Re: WWII: European Theater daily - 1944 (was Normandy Daily)
February 3, 1945: In northwestern Europe, US 1st Army captures Dedenborn, Dreiborn, Herhahn, Einruhr, Berescheid, Ettelscheid, Bronsfeld, and Ramscheid while Patton’s US 3rd Army attacks around Pruem, Roth, Halenfeld, Buchet, and Bleialf. US 7th Army continues fighting around Oberhoffen, Drusenheim woods, and Herrlisheim.
Further south, French and American units complete the capture of Colmar. All formations of French 1st Army are now making good progress in this sector.
Later that evening, near Biesheim, France, Technician Fifth Grade Forrest E. Peden from Battery C, 10th Field Artillery Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, along with about 45 other troops, was ambushed by German forces. After giving medical aid to two wounded soldiers, Peden ran for help despite intense enemy fire. He found a friendly tank and guided it to the ambush site, but was killed when the tank was hit by hostile fire. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. here is his Medal of Honor citation:
“He was a forward artillery observer when the group of about 45 infantrymen with whom he was advancing was ambushed in the uncertain light of a waning moon. Enemy forces outnumbering the Americans by 4 to 1 poured withering artillery, mortar, machinegun, and small-arms fire into the stricken unit from the flanks, forcing our men to seek the cover of a ditch which they found already occupied by enemy foot troops. As the opposing infantrymen struggled in hand-to-hand combat, Technician Peden courageously went to the assistance of 2 wounded soldiers and rendered first aid under heavy fire. With radio communications inoperative, he realized that the unit would be wiped out unless help could be secured from the rear. On his own initiative, he ran 800 yards to the battalion command post through a hail of bullets which pierced his jacket and there secured 2 light tanks to go to the relief of his hard-pressed comrades. Knowing the terrible risk involved, he climbed upon the hull of the lead tank and guided it into battle. Through a murderous concentration of fire the tank lumbered onward, bullets and shell fragments ricocheting from its steel armor within inches of the completely exposed rider, until it reached the ditch. As it was about to go into action it was turned into a flaming pyre by a direct hit which killed Technician Peden. However, his intrepidity and gallant sacrifice was not in vain. Attracted by the light from the burning tank, reinforcements found the beleaguered Americans and drove off the enemy.”
Allied Operation Thunderclap begins as US aircraft drop nearly 3,000 tons of explosives on the Zentrum (Berlin's city center). Nazi jurist Roland Freisler is killed running for shelter during a session of the 'Peoples Court' and Gestapo headquarters is damaged so badly that the prisoners have to be moved to quarters that still actually boast walls. The Reich Chancellery suffers a number of direct hits. Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry is wrecked. Not one of Goering's Luftwaffe fighters is observed defending the city. Goering is roundly denounced by almost everyone in the bunker, and Speer will later recall that 'For a long time he (Goering) had been made the scapegoat for all the failures of the Luftwaffe. In addition to attacking Berlin with 443 bombers (of which 23 lost), US 8th Air Force attacks Magdeburg with 362 bombers, and various targets of opportunity with 69 bombers. RAF Bomber Command sends 210 aircraft to attack Bottrop overnight, 149 aircraft to attack Dortmund overnight, 42 aircraft to attack Wiesbaden overnight, and 20 aircraft to attack Osnabruck overnight.
On the eastern front, the Soviet attacks continue to confine and divide the German forces in East Prussia. Landsberg and Bertenstein are taken. The Soviet 2nd Baltic Front begins making new attacks against German Army Group Courland while 3rd Belorussian Front attacks along Baltic coast with 2nd Belorussian Front attacking toward Baltic coast. The Red Army’s 1st Belorussian Front continues attacking Kustrin. Thawing ice on the Oder brings Soviet attacks across the river to a halt.
The Soviet State Defense Committee (GKO) ordered all German males between the ages of 17 and 50 in Soviet-occupied territories to be deported to the Soviet Union as forced laborers.
Pictured: Operations of the 3rd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division, attack on Herrlisheim, North of Strasbourg, Alsace, France; February 3, 1945
Medal of Honor recipient Forrest E. Peden
Reconnaissance photo of 8th Air Force bomb damage to Berlin, Germany; taken February 3, 1945
German Volkssturm troops with a MG 34 machine gun facing near-certain annihilation from Soviet forces, Silesia, Germany (now Poland), February 3, 1945