Over the Elbe

It was on this date, seventy years ago that the 83rd Infantry Division, which was part of the US Ninth Army, crossed the Elbe River. In making the river crossing, the men, including their commanders, were prepared, wanted and thought they would be going to Berlin. But, Berlin was not to be. Instead, the 83rd would find themselves having to move back from an advance east of the Elbe and embroiled in a political controversy.

Wisconsin State Journal Headline, April 15, 1945

 
An earlier post, Rag-Tag Circus, recounted part of the trip to the Elbe and how the men of the newly named Thunderbolt Division, had anointed upon them a less than admirable moniker of Rag-Tag Circus. They assisted in the consolidation of the Ruhr River area industrial pocket for a few days after having crossed the Rhine, and then orders came down to the division to be prepared to move. Its 329th regiment at 0910 hours was told to be prepared to move immediately. The 329th would spearhead the 83rd’s movement east. The division would, less than politely, conjure up vehicles to make the move on to what they thought was the main prize of the war, Berlin and Adolph Hitler. During this fast movement, division headquarters would move up to five times per day, and most all the time regimental headquarters would never find a place to call home. Ryan, in his book The Last Battle, would refer to the 83rd as “illustrious.” During this movement, the 83rd would set new infantry speed records, and at times be ahead of the mechanized Second Armored Division. The division would travel over 280 miles in thirteen days to reach the Elbe. As in their move to the Rhine, they would leave their flanks exposed—up to eighty miles in some instances, but they would not falter, as their enemy would be unable to take advantage of the exposed flanks. Another regiment of the 83rd would be left to do the dirty work of cleaning up pockets of resistance in the Teutoburger Forest, the Hills of Hasse and Harz Mountains. 

Map of part of 83rd Infantry Journey to Elbe River
Source: 331st  Regimental After Action Report

 
We know that Roy Hovel, a member of the Counter Intelligence Corps, and attached to the 83rd infantry division, was in the mountains, on April 9, as in a letter home he would describe the air as being “crisp and fresh. Like the Rockies almost.” As the movement to the Elbe began, little down-time was present. Roy Hovel would note as much in the same April 9 letter by saying that he “did not have much time off now, even for writing” and it is late that night as he pens a short letter home. He knew he needed to write, as his mother Ida was probably getting worried. Recently received cookies had been used by he and his interpreter as sustenance in the exhausting days of the move to the Elbe. He notes in his letter that the cookies hit the spot and that “with all this moving around and work in places where we are not able to get a hot meal at noon or supper.” He was on the move more than the troops of the division, as his work would take him beyond a linear route. The 83rd history notes how even though the army was moving fast, the troops still got three hot meals a day. Roy Hovel was not so fortunate. “Rarely have we spent two nights in one place,” he notes, “and so you can see we move on a lot.” He would not be able to attend mass again that Sunday, as it was “just another work day.” As he moves, however, he is able to see “a lot of country and I enjoy it a lot.” He goes on to say that “Germany actually was a lovely place and it’s too bad that they couldn't behave and had to spoil it.”

Roy Hovel
Source:  Family photo

 
Germany would be spoiled by the travesties of war, but as Roy Hovel would say in his letters, the further inland to Germany they got, the better were conditions in the villages. In fact, he notes, that some homes had hot water, functioning plumbing, and working electricity. As the army made a fast movement east, his work became more difficult. He notes that it’s getting that “so many devils can escape.” 

The Thunderbolt division would reached the Elbe on April 12. But, while they lost the friendly competition with the 2nd Armored Division to be the first to the Elbe, the 83rd would be the first to establish a bridgehead, and cross the Elbe River. While the Armored Division was tied up with a difficult struggle in Magdeburg, the 83rd would move south of that city to the smaller city of Barby, which they reached on April 12. Resistance from the enemy required artillery and combat action throughout the night. The following morning, according the 329th Regimental Action report, at 0915 “a conference has been held with the Burgemeister of Barby and he reports that there are no enemy troops in the town. The Burgemeister will raise the white flag and our troops will go in peaceably, but ready for action.” The retreating Germans would destroy the railroad bridge, the one non-watercraft crossing at Barby. The 83rd had trained for river crossings, and that training would again be put to good use.

Description of battle at Barby
Source: 83rd Infantry Rhine-Ruhr-Elbe History, part II

After action reports note that the 1st Battalion of the 329th crossed the river in assault boats at 1330. No resistance was encountered. This regiment was under the command of Colonel Edwin “Buckshot” Crabhill, who would move up and down the river bank extolling his men to move ahead: “Don’t waste this opportunity. You are on your way to Berlin,” he would yell. He would also tell the men to not get organized, just get across the river. Crabhill had ordered the river crossing without receiving orders to do so. At the same time, DUKW’s were being used to move additional personnel and pontoon boats would soon start hauling artillery. Showing that the army can do more than one thing at a time, while all of this was going on, the Engineers of the division began work on a bridge to allow more efficient crossing of the river. The training in Holland over two weeks earlier was now paying off.

Truman Bridge, 14 April 1945
Source:  331st After Action Report

In a deceptive move, the 83rd engineers did not, as the Germans (and most others) would expect, construct the bridge at the location of the river ferry, but rather they did so further downstream. Their work at the Ferry crossing was a diversion. The lone Luftwaffe plane would report activity at the ferry crossing and it is to that location that the German troops on the east side of the Elbe would concentrate their artillery. This masterful move allowed US troops to move across the bridge unimpeded and not under fire. This bridge would be named “Truman Bridge” in honor of the Harry Truman who would be President by the time of the completion of the bridge in the early morning hours of April 14. The bridge would be noted with a sign reading: “Truman Bridge. Gateway to Berlin. Courtesy of the 83rd Infantry Division.”

Description of deception on River Crossing,
Source:  83rd Rhine-Ruhr-Elbe History, part II

A bridge was built, the access on the west secured, securing access on the east shore in progress. General Macon, leader of the 83rd, would issue an order at 1730 on April 13, that infantry was to not advance east beyond the limits of artillery support, which was in the vicinity of Walternienberg. With the 2nd Armored Division still meeting resistance to the north, one of their units would be attached to the 83rd to support the right flank as the division moved further east. In a friendly sort of irony, the group that beat the 83rd to the Elbe, would have to use the 83rd’s installed bridge to cross the Elbe. Meanwhile, intelligence reports noted that the enemy were fortifying positions in the area of Zerbst, and that was where the 83rd was now going to advance. The 83rd would advance to Zerbst and would engage in a difficult battle starting on 16 April, following the conclusion of an air mission.

83rd Infantry Division Troops Crossing the Elbe on April 13, 1945
Source:  331st After Action Report

While the troops thought they were still headed to Berlin, Atkinson reports that General Eisenhower had already made the decision to not cross the Elbe River back in March. However, Eisenhower had not told anyone. In fact, upon hearing that the 83rd had crossed the Elbe, he would, as noted by Ryan in his book, put a question to General Omar Bradley commander of the 12th Army Group, of which the US Ninth army was a part. “Brad,” he said, “what do you think it might cost us to break through to from the Elbe and take Berlin?” Bradley would estimate that it would take 100,000 men (wounded, missing and killed). Getting to Berlin was not, he thought, the hard part, it was getting and taking the city itself. General Simpson, head of the Ninth Army would receive a call from Bradley on Sunday morning, April 15. Ryan, in his work, would report that Bradley would say in that phone call that he wanted Simpson to fly immediately to 12th Army Group headquarters in Wiesbaden as he had “something very important to tell you, and I don’t want to do it over the phone.”

83rd Infantry Division
Source:  Google Images

It would be a short conversation at the airfield. Bradley would simply say to Simpson, after greeting and shaking hands right after Simpson disembarked the aircraft that “You must stop at the Elbe. You are not to advance any further in the direction of Berlin.” Simpson would ask who this had come from, and Bradley would respond, “From Ike.” Stunned and rejected would not begin to describe Simpson’s feelings. His main thought was how he was going to tell his troops. After arriving back to his headquarters, according to Ryan, Simpson would tell his corps commanders, and then head for the Elbe.

A German Soldier who was in the way of the 83rd Infantry
Source:  331st Regiment After Action Report

The 83rd would be at Zerbst, about 40 miles from Berlin. They would not receive the prize, they were in fact to pull back to the Elbe and await connection with the Russians. Eisenhower always knew he did not wish to advance beyond the Elbe. The Elbe, in this area of Germany had been allocated to Russians at the Yalta conference, which in itself is an interesting story of American incompetence. Official histories would note that the division had simply crossed the Elbe to hold the bridgehead and obeyed orders to halt. But, regiment after action reports, which were at one time “Secret” indicate they moved and battled at Zerbst. The official histories did not wish to acknowledge that the 83rd had moved in to territory that was to be under Russian occupation.

Zerbst in Spring 1945
Source:  Google Images

It was on April 20 at 1520 hours that the 329th After Action report notes the following: “Lt Gen Simpson, Major Gen McLean, and Major Gen Macon arrived at the CP.” At 1535 Lt. General Simpson would congratulate Col. Crabhill on the “swift aggressive action of the regiment in the recently concluded drive to the Elbe River and the establishment of the bridgehead across the river.” Then came the blow to the stomach: “He also informed Col. Crabhill that we will continue to hold our present positions and wait for the Russians to advance to our bridgehead and effect a link-up with us.”

329th Regiment After Action Report noting order to wait for Russians to
advance to the Bridgehead, 1535 hours
Source:  329th Regiment After Action Report

As with many parts of history, there is a certain twist in this story. Colonel General Alfred Jodl of the German army knew back in early February that the Elbe would be the stopping point for the US—British advance. During the Bulge, the Germans had captured, from the British, a highly top secret document which would become known as “Operation Eclipse.” This was a January 1945 document, laying out the occupation of Germany. Jodl reasoned that the Allies advancing from the west would not wish to advance into territory to be controlled by the Russians, it would be better to let the Russians take the losses to secure their own territory. In the part of Germany in which the 83rd was located, the dividing line between US and Russian interests was the Elbe. Jodl, in a rare move, would inform his soon to be wife so she would move to be west of the Elbe. After their marriage, his wife would indirectly inform her own relatives, who did not take the hint. Can you imagine what Hitler would have done to a member of his high command telling their relatives to move west so as to be in a zone of occupation for the US, Britain or France?

Bridge completion by 83rd on 14 April
Source:  329th Regiment After Action Report

After having traveled from the Rhine to the Ruhr with remarkable speed, Roy Hovel in a letter home dated April 15 noted that not only did they “have a little rest for a change and are able to get a chance to catch up on a few things”, but he also added: “Now that we are spending more than one night in the same place it almost seems boring.” The 83rd was just outside of Barby on April 12, and this area of Germany was likely the command post for division headquarters. He does comment that “Its been very interesting so far, but very tiring.” It was also the first Sunday in three weeks he was able to attend Sunday mass. Later in the letter he would thank them for candy they had sent, and that he does not much care for candy when he gets “three good meals a day, but on long moves when meals are interrupted there isn’t anything better than the goodies to keep you going.” He would be kept busy, as noted in letters of April 18, and 22 to his sister, Anita.

On the Road to Berlin
Source: 331st After Action Report

While the troops, other than for patrolling activity had been ordered to stand down on 20 April, Roy Hovel was still busy. He begins a letter to his parents dated 25 April 45, saying “The days go by very fast while there is so much to keep us busy through the day and night.” It is in this letter that he comments that “Germany’s own men are a sad looking lot, either old men or boys 14 or below.” German youth were put to battle to help the Reich. He also comments that “German people as a whole haven’t suffered nearly as much as those of France, Luxembourg or Belgium as far as living went. They had their food, clothes, and other little things needed to keep going.” He also notes that the farms got along well with the “forced Russian and Polish workers.”

While the 329th regiment of the 83rd moved to the Elbe, another part of the division encountered Langenstein, a sub-camp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Established in April 1944 to provide labor to the failing German war effort, the camp began with 214 prisoners, and by March 1945 had about 5400. The prisoners worked in an underground installation for 16 hours a day. When the 83rd arrived on April 11, 1945 they found 1,100 inmates. The SS, it was reported, murdered those inmates too weak to work. The Division would report that deaths in the camp had reached 500 per month. Medical staff with the 83rd estimated that most prisoners weighed in at about 80 pounds. Due to malnutrition, they estimated that 25-30 prisoners a day perished. The 83rd Infantry Division would be recognized as a liberating unit by the US Army’s Center of Military History and the United States Holocaust Museum.

Langenstein Concentration Camp Survivors
Source:  Google images

The 83rd Infantry, or Thunderbolt Division, or Rag-Tag Circus would meet the enemy in the hedgerows of France, the forests and lowlands of Belgium, and fight in the dense woods, and snow covered mountains of Germany. They would be the first Allied division to the Rhine, the first to cross the Elbe. They thought they were on their way to Berlin, but after having reached as far east as Zerbst, their easterly movement would end. A decision by the Supreme Commander, based on a map drawn by a Brit, and approved at Yalta would bring to an end to their going into the heart of the Beast. It would also engage them in political controversy for having moved that far east. After all, the Russians were envious of the territory they would gain as a result of the end of the war. Within weeks of Yalta, the Soviets would break the terms of the agreement. Countries brought under their control would be subjugated, and the free elections required by Yalta would not occur. These countries would become part of the Iron Curtain. No free elections, as called for by Yalta for those who fell under Soviet control.

Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin at Yalta, February 1945
Source:  Google Images

East Germany, like Eastern Europe, would fall under the control of the leviathan of the east. Berlin would see first-hand the result of the western Allied decision to set a no-advance line, roughly being the Elbe River. Nuns running a maternity home, and the women to whom they tended would be raped, as would many other German women. Even a female German communist who had welcomed the Russian army to Berlin would be raped. The Russians soldiers destroyed indoor plumbing as they did not understand its purpose. They would take light bulbs thinking they magically produced light. The decision of the Rankin Plan, which came to be known as Operation Eclipse would set forth an east—west divide that continued through the cold war, and for a good part of that region to this day. One only need to look at what the current Russian president is seemingly trying to recreate.

Purportedly Russian Special Forces fighting in Ukraine, 2014-2015
Source:  Google Images

With the 70th anniversary of the end of the war approaching in less than one month, the geo-politics of Eastern Europe continue to be formed by Operation Eclipse.  Former Czech President Vaclav Havel has noted that the former countries of Eastern Europe were not totally free until the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1995.  Continued aggression by Russia, with its movements in Ukraine have dampened the festivities for the end of the World War II.  The Kremlin continues to use the term "Fascist" to describe an action or body they do not like.  As one commentator has noted, the issue is the "dual nature of a liberation that turned into conquest as Stalin steamrolled across and then subjugated Eastern Europe."  Putin, ever the opportunist, looks to remake the grandeur of the Soviet Union by preying on weaker opponents.  The Soviets ignored the Yalta Conference agreements 70 years ago, and are again ignoring the calls of the west to get out of Ukraine.  Putin's spread of mis-information about their former eastern allies would make many an American politician proud.

Front of Post Card Roy Hovel Sent to his sister Anita
(See below for wording on the back side)
Source:  Family archives

It was this coming historical divide that the 83rd Infantry, that illustrious division, would find itself embroiled. William Simpson, the commanding general of the US Ninth Army would recommend the 83rd for a Presidential Unit Citation. But that recommendation would not be approved at the higher levels. As part of the comments forwarded for consideration were those by Corps Commander, US General McLain who noted that the 83rd was given the mission of keeping up with the 2nd Armored Division as the 8th Armored was unavailable due to their need in collapsing the Ruhr pocket. He would say “The performance of the Division in keeping up with the 2nd Armored Division on its left was magnificent and played an important role not only in broadening the Corps spearhead, but also in protecting an exceedingly long exposed Corps right flank.” McLain would further note that the establishment of the bridgehead at the Elbe was of greatest importance because the “enemy resisted the crossing fiercely as shown by the fact that farther north …the enemy was able to throw back the crossing attempt (of the 2nd Armored).”

Back side of post card front that is above.
The political decision to divide Germany would prevent Roy Hovel from
catching up with Adolph Hitler.  Note the date of September 1944
Source:  Family archives

In their hearts and minds, the men of the Thunderbolt Division believed they were due Berlin, they would believe they were due the Presidential Unit Citation, but in the end political consequences would result in this division getting neither. Roy Hovel would continue his work with the CIC in Europe until the fall of 1945. The war would end a few weeks later, and much of the world would find itself in a long cold war. We are left to wonder how the world may be different if the US Military had not been ignorant of diplomacy, if the President had appointed a person more strong-willed to face against the Soviets (and the British) during negotiations, and if Franklin Roosevelt had heeded the advice of his Soviet Ambassador, W. Averell Harriman, who repeatedly warned Roosevelt of Stalin’s territorial ambitions.  History is about a number of "if's, " but the reason it is studied is so that the same mistakes are not once again repeated.  Unfortunately, geo-politics gets in the way of that too.