The 252nd Engineer Combat Bn
Dave Kaufman
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is one of the oldest branches of service. Engineers are responsible for various types of construction projects, both during war and in peace. These projects include construction of bridges, mine clearing, debris removal, building construction, building airfields, and performing as infantry in defending their projects.
Combat engineers are one of the separate elements that make up the corps. As their name implies, much of their skill consists of project-building in combat conditions. The 252nd Engineer Combat Bn was activated at Camp Gruber, OK, on July 23, 1943, with a cadre from the 82nd Engineer Combat Bn. The personnel who subsequently filled out the ranks of the unit came from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and a few came for other states. Initial battalion training began in mid-October. In addition to basic, there were several other topics taught and learned; these included mine detection and clearing, Air-Ground Liaison, and other engineer-related subjects. The unit was transferred to Camps Maxey and Howze, TX where it conducted extensive maneuvers at both locations and in LA in 1944. In April 1944, a cadre from the battalion was sent to form the 381st Engineer Combat Bn at Camp Van Dorn, MS.
On August 24, 1944 the battalion departed the NYPOE for England, arriving in one week. More training at the Bailey Bridge School, and the continued drawing of supplies and equipment was conducted until the engineers arrived at Omaha Beach on September 19, 1944, transported by the Liberty ships Horace Gray and the Rollins Victory. Moving quickly to a rainy and soggy LePieux, on the west side of the Cotentin Peninsula, the battalion was faced with its first task - clearing of mines on the beach. It was here that the 252nd suffered its first casualties. Five engineers were killed and eleven wounded before their mission was finished.
The 252nd also provided trucks to the Red Ball Express and maintained the MSR. At the end of October, the 252nd moved to Tongress/Rosmeer, Belgium. They settled in the vicinity of Ft. Eban Emael. It took only two days to travel more than 450 miles. Buzz bombs went over their heads, and Wehrmacht stragglers kept the engineers on alert.
Settling in, the battalion was soon at work on standard engineering duties - road maintenance and bridge-building. The first bridge was built by Company A at Valkenburg, Holland, and the engineers were soon rewarded - it led to a brewery. Company B constructed a supporting bridge under a standing bridge that was being utilized by an armored division. Company C was dispatched to Geilenkirchen, Germany to removed captured German hardware. In December, battalion companies also maintained Army main supply routes, hauled various lengths of piling, operated numerous sawmills, transported the cut timber, and guarded a prefabricated bridge intended for future use.
The Bulge and Colmar region assaults broke in mid-December 1944, and the Allies, caught short, scrambled to rush units into the breech. Initially continuing with engineering duties, the battalion repaired and installed 1500 windows at an evacuation hospital; built two bridges in the vicinity of Geilenkirchen; and manned barricades and patrols with Dutchand forces. Then, in early January 1945, the battalion was reorganized as an infantry battalion, relieving elements of the 102nd Infantry Division’s 405th Infantry.
This was the battalion’s toughest challenge up to this point. Companies A, B, C, and HQ were split up and each assumed different areas of operations for different periods of time in that month. Jumping into foxholes, pillboxes and buildings, the engineers were as prepared as possible to defend the lines along a 1,000 meter front on the Siegfried Line. Company A, assigned to the lines in Beeck, suffered two engineers KIA, one DOW, and 3 WIA when during a barrage, a German artillery shell struck the cellar the GIs were in. Company C had two KIA in the vicinity of Wurm. In their infantry assignments, the companies conducted reconnaissance patrols and assaulted Wehrmacht positions. A total of nine engineers were KIA, and many more wounded. It was later determined that a lack of supporting mortar fire made the engineer’s task in an infantry role that much more difficult. On January 26, 1945, the 102nd attacked through the 252nd and closed to the Roer River.
February 1945 saw the reduction of the Colmar Pocket finalized, and the 252nd Engineers went back to engineering duties in Holland. A wooden passageway was built at the same evacuation hospital that had its windows repaired; several timber trestle bridges were constructed, and roads were cleared of mines.
By March 1945, the collapse of Germany was becoming widespread. The battalion’s engineers were extremely busy with numerous assignments both in Holland and Germany. In Germany, the Rohr River area was the work site for Company A. The Roer was testament to the rapidity of US forces crossing the quickly flowing and swollen river. There were bridges built on top of bridges; various damaged/destroyed assault watercraft and tanks littered the shores; KIAs from both sides were prevalent. Mines were a continuous danger. Company A tore down several bridges, and salvaged watercraft and other equipment. They (with Company C) and the 250th Engineer Combat Bn also constructed a 952-foot long timber trestle bridge (in night shifts) over the Maas River at Venlo, Holland in only 13 days (receiving a commendation from the British 21st Army Group), and cleared the area for a bridgehead at Wesel over the Rhine River, in Germany. Company B constructed a wooden trestle bridge near Linnich, Germany; cleared an area of mines for a proposed cemetery; constructed another wooden trestle bridge near Munchen-Gladbach, Germany; and cleared a bridgehead site of mines on the east bank of the Rhine at Wesel. Company C constructed a POW enclosure, and began working on the 1600-foot long trestle bridge at Wesel.
The bridge at Venlo was a project that had been in the planning stages for weeks. Venlo was itself a major communications center on the Maas River, and was a terminus on the strategic Venlo-Wesel highway, which runs east-west in the region. The bridge was built by the tow U.S. engineer battalions (plus a light pontoon company) for the British Army, due to a shortage of British engineering units. It was built to exacting British specifications, notably the height. The 13-days construction phase was nine days less than projected.
In April, the 252nd again teamed up with the 250th Engineer Combat Bn to construct and complete the 1814-foot long Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Bridge (in honor of the late president) in only 21 days. This was a record for the project type. Due to the tremendous amount of fill, the bridge was nearly a mile long, and both battalions received a letter of commendation from the 9th U.S. Army commander, General William Simpson.
In very early May the battalion moved to the vicinity of Magdeburg, met the Russians and built an autobahn bridge over the Weser-Elbe Canal, opening the route to Berlin.
With Germany surrendering May 8, the battalion moved to Herford, Germany, where it performed security duties. The companies spent a great deal of time scavenging for engineering equipment, clearing a future bridge site, loaded lumber on railway cars, and built an airstrip.
On June 15, 1945, 9th Army transferred all its assets to 7th Army, ending its 11-month mission in the ETO. The 80-plus engineer combat battalions were alerted for deployment to the Far East, occupation, or inactivation.
In July 1945, the 252nd Eng (C) Battalion was directly involved in the reconstruction of the railroad bridge at Jossa, Germany. This was a difficult project inasmuch as the 252nd had no training in construction of a steel trestle and concrete reinforced bridge - and this one was 104 feet in height. The bridge had been blown during the war, with only one pier of three undamaged, a gap in the middle, and material from an abandoned earlier repair attempt left in place. The engineer general service unit that had abandoned the previous repair attempt was utilized to again design repairs and provide materials. Two trains brought these construction materials from Kassel, Germany. The two engineer units, soon joined by a third, proceeded to reconstruct the bridge to pre-war condition. Civilians completed the ties, rail and guardrail and after testing, the bridge was opened to traffic on August 8th.
The battalion received campaign credits for the Central Europe and Rhineland campaigns. In September 1945, the battalion was initially assigned its occupation duties in Berlin, providing engineer support to the 1st Allied Airborne Army. There, the unit guarded POWs, demolished bunkers with explosives, operated an electrical parts warehouse and supported classified CID activities. As with many units on occupation, they became very under strength.
The battalion was redesignated the 252nd Engineer Construction Bn in January 1947. It was redesignated the 252nd Engineer Service Bn September 1, 1948 and inactivated at Swetzingen, Germany, May 1, 1949. The battalion was reactivated March 22, 1951 at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO as HQ and HHC, 252nd Engineer Service Bn, and inactivated August 15, 1952 at the same station. The Insignia In the ETO, the 252nd Engineer Combat Bn was assigned to the 9th U.S. Army. While on occupation duty, they were authorized the USAREUR SSI with “Berlin District” tab. They also had an SSI custom-made for them in Berlin in the fall of 1945. It is on a blue wool background, with bullion borders, red tabs, top and bottom. “252 Combat Engineers” and “Cloud Burst” are embroidered in yellow on the top and bottom tabs, respectively. Cloudburst was the code name for the unit. The center is a white cloud, border highlighted in dark blue, with a yellow bullion engineer castle picked out in red. A red lightning bolt per bend sinister completes the striking SSI.
There are also two DIs for the battalion, both painted. The DI on the left (252A1) is similar to the SSI on wood or composition, but has a long shield shape, medium blue cloud and tabs are in blue on yellow. The figure on the right (252A2) is on pot metal, has a wider and shorter shield shield shape, and the cloud is a light blue. DIs courtesy of the COL. Robert E. Leard collection. Sources After Action Reports, November 1944 -May 1945, 252nd Engineer Combat Battalion, National Archives and Records Service Company B, 252nd Engineer Combat Battalion history, author unknown, not previously published (excerpts) Conquer: Story of the 9th Army, 1944-45 Infantry Journal Press, Washington, D.C. 1947 (excerpts) Headquarters and Service Company , 252nd Engineer Combat Battalion history, author unknown, not previously published Reconstruction of the Jossa Railroad Bridge, unpublished report, author unknown Tillum, Sidney Pfc. Company A, 252nd Engineer Combat Battalion history, not previously published
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© 2003 ASMIC and the article author (s)
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