By BILL WELCH
Morning News city editor
You don't always read about the smaller, battalion-sized units and their roles in World War II.
They do get mentioned, deep inside the bigger histories - they're usually the specialized
battalions that were attached off and on to divisions.
Be sure to remember one of those battalions, says Erie's Len Wroblewski. Remember the 275th Armored Field Artillery Battalion.
They drove tanks that had been
modified. The standard turrets had been removed and 105mm howitzers put in their place. The 275th went into action in October 1944. By December, it was a veteran outfit, sent to back up the 106th Infantry
Division, newly arrived from the U.S. The 106th and the 275th were in the quiet Ardennes Forest.
The German offensive on Dec. 16, 1944, was launched directly at the 106th and its attached battalions. Like
the 28th Infantry Division to its south, the 106th found itself overwhelmed. Within a few days, two-thirds of the division's troops were German prisoners.""Things had been pretty slow,'' Wroblewski, now
retired. ""There was no action there. We were still hoping the war might be over by Christmas.""Then all hell broke loose. One colonel told our colonel to get out. But our colonel,
Roy Clay, said we came to fight. "Supply us with ammo and we'll fight.'''The 275th withdrew on Dec. 17 to the vital town of St. Vith. The German timetable required that St. Vith be taken early in the
offensive. That wouldn't happen. Also arriving at St. Vith was Combat Command B of the 7th Armored Division. Just south of them was the 112th Regimental Combat Team, part of the 28th Division.
The
7th Armored commander, Gen. Bruce Clark met up with Col. Clay. There, according to accounts of the battle, Clay went to the point.""I want to shoot.'' Clarke, whose own artillery hadn't arrived,
took him up on the offer.The German army made repeated attempts to take St. Vith but was driven back repeatedly, stopped by the 7th Armored and by the artillery support it received.""We were firing in all
directions a few times,'' Wroblewski said, meaning the Germans were coming from all directions.""We knew that was not good, but when you're young like that, you don't think about it. You just do your
job. You're fighting for your country.''
As a sergeant, Wroblewski drove and helped handle the ammunition for the 105mm guns. The guns were fired so often, they had to cool the barrels with water.Army historian
Charles MacDonald did preserve the 275th's action in his book, ""A Time for Trumpets.''
In an attack on the 18th, ""Artillery of the 7th Armored and of the 275th Armored Field Artillery Battalion
responded with alacrity. Germans fell left and right, yet others ... continued to rush forward.''The Germans were attacking on Dec. 21. ""With strong support from the 275th Armored Field Artillery
Battalion, the Americans ... nevertheless turned back one German battalion and allowed only a few men from the other to get into the fringe of the village.''
At times the guns of the 275th, including Wroblewski's C
Battery, had to fire directly at oncoming German infantry.""Our outposts were attacked by German infantry at night. They used flamethrowers and got quite a few of our guys - mostly forward observers and
radio operators. When we turned our guns on them, we stopped them.
''The battalion is credited with virtually destroying two German regiments with its fire during the defense of St.Vith.Wroblewski remembers it as a
time of bitter, zero-degree cold, snow and chaos. They had no time to cook food, relying on K-rations instead.""The thing is, we never realized we were in such a big battle until after the war,'' he said.
Once scene he can't forget.""We went into this building and saw it was filled with the bodies of American GIs. They were frozen solid in whatever shape they had been found. The bodies were kept in the
building until they could be identified and buried.''
Eventually, the scratched together U.S. forces were pushed out of St. Vith, withdrawing to what would be the northern shoulder of the German bulge into the Western
front.
The 275th continued to provide artillery support throughout the month-long battle, continuing on the defensive and then shifting to the offense as the bulge was closed off and places like St. Vith
retaken. The 275th would be attached to the 30th Infantry Division and later to the 8th Armored Division in the campaign into Germany.
Once the war in Europe was over, the 275th was shipped home, not to disband,
but to have a 30-day furlough and then head for the war against Japan.""We were one of the best artillery units in Europe. That's why they were going to send us to Japan,'' Wroblewski said proudly.
For
its actions at the Battle of the Bulge, the 275th received the Presidential Unit Citation.He and wife Rita have 11 children and 28 grandchildren. He has been to two reunions of the old battalion.
