71st Infantry Regiment
World War Two

History

The history of the 71st regiment can be traced back to 1850 when they were first formed as the American Rifles. The regiment was renamed the American Guard, a name which it proudly keeps to this day. The regiment served in the Civil War, Spanish American War, and parts of it fought in WWI as the 54th pioneer regiment. By the time of World War II there were three battalions each with varying amounts of companies. 1st battalion was made up of A, B, C, and D companies. 2nd battalion made up of E, F, G, and H. 3rd battalion was the smallest and was only made up of three companies I, K, and L.

The 71st regiment, stationed in New York City, was called up into federal service on 16 September 1940. The regiment was first sent to Ft. Dix NJ on 23 Sept 1940, where it was made part of the 44th division. The regiment participated in various maneuvers including ones at Cape May, NJ; A.P. Hill military reservation, VA; and Indian Town Gap PN. On 26 Sept 1941 the regiment was sent to the Carolina maneuvers and for two and a half months was engaged in the largest maneuver ever held by the United States Army. On their way back to Ft. Dix the regiment heard the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The regiment was then sent to Camp Claiborne, LA on 6-7 January 1942. There the regiment resided until 26 February 1942, when they were shipped to Ft. Lewis, Washington. On 2 July 1942 the 1st battalion, was shipped to Fort Richardson, Alaska, in the Aleutian Islands. The battalion, less C Company, (which was stationed in Annette Island) was granted the right to the silver Aleutian battle streamer, making it the only New York National Guard regiment to serve in both the Pacific and European theaters. The 1st battalion returned to Ft. Lewis on 23 Sept 1942.

The regiment returned to Louisiana, this time to the Louisiana Maneuver area on 27 January 1944. The regiment was sent to Camp Phillip Kansas on 8 April 1944, where it received it’s final combat training before being sent overseas. The regiment moved to their staging point of Camp Myles Standish in preparation of being shipped out of Boston. The regiment departed from Boston on 5 September 1944 and landed in Cherbourg, France on the 15 of the same month.

The first companies of the regiment entered action on 23 October 1944, when they relieved elements of the 70th Division in the vicinity of Embermenil, France. In the last weeks of October and the first weeks of November they drove the Germans from their strongholds in the Foret De Parroy, France. Heavy rain and thick mud marked this period of time as the regiment completed their mopping up exercises. The regiment was part of a new offensive that opened on 13 November 1944 in conjunction with the other regiments of the 44th division; the 114th and 324th. The objective was to seize the city of Sarrebourg, France. This offensive was initially bogged down due to heavy German fire and thick mud. On 15 November 1944, the regiment finally broke through German lines and captured several villages. By the afternoon of the regiment was on the outskirts of Sarrebourg. The strong resistance that was expected in the city never materialized and it was cleared of enemy troops by the next day.

With the Sarrebourg offensive over the regiment then moved to Groelingen, France, where they established defensive positions. At this time the 130th Panzer Lehr Division opened up a vicious counterattack near the town of Rawiller. The third battalion of the regiment unluckily was conducting a staff meeting of all their officers when the offensive opened up. The house they were meeting in was soon surrounded by several tanks and numerous enemy troops. Fifteen officers and one hundred forty seven enlisted men were either killed or captured. Only the battalion CO was able to escape, he hid in the attic for two days while the battle raged around him. Several days later the second and third battalion retook the lost ground.

In the first weeks of December the regiment was moved into place to assault the Simserhoff Fortress, part of the famous Maginot line. This fortress had been taken over by the Germans and was now being used by the very people it was supposed to protect against. The fortress consisted of at least twenty large turrets and sixty smaller ones. The regiment finally took the fortress on 20 December 1944.

It was while this was going on that one of the most courageous defenses ever fought by the regiment occurred. Company I and the first platoon of company M were tasked in taking the Freudenberg farm 14 December 1944. They took the farm, under heavy small arms and artillery fire that evening. The next morning several enemy motorized platoons attacked the farm. The soldiers of company M held their fire until the enemy was seventy-five yards away and then opened fire at point blank range. The resulting firefight left 30 Germans dead and at least one of their vehicles destroyed. From then until the 19th the company held the farm under ever increasing artillery fire, which reduced the farm to rubble. For their heroic defense company I and first platoon of company M were awarded the Presidential citation.

The regiment was relieved by the 398th regiment on 23 December 1944 and transferred to a new sector. On the night of 21 December 1944 the Thirteenth SS Corps attacked the regiment’s sector. This was part of the great German counter offensive that was to be known as the Battle of the Bulge. The enemy was able to infiltrate and partially surround most of the companies of the regiment and there was a great amount of confusion. Numerous command posts were attacked and there were no established front lines, with units from both sides often blundering into one another. There was very heavy fighting, with some companies and battalions reduced to platoon and company levels. The regiment was able to hold their lines however and by 3 January 1945 the front had stabilized. For their bravery in action from 21 December to 3 January the second battalion was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. Sgt. MacGillivary, a sergeant in I company, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for personally crawling toward and eliminating several machine gun positions that were pinning down his company. In the process of doing this he lost his arm to enemy fire, yet still continued his mission.

The regiment was placed in reserve until 12 February 1945. During this time they improved the defenses in the Saar region, to prevent another breakthrough from occurring. This break allowed the regiment to receive replacements and rest their veterans. By 15 February 1945, the regiment was back on the line and preparing for an offensive. These attacks were very successful and the regiment accomplished their objectives of La Schlossberg, Moronville Ferme, and Rimling. Continuous patrolling kept the Germans off step and unable to launch a counterattack.

The regiment entered Germany on 25 March 1945. The regiment was tasked the job of taking Mannheim, the eighth largest city in Germany. By the 28th of March they began their attack to secure the city. The suburb of Freudenheim was taken without a shot when a citizen there secured the surrender of the town. With US forces attacking the northern half of Mannheim the civilian authorities in the southern half negotiated the complete surrender of the city. The regiment then boarded trucks and traveled on the Autobahn throughout Germany looking for the enemy. They were mostly involved in securing roadways and bridges and capturing any German stragglers that they happened upon. They continued their dash across Germany until 28 April 1945 when they were ordered to move toward the vaunted National Redoubt. They met only sporadic resistance as they moved south through the Austrian Alps, the last die-hard supporters of the Hitler regime, mostly SS and Hitler Youth. The first battalion, with the help of Austrian soldiers, was able to climb Mt. Wanneck and surprise the command post of the 47th Volkstrum Grenadier Division and subsequently capture their commander. On 5 May 1945 the regiment was informed that all hostilities were to cease.

In the first week of June the regiment boarded trains for the trip back to France and then to the Pacific. On 20 July 1945 the regiment disembarked in New York to a thunderous welcome. After thirty days leave the regiment was moved to Camp Chaffee Arkansas. There the regiment learned about V-J Day, and were inactivated on 13 November 1945.

Among the battle streamers won by the 71st Regiment as a whole are.

1: Northern France
2: Rhineland
3: Ardennes-Alsace
4: Central Europe
5: Asiatic-Pacific Theater, Streamer without inscription

HQ company:
Aleutian Islands

A Company:
Presidential unit Citation

Gregory Soloviev, intern

Sources:

71st Regiment Vertical File. New York State Military Museum.

Stanton, Shelby L. World War II Order of Battle. New York: Galahad Books, 1984.

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