504th Infantry Regiment

The 504th Infantry Regiment, originally the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (504th PIR), is an airborne forces regiment of the United States Army, part of the 82nd Airborne Division, with a long and distinguished history. The regiment was first formed in mid-1942 during World War II as part of the 82nd Airborne Division and saw service in Sicily, Italy, Anzio, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

A parent regiment under the United States Army Regimental System, two battalions from the regiment, 1st Battalion (1-504 PIR) and 2nd Battalion (2-504 PIR), are currently active, both assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.

World War II

Activation

The regiment was initially constituted on 24 February 1942, over two months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent American entry into World War II, in the Army of the United States as the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (504th PIR). The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions were constituted the same date as Companies A, B, and C, respectively, of the 504th PIR, and were activated on 1 May 1942 at Fort Benning, Georgia, and was assigned to the U.S. Army Airborne Command. When complete with its regimental training, the 504th, then under the command of Colonel Theodore L. Dunn, was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, commanded by Major General Matthew Ridgway, on 15 August 1942. Serving alongside the regiment in the 82nd were the 325th and 326th Glider Infantry Regiments, together with supporting units.

The 504th PIR, now under the command of 31-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Reuben Henry "Rube" Tucker, who had formerly been the 504th's executive officer (XO), soon moved from Fort Benning to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on 30 September 1942 to finish its training, fill its Table of Organization and Equipment (TOE), and prepare for its staging call. When the call came, the regiment staged at Camp Edwards on 18 April 1943, and it made its port call on 10 May 1943, when it departed the New York Port of Embarkation (NYPOE).

North Africa

On 29 April 1943, the 504th boarded the troop ship USS George Washington which steamed to North Africa and the regiment's first overseas port of call, Casablanca. They arrived shortly before the end of the campaign in North Africa, which ended with the surrender of almost 250,000 Axis soldiers. Upon arrival the paratroops marched eight miles south of the city where they established a cantonment area consisting of a few stone huts and a tent city. Soon, the regiment was moved by "40 and 8's" northward to Oujda, Morocco. The "40 and 8's" were railroad cars dating from World War I, so called because they were designed to carry 40 men or 8 horses.

Training intensified and senior officers such as General Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO), Lieutenant General Clark, the U.S. Fifth Army commander, and Lieutenant General Patton, the U.S. Seventh Army commander, along with the Sultan of Morocco and officials of every Allied nation watched the 504th go through its paces. Training included many practice jumps, and one conducted in winds of up to 30 miles-per-hour put nearly 30% of the unit in the hospital with broken bones, sprains and bruises. Finally, the order came and the 504th moved by truck to Kairouan, Tunisia, which was to be the 82nd Airborne Division's point of departure for the Allied invasion of Sicily.

Sicily, July 1943

Colonel James M. Gavin, commander of the 505th Parachute Regimental Combat Team (with the 3rd Battalion of the 504th attached), led the 82nd Airborne Division during Operation Husky, and, on the night of 9 July 1943, the 504th helped spearhead the Allied invasion of Sicily in the first airborne military offensive in the history of the United States Army.

The paratroopers of the 504th crossed over the Sicilian coast on schedule. Despite extensive precautions to avoid an incident, near the Sicilian coast a nervous Allied naval vessel suddenly fired upon the formation. Immediately, all other naval vessels and shore troops joined in, downing friendly aircraft and forcing planeloads of paratroopers to exit far from their intended drop zones in one of the greatest friendly fire tragedies of World War II. However, U.S. Navy ships had been under intense Axis aerial attacks, and many were unaware of the impending jump. Twenty-three planes were destroyed, thirty-seven were damaged, and almost 400 casualties were confirmed.

Colonel Tucker's plane, after twice flying the length of the Sicilian coast and with well over 2,000 holes in its fuselage, finally reached the drop zone near Gela. By morning, only 400 of the rest of the regiment's 1,600 paratroopers had reached the objective area. The others had been dropped in isolated groups on all parts of the island and carried out demolitions, cut lines of communication, established island roadblocks, ambushed German and Italian motorized columns, and caused so much confusion over such an extensive area that initial German radio reports estimated the number of American parachutists dropped to be over ten times the actual number.

On 13 July 1943, the 504th Parachute Infantry moved out, spearheading the 82nd Airborne Division's drive northwest along the southern coast of Sicily. With captured Italian light tanks, trucks, motorcycles, horses, mules, bicycles, and even wheelbarrows pressed into service, the 82nd encountered only light resistance and took 22,000 POWs in their first contact with enemy forces. Overall, the Sicilian operation proved costly, both in lives and equipment, but the regiment gained valuable fighting experience and managed to hurt the enemy in the process. It was with this experience and pride that the 504th returned to its base in Kairouan to prepare for the invasion of mainland Italy.

Devils in Italy

Back in North Africa, replacements arrived, training resumed, and the 3rd Battalion was again detached, this time to Bizerte, for special beach assault training with the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment (325th GIR) and the Army Rangers. The 1st and 2nd Battalions moved back to Sicily and trained for a drop at Capua —in vain, however, because the enemy had been tipped off and was waiting on the drop zone. Another disappointment followed with the cancellation of the drop on Rome. Last minute intelligence disclosed that "negotiations" between Brigadier General Maxwell Taylor, commanding the 82nd Airborne Artillery, and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio were a trap. Finally, in early September, the 3rd Battalion rejoined the 325th GIR and the Rangers, boarded landing craft, and set out to sea. The men knew they were going to Italy, but little else. Troopers from H Company, with a group of Army Rangers, made the initial landing on 9 September 1943 on the Italian coast at Maiori. They quickly advanced inland to seize the Chiunzi Pass and a vital railroad tunnel.

On 11 September 1943, the 3rd Battalion Headquarters and G and I Companies, along with the remainder of the 325th GIR, swerved south and landed at Salerno. The military situation deteriorated with each passing hour as German tanks and infantry tried to push the Allies back into the sea. The 3rd Battalion troopers dug in and held on.

On standby at airfields in Sicily, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 504th were alerted, issued parachutes, and loaded on aircraft without knowledge of their destination. Receiving their briefing aboard the plane, the men were told that the U.S. Fifth Army's beachhead was in danger and they were needed to jump in behind friendly lines. Flying in columns of battalions, they exited over the barrels of gasoline-soaked sand that formed a flaming "T" in the center of the drop zone. The regiment assembled quickly and moved to the sounds of cannon and small arms fire within the hour. By dawn, the unit was firmly set in defensive positions.

The days that followed were, in the words of Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, commander of the Fifth Army, "responsible for saving the Salerno beachhead." As the 504th (minus the 3rd Battalion) took the high ground at Altavilla, the enemy counterattacked, inflicting heavy casualties on the regiment, and the divisional commander, Major General Ridgway, along with Major General Fred L. Walker, commander of the 36th Infantry Division, suggested the unit withdraw. Epitomizing the determined spirit of the regiment, Colonel Tucker vehemently replied, "Hell no! We've got this hill and we are going to keep it. Just send me my other battalion." The 3rd Battalion, then being held in reserve, rejoined the rest of the 504th and, supported by a huge 350-round barrage from the Navy, repulsed the enemy, forcing the Germans to retreat from Salerno. Colonel Tucker and two of his men were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for their actions at Altavilla.

The operation secured the flanks of the Fifth Army, allowing it to break out of the coastal plain and drive on to Naples. On 1 October 1943, the 504th became the first infantry unit to enter the city of Naples, which it subsequently garrisons, along with most of the rest of the 82nd Airborne Division. The airborne operation at Salerno was not only a success, but it also stands as one of history's greatest examples of the mobility of the airborne unit: within only eight hours of notification, the 504th developed and disseminated its tactical plan, prepared for combat, loaded aircraft and jumped onto its assigned drop zone to engage the enemy and turn the tide of battle.

The 82nd Airborne Division was slated as a unit to be used in the invasion of Normandy the following year. However, Lieutenant General Clark, the Fifth Army commander, was unwilling to give up the division. During the next few weeks in fighting Italy, the 504th, reinforced with the 376th and 456th Parachute Field Artillery Battalions to create the 504th Parachute Regimental Combat Team, fought in difficult terrain against a determined enemy. On steep, barren slopes, the regiment assaulted one hill after another. Mule trains aided in the evacuation of wounded to some extent, but casualties were often carried for hours down the steep hillsides just to reach the road.

Finally, the 504th, severely understrength, was pulled back to Naples on 4 January 1944 as rumors of another airborne mission spread. The operation was to be called Operation "Shingle", and it involved an airborne assault into a sector behind the coastal town of Anzio, 35 miles south of Rome. It seemed, however, that even the locals in Naples knew of the operation, so the 504th was glad that the beach would be assaulted from troop-carrying landing craft.

The landing on Red Beach went smoothly—at least until enemy planes started their strafing runs on the landing craft. The unit disembarked under fire and was sent shortly thereafter to patrol in force along the Mussolini Canal. After several days of intense German artillery fire, the enemy launched his main drive to push the Allies back into the sea. The 3rd Battalion was committed with elements of the British 1st Infantry Division in the heaviest fighting, with the paratrooper companies, due to the severe fighting, being reduced in strength to between 20 and 30 men. H Company drove forward to rescue a captured British General and was cut off. I Company broke through to them with their remaining 16 men. For its outstanding performance from 8 to 12 February 1944, the 3rd Battalion, 504th was presented one of the first Presidential Unit Citations awarded in the European Theater of Operations (ETO).

For the remainder of their eight-week stay in the Anzio beachhead, the men of the 504th found themselves fighting defensive battles instead of the offensive operations for which they were better suited and had been trained. For the first time the men were engaged in static trench warfare like that of World War I a generation before, with barbed wire entanglements and minefields in front and between alternate positions. It was during this battle that the 504th acquired the nickname "The Devils in Baggy Pants," taken from the following entry found in the diary of a Wehrmacht officer killed at Anzio:

:''"American parachutists...devils in baggy pants...are less than 100 meters from my outpost line. I can't sleep at night; they pop up from nowhere and we never know when or how they will strike next. Seems like the black-hearted devils are everywhere..."''

On 23 March 1944, the 504th was pulled out of the beachhead by landing craft and returned to Naples. The campaign in Italy for the 504th had been costly, but enemy losses exceeded those of the regiment by over tenfold, and the Allies maintained control of the beachhead. Shortly thereafter, the 504th boarded the ''Cape Town Castle'' and steamed to England, arriving there on 22 April.

The near-continuous fighting in Italy had cost the 504th dearly; just over 1,100 casualties were sustained. Just under 600 of these, or 25 percent, were suffered during the fighting at Anzio alone and two of three battalion commanders had become casualties.

From England to the Netherlands

Although Nazi broadcasters warned the 504th by radio that German submarines would never let the ''Cape Town Castle'' past the Straits of Gibraltar, the only danger the ship encountered came when all the troops rushed to the same side of the vessel as it pulled into Liverpool on 22 April 1944. The 82nd Airborne Division band greeted them with "We're All American and proud to be...," and it was assumed that the 504th would rejoin the 82nd for the upcoming invasion of Normandy, scheduled for early June. Yet, as D-Day approached, it became apparent that the 504th would be held back due to a lack of replacements. Brigadier General Gavin, the ADC, urged that the 504th be substituted for the two regiments that had joined the 82nd, the 507th and 508th, taking replacements from either of those units. However, Major General Ridgway, the division commander, vetoed the idea. Later, when Gavin sought volunteers to serve as pathfinders, around 29 men of the 504th came forward.

The 504th thus remained in England as "Dry Runs" came one after another. Missions were scheduled for France, Belgium, and the Netherlands and then canceled at the last moment. For three days the troopers waited for the fog to lift to allow them to drop into Belgium, but the wait proved long enough for Lieutenant General George Patton's U.S. Third Army to overrun the drop zones, thereby returning the 504th to its English garrison.

Therefore, when the word came on 15 September for the 82nd Airborne Division, now commanded by Brigadier General Gavin (thus making Gavin, aged just 37, the youngest divisional commander in the U.S. Army), to jump in ahead of the British Second Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Sir Miles C. Dempsey, 57 miles behind enemy lines in the vicinity of Grave, in the Netherlands, few believed the mission would actually be conducted. The operation would require seizing the longest bridge in Europe over the Meuse (''Maas'') and several other bridges over the Maas-Waal Canal. The men of the 504th became even more doubtful the mission would go when told that the planned flight was through the Scheldt Estuary (nicknamed "Flak Alley" by Allied bomber pilots) and that they were reportedly outnumbered by 4,000 of Hitler's Schutzstaffel (SS) troops and an unknown number of German tanks.

No cancellation was received, however, and on 17 September 1944 at 12:31 hours, the pathfinders of the 504th landed on the drop zone, followed thirty minutes later by the rest of the regiment and C Company of the 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion, to become the first Allied troops to land in the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden—the largest airborne operation in history. By 18:00 hours, the 504th had accomplished its assigned mission (although the enemy had managed to destroy one of the bridges). In just four hours, the regiment had jumped, assembled, engaged the enemy, and seized its objectives.

For the next two days, the regiment held its ground and conducted aggressive combat and reconnaissance patrols until the 2nd Battalion of the Irish Guards, part of the 5th Guards Armoured Brigade of the Guards Armoured Division, made the ground link-up, spearheading the advance of the British 30th Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General Sir Brian G. Horrocks, of the British Second Army. However, the Nijmegen road and rail bridges, which were the last remaining link to the British 1st Airborne Division fighting in Arnhem, remained in enemy hands, and the far bank was heavily defended by the Germans. An assault crossing of the river was necessary, but it was a seemingly impossible task. Gavin intended to make a pre-dawn crossing after consulting with British Lieutenant General Horrocks and Lieutenant General Sir Frederick A. M. Browning, commander of the British 1st Airborne Corps (of which the 82nd formed a part), in the presence of senior officers of the Guards Armoured and 82nd Airborne Divisions, and Colonel Reuben Tucker of the 504th, and during the night he drew up a plan, and alerted the troops at 06:00 in the expectation of the boats to be provided by the British XXX Corps.

However, the crossing did not commence until 15:00 after the guns of the 376th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion and 153rd (Leicestershire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, and two troops of the Grenadier Guards Sherman tanks opened fire on the northern (Lent) bank. The British provided 26 canvas boats, each long, that the 504th used to cross the -wide river. The 3rd Battalion's H and I companies, and some engineers from the 307th Airborne Engineers crossed in the first wave, 15 men to a boat, and they were immediately on leaving the far shore the target of German 88mm cannons, 20mm cannons, flak wagons, machine guns and riflemen. Nonetheless, the crossing was launched. With only 2-4 oars in each boat, the remaining men rowed with the rifle butts. Only 13 boats made it across, and only 11 of those were in condition to return across the river to deliver succeeding waves.

The 1st Battalion formed the second wave, and they established a firm bridgehead from which the units carried the battle to the enemy defending the old Fort Belvedere''Time Magazine'', World Battlefronts: The Battle of Desperation, 2 October 1944 (US Edition) and captured the bridge from the north side. Lieutenant General Dempsey, commander of the British Second Army, after witnessing the crossing, characterized the attack with a single word as he shook his head and said, simply, "Unbelievable." Six crossings were made by 1900. It was there that Dempsey, upon meeting Brigadier General Gavin, shook him by the hand and said "I am proud to meet the commander of the greatest division in the world today." Because only 11 boats returned from the first crossing, eight from the second and five from the third, A Company that followed used locally sourced wooden fishing boats.

France and Belgium, November 1944

After remaining in the front-line for the next few weeks, on 16 November 1944, the 504th arrived at Camp Sissone near Rheims in Northern France on British lorries, greeted again by the traditional "We're All American..." of the 82nd band. Soon after, the 82nd moved to Camp Laon and began training with the new C-46 Commando aircraft, the first aircraft with two troop doors for parachute exits.

At 21:00 on the night of 17 December 1944, Colonel Tucker was summoned to the 82nd Airborne Division headquarters. There he learned that the Germans had broken through into Belgium and Luxembourg with a powerful armored thrust launched south of Aachen in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge.

The next morning the 504th paratroopers started for Bastogne, not in airplanes, but in large trucks. Along the way, their destination was changed to Werbomont—a point more seriously threatened. The Devils conducted a night movement on foot for eight miles to take up defensive positions. On 19 December Colonel Tucker was ordered to Rahier and Cheneux to link up with the 505th PIR at Trois Ponts. The 1st Battalion was ordered to take the towns Brume, Rhier, and Cheneux. At 14:00 on 20 December 1944, 1st Battalion (less A Company) moved out toward Cheneux, where it was immediately engaged by a battalion of the SS-Obersturmbannführer Joachim Peiper's Kampfgruppe Peiper of the I SS Panzer Corps. Crossing an open 400-yard field laced every fifteen yards with barbed wire, the 1st Battalion faced the heaviest enemy fire the 504th had ever encountered, including heavy machine-guns, a 20mm gun, and a half-dozen German armored vehicles. Captain Jack M. Bartley was killed on 21 December 1944.

The 504th deployed a captured German halftrack armed with a 70mm gun manned by two paratroopers with no training in its use. They were successful in knocking out several enemy positions. Still, the 504th took very heavy losses crossing the open field, and at 17:00 were ordered to withdraw to the edge of a wood. Colonel Tucker ordered the 1st Battalion to engage in an assault on the German forces in Cheneux that night. The Devils pressed forward, and by nightfall had given the Germans their first defeat of the Battle of the Bulge. Through heavy fire, Companies B and C wiped out an estimated five companies of German forces, as well as fourteen flak-wagons, six half-tracks, four trucks, and four 105mm howitzers. However, the two companies were decimated, with 23 killed and 202 wounded; eighteen enlisted men remained in Company B, and thirty-eight men and three officers in Company C. Company A of the 1st Battalion, 504th, as well as the first platoon of Company C of the 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion, were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for their outstanding performance during this action.

Throughout the initial days of battle with experienced German troops, the regiment wore down the enemy and discovered the Germans had only poorly organized and inadequately equipped follow-on forces. Soon thereafter, the paratroopers received the orders they had been expecting—to attack the Siegfried Line. The regiment was positioned on the right flank of the U.S. First Army, and on 28 January 1945 the 504th advanced through the Belgian forest of Büllingen in columns of two along a deep snowy trail, meeting only spotty resistance along the way.

While approachin
Herresbach
the regiment encountered an enemy battalion in a head-on engagement that surprised both elements. The battle-wise paratroopers, without hesitation, accelerated their pace and moved on the enemy. The machine guns of the lead tank opened up on the Germans, while the men of the 504th fired their weapons from the hip at shooting-gallery speed. Within ten minutes, the enemy was overrun with more than 100 killed and 180 captured. Not a single 504th paratrooper was killed or wounded.

Finally, on 1 February 1945, the order came to conduct the assault on the Siegfried Line through the Belgian Fort Gerolstein. The following day the 1st and 2nd Battalions jumped off on the attack. Moving cautiously from bunker to bunker, the troopers encountered heavy machine gun and small arms fire at all points. Ironically, the German Army's own Panzerfaust (a light anti-tank weapon with which the 504th was well equipped) was the regiment's most effective weapon against the German pillboxes. Despite the presence of thousands of mines and booby traps, only a small number of those disturbed actually detonated. Freezing temperatures, snow, ice and years of exposure had corroded the detonators. Vicious enemy counterattacks on 3 and 4 February were repulsed, and the unit was relieved. The regiment moved back to Grand Halleux where it spent several days before being trucked across the Belgian-German border. From Aachen, it moved by train back to Laon, France to await orders.

On to Berlin

Colonel Tucker and the advance detail left Laon on 1 April 1945 and traveled by jeep 270 miles to Cologne (Köln), Germany. Three days later the regiment arrived, mostly in "40 and 8s," and immediately took up positions along the west bank of the Rhine River. 504th patrols crossed nightly in small boats, engaging in brisk fire-fights almost every patrol. The enemy made a few attempts to cross to the regiment's side of the river, but all efforts were turned back.

On 6 April 1945, A Company crossed the Rhine at 02:30 hours and immediately made contact with the enemy. Under heavy fire and in a minefield, the first wave of 504th troopers was split into two elements, each of which fought its way independently to the predesignated objective. There they rejoined forces, knocked out several machine gun nests, and established a roadblock. Using similar tactics, succeeding waves infiltrated the enemy and set up a defense in the village of Hitdorf. For a short time, all was calm. Company A was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for its action during this engagement.

Then the enemy counterattacked. The first counterattack was broken less than fifty yards from the perimeter, while the second was preceded by heavy artillery preparation. As enemy tanks and infantry closed in, the outnumbered and outgunned A Company fought its way back to the river's edge. The regiment sent I Company across to support the withdrawal. The 504th had lost only nine men to the enemy's 150, and 32 troopers were captured for 10 days and forced marched 100 km to Plettendorf, Germany then were liberated by elements of the 83rd Infantry Division. Whether the two companies achieved the higher aim of diverting enemy forces from a more important sector upstream is unknown. For the men involved, it was a small-scale "Dunkirk

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