195th Field Artillery Battalion

 

Battery A

 

The 195th Field Artillery Battalionlanded on Utah beach on June 15, 1944, On June 17th The 195th Field Artillery Battalionwent into action in support of the 4th Infantry Division and 79th Infantry Divisions at the Cherbourg peninsula. The new positions were near Azeville south of Montebourg. The 195th Field Artillery Battalion continued to support the 4th Infantry Division, the 79th Division, and the 82nd Airborne division until July 3, 1944 when The 195th Field Artillery Battalionstarted supporting the 9th Infantry Division, and the 90th Infantry Division. In August The 195th Field Artillery Battalion supported the 3rd Armored Division and 1st Infantry Division. On August 9th his battalion emerged from an ordnance check to help blunt the violent German counter-attack at Mortain which threatened to isolate the troops in Brittany. From positions near Le Repas the 195th poured fire on the remains of Von Kluge’s Seventh German Army. By August 31, 1944, every available vehicle from his unit joined the famous “Red Ball Express” to speed supplies forward to the advancing armor. By September 20, The 195th Field Artillery Battalion crossed into Germany across the Siegfried Line and took positions at Venwegen, Germany. From September until November The 195th Field Artillery Battalion supported the 9th Infantry Division, 28th Infantry Division, 104th Infantry Division and the 3rd Armored Divisions in the Huertgen Forest. On November 16th 1944 The 195th Field Artillery Battalion supported the 1st Infantry Division, and 104th Infantry Division near Mausbach and later on Heistern, between Aachen and Duren. The 195th FA was one of the last corps units to head toward the Battle of the Bulge, because its powerful guns had to stand guard over the Roer until the last possible minute to prevent any new breakthroughs. On December 23, 1944, the battalion finally proceeded to Belgium, traveling mostly at night. The next day Christmas Eve was spent near Ocquier, Belgium. The 195th was now ordered to help shove the Germans back toward the south and east. It rolled into position at Bosseret, north of Marche, and fired its first rounds in the Battle of the Bulge on Christmas Day 1944. At this time the 195th was supporting the 2nd Armored Division. On January 26, 1945 The 195th FA joined the 18th Airborne Corps at Born, north of St. Vith, to support the 82nd Airborne and 1st Infantry Division in their attempt to drive the German Army back into Germany. On February 5, 1945, the 195th arrived in Heistern, Germany, and occupied the identical positions it had vacated two months before. At 2:45 AM on February 23, 1945, the great attack began. The earth trembled from the thunder of hundreds of guns. The acrid odor of burning cordite was everywhere. In the distance the bursting shells threw a lurid glare over the lines (this was once that the cannoneers could clearly witness their own work). Instinctively all knew that the beginning of the end of the Wehrmacht was at hand, and the 195th was having a definite voice in the matter. In support of the 8th Infantry Division and 104th Infantry Divisions the 195th battalion crossed the Roer in the vicinity of Duren on February 26, 1945. In the ensuing days, the campaign was not only marked by speed but also by the vast amount of artillery fire. The 195th advanced rapidly toward Cologne, keeping in close support of the 104th Infantry Division and 3rd Armored Divisions. At Buir, a new record was chalked up: 882 rounds in 24 hours. By March 21, 1945 the 195th crossed the Rhine on a heavy pontoon bridge between Bad Godesberg and Remagen. In the last weeks of March the 195th FA dashed across Germany in support of the 1st Infantry Division the 78th Infantry Division, and the 3rd Armor Division and helped with creating the Ruhr Pocket. On the morning of April 16th, near Lennep, the 195th fired its last shots of the war on several German machine gun emplacements. Not long afterward, the 195th FA battalion drew a totally different type of assignment. It was dispatched to Gummersbach to help guard and transport over 70,000 German prisoners captured in the Ruhr pocket.