Virgil Dowker

Military Service in the U.S. Army during World War II, seeing duty in the Ardennes and the Hurtgen Forest.

Alt. Death 23 May 1990

World War II Enlistment Record:

ARMY SERIAL NUMBER 36408385 36408385

NAME DOWKER#VIRGIL#M######### DOWKER#VIRGIL#M#########

RESIDENCE: STATE MICHIGAN

RESIDENCE: COUNTY OTSEGO

PLACE OF ENLISTMENT 6255 KALAMAZOO MICHIGAN

DATE OF ENLISTMENT DAY 06

DATE OF ENLISTMENT MONTH 11

DATE OF ENLISTMENT YEAR 42

GRADE: ALPHA DESIGNATION PVT# Private

GRADE: Private

BRANCH: ALPHA DESIGNATION BI# Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA

BRANCH: CODE 00 Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA

FIELD USE AS DESIRED # #

TERM OF ENLISTMENT Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law

LONGEVITY ### ###

SOURCE OF ARMY PERSONNEL Civil Life

NATIVITY MICHIGAN

YEAR OF BIRTH 21

RACE AND CITIZENSHIP White, citizen

EDUCATION 4 years of high school

CIVILIAN OCCUPATION Semiskilled occupations in manufacture of automobiles, n.e.c.

MARITAL STATUS 6 Single, without dependents

COMPONENT OF THE ARMY Selectees (Enlisted Men)

The Ardennes Offensive (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German offensive launched towards the end of World War II through the forested Ardennes Mountains region of Belgium (and more specifically of Wallonia: hence its French name, Bataille des Ardennes), France and Luxembourg on the Western Front. The offensive was called Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (translated as Operation The Guard on the Rhine or Operation "Watch on the Rhine") by the German armed forces (Wehrmacht). This German offensive was officially named the Ardennes-Alsace campaign[5] by the U.S. Army,[6] but it is known to the general public simply as the Battle of the Bulge. The “bulge” was the initial incursion the Germans put into the Allies’ line of advance, as seen in maps presented in contemporary newspapers.

The German offensive was supported by subordinate operations known as Unternehmen Bodenplatte, Unternehmen Greif, and Unternehmen Währung. Germany’s planned goal for these operations was to split the British and American Allied line in half, capturing Antwerp, Belgium, and then proceeding to encircle and destroy four Allied armies, forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis Powers’ favor.[7]

The offensive was planned with the utmost secrecy, minimizing radio traffic and conducting the movement of troops and equipment under cover of darkness. Although ULTRA suggested a possible attack and the Third U.S. Army's intelligence staff predicted a major German offensive, the offensive still caught the Allies by surprise. This was achieved by a combination of Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with their own offensive plans, poor aerial reconnaissance, and the relative lack of combat contact by the First U.S. Army in an area considered a "quiet sector". Almost complete surprise against a weak section of the Allies’ line was achieved during heavy overcast weather, when the Allies’ strong air forces would be grounded.

The objectives for the offensive were not realized. In the wake of the defeat, many experienced German units were left severely depleted of men and equipment, as survivors retreated to the defences of the Siegfried Line. With over 800,000 men committed and over 19,000 killed, the Battle of the Bulge became the single biggest and bloodiest battle that American forces experienced in World War II.

The Battle of Hürtgen Forest (German: Schlacht im Hürtgenwald) is the name given to the series of fierce battles fought between U.S. and German forces during World War II in the Hürtgen Forest, which became the longest battle on German ground during World War II, and the longest single battle the U.S. Army has ever fought in its history.[1] The battles took place between September 19, 1944, and February 10, 1945, over barely 50 square miles (129 km²), east of the Belgian–German border.

The U.S. commanders’ initial goal was to pin down German forces in the area to keep them from reinforcing the front lines further north, between Aachen and the Rur (Roer) River, where the Allies were fighting a trench war between a network of fortified towns and villages connected with field fortifications, tank traps, and minefields. A secondary objective may have been to outflank the front line. The Americans' initial objectives were to take Schmidt, clear Monschau, and advance to the Rur. Walter Model intended to bring the Allied thrust to a standstill. While he interfered less in the day-to-day movements of units than at Arnhem, he still kept himself fully informed on the situation, slowing the Allies' progress, inflicting heavy casualties and taking full advantage of the fortifications of the Germans called the Westwall, better known to the Allies as the Siegfried Line.

The Hürtgen Forest cost the U.S. First Army at least 33,000 killed and incapacitated, including both combat and noncombat losses; Germans casualties were between 12,000 and 16,000. Aachen eventually fell on October 22, again at high cost to the U.S. Ninth Army. The Ninth Army's push to the Roer River fared no better, and did not manage to cross the river or wrest control of its dams from the Germans. Hürtgen was so costly that it has been called an Allied "defeat of the first magnitude", with specific credit being assigned to Model.[2][3]:391

The Germans fiercely defended the area for two reasons: it served as a staging area for the Ardennes Offensive (what became the Battle of the Bulge) that was already in preparation, and the mountains commanded access to the Schwammenauel Dam[4] at the head of the Rur Lake (Rurstausee) which, if opened, would flood low-lying areas downstream and deny any crossing of the river. The Allies only recognized this after several heavy setbacks, and the Germans were able to hold the region until they launched their final major, last-ditch offensive on the Western Front, into the Ardennes