This Deceased Army Profile is not currently maintained by any Member.
If you would like to take responsibility for researching and maintaining this Deceased profile please click
HERE
This Remembrance Profile was originally created by SGT Robert Briggs - Deceased
David L. Briggs was the son of Walter David Briggs and Florence Marie Briggs of Claremont, California he was born on August 18, 1924 in Los Angles, California. He enlisted in the Army on March 4, 1943 in Los Angles at 18 years of age.
He went through training and was with an Anti-tank Unit in Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi until he received orders to ship out in June of 1944 after a 2 week furlough. He was in Company F, 144th Infantry APO 15426 when he shipped out for Europe on August 24, 1944 aboard the Queen Mary. The crossing was smooth with out any excitement. After landing in England he was put on a train and whipped straight across the Country to another port to a boat that awaited them for shipment to France. He landed on a beach September 9, 1944 in France (Omaha) he was impressed at the number of ships unloading cargo and the beach was like an ant hill with people and trucks all running about. They were marched up a hill to a replacement pool with there large packs and duffel bags where soon trucks came to pick them up and he was on his way. Two hours later they arrived some where not far from St. Lo to another replacement depot. There they waited until a call was put in asking for so many men, this went on all across France. Finally they were all sent out to separate Units, two or three here and some there. He was sent to K Company 137th Infantry Regiment of the 35th Infantry Division he was a Private First Class at this time.
He was in the field and the CO asked for radio operators he had some experience so he volunteered the company did not have a radio sergeant he had been wounded several days before after several days PFC David L. Briggs was given the job as radio sergeant and promoted to acting Buck Sergeant (AJ) He did that job for awhile until the old radio sergeant returned to the Unit. He then requested to go on the line and get some action and was made assistant squad leader and fought as that up until the time he was wounded in October 1944, shrapnel wound from artillery. Upon returning to the Unit his previous position was taken so he was sent to another Platoon as an assistant squad leader this is the middle part of November 1944 he was awarded the Purple Heart. He was also awarded the Combat Infantry Badge on 1 December 1944 General Orders # 12 at the same time as Col. William S. Murray.
The day after returning to the Unit he was called to the Command Post to see the Commanding Officer who stated he had a good position for him if he could make the grade. He was then sent to the 3rd Battalion Command Post to talk to a certain Captain who asked him if he would be interested in the job of S-3 Sergeant which he accepted.
Acting Sergeant David L. Briggs remained in this position until March 7, 1945 when he was offered the chance to go to OfficersCandidateSchool if he could pass the tests. On March 10, 1945 he reported for his first day as an OCS candidate to OCS Class 8 outside of Paris, France with the 335th Reinforcement Company APO 545. Upon Graduation on 16 May 1945 after a 24 hour pass to Paris he returned to the 137th Infantry Regiment as a newly Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant where he was assigned to D Company 1st Battalion Heavy Weapons Platoon as Platoon Leader and Company Supply Officer. He was assigned an area to administer with his platoon in Germany during the Occupation.On July 9th 1945 his Unit was sent to Holland for an Honor ceremony and Parade, following that the 137th Infantry Regiment was sent to Brussels, Belgium to be an Honor Guard and Security for President Truman at Camp B-60 and the Airfield B-58 in Grimbergen, Belgium on July 15, 1945 Followed by another Awards Ceremony and parade at Chandler Base Section Brussels on July 20, 1945. On August 8, 1945 the Unit reported to Camp Lucky Strike to await orders to Return to the United States, those orders were received on the 22ndand the Unit sailed home on the SS Cristobal. On August 31, 1945 The ship docked in BostonHarbor and David received a 45 day R&R pass.
Returning to the Unit in Mid October 1945 at Camp Brecken Ridge, Kentucky Lt. Briggs was charged with operations of the mess halls with German PW’s working them and meeting the returning troops at the train station and getting them put in billets for out processing or transfer to other Units. He was one of the last Officers to leave Camp Brecken Ridge after deactivation. Lt Briggs was then assigned to the 5th Regiment of the 5th Infantry Division unassigned Officers Pool 35th at CampCampbell where he took part in the Victory Parade in Chicago in 1946. On November 20, 1946 he was assigned to the 605th Organized Reserve Composite Group Nevada/California where he remained until 1953 when he resigned his commission.
Second Lieutenant David L. Briggs received the following Awards and Medals;
Combat Infantry Badge
Bronze Star
Purple Heart
American Campaign Medal
Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal with 3 Bronze Star devices
Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Bar
World War Two Victory Medal
Presidential Unit Citation 137th Inf Regiment
Valorous Unit Citation
Honorable Discharge Lapel Pin
2 Overseas Bars
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Ardennes Alsace Campaign (1944-45)/Battle of the Bulge
From Month/Year
December / 1944
To Month/Year
January / 1945
Description The Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World War II in Europe. Hitler planned the offensive with the primary goal to recapture the important harbour of Antwerp. The surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard. United States forces bore the brunt of the attack and incurred the highest casualties for any operation during the war. The battle also severely depleted Germany's war-making resources.
The battle was known by different names. The Germans referred to it as Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein ("Operation Watch on the Rhine"), while the French named it the Bataille des Ardennes ("Battle of the Ardennes"). The Allies called it the Ardennes Counteroffensive. The phrase "Battle of the Bulge" was coined by contemporary press to describe the way the Allied front line bulged inward on wartime news maps and became the best known name for the battle.
The German offensive was supported by several subordinate operations known as Unternehmen Bodenplatte, Greif, and Währung. As well as stopping Allied transport over the channel to the harbor of Antwerp, Germany also hoped these operations would split the British and American Allied line in half, and then proceed to encircle and destroy four Allied armies, forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis Powers' favor. Once that was accomplished, Hitler could fully concentrate on the eastern theatre of war.
The offensive was planned by the German forces with the utmost secrecy, minimizing radio traffic and moving troops and equipment under cover of darkness. Despite their efforts to keep it secret, the Third U.S. Army's intelligence staff predicted a major German offensive, and Ultra indicated that a "substantial and offensive" operation was expected or "in the wind", although a precise date or point of attack could not be given. Aircraft movement from the Russian Front and transport of forces by rail, both to the Ardennes, was noticed but not acted upon, according to a report later written by Peter Calvocoressi and F. L. Lucas at the codebreaking centre Bletchley Park.
Near-complete surprise was achieved by a combination of Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with Allied offensive plans, and poor aerial reconnaissance. The Germans attacked a weakly defended section of the Allied line, taking advantage of heavily overcast weather conditions, which grounded the Allies' overwhelmingly superior air forces. Fierce resistance on the northern shoulder of the offensive around Elsenborn Ridge and in the south around Bastogne blocked German access to key roads to the northwest and west that they counted on for success; columns that were supposed to advance along parallel routes found themselves on the same roads. This and terrain that favored the defenders threw the German advance behind schedule and allowed the Allies to reinforce the thinly placed troops. Improved weather conditions permitted air attacks on German forces and supply lines, which sealed the failure of the offensive. In the wake of the defeat, many experienced German units were left severely depleted of men and equipment, as survivors retreated to the defenses of the Siegfried Line.
About 610,000 American forces were involved in the battle,[2] and 89,000 were casualties, including 19,000 killed. It was the largest and bloodiest battle fought by the United States in World War II.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
December / 1944
To Month/Year
January / 1945
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories ARDENNES FOREST Battle of the Bulge
During late September and early October the 137th Infantry Regiment along with the 35th Infantry Division was with General Patton?s 3rd Army in III Corps Control. And General Patton?s third Army was attacking the fortifications around the city of Metz. Supplies were in short demand, and being rationed by General Bradley. First Army got 5,400 tons a day, while Patton?s third Army, which was being used in a secondary role, got 3,100 tons daily. And to free the two Corps of the First Army for the attack, Bradley bolstered the central Ardennes front by moving up the small, newly organized U.S. Ninth Army (the 35th Infantry would be assigned there later in the Battle for the Rhine.) In the early Allied attacks on the West Wall, supply shortages caught up with one unit after another. Fuel for tanks and trucks was scarce. So was ammunition. Some outfits lacked the flamethrowers and explosives they needed to blast there way through the fortifications. There was no room in the truck convoys for winter clothing; with cold and snow coming on, the troops still wore the light weight outfits provided for the June landing in Normandy. Even food was in short supply, and strict rationing had to be imposed. Some units supplemented there combat rations with captured stockpiles of German food. Patton?s Third Army was to attack toward the Saar, and Devers?. On December 12th the Third Army was attacking across the Saar. It was around this time that Pfc. David L. Briggs was wounded and received the Purple Heart. General Bradley ordered Patton?s 10th Armored Division on the eve of his offensive in the Saar to proceed to the Ardennes, calling General Patton at his Headquarters in Nancy and got the response that he expected. Patton complained that the Germans were just trying to spoil his attack. But Bradley was firm, and Patton reluctantly but promptly put through the order that started the 10th Armored Division on its way to the Ardennes. On the night of December 17th a task force of the 10th Armored Division arrived from the south, and the following morning it launched a strong counter attack into Berdorf. The taskforce linked up with 1st Lt. John L. Leake and his 60 men at the Parc Hotel and also a Platoon of Armored Engineers, and together they engaged the Germans in fierce house to house fighting. On December 19th Eisenhower had a General Staff meeting to form a strategy to halt the Germans. They adopted the strategy of containment and counterattack, learned during WWI and taught there after at American Service Schools. Building strong positions on the flank of the enemy restricting the breakthrough to a narrow corridor; then they would sever the corridor and cut off the enemy troops heading for the Meuse. The counter attack, Eisenhower decided would be launched by Patton?s Third Army from the southern flank. General Patton?s Headquarters was in the city of Nancy 50 miles to the southeast. As Patton?s troops sliced northward through the German flank, they were to relieve the town of Bastogne, a vital and gravely threatened road center. Eisenhower asked Patton when he would be able to attack. ?On December 22nd, with three Divisions one of them is being the 35th Infantry, the 4th Armored, and the 26th Infantry. In the 4th Armored Division on December 26th in one of the lead units only four miles from Bastogne one of these units was the 37th Tank Battalion led by Lt. Colonel Creighton W. Abrams (who one day would be Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army). They were in Combat Command R, that night they were in Bastogne. They welcomed by the 326th Engineers of the 101st Airborne Division. Third Army Commander General George S. Patton had told his men to ?Drive like Hell,? they were resisted by the German 5th Parachute Division and several other units and many numerous anti-tank guns. They succeeded in reaching Bastogne in five days. The 137th Infantry Regiment was in Combat Command A. on December 31st Patton?s III Corps, led by the 6th Armored Division, and struck northeast toward Saint Vith. They ground painfully forward through Wardin, Neffe, And Bizory, roadways were covered with ice, tanks slipped and slid, and fighter bombers were grounded by snow flurries. And further east troops of the 26th Division attacking toward Wiltz, had to contend not only with bitter enemy resistance but also extremely difficult terrain rugged hills, ravines and icy streams. 30 December on this day four German in one of our jeeps, dressed in American uniforms, were killed, and another group of seventeen, also in American uniforms, were reported by the 35th Division as follows: ?one sentinel, reinforced, saw seventeen Germans in American uniforms. Fifteen were killed and two died suddenly.? On January 28th 1945 the Battle of the Bulge was over, at a cost of Americans 80,987 casualties, including 10,276 killed, 47,493 wounded, and 23,218 missing .casualties to the Germans were about 120,000 men.
