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The 289th Engineer Combat Battalion (United States) was a combat engineer battalion of the United States Army during World War II. It served under XXI Corps of the Seventh Army in action mainly in France and Germany in 1944 and 1945. Its principal combat assignments in the Alsace and Rhineland included ferrying assault troops across the Saar River near Saarbrücken; escorting an ambulance corps across the Rhine at Worms near Mannheim; and ferrying troops and equipment across the Neckar River near Heidelberg. Following these the 289th moved east towards Wurzburg to support the assault of that city. In the latter stages of the War it campaigned south and southeast through communities straddling the states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. Company B continued on assisting rapidly moving armor in the Seventh Army's race to head off German entrenchment in a feared National Redoubt and seal off Alpine passes to Nazi escape. By early May forward elements of the battalion were spread as far afield as Austria and northern Italy. VE-Day found the Headquarters & Supply company and remaining components of the 289th in Goppingen near Stuttgart The 289th served occupation duty in three locations in southwest Germany before beginning its return trip stateside via Antwerp, Belgium in August 1945. ==History== The 289th Engineer Combat Battalion was constituted at (Camp Joseph T. Robinson ), Little Rock, Arkansas, in December 1942.〔Program of the 289th Engineer Combat Battalion Reunion, Vicksburg, Mississippi, 11 October 1997. Page 2, Remembering Our Tour of Duty: "The 289th Engineer Combat Battalion was activated at Camp Robinson, Arkansas and began training on December 30, 1943."〕 A cadre from the 299th Engineer Combat Battalion was detached to Camp Robinson to form its core,〔''History of the 299th Combat Battalion'': () "The Battalion arrived in Fort Pierce during the night of 14 December 1943...Two days after our arrival, a cadre was drawn from our unit and sent to Camp Robinson, Arkansas, to activate the 289th Engineer Combat Battalion."〕 establishing Companies A, B, C, and HQ and Service.〔 After training,〔''Niagara Falls Gazette'': () Article on promotion of Corporal Clarence R. Jackson, 17 February 1944〕 the 289th left New York Port of Embarkation〔Depart Camp Kilmer, New York POE, aboard SS ''Sea Owl'' () "The Battalion departed from Camp Kilmer for New York on October 21. The Atlantic crossing was made on the ''Sea Owl'' on 31 October 1944."〕 for the European Theater of Operations (ETO) on 22 October 1944. Upon arrival at Bristol on 1 November, it debarked for training in Weston-super-Mare. On 28 December it departed Southampton〔Aboard HMS ''Cheshire''; Image: HMS ''Cheshire'', armed auxiliary cruiser and transport〕 for Le Havre, landing 31 December. In the ETO the 289th was attached directly to the XXI Corps of the Seventh Army, U.S. Sixth Army Group. Upon arrival in France it traveled by rail in 40&8s to Epinal, stopping in Forges-les-Eaux and Lunéville before arriving at (Fort de la Mouche ). After two weeks frigid encampment there it was again on the move, settling at St. Avold near the German city of Saarbrücken on 1 February after two intermediate stops. There it refined its training and acquired combat engineering materials in preparation for joining in Operation Undertone, the Allied invasion of the Saarland set to commence on 15 March. As a combat service support unit operating directly at Corps level, the 289th was deployed as needed, with companies and platoons often temporarily attached to other field commands. Its first significant contribution was supporting the crossing of the Saar March 17–20; followed by support over the Rhine near Mannheim March 30; and ferry and pontoon bridge construction assistance over the Neckar near Heidelberg March 31.〔VI Corps Engineers ''First ponton across the river in Heidelberg'': () The ferry was operated by the 289th Eng Combat Bn.〕 From there it moved successively eastward closer to Wurzburg through 18 April. The 289th then pivoted south through heavily contested Crailsheim in several short encampments over the next three weeks, facing diminishing German resistance in areas then falling well behind rapidly advancing front lines. In late April Company B was tasked to support the fast-moving 12th Armored Division〔Wallace, Linnel, Lt. Col., Commanding Officer, ''Summary History of the 289th Engineer Combat Battalion - WW II'', 1990, U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle, PA, pp. 27-28〕 in its drive deep into Bavaria to prevent the establishment of a German National Redoubt. With engineers building bridges as fast as the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS could blow them, the 12th roared toward the finish in the Seventh Army's race to the Alps to seal off the Brenner Pass to Nazi escape;〔United States Army in World War II, Special Studies: (Chronology 1941-1945 )〕 a prize nabbed at the wire by the rival 103rd Infantry Division on May 4. VE Day was celebrated four days later with H&S company stationed in Goppingen, 20 miles southeast of Stuttgart, and forward elements of the 289th having sprawled as far afield as Austria〔Grotjean, David, Technician Five 2 1/2 ton truck driver (Oral History interview at the Library of Congress ).〕 and northern Italy before war's end.〔 Occupation duty included being rushed to secure the Kaufbeuren Air Base in southern Bavaria when it was revealed as the final location of the Nazi Party's top secret FA signals intelligence and cryptanalytic agency.〔Ticom Intelligence: () FA (Nazi Party) cryptoanalytic agency site〕 Perceived crucial by TICOM, the U.S. intelligence and technology gathering organization, its top secret records forced the 289th into the unusual role of military police. Next was a brief move to secure Neckarsulm, home of NSU Motorenwerke's SdKfz 2 production,〔Wehrmacht History: () NSU Motorenwerke's SdKfz 2 production facility〕 followed by an extended stay in Mosbach, site of an underground Daimler-Benz airplane engine factory codenamed "Goldfisch".〔''A Year in Potsdam'': () Daimler-Benz underground aircraft engine factory〕 Remaining there into August 1945, the 289th was transferred via train through the Netherlands to Belgium to ship out for deployment to the Pacific Theater in preparation for the invasion of Japan. It departed Antwerp 14 August 1945,〔Depart Camp Tophat, aboard SS ''Claymont Victory'' () Huntingdon Daily News 1 September 1945〕 and was abreast of the White Cliffs of Dover in the English Channel when the announcement of the Japanese surrender on VJ Day, 15 August, was broadcast to all aboard. The transport was then re-routed to the United States, and arrived at Boston POE on 28 August.〔Arrive Boston, 28 August 1945 () ''Pittsfield Berkshire Evening Eagle'': "The Pittsfield soldiers who arrived this morning at 8:30 at Commonwealth pier in Boston on the S.S. ''Claymont Victory'' are..."〕 Members of the unit were processed through Camp Myles Standish and detached to bases nearest their homes to be demobilized. The unit itself remained active, serving as a shell for repatriating troops as part of Operation Magic Carpet at least into January 1946.〔''Going Home -1946 My Final Days Of Military Service'', Joe Lipsius, Headquarters 272nd Infantry Regiment: () "In early January 1946, I 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「289th Engineer Combat Battalion (United States)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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