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134th Infantry Regiment"All Hell Can't Stop Us" |
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134th Infantry Regiment"All Hell Can't Stop Us" |
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Inauguration of the plaque dedicated to the 35th Infantry Divsion near the church in La Meauffe, France with the French delegation, the Mayor of La Meauffe, and veterans of the 134th Infantry Regiment.
Playing of Taps (American and French)
Ceremony in the cemetery at La Meauffe, France
Ceremony in St. Georges Moncoq, France. Plaque (on right) was dedicated to the 134th Infantry Regiment, 35th Division in 1994.
General Krass and the Mayor of St. Georges Moncoq
Veterans of the 134th Infantry Regiment by the plaque at St. Georges Moncoq, France - Left to right, Floris Garner, Dan Craig, Robert Fowler, and Bruce Randall
Mr. Robert Fowler, veteran of the 134th Infantry Regiment at the Memorial of la Madelaine in St. Lo. He is pointing to a 1944 photograph of himself digging a foxhole near St. Lo.
July 1944 photograph of 35th Division Solidiers in La Meauffe
July 1944 photograph of the church in La Meauffe
My thanks to Mr. Igor Letribot, curator of the Memorial of la Madelaine in St. Lo, for providing the photographs. Mr. Letribot's Email address is Igorl64@aol.com
In July 1944, the Regiment saw its first combat in the battle for St. Lo, France. La Meauffe and St. Georges Moncoq are two small towns in the vicinity of St. Lo that have memorials dedicated to the 134th Infantry Regiment, 35th Division. The following description of the battle near La Meauffe is taken from Chapter 3 of the unit history book Presenting the 35th Infantry Division in World War II, 1941 - 1945.
"At La Meauffe every house and shop had been converted by the Germans into individual pillboxes. From behind hastily constructed barricades they poured forth streams of hot bullets and flesh-ripping grenades. But the Infantry did not falter. With full confidence in the precision of their artillery fire, they advanced steadily behind each well-placed salvo and wiped out nests of resistance.
Battling against fierce resistance, through entrenched positions, the men moved up the main road to famed "Purple Heart Corner." Here, in a solid stone chateau, behind a seven-foot granite wall, had been the Gestapo Headquarters. The Germans had studded it with machine guns which covered the road with withering fire. More Santa Fe men fell. But the steady advance was not to be stopped. By now the Santa Fe's troops had tasted battle. The initial nervousness and fear that besets each man in combat had lost its newness. The Boche, they had discovered, was not an impregnable superman. He was a good fighter, but the doughboys had taken the best he had to offer and had driven him back.
Despite the loss of ground and many prepared positions, the enemy continued to fight stubbornly. A few hundred yards down the road, beyond "Purple Heart Corner," was his key defense in the area, the Church and the Chateau at St. Gilles. The Church was one of those pretty monuments that are often seen near the roadside in France. Erected in 1718 by the Corps de Denis, it stood sturdily by its quaint and well-kept cemetery, surrounded by several small buildings used by the church officials. The Church itself was built of sandstone and, like most edifices of that area, had walls eighteen inches in thickness. It was surmounted by a bell tower about fifty feet in height.
The beauty and sanctity of this haven did not prevent the enemy from converting it into a veritable fortress. It bristled with firepower and atop the bell tower was a German machine gun nest that commanded the approaches to the area. Close behind the church was a chateau, another thick-walled building with excellent facilities for fortification. To this building the enemy added embellishments of his own devising."
Postcards of the Memorial of la Madelaine in St. Lo dedicated in 1994 in honor of the 35th and 29th Infantry Division Solidiers who liberated St. Lo and the St. Lo area in July 1944. Mr. Igor Letribot is the curator of the Memorial of la Madelaine.
CLICK HERE to go to the unit history book Presenting the 35th Infantry Division in World War II, 1941 - 1945
CLICK HERE to see maps of the area around La Meaffe where many of the battles took place
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