51st Engineer Combat Battalion (United States)

The 51st Engineer Combat Battalion, formally 1st Battalion, 51st Engineer Combat Regiment, was an Engineer Combat Battalion of the United States Army during WWII.

Formation and history

13 June 1942 - Activation of 1st Battalion, 51st Engineer Combat Regiment

On 13 June 1942 the 1st Battalion, 51st Engineer Combat Regiment was activated in Camp Bowie, Texas.

18 March 1943 - Reorganization of 51st ECR to 1111th ECG, and the 1st Battalion into the 51st ECB

On 18 March 1943 the 51st Engineer Combat Group was reorganized into the 1111th Engineer Combat Group, which was put under the command of Colonel Harry Wallis Anderson. 1st Battalion was also reorganized now as the 51st Engineer Combat Battalion, and put under the command of Captain Robert Brooks Yates.

The battalion contained three line companies:

A Company

B Company

C Company

It also of course had its headquarters:

Headquarters and Service Company

The new 51st spent their time in March 1943 at Macomb Reservation State Park, nearby Plattsburgh, New York, apparently the reservation being a cold barren post, that was suffering a hard winter. At the reservation the 51st learned how to build a dismantle tactical military bridges. They would combine H-10 grade steel bridge and wooden trestle over the Salmon River at nighttime, and then the next day recover the bridge. On the frozen Lake Champlain they also conducted pontoon exercises, building a 30ft high timber trestle bridge.

April 1943 - Stay in New York

In the month of April the Battalion stayed in New York City. Throughout the month they lived in pup tents as well as put up pontoon bridges across newly thawed lakes. The members of the battalion, along with bridge construction, at the platoon, company, and the battalion level itself conducted combined training exercices. They practiced combat firing, attacking a fortified position/area, city combat, laying and removing mines, as well as road construction.

September 1943 - End of training, moving towards service overseas

In September, the battalion transported by train at the maneuver area of XIII Corps which was near Elkins, West Virginia. There they participated in a ten day exercise, activities including road, landing strip, and a Bailey bridge construction. They also acted as demonstration troops for the Engineer School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

October 1943 - At Fort Dix

In October, in order to prepare going overseas, the battalion moved to Fort Dix, New Jersey. The organizational equipment of the battalion went to the Los Angeles Port of Embarkation. The troops went to Hampton Roads, Virginia to begin shipping out. While they were out at sea, the battalion received orders to ship to the Mediterranean Base Section, Oran, Algeria, for transshipment to India.

5 December 1943 - Debarkation in Oran

On 5 December the battalion debarked in Oran. However their equipment had not arrived yet as it was still being shipped from Los Angeles to Asia, and so they received an unscheduled break in training.

5 December 1943 to 12 January 1944 - Waiting for their equipment

While they waited in North Africa, due to change in Allied plans, instead of going to India, the 51st was chosen to go to England to participate in the invasion of Europe. At this time they would have moved towards Casablanca, Morroco.

12 January 1944 - Leaving Casablanca

On 12 January 1944 the battalion left Casablanca and began their journey to Liverpool.

20 January 1944 - Arriving in Liverpool

After an eight day journey the battalion arrived in Liverpool on 20 January.

20 January to 19 June 1944 - Time in England

For the next five months the unit spent their time in England. They were assigned to First United States Army under General Bradley. They resumed training, consisting of combined and specialist activities, including bridge, Bailey and fixed bridge, and road construction, mines and minefields, explosives and demolitions, and night operations.

19 June 1944 - Boarding ships to cross the channel

On 19 June 1944 the 51st loaded onto three separate Liberty ships to wait to cross the English Channel into Normandy.

26 June 1944 - Crossing the channel

After the members of the battalion waited for a week, they finally crossed the channel in their ships, and landed in Normandy, landed on D+21 (26 June).

26 June to October 1944 - Helping First Army

During the next four months the 51st would participate in providing combat engineer support for First Army. They mostly worked on road repair and maintenance, dumping crushed rock on Carentan's roads, mine clearing and sweeping, engineer reconnaissance, and water supply/water points. At the same time the battalion suffered a total of six wounded from an exploding stray artillery shells and a German plane strafing.

During the Normandy campaign, there was one event in which there was an ammunition-dump fire. The quick thinking and heroic action of men from the battalion saved many lives and equipment.

August 1944 - Yates is hospitalized

During the month of August, Yates was hospitalized for an unspecified reason. He possibly was one of those six who either got wounded from a stray artillery shell or German strafing.

4 September 1944 - Moving to Soissons near Paris

On 4 September the 51st moved 152 miles from the Chartres area west of Paris to near Soissons northeast of Paris due to the rapid German retreat in which they destroyed bridges and culverts as well as cratering roads. The battalion now started mainly doing bridge and culvert construction instead of road maintenance and repair, in the process replacing Bailey bridges and other temporary bridges for reuse in forward areas.

17 September 1944 - Moving towards Germany

On 17 September , the battalion moved 110 miles east of Soissons towards Germany, almost to the Luxembourgish border. They started building bridges there.

Mid September - Capture of 60 Germans

In the middle of September, eight men of the battalion quelled and captured 60 German paratroopers after an intense firefight.

1 October 1944 - Moving to Malmedy, Belgium

After two weeks of building bridges new Luxembourg, the battalion was moved to Malmedy, Belgium, where they began keeping busy with themselves training as infantry.

Between 1 and 22 October 1944 - First Army's timber-cutting and winterization program

In the month of October First Army had begun a winterization and timber cutting program in order to build quarters for the troops of First Army for the winter of 1944 to 1945.

22 October to 17 December 1944 - Sitting in the Ardennes sector operating sawmills for First Army

After having trained as infantry for three weeks, for two months the battalion began operating 30 sawmills throughout the Ardennes sector in order to produce lumber for constructing winter quarters for the troops of the First United States Army. Specifically, they were operating sawmills in the vicinity of Dinant, Rochefort, Hotton, Érezée, Ciney, and Marche-en-Famenne. This operation was part of the First Army's winterization and timber-cutting program. The 51st had cut 2,600,000 board feet since the debut of the program back in October.

Between 1 and 17 December 1944

Between 1 and 17 December 1944 the battalion produced on average each day 58,717 board feet, the maximum ever having reached being 80,600 board feet in a day.

During this time the 158th Engineer Combat Battalion had been charged with Marche-en-Famenne's defense area.

14 December 1944 - Major Yates returns from the hospital

After having been in the hospital for several months since August, the easygoing Major Yates, now the 51st's executive officer, returned to the battalion. Yates would take over the battalion's area covering Trois-Ponts.

15 December 1944 - Lieutenant Colonel Harvey Fraser assumed command

A day after Yates returned, Lieutenant Colonel Harvey Reed Fraser assumed command of the 51st, a newcomer to the battalion. Upon arriving he first called the battalion officers together to introduce himself and laying out his policies. He told of his background, and got the chance to talk to each one of the officers long enough to get to know their background and size them up personally. That background consisted of mostly confining to staff work. he graduated from the US Military Academy in 1939, spent nearly three years on Oahu at Shofield Barracks. After having to return from there 8 December 1941, but stayed due to his request for another nine months. From then up until coming to the 51st, he spent his time as an Engineer Battalion commander working on routine road and airstrip construction, as well as conducting a few shifts with Communications Zone base sections checking on training and allocation of troops. While at Saint Malo, while sniper fire was going on the day the citadel fell, Colonel Fraser led a reconnaissance party which obtained timely information on beach, harbor, and railroad facilities. Other than that he didn't see much action, therefore on 12 December he went to see the First Army Engineer to ask for a combat assignment. So sure was he that he wasn't going back to the Brittany Base Section he took the entirety of his equipment to Spa. Two days later he would be commanding the 51st, and upon seeing that the battalion was operating saw mills, asked whether it really was a combat outfit. Due to being six years out of the Military Academy, the peripatetic man became known as "Hurry Up Harvey" soon after. Yates would take control of the battalion's area covering the Bavreux-Hotton-Rochefort area.

In the case for the officers and men at this time, the majority of them had been in the unit and participating in it for two years. The Companies worked together and teamwork was clicking smoothly.

16 December 1944 - The Germans attack

On 16 December the Germans attacked. Despite this the 51st continued their activities in operating the sawmills.

During this time the 1111th Engineer Combat Group had its CP at Trois-Ponts.

1730

At 1730 hours on 17 December, the day after the Germans broke through, the 51st was alerted for ground activity by the Commanding Officer of the 158th. The companies in line were quickly notified and a staff meeting was called to plan out the next course of action. Yates and Fraser were nearly immediately called on to command their units to slow down the Germans.

Since the 51st was now being thrown onto the front lines unintentionally, they were now facing German armor and infantry attacks. They had to move from producing lumber from their 30 sawmills to quickly start putting up roadblocks, mining and destroying bridges, among other things they could do for the 25 mile front to stall the German advance, waiting in the meantime for stronger and better forces to relieve them.

At some point the 158th departed from the area towards Bastogne to assist in its defense, leaving the 51st with the job of defending the Marche area.

2200

At 2200 Hours C Company, under the command of Captain Sam Sheuber, left Melreux heading towards Trois-Ponts. At Trois-Ponts, the small staff of the CP of 1111th hurriedly prepared for defense before C Company's arrival.

2330

Upon arriving to Trois-Ponts at 2330 hours, C Company immediately began setting up defensive positions on the west bank of the Amblève River, of which skited the east edge of town. At the time C Company's total count was around 140, 20 of which still were absent at the sawmills. They had eight bazookas, four .30-caliber and .50-caliber machine guns. Soon the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion provided a 57mm antitank gun to the company, which was also reinforced by a squad from the 526th as well as A Company, 291st Engineer Combat Battalion. There were also some stragglers who were picked up coming through Trois-Ponts.

The geography and setup of Trois-Ponts was as such:

• It is the meeting point of the Amblève and Salm rivers.
• Railroad lines running northwest to Avwaille and south to Vielsalm, then northeast to Stavelot.
• Highway N23 runs through Trois-Ponts from Stavelot by underpassing the railroad at two points just before it joins the north-south Highway N33, merging with N33 south for a few hundred yards, crosses the Amblève, and turns west over another bridge over the Salm proceeding to Werbomont.
• Trois-Ponts is scattered with road junctions, rivers, cliffs, railroads, bridges, and underpasses.

21 December 1944 -

A and B Company held a barrier line from Barveux to Hotton, south of Marche to Rochefort, in the process blowing up and defending three footbridges, one railway bridge, and two highway bridges. This whole time they were holding a 25 mile front against armored and infantry attacks.

C Company was holding Trois-Ponts and inso denying the Germans the use of the east-west Highway N23 to Werbomont critical to their advance. C Company maintained its position at Trois-Ponts there making the advancing forces believe that they were facing a superior force with armor. After they were relieved by the 82nd Airborne Division, C Company covered the withdrawl of the regiment from the town after aborting an attack east of the Salm.

Ken Hechler's paper study

On the first page of Ken Hechler's paper on the 51st during the Battle of the Bulge, he stated that:

There was nothing in the background of the battalion that was related to these achievements

Doing this he cites the fact that the battalion's training wasn't remarkable for the type of unit that it was for a unit that achieved what it did during the Battle of the Bulge.

Bibliography

Hechler, Ken. Holding the Line: The 51st Engineer Combat Battalion and the Battle of the Bulge December 1944 - January 1945 (PDF) (Reprint 1988 ed.). Fort Belvoir, Virginia: United States Army Corps of Engineers. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 November 2023.

Hechler. Holding the Line: The 51st Engineer Combat Battalion and the Battle of the Bulge December 1944 - January 1945 (PDF).