillery Battery with 14” in place guns in one of the New England states.


The 746[SUP]th[/SUP] was designed for speed so the guns and ammunition trailers were towed by very big Mack trucks. They were similar to those built by Mack for Ringling Brothers Circus in the late1930's and were faster than tracked vehicles that most heavy artillery units used. The 15[SUP]th[/SUP] Army was billed as the fastest army in world. It just didn't get put together fast enough to take part in the invasion.


In August, when the Japanese gave up, low point personnel in 746[SUP]th[/SUP] were transferred to other units and stayed in Germany while the National Guard guys, who were about as low point as any of the rest of us, went home as a unit to be deactivated.

Harry Dunn

 

Welcome ProudOfDad, hope your search continues to go well via the info that has been relayed to you by the members here and good luck to the rest of your search.

 

Sorry Harry,
I haven't visited this site in some time, due to frustration over not being able to really find out much on the 746th. Wow! did you overwhelm me. My email is cljar@insightbb.com. Please get in touch with me! I have had no luck with anyone. The National Archives are a buch of obstructionists. Their blanket response is the records are burnt. I realize there was a fire, but there are people to hire that will go in there and retrieve the records for you for a fee. Which is where I am at now. When I can crap out enough money to do it. It's such a shame that people will do that with veterans records.

 

I am affraid that the email link in this sight isn't working. So I am going to keep this active my daily postings, even if it is trivial postings to keep Mr. Dunns attention.

 

Today is the fourth anniversay of my fathers passing. I am thinking about him and his years of service in the 746th.

 

Thank you for sharing, Charlie, and thank you for getting Mr Dunn to share his story here.

It may be some consolation that getting your fathers discharge papers would not be of much more help. Already knowing his unit and period of service gives you more than most people. Discharge papers often have the wrong unit recorded and errors in the awards. The only other piece of information you might find are his qualifications, military occupational specialty (gun crewmen, truck driver, etc.) and such.

Having copies of the unit records, the rosters and a fellow veteran's story is a good haul of information.

Have you pieced together the unit history and how it ties in with the material information you have on your father? We here don't often get a good summary of the results these veterans searches. If you feel up to it, I would be honored to read what you have found.

If the unit records provide locations then that might help confirm which units the 746 FA supported.