Deep Re-examination of the Dornot Bridgehead, 8-11 Sep 1944
a web page of the 7th Armored Division website
Bookmark this page as http://www.7thArmdDiv.org/dornot-bridgehead.htm
Last updated: April 29, 2024 - What's New?
7th Armd Div Patch

Cole Map
Map from Hugh Cole "The Lorraine Campaign"

UNDER CONSTRUCTION - EXPECT SIGNIFICANT CHANGES
Overview

The bridgehead across the Moselle River east of Dornot, France, cost many lives, primarily of men of the 5th Infantry Division's 11th Infantry Regiment and the 7th Armored Division's 23rd Armored Infantry Battalion, all elements of XX Corps of Third U. S. Army. Many of those killed have never been found and identified. This web page seeks to establish which men were at which locations at which times in the Dornot Bridgehead, toward improving the effort to find and identify the remains of those still unaccounted.

Much has been written about the Dornot Bridgehead. But none of it really tries to create a precise chronology of where men from which units were at a particular time. Much has also been written that has never really been pulled together with that purpose in mind. For example, post-war Army studies and personal accounts as well as the interviews by Graves Registration teams of survivors recorded and placed in the Individual Deceased Personnel Files of those killed and never found -- all of these have the potential to give some precise information about place or unit or time or all three. Thus, this is not an attempt to create a new narrative account of the Dornot Bridghead -- although that will necessarily be one aspect of what is necessary. It is an attempt to put on the map for a specific time where every man of every unit was in the Dornot Bridgehead during its entire brief existence.

The Dornot Bridgehead is considered a failure, since the men were driven back across the Moselle River and the bridgehead eliminated. They were kept in the bridgehead long after it became obvious they could not expand nor even sustain the bridgehead. The primary reason for this was the ability of other elements of the two divisions to cross the Moselle further south at Arnaville. It also led to another very costly 7th Armored Division attack to the north in the vicinity of Maizieres-les-Metz, primarily intended to divert German forces to the north from both of the bridgheads. Thus both the bridgehead and the attack to the north became demonstration attacks to allow the Arnaville crossing to the south. Further south, in the XII Corps (also TUSA) sector, the Dornot and Arnaville bridgeheads led to Colonel Bruce Clarke commanding 4th Armored Division's Combat Command A making a crossing at Pagny-sur-Moselle, not far south of the Arnaville crossing. So, the Dornot Bridgehead really was part of a bigger picture. But for this web page the complete focus is within the Dornot Bridgehead during those brutal days 8-11 September 1944. And within that, the focus is on those who were killed in or on the east bank of the Moselle River and have never been found and identified.

There is however one of those interesting twists of fate that merits note. It was all of 7th Armored Division's Combat Command B that was attached to 5th Infantry Division Commanding General Leroy Erwin for the Dornot Bridgehead. The same Col. Bruce Clarke who commanded the CCA/4AD Pagny crossing would - only 3 months later, in December 1944 - be Gen. Bruce Clarke in command of that same CCB/7AD in the defense of St. Vith, Belgium.

Also not considered here is the big question "Why Metz?". Gen. Patton wrote in his diary before, during and after the action at Metz that he knew it was the wrong thing to do. So, why did he allow XX Corps Commanding General Walton Walker to do it? See my separate web page "Why Metz? 'The battle that should not have been." for details on this.

I began the Dornot Bridgehead web site in summer 2021, following the identification of Unknown Hamm X-46 as 1st Lt James E. Wright (F/11/5ID). While I had initially expected, based on the available documentary evidence, that Hamm X-46 was William Halloran (C/23/7AD), the successful identification of Hamm X-46 really is the inspiration for this web page and the hundreds of hours of research that I will be putting into this effort to make sure that all those still unaccounted men lost in the Dornot Bridgehead are recovered and identified. William Halloran is one of those. These men no longer have voices, but if they did then they would be calling on us to do this. 1st Lt James E. Wright was not the first lost soldier found and identified long after World War II. The French local historical group Thank-GIs under the leadership of Elisabeth Gozzo has found remains in the Dornot Bridgehead, men who have now been identified. So 1st Lt James E. Wright was not the first, and he will not be the last.

11 Nov 2021: I originally planned to identify the location of each unit on maps for specific times. That remains a primary goal. But the research made me realize that I also need to map the recovery locations of the men lost in the Moselle River, since the River carried so many remains to different places.

29 Apr 2024: I have begun a very rough Dornot-Timeline spreadsheet in which I am capturing events, units and people at specific or approximate times, along with the citation for that informationm.

-- Wesley Johnston, Historian, 7th Armored Division Association

Contents
  • Current Understanding of the Dornot Bridgehead
  • Weather Conditions
  • Unit Records
  • IDPFs of men killed and Unknowns recovered from the Dornot Bridgehead
  • German Accounts
  • Newspaper Accounts
  • Post-war Personal Accounts
  • Post-war Studies and related Documents
  • Beyond the Current Understanding

    • Current Understanding of the Dornot Bridgehead

    Four published books constitute the current understanding of the Dornot Bridgehead. Click here for the separate web page that details the full current understanding presented by these books.

    • The main basis for the current understanding of the Dornot Bridgehead comes from Hugh M. Cole s 1950 book The Lorraine Campaign in the green books of the official history. All subsequent books fit within or add to the version of events presented by Cole. He is very specific in his footnote (p. 135) about his own primary source:
      "The history of the Dornot bridgehead is taken from Historical Division Combat Interviews obtained by 2d Lt. F. M. Ludden. The S-1 Journal of the 2d Battalion, 11th Infantry, is fragmentary; that of the 23d Armored Infantry Battalion has little for this period. See Eleventh Infantry, which derives most of its information from the Historical Division Combat Interviews. (The book "11th Infantry, 5th Infantry Division" was published in 1946 by the Regiment.)
      Click here for a PDF version of the 1993 printing of the book from the Army history web site.

    • Less known, because Dornot is not in the book title, is the 1952 green book by Charles B. MacDonald and Sidney T. Matthews: Three Battles: Arnaville, Altuzzo, and Schmidt . But the Arnaville section (by MacDonald) of the book is titled River Crossing at Arnaville: the story of the 10th and 11th Infantry Regiments, 5th Infantry Division, and Combat Command B, 7th Armored Division, in crossings of the Moselle River at Dornot and Arnaville, France.
      Click here for a PDF version of the 1993 printing of the book from the Army history web site.

    • Anthony Kemp s two books (his 1981 The Unknown Battle: Metz, 1944 and his 2003 Metz 1944: One More River to Cross ) are the main sources of subsequent understanding.
    Weather Conditions

    7 Sep 1944 - Thursday - Arrival at Dornot

    • Sunrise:
    • Sunset:
    • Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous 72% visible
    • Moon Rise:
    • Moon Set:
    • Temperature: Cold (23AIB/BnHQ,C MRs)
    • Precipitation: Cloudy (23AIB/C MR)

    8 Sep 1944 - Friday - Moselle River Crossing

    • Sunrise:
    • Sunset:
    • Moon Phase: Last Quarter 61% visible
    • Moon Rise:
    • Moon Set:
    • Temperature: Very Cold (23AIB/C MR)
    • Precipitation: Rainy (23AIB/A,C MRs)

    9 Sep 1944 - Saturday - First Full Day

    • Sunrise:
    • Sunset:
    • Moon Phase: Last Quarter 51% visible
    • Moon Rise:
    • Moon Set:
    • Temperature:
    • Precipitation: Rainy, Cloudy (23AIB/BnHQ, A MRs)

    10 Sep 1944 - Sunday - Last Full Day

    • Sunrise:
    • Sunset:
    • Moon Phase: Last Quarter 40% visible
    • Moon Rise:
    • Moon Set:
    • Temperature:
    • Precipitation: Clear (23AIB/A MR)

    11 Sep 1944 - Monday - Withdrawal Completed

    • Sunrise:
    • Sunset:
    • Moon Phase: Waning Crescent 31% visible
    • Moon Rise:
    • Moon Set:
    • Temperature:
    • Precipitation:
    Unit Records

    A significant aspect of determining who died in the Dornot Bridgehead is identifying which units had men on and across the Moselle River from Dornot. While elements of 11IR/5ID and 23AIB/7AD were the main combat troops known to have crossed the Moselle River to form the Dornot Bridgehead, other units provided support, such as the engineer units who handled the assault craft used to cross the river. Some other units, such as the wiremen who ran and maintained the communication wires, probably had soldiers across the Moselle in the Bridgehead.

    This section seeks to identify all units involved and to include their unit records: After/Action Reports, Morning Reports or any other records of their participation in the Dornot Bridgehead.

    Click on the unit for a web page about its records.

    5th Infantry Division

    7th Armored Division's Combat Command B (CCB)

    In the Combat Interviews of 5th Infantry Division, there is a 4-page interview (pages 72-76 of the PDF) of the 1103d Engineer Combat Group that really sheds light on the engineer involvement. In particular, this account reveals that there were three different engineer companies that did the crossings back and forth.

    1. The initial crossing was handled by C/7th Engineer Combat Battalion.
    2. During the night of 8-9 Sep, they were relieved by C/150th Engineer Combat Battalion.
    3. "At 091200B orders were received detaching 150th Engr C Bn from XX Corps. Relief of Co "C" of that organizaiton was effected by "C" 204th Engr C Bn at 091400B." The evacuation of the bridgehead was handled by C/204 ECB.

    7th Engineer Combat Battalion

    150th Engineer Combat Battalion

    204th Engineer Combat Battalion

    Individual Deceased Personnel Files of Men Killed and Unknowns Recovered from the Dornot Bridgehead

    The Individual Deceased Personnel Files (IDPFs) of men killed in the Dornot Bridgehead and of Unknowns recovered from there (see the bottom of this section) may contain information that can help to pinpoint which men of which units were where at a particular time. For those not recovered, the interviews of survivors in their IDPFs may give more information as personal accounts.

    The following are the men known to have died or been mortally wounded in the Dornot Bridgehead (on the east bank of the Moselle). For the specifics in their records (and all other records) regarding units, locations or times, click the link to that unit in the Unit Records section above or click here for the overall spreadsheet of information from all sources (NOT YET IMPLEMENTED).

    Anthony Kemp gave this overview of the planned placement of the units in the bridgehead on page 49 of his 1981 book "The Unknown Battle: Metz, 1944":

    "Colonel Lemmon and Colonel Allison, whose [23rd] armored infantry battalion had already suffered heavy casualties in the fighting to the north of Dornot, decided that their men would cross together near the lagoon and establish themselves in the small wood on the other side. The armored infantry would then swing north to attack in the direction of Jouey-les-Arches, while the 11th Infantry men would capture Fort St. Blaise. The 3rd Battalion, which was to cross later, would take Fort Sommy and protect the sourthern flank of the bridgehead." (page 49)

    As it turned out, the 23 AIB attack was cancelled, and the attempt to take Fort St. Blaise failed with heavy casualties, and no attempt could be made to take Fort Sommy. The troops in the bridgehead were forced back into a defensive position in the Horseshoe Woods from which they were eventually withdrawn.

    5th Infantry Division
    7th Engineer Combat Battalion

    Company C

    1. Pvt. William E. Hall - KIA 10 Sep - accounted - DSC recipient - recovered 19 Apr 1946 unburied near Jouy-aux-Arches (Map on PDF p 40)
    11th Infantry Regiment
    1st Battalion (Co A-D)
    2nd Battalion (Co E-H)

    Company E (Rifle)
    8 Sep Losses

    From "Three Battles: Arnaville, Altuzzo and Schmidt" (p.25, section "Advance to Fort St. Blaise"):
    The enemy threatened at any moment to split the battalion. Captain Church's forward companies [F and G/11th Inf Rgt] were stretched out so precariously on the open slope of the hill that he ordered a withdrawal back to the woods. So effective was the enemy infiltration in the battalion rear by this time that the withdrawal was planned as an attack downhill in a skirmish line. But vineyards and patches of woods and enemy fire prevented control of the skirmish formation, and the two companies separated, each coming down the hill in a ragged single column. An old German trick of firing one machine gun high with tracer bullets and another lower to the ground with regular ammunition took its toll. The retreat moved slowly and casualties were heavy. As darkness approached and visibility decreased, unit commanders told their men to make a last dash for the woods; if a man was hit, he was to be left alone to crawl the rest of the way as best he could. The bulk of the companies were three hours in returning to the horseshoe woods, and some men were still straggling in at daylight the next morning. The dead and wounded marked the path of withdrawal. Although medics went out during the night and the next day to care for the wounded, they were often shot down at their tasks.
    [Wesley Johnston Note:] At this time (18 Apr 2022), the only 8 Sep 1944 death I know of for F/11IR is Lt. Drake. All other 8 Sep deaths were in Company G or Company E. Companies F and G were the ones coming down the slope. Company E had been sent in to try to close with F and G when the German flank attack threatened to cut off F and G. I do not have the MOS for these men so that I do not know which were medics.

    From "Three Battles: Arnaville, Altuzzo and Schmidt" (p.26, section "Advance to Fort St. Blaise"):
    Upon withdrawal of the two American assault companies [F and G/11IR], the men of the 23d Armored Infantry Battalion [7th Armored Division] and Companies E and K, 11th Infantry, began to dig in along the perimeter of the horseshoe woods. As troops of Companies F and G straggled into the original bridgehead area, 2d Lt. John A. Diersing, commanding Company E after its original commander had been wounded, his 1st sergeant, Claud W. Hembree, and other officers and noncommissioned officers directed the survivors into defensive positions. All that the day's efforts and high casualties had gained was a minuscule bridgehead 200 yards deep and 200 yards wide, encompassing no more than the horseshoe woods. Only heavy concentrations from the supporting artillery battalions prevented the Germans from retaking even this small gain and protected the Americans as they dug in. The men were still digging in when the first "counterattack" against the bridgehead itself began: three enemy tanks drove along the highway from the north, spraying the woods line with bullets and shell fragments. Although protected by "bazooka pants," the tanks would not close with the defenders, their crews contenting themselves with trying to draw fire to determine the exact location of the American positions. The defenders' line was hard hit, particularly the positions of Company E at the point of the horseshoe, but the men held their fire. A group of enemy infantry, estimated at company size, heavily armed with automatic weapons, and shouting loudly, "Yanks kaput!" followed soon after the tanks. This time Company E opened fire, but the enemy infantry did not close, continuing to follow their tanks until out of sight to the right.

    1. Pfc. Alfred J. Clement - KIA 8 Sep - accounted - found ???? by Thanks GIs
    2. 1st Lt. Thomas J. Cullison ?MOS? - Probably drowned 10 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    3. Pfc. Jerome C. Deneen - KIA 8 Sep - accounted - found 2000 by Thanks GIs
    4. Pfc. Earl W. Kiger ?MOS? - KIA 10 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    5. Pvt. Herman H. Lidsky 745 Rifleman - KIA 10 Sep - accounted - found by French citizen & recovered 14 Jul 1988 as X-9462 [Frankfurt Mortuary] (location on PDF pp 99-100 maps; info on p 105), identified 1989
    6. Pvt. Willie G. Nash ?MOS? - KIA 8 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED

    Company F (Rifle)

    1. 1st Lt. Nathan F. Drake - KIA 8 Sep - accounted
      From "Three Battles: Arnaville, Altuzzo and Schmidt" (p.23, section "Advance to Fort St. Blaise"):
      Accompanied by Capt. Ferris Church, the 2d Battalion S-3, the two lead companies moved out, Company F forward and Company G echeloned to the left rear. Climbing the steep slope past occasional patches of trees and through vineyards and irregularly spaced fruit trees, the men met virtually no enemy opposition and only a strange silence from the fortification at the top of the hill. There were no casualties in the advance until Company F had reached the outer defenses of Fort St. Blaise. There the company commander, [1st] Lieutenant [Nathan E.] Drake, leaned over a wounded German to ask him a question. As the lieutenant straightened and raised his head, one of three German riflemen hidden scarcely ten yards away shot him through the forehead. He died instantly as the men about him turned their weapons on the three Germans. Command of the company fell to 1st Lt. Robert L. Robertson.
    2. T/Sgt Harold H. Spear ?651 Platoon Sergeant? - KIA 10 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    3. Pvt. Wendell F. Standridge ?MOS? - KIA 10 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    4. 1st Lt. Matthew Wirtz ?MOS? - KIA 10 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    5. 1st Lt James E Wright1st Lt. James E. Wright Officer - KIA 10 Sep - accounted (originally unaccounted, now identified as Unknown Hamm X-46)
      From "Three Battles: Arnaville, Altuzzo and Schmidt" (p.36, section "Withdrawal at Dornot, 10-11 September"):
      An F Company officer, 1st Lt. James E. Wright, was seen to make one crossing and go back to assist others, but he was not heard from again.

    Company G (Rifle)
    8 Sep Losses

    From "Three Battles: Arnaville, Altuzzo and Schmidt" (p.25, section "Advance to Fort St. Blaise"):
    The enemy threatened at any moment to split the battalion. Captain Church's forward companies [F and G/11th Inf Rgt] were stretched out so precariously on the open slope of the hill that he ordered a withdrawal back to the woods. So effective was the enemy infiltration in the battalion rear by this time that the withdrawal was planned as an attack downhill in a skirmish line. But vineyards and patches of woods and enemy fire prevented control of the skirmish formation, and the two companies separated, each coming down the hill in a ragged single column. An old German trick of firing one machine gun high with tracer bullets and another lower to the ground with regular ammunition took its toll. The retreat moved slowly and casualties were heavy. As darkness approached and visibility decreased, unit commanders told their men to make a last dash for the woods; if a man was hit, he was to be left alone to crawl the rest of the way as best he could. The bulk of the companies were three hours in returning to the horseshoe woods, and some men were still straggling in at daylight the next morning. The dead and wounded marked the path of withdrawal. Although medics went out during the night and the next day to care for the wounded, they were often shot down at their tasks.
    [NOTE: At this time (18 Apr 2022), the only 8 Sep 1944 death I know of for F/11IR is Lt. Drake. All other 8 Sep deaths were in Company G or Company E. Companies F and G were the ones coming down the slope. Company E had been sent in to try to close with F and G when the German flank attack threatened to cut off F and G. I do not have the MOS for these men so that I do not know which were medics.]

    From "Three Battles: Arnaville, Altuzzo and Schmidt" (p. 32, section "Holding the Dornot Site, 9-10 September"):
    In Company G Pvt. Dale B. Rex took over a machine gun on the left flank when its gunner was killed early on 9 September and manned it through the remainder of the battle.
    [NOTE: As noted below, all of the known dead from Company G have an official date of death of 8 Sep 1944 and none on 9 Sep so that it is not known who the machine gunner was who Pvt. Rex replaced.]

    1. Pfc. Harry A. Gebhards 745 Rifleman - KIA 8 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    2. Pfc. Orvile Hunt ?MOS? "BAR Rifleman" - KIA 8 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    3. Pfc. Marion T. Kellesvig 745 Rifleman - KIA 8 Sep - accounted
    4. Pfc. Raymond U. Schlamp ?MOS? - KIA 11 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    5. T/Sgt. James S. Smith ?MOS? - KIA 11 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    6. T/Sgt. Howard O. Sogge 651 Platoon Sergeant - KIA 8 Sep - accounted
    7. Pfc. James M. Timmons 745 Rifleman - KIA 8 Sep - accounted
    8. Pfc. Edward A. Tommasone 745 Rifleman - KIA 8 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED

    Company H (Heavy Weapons)
    From "Three Battles: Arnaville, Altuzzo and Schmidt" (p.36, section "Withdrawal at Dornot, 10-11 September"):
    One or two German tanks came down to the river's edge, firing point-blank across the river at the withdrawal activity. While Lieutenant Marshall and the sergeant hugged the ground to avoid detection, one enemy shell hit a boat carrying men of Company H, just in front of that of Lieutenant Stanley, ripping away the front of the boat. A number of Company H's missing personnel were presumed to have been in that boat.

    1. Pvt. Herbert C. Knotts ?MOS? - KIA 10 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    2. Pvt. Gomer Williams ?MOS? - KIA 10 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED

    Medical Detachment

    1. Pvt. Ralph Harris ?MOS? - KIA 11 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    3rd Battalion (Co I-L)

    Company K (Rifle)

    From "The Fifth Division in France" (p.23):
    ... Pfc George Dickey and Pfc Frank Lalopa of K Company who were manning an outpost slightly beyond the fringe of the woods the first night as the Germans attacked. They were told by their squad leader to withdraw but refused, staying in position and firing their M-1s until they were killed, but being instrumental in staving off the attack. Next morning 22 dead Germans were found in front of their position, some within a yard of the pair.
    [NOTE: Both men remain unaccounted.]

    From "Three Battles: Arnaville, Altuzzo and Schmidt" (p.27, section "Advance to Fort St. Blaise"):
    During the first-night [8-9 Sep] counterattacks, two men of Company K, Pfc. George T. Dickey and Pfc. Frank Lalopa, who had volunteered to man an outpost beyond the main line of resistance, stuck to their post despite a warning order to withdraw. Armed only with M-1 rifles, the two men held off the enemy until finally they were surrounded and killed. The next morning when other men of Company K crawled out to the position, they found the bodies of twenty-two Germans, some within three yards of the bodies of Dickey and Lalopa.
    [NOTE: Both men remain unaccounted.]

    From "Three Battles: Arnaville, Altuzzo and Schmidt" (pp.31-32, section "Holding the Dornot Site, 9-10 September"):
    In midmorning of 9 September the Company K commander, 1st Lt. Stephen T. Lowry, was killed in the bridgehead. The one company officer who had not yet been killed or wounded, 1st Lt. Johnny R. Hillyard, assumed command. Just after daylight the next morning, Lieutenant Hillyard too was killed. The 1st sergeant, Thomas E. Hogan, took command of the company.
    [NOTE: Lowry (KIA 1045 9 Sep) was recovered, but Hillyard (KIA 0630 10 Sep) remains unaccounted. Thus the window for recovery of remains closed sometime between these two times. Page 34 notes that "Although infantrymen and aid men continued to get their wounded comrades across, theirs was the last actual evacuation from the bridgehead by west-bank medics.", referring to a 2300 9 Sep-begun crossing and return by 4 men of Collecting Company C, 5th Medical Battalion.]

    1. Pfc. George T. Dickey - KIA 9 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    2. 1st Lt. Johnny O. Hillyard - KIA 10 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED - Co K CO as of 1045 9 Sep, KIA 0630 10 Sep
    3. Pfc. Frank Lalopa - KIA 9 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    4. 1st Lt. Stephen T. Lowry - KIA 9 Sep - accounted - Co K CO KIA 1045 9 Sep
    5. Sgt. Thaddeus S. Matuszak ?MOS? - KIA 10 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    6. Pvt. Bennie Ruffolo ?MOS? - KIA 10 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    7. Pfc. James L. Williams ?MOS? - KIA 10 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    Regimental Medical Detachment
    1. Pvt. Edgar W. Hill ?MOS? - KIA 11 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    7th Armored Division
    23rd Armored Infantry Battalion

    Battalion Headquarters

    1. Lt. Col. Leslie Allison, Battalion Commander - wounded 10 Sep, died 16 Sep - accounted

    Headquarters Company

    1. S/Sgt. Leo J. De Long 652 Section Leader -KIA 11 Sep - accounted
    2. Pfc. John F. Harty 761 Scout - KIA 11 Sep - accounted
    3. 2d Lt. Fred B. Hunter 1560 AIB Officer- KIA 11 Sep - accounted
    4. Pvt. Joseph J. Negrelli 745 Rifleman - KIA 11 Sep - accounted - 2nd file
    5. Cpl. Robert J. Schutta 744 ??? - KIA 11 Sep - accounted

    Company "B"

    1. Pvt. Francis B. Collins 745 Rifleman - KIA 10 Sep - accounted
    2. Pvt. George W. Driver, Jr. 745 Rifleman - KIA 10 Sep - accounted
    3. Pvt. Harold Leroy Firestone 745 Rifleman - KIA 8 Sep - accounted
    4. Pvt. Lloyd Foy 745 Rifleman - KIA 10 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED - 2nd file
    5. Pfc. Joe A. Gallegos 504 Ammunition Bearer - Wounded 10 Sep DOW 14 Sep - accounted
    6. Pfc. Martin L. Henson 745 Rifleman - KIA 9 Sep - accounted
    7. Pvt. Howard B. High 745 Rifleman - KIA 10 Sep - accounted
    8. Sgt. R. E. M. McCaffery 745 Rifleman - KIA 9 Sep - accounted
    9. Pfc. Bennie Gilbert Nordgaard 745 Rifleman - KIA 9 Sep - accounted
    10. Pvt. Joseph Oliveri 745 Rifleman - KIA 8 Sep - accounted
    11. Pvt. Fred W. Philo, Jr. 745 Rifleman - KIA 9 Sep - accounted
    12. Pfc. John Ponsone 745 Rifleman - KIA 10 Sep - accounted - found 1999 by Thanks GIs
    13. Pfc. Wilburn "Jake" T. Underwood 504 Ammunition Bearer - KIA 10 Sep - accounted
    UNDERWOOD_WILBURN_34269379_IDPF_Complete

    Company "C"

    1. Pvt. Johnie M. Bates 745 Rifleman - KIA 11 Sep - accounted
    2. Pfc. William E. Burrell 745 Rifleman - KIA 8 Sep - accounted
    3. Capt. William P. Cole III 1560 AIB Officer - KIA 11 Sep - accounted (C/23 CO)
    4. S/Sgt. James W. Crawford 653 Squad Leader - KIA 8 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    5. Cpl. Ralph P. Driver 745 Rifleman - KIA 8 Sep - accounted
    6. Sgt. Grant A. Fossum 745 Rifleman - KIA 11 Sep - accounted
    7. S/Sgt. Bernad Nelson Guirey 653 Squad Leader - KIA 11 Sep - accounted
    8. Pfc. William F. Halloran 745 Rifleman - KIA 9 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED
    9. Pfc. John A. Marchand 745 Rifleman - KIA 8 Sep - accounted
    10. Pvt. William W. Montgomery 745 Rifleman - KIA 8 Sep - accounted
    11. T/Sgt. George A. Selner 651 Platoon Sergeant (2nd Lt. Hank Greene's platoon) - KIA 8 Sep - accounted
    12. Pvt. Hurley Shumate 745 Rifleman - KIA 8 Sep - accounted

    Medical Detachment

    1. Pfc. Roy V. Donnelly 861 Surgical Technician - KIA 11 Sep - accounted
    204th Engineer Combat Battalion

    Company C

    1. Pvt. Peter P. Ioli ?MOS? - KIA 10 Sep - accounted - Brother on WWII Registry: "WOUNDED WHILE DELIVERING FOOD TO INFANTRY, MISSING IN ACTION, THEN BODY WAS RETURNED TO U.S. IN 1950."
    2. Sgt. Michael J. Zalac, Jr. ?MOS? - KIA 10 Sep - NOT ACCOUNTED

    Recovered Unknowns

    It is important to know to which temporary U. S. military cemeteries Unknown remains of those lost in the Dornot Bridgehead were taken. It is quite possible that other Unknowns not yet identified from these same cemeteries may be men from the Dornot Bridgehead.

    • Hamm, Luxembourg
      • Unknown X-46 - recovered 27 Feb 1945 from the Moselle River about 3 miles north of Jouy-aux-Arches - identified 2021 as 1st Lt. James E. Wright of F/2nd Bn/11IR/5AD - died 11 Sep 1944
    • Limey, France
      • Unknown X-39 - recovered 22 Dec 1945 from the Moselle River at Thionville Bridge (about 25 miles north of the Dornot Bridgehead) - identified 1945 as Pfc. John F. Harty of Recon/HQ Co/23 AIB/7AD - died 11 Sep 1944
      • Unknown X-53 - recovered May 1945 from the Moselle River in vicinity of Metz but precise location not known - identified 1949 as Pvt. Peter P. Ioli of C/204ECB - died 10 Sep 1944
    German Accounts

    Click here for the web page that details the following accounts.

    • Fahnenjunkerschule VI: Defense of Metz, 2-24 September 1944
    • Interview of Genoberst. Johannes Blaskowitz, commander of the Metz defense until 1 October 1944: Defense of Metz - This is an extraordinary document, in which he is asked point blank about the pet American theories/beliefs about Metz that still are held and believed many decades later, even though he had clearly laid them to rest in this 1945 interview.
    • 462nd Replacement Division: Defense of Metz, 1-8 September 1944 - Foreign Military Studies manuscript B-042, written by Generalleutnant Walter Krause in 1946
    • "Combat History of the 17. SS-Panzer-Grendier-Division: Götz von Berlichingen: Volume II" by Hans Stöber, translated by Klaus Scharley (2019; J. J. Fedorowicz Publishing, Inc.; Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada)
    Newspaper Accounts

    Newspaper reporting is notoriously filled with errors. But when the newspapers include statements from those who were there, they may provide information helpful to identifying who was in the bridgehead, a time and/o place in the bridgehead, a report of action in a part of the bridgehead ... something that might be useful for finding and identifying those still unaccounted men who were in the bridgehead.

    Since the newspaper accounts are likely to be numerous, see the separate web page gathering newspaper accounts.

    Post-War Personal Accounts

    The detailed accounts are on separate web pages for each unit.

    Post-war Studies and related Documents

    A variety of different Army sources after World War II examined the Dornot Bridgehead in various contexts.

    • Post-war Studies
      Different Army centers of military study fostered the writing of tactical studies after World War II. Some of these were written by officers who had fought in the original battles. The Defense Technology Information Center (DTIC) has digitized many of these papers. The Combat Studies Institute (CSI) at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, was a major source of student papges.
    Beyond the Current Understanding

    This section highlights information not included in the prior understanding of the Dornot Bridgehead.

    • Information Omitted by Hugh M. Cole in "The Lorraine Campaign"
      Cole based his account of the Dornot Bridgehead almost entirely on the combat interviews of 5th Infantry Division, as he acknowledged in his footnote on page 135: "The history of the Dornot bridgehead is taken from Historical Division Combat Interviews obtained by 2d Lt. F. M. Ludden. The S-1 Journal of the 2d Battalion, 11th Infantry, is fragmentary; that of the 23d Armored Infantry Battalion has little for this period. See Eleventh Infantry, which derives most of its information from the Historical Division Combat Interviews." This led to the following omissions in his account.
      • Cole makes no mention of the 150th Engineer Combat Battalion. 150 ECB, under very heavy fire the entire time, ferried troops across the Moselle River and brought casualties back across the River 8 Sep and until 0300 on 9 Sep. 150 ECB suffered 3 men killed and 12 wounded, both in Dornot and in the crossings. They left no men behind in the Dornot Bridgehead. Charles B. MacDonald and Sidney T. Matthews did include 150 ECB in "Three Battles".

    Return to top of page

    Click here for information about contacting me.
    Copyright © 2024 by Wesley Johnston
    All rights reserved

    7th Armored Division Association Home Page

    Active overview of all pages at the 7th Armored Division web site