HEADQUARTERS  1171ST  ENGR  COMBAT  GROUP

19  November 1944

SUBJECT:   Commendation.

To             :    Commanding  General,  V  Corps ...............U.  S.  Army

          1.    On the occasion of the detachment of the 146th Engineer Combat Battalion from my command I wish to make of record my appreciation of the outstanding work performed by the battalion. In the period from the initial attachment of the battalion to the morning of  6 November, and from 8 November to the present date, the battalion was engaged in engineering tasks. It performed these assignments in an exceptionally competent manner. It was,  however, on the 6th and 7th of November that the battalion did its finest work and wrote an inspiring chapter in the History of the Combat Engineers. An enemy attack on the morning of 6 November drove back the infantry of the 28th Division (to which our group was attached) into the middle of Vossenack, a vital point on the line of communication of our forces in the Kommerscheidt area. In the early afternoon the battalion was ordered to move forward as infantry, first to reinforce the defense of the town, and then to drive the enemy out of it. The situation was critical. the enemy was within 100 yards of the infantry battalion CP in the center of town. The infantry aided by tanks were holding on but in the opinion of the senior infantry commander present could continue the defense for less than an hour.

          2.    The battalion (less Company "B"), amounting to approximately 250 officers and men, moved forward across the fire swept area west of the town. By dark the situation had stabilized and it had regained a little of the ground lost. At this time the battalion commander was directed to take over the command of a part of the 1340th Engr Combat Battalion to the south of the town, of detachments of the 20th Engr Combat Battalion, and of the remaining infantry; to organize the defense of the town for the night of 6-7 November; and in conjunction with some tanks to attack in the morning. These various units were welded into a defense plan for the night, and an attack plan coordinating the efforts of the tanks and engineers was improvised. At 070800 November the battalion and the tanks attacked in the face of heavy artillery and mortar fire. By dusk, when relieving infantry arrived, the enemy had been driven out of the town except for a few houses on the eastern fringe. While the battalion had suffered casualties of over 20 per cent, it had held this key position in our lines and had itself captured over 130 enemy.

           3.    In my opinion this action forms a bright page in the history of the employment of Combat Engineers as infantry and should be a source of lasting pride to every man and officer of the unit.

/s/  E. K. Daley

/t/  E.  K. DALEY

     Colonel  CE.

      Commanding