Steven K Dixon - 270th Engineer Combat Battalion in World War II

Merriam Press Military Monograph 68. Fifth Edition (March 2012). This is the story of the 270th Engineer Combat Battalion and its role in what Studs Terkel called “the Good War.” My grandfather was a combat engineer, assigned to the 270th Engineer Combat Battalion, 70th Infantry Division, and saw action from February to May 1945. I started trying to piece together my grandfather's service but had little to start with and obtaining more information was difficult. I tried contacting other member's of his grandfather's unit, but some did not respond. After seven years of research, interviews and hard work, I have pieced together a history of the unit, from their training with the 70th Infantry Division at Camp Adair, Oregon, to their movement overseas and arrival in France in January 1945, their journey to the front were they entered combat in early February 1945 in France and continues on through their operations up to the end of the war in Germany in May 1945. Included is much information on the duties of combat engineers: building of bridges, the placement and removal of minefields, the building and maintenance of roads, the detection and deactivation of booby traps, and the demolition of fortifications and anything else that stood in the way of the advancing American forces. Also covered is the equipment they used and the unit table of organization and equipment.

Contents: * Introduction; * The Strategic Situation; * The Training of Engineers; * 3-16 February 1945: General Actions; * March 1945; * April-May 1945; * Appendices: * Explanation of Serial Numbers; * Example of C/270 Morning Report; * Sample Minefield Report; * Officers of the 270th, 31 May 1945; * Bronze Star Recipients; * Other Awards; * 270th Casualties; * Order of Battle of C/270; * Infantry Perspective; * Bibliography; * 42 photos; * 13 maps; * 11 illustrations; * 2 tables.

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