Скачать или смотреть 333rd Field Artillery Battalion at Schönberg, Belgium; October 20, 1944

With the rapid German advances in the Ardennes beginning on December 16, 1944, the 333rd FAB was ordered to displace. The battalion assigned to VII Corps, First Army and was providing support to the 106th Infantry Division and 14th Cavalry Group. Preparing to be overrun, support units in the vicinity of St. Vith were ordered displace. The 106th ID artillery commander requested C Battery and Service Battery of the 333rd FAB remain in place at Schönberg to continue supporting the defense of the area. Despite firing many fire missions, the line could not hold, and German forces reached Schönberg on December 17. Soldiers of C and Service Battery split up and tried to displace to reach the safety of their own lines. A small group of these soldiers wound up in the village of Wereth, about 4-5 miles from Schönberg.

There seems to be a fair amount of speculation about the events, but what is known is the following: a civilian sympathetic to the Germans betrayed the presence of men in Wereth to German forces. Waffen-SS soldiers took 11 333rd FAB soldiers into a field and they were summarily executed (and ostensibly beaten). Overshadowed by the massacre at Malmedy, the story of the "Wereth 11" remained virtually unheard of until about 20 years ago. There is now a monument to commemorate the bravery of the soldiers and the atrocity that took place on December 17, 1944.

In the footage, men of the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion run drills with their 155mm Howitzer M1 (later M114) in October 1944 shortly after arriving at the front in Belgium.

Footage Source: NARA, 111-ADC-2603

#333rdartillerybattalion #333rd #wereth11 #WorldWarII #WWII #ww2 #artillery #reenactment #reenactor #wwiireenactor #militaria #militariacollector #veteran #usarmy #155mm #fieldartillery #wwiiveteran #stvith #sanktvith #schönberg #blacksoldiers #blackhistory #africanamericanhistory #buffalosoldier #battleofthebulge #blackhistory #blackhistoryeveryday
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GI Stories on Instagram:   / g.i.stories41_45  
GI Stories on Facebook:   / gistories4145  
Support GI Stories: https://ko-fi.com/gistories