Panzer Division Attacked Hotton From The South. Fighting Hit And Run Tactics, The Weakened Combat Command, With Co.B, It's Only Infantry, Bluffed And Disrupted The German Attack Until Some Support By The 83rd-Artillery Was Provided, A Two Company Parachute Battalion Was Attached And The Situation Stabilized.In This Action B.Co.36th-Armd-Inf.Regt.Did, And Did Well, A Battalion's Job-The Rest Of The 1st-Bn-Established A Defensive Position And Held Off All Attacks At Amonines-These Actions and Bluffs) Prevented The Germans From Advancing On Liege.
By The 28th.The German Advance Had Been Halted And On The
2nd. Of January. 1945 The First Army Counteroffensive To The South Was Launched To Cut Off Or Drive Out The German Troops Still In The Bulge-The German Resistance Was Strong And Desperate, And The Division Reassembled For. The First Time Since 18 December, Fought Stubbornly Southward To Gain Contact With Third Army Units Fighting Up From The Southern Shoulder-By 10 February, The Division Was Back In The Old Familiar Area East Of Aachen.
On 23 February Began The Eastward Push Of The Allied Armies Which Was Literally Sustained To The End Of The War In May-The 36th.Was Engaged In The Normal Manner With The Three Combat Commands Against Pretty Strong Resistence Up To The Rhine River-When The Bridge At Ramagen Was Captured In March, Ccr With The 3rd-Battalion Of The 36th.Was Sent Into The Bridgehead In Support Of The 1st-And 78th.Infantry Divisions. The Rest Of The Division Joined It And On 25th-March Began The Attack Due East With "Objectives Unlimited Then The Attack Turned North.
During This Phase There Occured The Longest Combat Advance In The History Of Warfare-Ccr Advanced North Over One Hundred Miles In One Day And Encircled The Ruhr Industrial Complex On The South And East Sides, And Made Contact With The 2nd.Armored Division Which Had Cut It Off On The North-There Were Over 300,000 German Troops In The Ruhr-The 3rd.Bn.Of The 36th-Was A Part Of The Task Force Which Made The Sweep.
Paderborn Was The Objective Of The Encirclement.When It Fell Eventually To The 1st.Bn.36th-Air-The Division Turned East Again
And Fought It 's Way To The Elbe River Against Varying German Resistance, Some Strong, Some Scattered.Even So, The Month Of April 45 Produced Over 800 Battle Casualties In The 36th.
Here Ended The War In Europe For The 36th-Armored Infantry Regiment. It's Performance-Was Superb-But It's Devotion Was Costly. With A Table Of Organization Strength Of About 2300, It Suffered a