info on 363rd and 369th Engineers

[pdfenzel]

I found an obit for Edward Rhoades Badger; "Mr. Badger served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army 369th Engineer Combat Battalion, in Europe during World War II, in General Patton's Third Army Group."

 

The 369th Engineer Combat Battalion Constituted 19 October 1944 in the Army of the United States as the 369th Engineer Combat Battalion and organized 31 December 1944 from personnel of the 215th Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion at Marignone, France.

 

215th AAA Gun Bn organized 20 Jan 1943, parent unit & location unknown.

215th was part of the 31st AAA Brigade, date & location unit joined the 31st unknown.

Activities of the 31st AAA Brigade can be found at:

http://www.airdefens...an-Feb 1948.pdf

31st AAA Brigade arrived Oran, North Africa 13 May 1943, assigned to 5th Army, moved to Constantine, Algeria 1 June 43, moved to Hammamet, Tunisia 9 -14 July 43,btwn 31 Oct & 19 Nov 43 moved to Sardinia & Corsica. Landed at St. Tropaz, Southern France on D+7 (August 22, 44) relieved the 105th AAA Group in control of the beach defences. Moved to Marseilles set up defences of Marseilles, Toulon, & Port de Bouc.

 

No locations for the 215th AAA Gun Bn are mentioned in the 31st Brigade accounts.

The 215th`s only campaign credit for Rome-Arno shows they were on Sardinia/Corsica but no credit for Southern France tells me they probably stayed on Sardinia/Corsica & were later moved to France to be converted to the 369th ECB.

 

The 215th AAA Gun Battalion was disbanded on 31 Dec 1944 and reorganized as the 369th Engineer Combat Battalion on 31 Dec 1944 at Marignone, France.

Apparently the 369th ECB was assigned to Third Army according to Mr Badgers obit.

 

Being a converted unit, the 369th was most likey placed in an Engineer Group under Army control, or possibly assigned to a Corps, but not under any infantry division except temporarily for possibly in support of a river crossing.

 

The 369th ECB has campiagn credits for Central Europe & Rhineland & Occupation duty Germany 2 May - 29 Sept 1945. The unit was at Oberhausen, Germany at the end of World War II (15 August 1945 location).

My father, Alfred Fenzel, was a 1st Lt. in the 215th AAA when they shipped out to North Africa in 1943. They arrived safely in Casablanca, but the ship carrying their guns was torpedoed by a U-Boat. They had to wait a few weeks before new AAA guns arrived. After North Africa the 215th landed in Sicily at Porto Empedocle just south of Agrigento. One reason he was able to land his guns so quickly is that the transport's Captain went to the same high school in Brooklyn, St. Michael's Prep. They quickly moved north through Agrigento, so quickly that the batallion commander was chewed out by Gen. Patton for getting on the road ahead of Patton's 7th Army, which landed east of Agrigento and had to march west before heading north. One comical event occurred during the advance to Palermo. Three guys from th 215th encountered a pretty young mother who was in tears. She wept because her freedom loving husband, who loved Roosevelt and America, was held in the Carbinieri's jail nearby. Well those three knuckleheads believed her, and staged an armed jailbreak, releasing the freedom loving citizen, who turned out to be the head of the local black market. The town mayor and Chief of Police wrote a formal complaint to my father who commanded the nearest company of the 215th. (My father kept the letter and I read it a few weeks ago.) They demanded the arrest of the perpetrators of the jailbreak. Dad had his First Sgt. bring the three culprits to him to hear their tale, and later told the Carbinieri and the Mayor to come back the next day. The next morning the entire company was lined up in full battle dress with helmets, packs, and weapons. Dad said to the mayor, "Pick 'em out." which they obviously could not do, so they left very unhappily but without any recourse. The three knuckleheads were assigned latrine duty for a week.