746 Field Artillery

Thank you Mr. Dunn for this contribution as it is like finding a diamond while looking for coal in a coal mine. A very good surprise from an original source. Your details are most rewarding.....like getting to know that the heavy guns did get carted around even if it took Mack trucks to do it. I repeat a story of my dad about moving some of the big guns and they are met with skeptical comments so it is great to hear from someone who knew how those things were and could be moved...... that might not be "in the books."

 

Very good observation, Victor. I sure that there were many instances of creative logistics that are not "in the books".

Mr. Dunn, thank you for sharing your story here. I am sorry that I did not see it earlier. Hopefully, you will stop back soon and make that connection with Charlie.

 

The information that Mr Dunn has shared is the most that i have gotten. I did get a copy of the roster, and it didn't really go back far enough. I can send you a copy of it. It is pretty difficult to read, as most of it is hand written, and the writing is difficult to read, and some of the abbreviations I find difficult to decipher. I am very unfaimiliar with miliatary jargon, and military ranks, units, etc, so all of it is foreign to me. I thought when one was assigned to the 746th FA, one stayed in that unit, obviously not the case. My goal in this hunt, was simply to find where dad went during the war, if he saw combat, what battles if any he was in, etc. I feel that I really am no closer than I was when I started. Though with the useful information from Mr. Dunn, I still feel frustrated that he came in a bit later, and served a bit longer, and did not know my father, though he was in the same unit. So close, yet so far.

 

I'm sorry to hear that. I thought Labreu had found some good information and was willing to share.

If you could attach a sample page of what you got I'm sure there are others here with more experience using unit documents.

If you do not want to attach a sample, is this email still good for you?

cljar@insightbb.com.

No matter his units combat service, much of your fathers experience would be either hard work at the guns or exhausting road marches. There are very few memoirs from field artillerymen, none from enlisted men that I know of. Their war experience was a lot of around-the-clock hard work and probably many near-miss road accidents. They rarely knew much of the details of the battle they were supporting, just a general sense of progress or stalemate.

You might consider some books to get a sense of military life though other memoirs and a general sense of what the late war in Germany was like. I find this period of the war very interesting. Just about every late-winter/early-spring, I find different aspects of this period to study. The on-rush of Allied armies, the disintegration of the Wehrmacht and Nazi control, the liberation of the camps; it is fascinating, a kind of re-birth of the world. A lot of sadness but some hope.

I didn't search the whole thread but have you checked his local county records for a copy of your father's discharge documents? Many veterans did this per the Army's advice.

 

You may want to check HyperWar's online version of United States Army in World War II: The Last Offensive.

You don't have to read the whole thing unless you're a glutton for punishment. There is a Table of Contents and an Index so you can look up the units or actions (i.e. Reducing the Ruhr) in which your father would likely have participated.

As Earthican suggested, this will give you an overview of what was going on at the time.

 

That is my email address. The roster is too many pages for me to scan and publish on this site. It is probably 50 pages at the least. I haven't heard from Labreau in some time. I think that a lot of us end up running out of steam, because in all honesty, we just keep hitting so many brick walls in doing this research. I will look up the book and see what I can find. Thanks for the info.

 

Just to educate myself through the fun of pictures I searched for mack truck and 8 inch howitzer.

truck picture


mack and 155mm Long Tom


8 inch howitzer in position Korea


8 inch pacific (looks like they are loading projectile at the breach and one man has propellant "bag" ready)



veterans page for 662nd Field Artillery Battalion (8 inch howitzer)
Herbert Shevlin's involvement in World War II

mack fact sheet and illustration
http://www.americanmilitaryhistorymsw.com/img/upload/gbfgtyhyhmj.jpg

 

Those things are enormous. I guess that is where Dad learned to work on trucks.

 

Out of curiosity I Googled "diary field artillery 1945" and found the link below. Not much detail, but since they were a late war 155mm Gun battalion ("Long Toms" IIRC) and they were near the Ruhr, I imagined their experience was similar. If nothing else, its a short introduction to life "at the guns".

America's Greatest Generation: Army Heroes: Samuel O. Channell

 

Harry,
Just saw your reply, Grandfather's name was Albani (Ben) Genest. I am not sure which battery he was with. Do you have any pictures of the unit while you were with it?

Cheers,
Lou

 

This is a bit off topic. My great uncle Grover Brummett was in a D company of tankers of about 60+ men all from the same community here in central Kentucky (Harrodsburg). All of these men were in the Battan Death March. This week the last survivor passed away. He was 92. My great uncle and my father both served at the same time, they were 4 years apart in age, my dad in the European theatre, and my great uncle in the Pacific.

 

His unit could have been either the 192d or the 194th Tank Battalion. Wiki article for the 192d TB lists Kentucky as the region of origin of it's D Company. Does that check with any other information? Otherwise it seems the 194th TB came from California.

192nd Tank Battalion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

It was the 192nd. Brummett See attached link on my great uncle.

 

May all 60 of them rest in peace now

 

What was the 746 field artillery arm patch for world war 2 stationed in or near munchin germany in 1945-6?

 

Going back through this thread I cut-and-paste a rough timeline for the 746th FAB (below). From that I gather they were in/near Munich in September of 1945, although they could have passed near Munich on their way from Euskirchen to Mittenwald in May of 1945.

According to the last situation map available online (July 26 , 1945, attached) Munich was in the Third Army zone of occupation. So unless they wore a Corps patch (doesn't seem likely), they could have worn the Third Army "A".

For their time in combat near the Ruhr Pocket they were part of the First Army and then Fifteenth Army. But since an independent FAB was likely to change assignments they most likely did not wear any shoulder patch in combat.

 

Thanks to all for the information. All has been very helpful.

 

Does anyone know why the 746th FA is no longer a existing unit? Hope that isn't a stupid question.

 

In a nutshell, the war ended. The 746th FAB was formed in Apr 1944 and was disbanded in Oct 1945 (see Slipdigit's post #11). It appears to have been a unit created for the war.

 

In the midst of deciphering my Dad's notes from his unit history and travels. But he was in the 746th overseas in 1945. He was in the Army from 1941 through 1946, beginning with the Coastal Arty in Rhode Island and Maine prior to going to Europe. As I reconstruct his travels (all 3 pages of them - such a writer!), I will post them here. Thanks to everyone who's found out some info on this unit and put them here. It really helps me go through the notes.