Phillip Leveque, HQ, 354th Infantry

ASTP: Alchemy For A Foxhole-A Salute to the ASTP Men

Hitler and Goebbels drilled into their troops that American soldiers were former store clerks or criminals who had been let out of prison to go into the Army. Particularly good, successful soldiers were called "Roosevelt's butchers". The soldiers who were called this were immensely proud of the appellation, which in their own minds meant that they were "real" soldiers and finally had "arrived". The Germans were good and they recognized a worthy enemy.

Basic training to get the foundation towards becoming a soldier is something no dogface wanted to go through more than once. Drill sergeants in charge of basic training were never known for any niceties of any description. For a rookie to be screamed at by a drill sergeant four inches from his face with no recourse whatsoever is nobody's idea of fun. The name of the game was to totally demoralize or depersonalize the recruit so that he would follow orders without stopping to think a microsecond. Immediate obedience was and is the name of the game. The Army command idea is that if a soldier follows an order immediately, then all will be well and the soldier will succeed and make his sergeant or officer proud of him and make the sergeant or officer eligible for decorations and promotions. It did not work that way. The Army history of World War Two produced some incredible blunders, which cost the lives of thousands of dogfaces.

Perhaps I should explain the derivation of the term "dogface". He lived in "pup tents" and foxholes. We were treated like dogs in training. We had dog tags for identification. The basic story is that wounded soldiers in the Civil War had tags tied to them with string indicating the nature of their wounds. The tags were like those put on a pet dog or horse, but I can't imagine anybody living in a horse tent or being called a horserace. Correctly speaking, only Infantrymen are called dogfaces. Much of the time we were filthy, cold and wet as a duck hunting dog and we were ordered around sternly and loudly like a half-trained dog.

An Infantryman has one symbol of great pride not given to any other branch. The Combat Infantry Badge or C.I.B. The only equivalent is the Combat Medics Badge. These guys were unarmed and probably suffered more casualties than dogfaces. The Red Cross on their helmets and armbands was a handy target and they were supposed to be protected by the Geneva Convention. That didn't work either.

The American blunders started in North Africa, most notably at the Battle of Kasserine Pass in Tunisia in 1943. The Americans lost 6000 dead, wounded or captured and the General responsible was promoted and sent home to a heroes welcome. Salerno, in 1943, and Anzio in 1944 were worse disasters with 72,000 casualties at Anzio. The inept General was sent home. The dogfaces stayed there.

In Normandy, we lost 1000 men on D-Day in a few hours. We had 60,0O0 total casualties including one dead three star General killed by our own bombers. In The Hurtgen forest, 23,000 more young men were casualties. The worst was yet to come which involved, to a great extent, the ASTP soldiers who were at dozens of colleges. The ASTP were the cream of the crop of the draftees training to be officers and senior non-coins.

I don't know how many ASTP men there were but I would guess about I50, 000. With the frightfully mounting Infantry casualties in 1943, the Army pulled them back into the real Army. They were not fully trained to be officers or non-coins so where did they end up? Yep, you guessed it...mostly Infantry privates. After Normandy, they were sent to Aachen, Metz and The Hurtgen where several divisions were virtually destroyed.

The First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Twenty-eighth and Ninety-ninth to mention only a few, were savagely devastated. The Second, Fourth, Twenty-eighth, and Ninety-ninth were badly crippled and sent to the Ardennes to recuperate and get new replacements for the men lost in the fall of 1944. The One Hundred Sixth Division newly arrived to the front, was right in the middle of the attack now known as the Battle of The Bulge. Probably many of the One Hundred and Sixth were ASTP men.

The One Hundred Sixth Division was virtually destroyed in the first 48 hours. About 20,000 men were captured, wounded or dead. The Twenty-Eighth Division, although badly mangled in The Hurtgen, were the true heroes of Bastogne...not necessarily the 101 Airborne...which were, however, the elite troops with good PR. If the 28th ragged veterans and green replacements hadn't slowed down the German Juggernaut, the 101st would never have gotten to Bastogne to make their glorious defense. The intrepidity of the 28th is rarely mentioned probably because it was heavily damaged at The Hurtgen and then practically obliterated before Bastogne, with very few survivors.

The victory in the Battle of the Bulge was enabled, to a large extent, by the ASTP men~ as replacements for previous casualties. They were definitely not store clerks or criminals. Neither were the rest of the troops. About 300,000 Infantry, Artillery, Tankers, and Engineers were the front line troops. Another 300,000 supported and supplied them.

American casualties at the Bulge were 81,000 with 15,000 captured and 19,000 killed (mostly dogfaces). The British casualties were 1,400 with 200 killed. The Germans learned their lesson fighting with "store clerks and criminals". They started with 500,000 men. An estimated 100,000 were killed, wounded or captured. This was their last big battle.

The American dogface, far from being an automaton with mindless response to orders, proved his mettle in The Ardennes. What had been the dross of a peace-minded civilian, not mad at anybody, had by his own alchemy turned into a 24 carat fighting machine. A veteran was one who survived his first hour of combat. Many did not.

Most of the Divisions in the Bulge saw little action afterwards. In destroying the German offense they themselves had been ground to debility. They deserved whatever surcease and rest they could get. If anyone truly deserved it, they did. The next five months wasn't easy, but nothing like the Dark December of 1944.

or being called a horserace. Correctly speaking, only Infantrymen are called dogfaces. Much of the time we were filthy, cold and wet as a duck hunting dog and we were ordered around sternly and loudly like a half-trained dog.

An Infantryman has one symbol of great pride not given to any other branch. The Combat Infantry Badge or C.I.B. The only equivalent is the Combat Medics Badge. These guys were unarmed and probably suffered more casualties than dogfaces. The Red Cross on their helmets and armbands was a handy target and they were supposed to be protected by the Geneva Convention. That didn't work either.

The American blunders started in North Africa, most notably at the Battle of Kasserine Pass in Tunisia in 1943. The Americans lost 6000 dead, wounded or captured and the General responsible was promoted and sent home to a heroes welcome. Salerno, in 1943, and Anzio in 1944 were worse disasters with 72,000 casualties at Anzio. The inept General was sent home. The dogfaces stayed there.

In Normandy, we lost 1000 men on D-Day in a few hours. We had 60,0O0 total casualties including one dead three star General killed by our own bombers. In The Hurtgen forest, 23,000 more young men were casualties. The worst was yet to come which involved, to a great extent, the ASTP soldiers who were at dozens of colleges. The ASTP were the cream of the crop of the draftees training to be officers and senior non-coins.

I don't know how many ASTP men there were but I would guess about I50, 000. With the frightfully mounting Infantry casualties in 1943, the Army pulled them back into the real Army. They were not fully trained to be officers or non-coins so where did they end up? Yep, you guessed it...mostly Infantry privates. After Normandy, they were sent to Aachen, Metz and The Hurtgen where several divisions were virtually destroyed.

The First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Twenty-eighth and Ninety-ninth to mention only a few, were savagely devastated. The Second, Fourth, Twenty-eighth, and Ninety-ninth were badly crippled and sent to the Ardennes to recuperate and get new replacements for the men lost in the fall of 1944. The One Hundred Sixth Division newly arrived to the front, was right in the middle of the attack now known as the Battle of The Bulge. Probably many of the One Hundred and Sixth were ASTP men.

The One Hundred Sixth Division was virtually destroyed in the first 48 hours. About 20,000 men were captured, wounded or dead. The Twenty-Eighth Division, although badly mangled in The Hurtgen, were the true heroes of Bastogne...not necessarily the 101 Airborne...which were, however, the elite troops with good PR. If the 28th ragged veterans and green replacements hadn't slowed down the German Juggernaut, the 101st would never have gotten to Bastogne to make their glorious defense. The intrepidity of the 28th is rarely mentioned probably because it was heavily damaged at The Hurtgen and then practically obliterated before Bastogne, with very few survivors.

The victory in the Battle of the Bulge was enabled, to a large extent, by the ASTP men~ as replacements for previous casualties. They were definitely not store clerks or criminals. Neither were the rest of the troops. About 300,000 Infantry, Artillery, Tankers, and Engineers were the front line troops. Another 300,000 supported and supplied them.

American casualties at the Bulge were 81,000 with 15,000 captured and 19,000 killed (mostly dogfaces). The British casualties were 1,400 with 200 killed. The Germans learned their lesson fighting with "store clerks and criminals". They started with 500,000 men. An estimated 100,000 were killed, wounded or captured. This was their last big battle.

The American dogface, far from being an automaton with mindless response to orders, proved his mettle in The Ardennes. What had been the dross of a peace-minded civilian, not mad at anybody, had by his own alchemy turned into a 24 carat fighting machine. A veteran was one who survived his first hour of combat. Many did not.

Most of the Divisions in the Bulge saw little action afterwards. In destroying the German offense they themselves had been ground to debility. They deserved whatever surcease and rest they could get. If anyone truly deserved it, they did. The next five months wasn't easy, but nothing like the Dark December of 1944.