The 289th's principal combat assignments in the Alsace and Rhineland included serving as infantry to protect an important road junction near Saint-Avold, France, deployment under the command of the French First Army in clearing German troops from the Colmar Pocket during the Nazi Operation Nordwind offensive; ferrying assault troops across the Saar River near Saarbrücken Germany; escorting an ambulance corps across the Rhine at Worms near Mannheim; and ferrying troops and equipment across the Neckar River near Heidelberg.
Following these the battalion moved east towards Würzburg to support the assault of that city. In the latter stages of the War it campaigned south and southeast through communities straddling the states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. Company B continued on assisting rapidly moving armor in the Seventh Army's race to head off German entrenchment in a feared National Redoubt and seal off Alpine passes to Nazi escape.
By early May forward elements of the battalion were spread as far afield as Austria and northern Italy. VE-Day found the Headquarters & Supply company and remaining components of the 289th in Göppingen near Stuttgart.
The 289th served occupation duty in three locations in southwest Germany before beginning its return to the United States via Antwerp, Belgium in August 1945.
In the ETO the 289th was attached directly to the XXI Corps of the Seventh Army, U.S. Sixth Army Group. As a combat service support unit operating at corps level, the 289th was deployed as needed in whole or part, with companies and platoons often temporarily attached to other field commands. Thus it was common for elements of the latter to be far afoot of the unit's official location wherever its Headquarters & Supply company was stationed.[a]
Upon arrival in France the battalion traveled southeast by rail in 40&8s, stopping in Forges-les-Eaux and Lunéville before arriving at Fort de la Mouche in Epinal. In mid-January the unit was ordered to serve as infantry defending a key road junction near Saint-Avold connecting the heavily contested French fortress city of Metz, the Alsatian capital of Strasbourg, and the German city of Saarbrücken. The battalion's 30-cal and 50-cal gun crews were deployed to the north to strengthen a badly over-stretched Seventh Army line depleted when elements were detached to fill the vacuum created when General George Patton's Third Army raced north to the Ardennes to relieve the besieged 101st Airborne at Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge.[b]
In late January and early February the 289th was briefly deployed as part of XXI Corps under the command of French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny's French First Army in its effort to clear attacking German troops from the Colmar Pocket during the Operation Nordwind offensive.[10] Nordwind's intent was to drive a wedge through the weakened Allied defenses in the Alsace to prevent reinforcement to the north against its main thrust toward the coveted Allied port of Antwerp and badly needed supplies staged there. Strasbourg was successfully defended, and XXI Corp restored to the US Seventh Army.
Immediately following this the 289th moved near Saarbrücken, where it refined its training and acquired combat engineering materials in preparation for joining in Operation Undertone, the Allied invasion of the Saarland set to commence on 15 March. Battalion engineers ferried infantry across the Saar in the breaching of the vaunted Siegfried Line 17–20 March; followed by support over the Rhine near Mannheim 30 March; and ferry and pontoon bridge construction assistance over the Neckar near Heidelberg 31 March.[11] From there the 289th moved successively eastward closer to Würzburg through 18 April on the heels of the retreating Germans.
It then pivoted south through badly ravaged Crailsheim in several short encampments over the next three weeks, facing diminishing German resistance in areas then falling well behind rapidly advancing front lines. In late April Company B was tasked to support the fast-moving 12th Armored Division[10] in its drive deep into Bavaria to prevent the establishment of a German National Redoubt. With engineers building bridges as fast as the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS could blow them, the 12th roared toward the finish in the Seventh Army's race to the Alps to seal off the Brenner Pass to Nazi escape;[12] a prize nabbed at the wire by the rival 103rd Infantry Division on 4 May. VE Day was celebrated four days later with H&S company stationed in Göppingen, 20 miles southeast of Stuttgart, and forward elements of the 289th having sprawled as far afield as Austria[13] and northern Italy before war's end.[10]
Remaining there into August 1945, the 289th was transferred via train through the Netherlands to Belgium to ship out for deployment to the Pacific Theater in preparation for the invasion of Japan. It departed Antwerp 14 August 1945,[17] and was abreast of the White Cliffs of Dover in the English Channel when the announcement of the Japanese surrender on VJ Day, 15 August, was broadcast to all aboard. The transport was then re-routed to the United States, and arrived at Boston Port of Embarkation on 28 August.[18] Members of the unit were processed through Camp Myles Standish and detached to bases nearest their homes to be demobilized.
The unit itself remained active, serving as a shell for repatriating troops as part of Operation Magic Carpet at least into January 1946.[19]
As a combat engineer battalion, the 289th furnished combat support essential to sustaining operating forces in the theater of war.[20] These spanned such diverse activities as construction, demolition, sanitation, map production, minefield clearing, and unit intelligence.
Aiding the 12th Armored Division in rapid bridge construction during the Seventh Army's race into southern Bavaria to prevent the establishment of a German National Redoubt and seal off alpine passes to Nazi escape.[10]
Timeline
Travels of the 289th by mapmaker Technician Five John T. Bartolomeo, distributed to members of the Battalion commemorating the end of World War II
The 289th traveled as a unit from the U.S. to Saint-Avold, France. Once in the combat zone assignments frequently separated its companies or broke them into smaller outfits, often in support of other units. The travel and encampment dates below reflect the location of the battalion's Headquarters & Supply Company as established in the "Travels of the 289th":
^No official history of the 289th Engineer Combat Battalion was ever compiled, and the individual records of those who served were destroyed in the 1973 National Personnel Records Center fire in Overland, Missouri. Its activities have been reconstructed from extant records, including a Summary History of the 289th Engineer Combat Battalion - WW II, an unofficial unit history compiled by commanding officer Lt. Col. Linnel Wallace on file at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center,[10] oral and video histories of unit members preserved as part of the Library of Congress Veterans History Project, and information contained in the "Travels of the 289th" compiled by Technician Five John T. Bartolomeo, as well as cross-referencing the histories and available records of units the 289th was detached to, supported, or was engaged along with in the ETO.
^40 m. SW of Dinkelsbühl. According to "Travels of the 289th" the unit passed through Bopfingen (35 m. slightly NE, near Nördlingen) between Dinkelsbühl and Göppingen. Bartolomeo's mapping conventions suggests it bivouacked there, but there is no individual entry for it in the calendar section of the artwork.
^Program of the 289th Engineer Combat Battalion Reunion, Vicksburg, Mississippi, 11 October 1997. Page 2, Remembering Our Tour of Duty: "The 289th Engineer Combat Battalion was activated at Camp Robinson, Arkansas and began training on December 30, 1943."
^History of the 299th Combat Battalion: [3] "The Battalion arrived in Fort Pierce during the night of 14 December 1943...Two days after our arrival, a cadre was drawn from our unit and sent to Camp Robinson, Arkansas, to activate the 289th Engineer Combat Battalion."
^Niagara Falls Gazette: [4] Article on promotion of Corporal Clarence R. Jackson, 17 February 1944
^Depart Camp Kilmer, New York POE, aboard SS Sea Owl[5] "The Battalion departed from Camp Kilmer for New York on October 21. The Atlantic crossing was made on the Sea Owl on 31 October 1944."
^ abcdefWallace, Linnel, Lt. Col., Commanding Officer, Summary History of the 289th Engineer Combat Battalion - WW II, 1990, U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle, PA
^VI Corps Engineers First ponton across the river in Heidelberg: [6] The ferry was operated by the 289th Eng Combat Bn.
^Arrive Boston, 28 August 1945 [11]Pittsfield Berkshire Evening Eagle: "The Pittsfield soldiers who arrived this morning at 8:30 at Commonwealth pier in Boston on the S.S. Claymont Victory are..."
^Going Home -1946 My Final Days of Military Service, Joe Lipsius, Headquarters 272nd Infantry Regiment: [12] "In early January 1946, I [had been promoted to commander of the 3rd Battalion 311th, now stationed in the port town of Bremerhaven] boarded a Liberty Ship (I think this was the name of those small war-built transports) as part of the 289 Combat Engineer Battalion headed for the good ole USA and civilian life once again. The 289th was just a shipment Unit for the troops headed home. The boat had about 900. "
^Department of the Army Field Manual No. 4-0, Chapter 1[13] The Engineering element of providing the essential capabilities, functions, activities, and tasks necessary to sustain all elements of operating forces in theater at all levels of war.
^ ab70th Infantry Division, 270th ECB: [14] Documents: AAR Mar 45: "Liaison was established with the 1150th Engineer Combat Group and it was decided that the 289th Engineer Combat Battalion would be responsible for the assault boat crossing of the river." (map)
^70th Infantry Organic Units Roster:[15] Attached Units - Engineer
^70th Infantry Division, 270th ECB: [16] Documents: AAR Mar 45: "By the evening of the 20th of March the Division had completely crossed the SAAR RIVER and the following bridges were in place:...3. Infantry Support Bridge at VOLKLINGEN (Constructed by 289th Engineers)" (map)
^Image of infantry support bridge over Saar erected by 3rd Platoon, Company B, 289th Engineers
