Title

A History of the 334th Infantry, 84th Division

Alternative Title

Fortune Favored the Brave

84th Infantry Division From Activation 15 Oct. 42 to V-E Day 9 May 45

Creator

Wolff, Perry S.

Publisher

[Mannheim, Ger.] : [Mannheimer grossdruckerei], [1945]

Date

1945

Description

Two Years of Preparation: The 334th Infantry Regiment was activated 15 October 1942 at Camp Howze, Texas. For a regiment which was later to grind its way through the Siegfried Line, disorganize three of Germany's finest divisions in the Ardennes, and spearhead the Ninth Army's drive across the Roer and into the German heartland, the beginnings were not sensational. In 1942 Selective Service began to look more carefully into the manpower pool, and the Army began to develop a reservoir of Infantry. Many original men of the regiment had been classified 4F by lenient draft boards who subsequently reclassified them when the quotas were made more stringent. In October 1942 the War was nine months old, and while many men were convinced it should be fought, few were volunteering for the Army, and fewer for the Infantry. The Air Forces were called the Air Corps, a place for gentlemen and adventurers, and the Infantry was coolie labor, a tutored mob. The first men to join the regiment had a "raw deal" they told themselves around the beer tables in the PX. First, they didn't like the Army; second, they weren't physically fit; third, their talents were not being used. As the men looked around and listened, they invented a satisfying rumor, compensation for their "raw deal," a rumor that was going to last until we heard the first sounds of Long Toms and 240's outside Gulpen and Waalwiller, Holland: "We're a replacement outfit. The 334th isn't going anywhere. If it does, we're Army of Occupation. Man, they can't send this outfit into combat!"

Subject

United States. Army. Infantry Regiment, 334th

World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Western Front

World War, 1939-1945--Regimental histories

Tag

84th Division

Type

Illustrated works

Regimental histories

Format

230 pages, unnumbered plates, 1 leaf : including illustrations, portraits, maps (some folded) ; 21 cm

Language

English

Is Part Of

Bangor Public Library Special Collections

Rights