90th Infantry Division Pic of the Week: Habscheid, Germany.

Happy New Year! I hope all are well into the recovery phase of their weekend journeys. It’s the first Monday of 2012, and time for the 90th Infantry Division Pic of the Week–a German pillbox from Habscheid, Germany.

A member of the 90th Infantry Division anti-tank unit stands outside a secured German pillbox along the Siegfried Line near Habscheid, Germany - February 1945. (U.S. Army Signal Corps Photo, Courtesy National Archives)

3 Responses to “90th Infantry Division Pic of the Week: Habscheid, Germany”

  1. My first day of combat began in Habscheid Germany on the 8th of Feb.’45.
    Three of us replacements were brought into a pillbox (bunker) on the night
    of the 8th and joined E. Co with a Sgt. Hobart Mueller as our squad leader.
    Ten days later I was the only one left of the three of us as Robert Roper
    and Irving Wigton were killed by a German 88 artillery shell. The Seigfried
    Line was slow going as there were hundreds of pillboxes to be flushed out
    and we were in the coldest winter in fifty years and really prepared for the
    extreme weather. This is a great website with lots of history.
    Vern Schmidt

  2. Manni says:

    Hello Mr Vernon Schmitt,
    In your Time in the 8th, do you come to Kelberg?
    Can you remember to this City?

    Best Regards
    Manni

  3. Michael Maddi says:

    My father, James Maddi, served in the 357th Regiment. Today is the 72nd anniversary of D-Day and I’ve been searching online about the 90th Division to get an idea of my father’s war service.

    He was captured inside Germany on Feb. 8, 1945. So I searched for “357th Regiment and February 8th, 1945.” I found a report on February, 1945 90th Division operations at http://www.90thdivisionassoc.org/afteractionreports/PDF/Feb-45.pdf

    On page 8 there’s a report of a battle for some pillboxes near Habscheid. For Feb. 8, “At 0500 several hundred Germans with assault guns and tanks counterattacked Company K 357th in attempt to regain Hill 511. The pillbox on the Hill changed hands three times in the severe fighting which continued throughout the day. Supporting tanks moved up to help repel the attack only to be knocked out by enemy high velocity and artillery fire as they moved down the forward slope. At length the attack was beaten off with 15 men captured by the Germans.”

    I don’t know what company my father was in, but he might have been one of the 15 soldiers in Company K captured, as described in this report. I don’t remember my father ever talking about his service in WWII. He passed away in 2004, so it was a revelation to read this report.

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