#126: Go For Broke, Part IV

No one believed in them when the unit was first stood up, but after a short time in combat, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team proved their mettle and soon had commanders at the army and corps level negotiating for their service. Because of this, they left Italy for France, saved a cut off battalion, and then came back to Italy to spearhead the finally victory against the Axis in that country. Its artillery battalion was detached to become a roaming battalion, the only Nisei unit to fight in Germany where it helped to liberate a satellite location of the Dachau death camp.

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Transcript

Welcome back to another Ghosts of the Pacific edition of Ghosts of Arlington, and thank you for joining me for Episode 126: Go For Broke, Part IV.

Last week, we looked at the establishment of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which came about in part because of the 100th Infantry Battalion destroying prejudices and stereotypes during their basic training.

After the 442nd finished its initial training, it was sent to Italy. The 100th had already been fighting in Italy for several months and the majority of the members of 1st Battalion 442nd had been sent to Italy as replacements for the 100th’s casualties. Because its ranks were mostly depleted, 1st Battalion stayed in Mississippi to train the next batch of Nisei volunteers and first batch of Nisei draftees.

When the 442nd arrived in Italy, the 100th Battalion took 1st Battalion’s place in the regiment, but since it had already made a name for itself, it was allowed to keep the 100th designation instead of being renamed 1st battalion.

The Nisei soldier in Italy continued to prove people wrong and push the Germans north. They proved so effective in fact, that other division and army commanders were looking for ways to get the 442nd assigned to their commands, and one was finally able to do that.

When we wrapped up last week, after several weeks of rest followed by relatively light duty, the 442nd was ordered to France, where their anti-tank company had already been serving for about a month.

They sailed from Naples, and landed in Marseille on 30 September. For the next few weeks they traveled 500 miles (about 800 km) through the Rhone Valley, by foot and by train, until 13 October. On 14 October the 442nd began moving into position in the late afternoon preparing the assault on Hills A, B, C, and D around the village of Bruyères. Each hill was heavily guarded, as each hill was key in order to take and secure the city.

Hill A was located Northwest of Bruyères, Hill B to the North, Hill C Northeast, and Hill D to the East. The 442nd had experienced mainly prairie in Italy, but the Vosges Mountains around Bruyères provided a very different terrain. The unit faced dense fog, mud, heavy rain, large trees, hills, and heavy enemy gunfire and artillery while moving through the Vosges. Hitler had ordered the German frontline to hold this ground because this was the last major natural barrier between the Allied forces and Germany. On 15 October 1944 the 442nd began its attack on Bruyères. The 100th Battalion moved on Hill A, which was held by the SS Polizei Regiment 19, as 2nd Battalion moved in on Hill B. Third Battalion was left to take Bruyères.

Supported by artillery fire, the 100th battalion was able to overcome heavy machinegun and sniper fire to push the SS off Hill A after three days of fighting. Similarly, 2nd battalion secured Hill B just a few hours later. With those two sites in friendly hands, 3rd battalion, supported by the 142 Infantry Regiment, began its assault on Bruyères, but the Germans on Hills C and D were able to use those heights to launch artillery barrages on the town. Hill C and D also had to be taken and after a few additional days of hard fighting, eventually were.

The 442nd was then ordered to another liberate another nearby town – Biffontaine. The 100th battalion moved in first and after a few hours of bitter fighting, was completely encircled by German forces. They were cut off from the rest of the 442nd, outside radio contact, and outside artillery support. The Purple Heart Battalion remained in constant battle with the enemy from early on October 22nd until dusk on the 23rd, engaging in house to house fighting and defending against multiple counter attacks.

3rd battalion was finally able to link up with the 100th, and together they were able to drive the Germans out of Biffontaine and secure it for the 36th Division. The 442nd was relieved on October 24th, after nine days of continual combat, but their deserved rest would be short lived.

On October 23rd, while the rest of the 442 was trying to reach the cutoff 100th battalion, the 141st Regiment – soon to be known as the Alamo Regiment – began its attack on the German line between Biffontaine and a place called Rambervillers. The next morning, October 24th, the 141st’s left flank ran into heavy enemy resistance and had to fend off numerous German attacks throughout the 25th and 25th. As that was going on, the regiment’s right flank command post was overrun and 275 men of Lieutenant Colonel William Bird’s 1st Battalion were cut off more than a mile (about two kilometers) behind enemy lines. This “lost battalion” as it would become known, was forced to dig in and try to survive until help arrived.

At four in the morning on October 27th, less than two days after it was moved into the reserve to get some rest, Major General John Dahlquist, the commander of the 36th Division, ordered the 442nd Regimental Combat Team to move out and rescue the lost battalion. They began the rescue attempt with plenty of artillery support but were able to make little headway against the Germany infantry and counterbattery fire.

For the next few days, the 442nd engaged in the heaviest fighting it had seen in the war, as the elements combined with the Germans to slow their advance. Dense fog and very dark nights prevented the men from seeing even a few dozen feet in front of them. Rainfall, snow, cold, mud, fatigue, trench foot, and even exploding trees plagued them as they moved deeper into the Vosges Forest and closer to the German frontlines.  

During all this time, the lost battalion continued to hold on for dear life. One of its members later said, “When we realized we were cut off, we dug a circle at the top of the ridge. I had two heavy, water-cooled machine guns with us at this time, and about nine or ten men to handle them. I put one gun on the right front with about half of my men, and the other gun to the left. We cut down small trees to cover our holes and then piled as much dirt on top as we could. We were real low on supplies, so we pooled all of our food.”

Airdrops with ammo and food for the 141st were called off by dense fog or landed in German hands. Many Germans did not know that they had cut off an American unit. "We didn't know that we had surrounded the Americans until they were being supplied by air. One of the supply containers, dropped by parachute, landed near us. The packages were divided up amongst us." Only on 29 October – two days after they started their rescue attempt – was the 442nd told why they were being forced to attack the German front lines so intensely.

As the men of the 442nd advanced closer and closer to the German line, they became more hesitant in the face of extreme enemy fire, until reaching the point where they would not move from behind a tree or come out of a foxhole. However, this all changed in an instant. In the chaos of battle, it was impossible to see who moved first, but when the men of Companies I and K of 3rd Battalion had their backs against the wall, each one saw another rise to attack, then another also rose. In an instant, both companies were on their feet, running. The Nisei charged the Germans screaming, and many screaming "Banzai!"  Through gunfire, artillery shells, and fragments from trees, and Nisei going down one after another, they charged.

The German soldiers put up a desperate fight, but nothing could stop the Nisei rushing up the steep slopes, shouting, firing from the hip, and lobbing hand grenades into dugouts. Finally, the German defenses broke, and the surviving Germans fled in disarray. That afternoon the American aid stations were crowded with casualties. The 2nd platoon of Company I had only two men left, and the 1st platoon was down to twenty."

On the afternoon of October 30th, 3rd Battalion broke through and reached the 141st. Rescuing the lost battalion had cost the 442nd 800 men killed and wounded in five days. Yet more was asked of the Nisei soldiers as they moved past the lost battalion. The drive continued until they reached Saint-Die on November 17th when they were finally pulled back. The 100th Battalion had fielded 1,432 men a year earlier but was now down to 239 infantrymen and 21 officers. Second Battalion was down to 316 riflemen and 17 officers, while not a single company in 3rd Battalion had over 100 riflemen.

When the 442nd Regimental Combat Team began operations in France one month earlier, it had a strength of 2,943 officers and men. It was now down to less than 800 soldiers fit for duty. In one month’s time, it had suffered 140 men killed and another 1800 wounded. They had been severely battered but had lived up to their motto, Go For Broke, in the face of superior German firepower.

As their division commander, General Dahlquist's use of the 442nd received mixed reviews, chiefly from the unit's officers who believed that Dahlquist considered their Nisei soldiers to be expendable cannon fodder. While his leadership facilitated many examples of ostensibly courageous behavior, it seemed like a hunt for victories without properly tallying the costs. One example in particular was when his aide Lieutenant Wells Lewis, the eldest son of novelist Sinclair Lewis, was killed while Dahlquist was issuing orders standing in the open during a battle.  When Dahlquist ordered the 442nd to take Biffontaine, it was despite the sparsely populated farming town being militarily insignificant, and out of the range of friendly artillery and radio contact.

In another example, Lieutenant Allan Ohata was ordered to charge with his men up a hill toward a dug in and well supplied enemy. Ohata considered the order a suicide mission. Despite the threat of court-martial and demotion he refused, insisting that the men would be better off attacking the position "their own way,” which eventually (and successfully) did. And it’s not like Lt. Ohata was adverse to risky action. In Italy as a staff sergeant, he received the Distinguished Service Cross, for his heroics. This award was ultimately upgraded to the Medal of Honor.

Ohata’s brother shared the story of that Medal of Honor action as his brother had told it to him. “[Allan] held a hill by himself and a lot of people died except him. He said the enemy came from both sides, and [at] one point he came from one side and the enemy soldier came from the other end. The only reason he lived was because he saw the guy first." Ohata understood that at times lives would be lost accomplishing a mission, but he was unwilling to throw them away needlessly.

On November 12th, General Dahlquist ordered the entire 442nd to stand in formation for a recognition and award ceremony. Of the 400 men originally assigned, only eighteen surviving members of K Company and eight of I Company turned out. Upon reviewing the meager assemblage Dahlquist became irritated, ignorant of the sacrifices that the unit had made in serving his orders. He demanded of Colonel Virgil Miller, "I want all your men to stand for this formation." Miller responded simply, "That's all of K company left, sir." 

After the war, the former commander of the 100th Battalion, and now a full colonel, Gordon Singles was working in a high-profile position at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, when General Dahlquist, now a four-star general, arrived as part of a review. When he recognized Colonel Singles, he approached him and offered the colonel his hand saying, "Let bygones be bygones. It's all water under the bridge, isn't it?" In the presence of the entire III Corps, Colonel Singles continued to salute General Dahlquist but refused to take his hand.

During and after the war, the 442nd was repeatedly commemorated for their efforts in the Vosges Mountains. A commissioned painting now hangs in the Pentagon depicting their fight to reach the "Lost Battalion."   A memorial was built in Biffontaine by Gerard Henry, later the town's mayor. A monument was established in Bruyeres to mark the liberation of that city. At first a narrow road led to the monument, but the road was later widened to accommodate four tour buses and is now named "The Avenue of the 442nd Infantry Regiment" in honor of the brave Nisei soldiers.

[TRANSITION MUSIC]

Following the tough battle through the Vosges Mountains, the 442nd was sent to the Maritime Alps and the French Riviera. It was an easy assignment compared to what they had experienced in October with little to no action occurring in the next four months as they finally got the rest they so needed and deserved. The 442nd guarded and patrolled a thirteen-or-so-mile (about 21 kilometer) front line segment of the French-Italian border. This part of the 442nd's journey gained the name the "Champagne Campaign" because of the available wine and easy-going atmosphere of that part of the front. It wasn’t completely without incident though; the 442nd did capture a few spies or saboteurs and they suffered a few losses as patrols sometimes ran into enemy patrols, or on the rare occasions when a soldier stepped on an enemy or an allied land mine.

The Champaign Campaign also saw one of the few historical examples of a ground unit capturing an enemy submarine. A Nisei soldier noticed what looked like an animal in the water but upon closer inspection it was actually a one-man German midget submarine. The German and the submarine were captured and handed over to the U.S. Navy. 

Like all good things, the 442nd’s time in southern France came to an end and on March 23, 1945, they sailed back to France, as their stalwart supporter General Clark, specifically ask for them to spearhead the 5th Army’s attempts to break the Gothic Line.

The Fifth Army had been stalemated at the Gothic Line for five months. The 442nd now faced extremely tough terrain, where the saw-toothed Apennines rose up from the Ligurian Sea. Starting from the northeast, the peaks hugged the east coast of Italy and stretched diagonally southward across the Italian boot. To the west, on the other side of the mountains, was the wide flat Po River Valley that led to the Austrian Alps—the last barrier to Germany. For nine months German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring directed the construction of the Gothic Line along the top of the Apennines. The Todt Organization (the same group that built the fortifications at Monte Cassino) used 15,000 Italian slave laborers. They drilled into solid rock to make gun pits and trenches, which they reinforced with concrete. They also built 2,376 machine gun nests with interlocking fire.

On the Italian Front, the 442nd had contact with the only segregated African American active combat unit of the U.S. Army in Europe, the 92nd Infantry Division, as well as troops of the British and French colonial empires (West and East Africans, Moroccans, Algerians, Indians, Gurkhas, and Jews from the Palestine mandate) and the non-segregated Brazilian Expeditionary Force which also had ethnic Japanese in its ranks.

General Clark personally welcomed the 442nd back and presented to them his plan. Clark had to negotiate for the return of the 100th and 442nd because General Eisenhower, now the supreme allied commander in Europe, wanted them for the Battle of the Bulge and General Devers, commander of the Sixth Army Group, needed fresh troops; A far cry from 1943 when no one wanted anything to do with them. In the end, Clark got his wish. Minus its 522nd Field Artillery Battalion which was sent on a separate mission that I will speak to later, the 442nd, along with the 92nd Division, mounted a surprise diversionary attack on the left flank. They intended to shift enemy attention to it from the interior, allowing the Eighth Army to cross the Senio River on the right flank and then the Fifth Army on the left.

In front of the 442nd lay mountains code-named Georgia, Florida, Ohio 1, Ohio 2, Ohio 3, Mount Cerreta, Mount Folgorito, Mount Belvedere, Mount Carchio, and Mount Altissimo. These objectives hinged on surprising the Germans. The 100th went after Georgia Hill and the 3rd Battalion attacked Mount Folgorita. On April 3rd, the 442nd moved into position under the cover of nightfall to hide from the Germans who had great sight lines from their location on the mountains. The next day the 442nd waited. At five am, on April 5th, they were ready to strike. A little over 30 minutes later objectives Georgia and Mount Folgorita were taken, cracking the Gothic Line. They achieved almost total surprise and after fending off an attempted counterattack, forced the enemy to retreat. At the same time, 2nd Battalion was moving into position at Mount Belvedere.

The 442nd made a continuous push against the German Army and objectives began to fall one after the other: Ohio 1, 2, and 3, and Mount Belvedere fell to 2nd Battalion April 6th; the village of Montignoso April 8th to 3rd Battalion; Mount Brugiana on April 11th to 2nd Battalion; Carrara on April 11th to 3rd Battalion; and Ortonovo to the 100th Battalion on April 15th. The 442nd turned a surprise diversionary attack into a ridiculously successful all-out offensive. The advance came so quickly that supply units had a hard time keeping up.

The Nisei drove so hard that beginning on April 17th, the Germans decided to destroy their fortifications and pull back to make a final stand at Aulla. The last German defense in Italy was Mount Nebbione, directly south of the town. San Terenzo lay just to the east and became the launching point for the Aulla assault. The final drive of the 442nd began on April 19th and lasted until the 23rd, when the 3rd Battalion finally took Mount Nebbione and Mount Carbolo.

Following the fall of San Terenzo, 2nd Battalion hooked right around the mountains and Task Force Fukuda (consisting of Companies B and F from 2nd Battalion) flanked left from Mount Carbolo creating a pincer move onto Aulla.  On April 25, Aulla fell, and the German retreat was cut off. In the days that followed, Germans began to surrender in the hundreds and thousands to the Fifth and Eighth Armies. On May 2, 1945, the war ended in Italy followed six days later by Victory in Europe.

[TRANSITION MUSIC]

I mentioned that when the 442nd returned to Italy in late-March, its 522nd Field Artillery Battalion was detached and sent on a separate mission in another part of Europe. They traveled northwards some 600 miles (about 970 km) through the Rhone Valley and stopped at Kleinblittersdorf on the east bank of the Saar River. The 522nd aided the 63rd Division on the Siegfried Line defenses south of St. Ingbert from March 12th to 21st.  

The 522nd became a roving battalion, supporting nearly two dozen army units along the front traveling a total of 1,100 miles (or 1,800 km) across Germany and successfully accomplished every one of their fifty-two assignments.  The 522nd was the only Nisei unit to fight in Germany.

On April 29th, several scouts from the 522nd came upon some barracks surrounded by barbed wire. They had stumbled upon one of the satellite camps for Dachau, the longest operating of the Nazi death camps. Technician Fourth Grade Ichiro Imamura described what happened next: “I watched as one of the scouts used his [rifle] to shoot off the chain that held the prison gates shut.

“He said he just had to open the gates when he saw a couple of the 50 or so prisoners, sprawled on the ground, moving weakly. They weren’t dead, as he had thought. When the gates swung open, we got our first good look at the prisoners. Many of them were Jews. They were wearing black and white striped prison suits and round caps. A few had blanket rags draped over their shoulders. It was cold and the snow was two feet deep in some places. There were no German guards. They had taken off before we reached the camp.

The prisoners struggled to their feet after the gates were opened. They shuffled weakly out of the compound. They were like skeletons — all skin and bones.”

Located next to the small Bavarian town of Lager Lechfeld, the Kaufering IV Hurlach satellite camp, was one of nearly 170 such camps, where more than 3,000 prisoners were held.

Another member of the battalion, Technician Fourth Grade Joe Ichiuji, shared this in an oral history some years later:

“As we came around the way, there were a lot of Jewish inmates coming out of the camp, and I heard that the gate was opened by our advanced scouts. They took a rifle and shot it. I think it was a fellow from Hawaii that did that. I think it was a Captain Taylor… They opened the gate and all these… Jewish victims were coming out of the camp.

“Then, when we finally opened the Dachau camp, got in, oh those people were so afraid of us… You could see the fear in their face. But eventually, they realized that we were there to liberate them and help them... The barbed wire and the barracks remined me of the [internment] camp I came from.”

“They were all just skin and bones, sunken eyes. I think they were more dead than they were alive, [they were starving]. Just before we got there the S.S…. had all pulled back… and they were gone. But, we went there, and outside of the camps there were a lot of railroad cars… that had bodies in them. I had the opportunity to go into the camp there, [the stench was unreal]. The people were dead and piled up in the buildings, and it was just unbelievable that the Germans could do that to the Jewish people…”

The only thing the Nisei could really do was give them clothing and keep them warm. Nisei soldiers began to give the Jewish inmates food from their rations but were ordered to stop because the food could overwhelm the digestive systems of the starved inmates and kill them. The battalion discovered more subcamps and former inmates wandering the countryside. In one instance, they came across lumps in the snow that upon further investigation turned out to be Jewish inmates who had been beaten to death or just died of starvation during a death march from Dachau to one of its satellites.

The 522nd never rejoined the 442ns during the war. Following the German surrender, from May to November 1945, they were assigned to pull security around Donauwörth, which consisted of setting up roadblocks and sentry posts to apprehend Nazis who were trying to disappear. The 522nd returned to the United States in November 1945. Today, a memorial stands in Waakirchen, commemorating their liberation of Jewish Prisoners.

[TRANSITION MUSIC]

After the war, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team returned to Hawaii and was deactivated in 1946, but reactivated in 1947 as part of the US Army Reserve. It was mobilized in 1968 to refill the strategic reserve during the Vietnam War. Today, the 100th Battalion 442nd Infantry Regiment, is the only ground combat unit of the Army Reserve and carries on the honors and traditions of the Go For Broke regiment. The Battalion headquarters is at Fort Shafter, Hawaii with subordinate units based in Hilo, Hawaii, American Samoa, Saipan, and Guam, and deployed twice in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004 and 2009.

The record of the Japanese Americans serving in World War II helped change the minds of anti-Japanese American critics in the continental U.S. and resulted in easing of restrictions and the eventual release of the 120,000-strong community from internment camps well before the end of the war. In Hawaii, the veterans were welcomed home as heroes by a grateful community that had supported them through those trying times.

However, the unit's exemplary service and many decorations did not change the attitudes of the general population in the continental U.S. towards people of Japanese ancestry after the war. Veterans came home to signs that read "No Japs Allowed" and "No Japs Wanted", the denial of service in shops and restaurants, and the vandalism of their homes and property.

On 15 July 1946, the 442nd Regiment marched down Constitution Avenue to the Ellipse south of the White House. President Truman gave a speech and honored the regiment by awarding them the Presidential Unit Citation. Initially, many Veterans' organizations such as the VFW and the American Legion refused to allow Nisei veterans into existing posts and some even removed Japanese American soldiers from their honor rolls. It is believed that white officers from the 442nd advocated on the behalf of the Nisei in Chicago to be allowed to form their own American Legion post 1183 in 1946, while Alva Fleming, a Navy veteran in Sacramento district leadership approved the charter for Nisei VFW Post 8985 in Sacramento in 1947. Fleming would go on to become the VFW State Commander for California and was instrumental in founding a total of 14 segregated Nisei VFW posts in the state. Veterans in the Pacific Northwest were unable to find any post willing to accept them, and eventually formed their own independent "Nisei Veterans Committee".

Many Nisei veterans had difficulty finding houses in the continental United States. Their homes were occupied with new tenants who had moved in while the veterans were overseas and their families were interned. Due to the housing shortage, many Nisei veterans resorted to using federal housing programs. Many also used the G.I. Bill as an opportunity to attend university which led to a substantial increase in Nisei doctors, dentists, architects, scientists, engineers, and politicians in public office.

Anti-Japanese sentiment remained strong into the 1960s, but faded along with other once-common prejudices. According to author and historian Tom Coffman, men of the 442nd dreaded returning home as second-class citizens. In Hawaii these men became involved in a peaceful movement. It has been described as returning from the battles in Europe to the battle at home. The non-violent revolution was successful and put veterans in public office across Hawaii in what became known as the Revolution of 1954.

One notable effect of the service of the Nisei was to help convince Congress to end its opposition towards Hawaii's statehood petition. Twice before 1959, residents of Hawaii asked to be admitted to the U.S. as the 49th state but were turned down. The exemplary record of the Japanese Americans serving in these units and the loyalty showed by the rest of Hawaii's population during World War II allowed Hawaii to be admitted as the 50th state in 1959.

The 442nd Regimental Combat team is the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in US military history. The 4000 men who initially made up the regiment in April 1943 had to be replaced nearly two and a half times by the end of the hostilities in May 1945 and in total, about 10,000 soldiers were part of the unit at one time or another during the war. The unit was awarded eight Presidential Unit Citations, of which, five were earned in one month’s time. In all 18,143 individual medals were awarded to members of the 442nd in less than two years, including more than 9,486 Purple Hearts, 4,000 Bronze Stars (plus and additional 1,200 oak leaf clusters indicating a second medal for the same individual), 371 Silver Stars, 52 Distinguished Service Crosses and 2 Medals of Honor.

In June 2000, after a congressionally mandated review by the US Army of Asian American war records, it was determined that many of the medals deserved to be upgraded based on the level of valor displayed versus the award actually presented; racism of the day was cited as a main reason these medals were not properly awarded at the time of action. 19 Distinguished Service Crosses were upgraded to the Medal of Honor, bringing the unit’s total up to 21 Medal of Honor recipients. Of the unit’s medal of honor recipients, four enlisted while they were in internment camps and seven had family members interned.

At a White House ceremony, attended by the seven still-living recipients of these upgraded medals, President Bill Clinton remarked, “Rarely has a nation been so well served by a people it has so ill-treated… They risked their lives, above and beyond the call of duty. And in so doing, they did more than defend America; in the face of painful prejudice, they helped define America at its best.”

Next week, I am going to talk about one lesser-known Nisei unit during the war, and after that, highlight a few prominent members of the 442nd who are wither interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific or Arlington National Cemetery.

If you need more Ghosts of Arlington content in your life, there are pictures related to every episode on the website www.ghostsofarlingtonpodcast.com. You can help others learn about the podcast by leaving a 5-star rating and review at Apple Podcast or wherever you listen. If you really want to make my day, refer the show to a friend. And remember, fear not death, for the sooner we die, the longer we shall be immortal.

Pershing Nakada – the only Nisei captain in the original 442nd and commander of the 232nd engineer company – is buried at Arlington

I just found out about the 9 Nakada brothers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakada_brothers

Virgil Miller, a 442 CO who is at Arlington - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgil_R._Miller

LT Alan Ohata, 100th MoH recipient at Punchbowl

Members of the unit to highlight that are at punchbowl:

LTC Farrant L. Turner

TEC 4 Isaac Akinaka

CPT (later COL) Young-Oak Kim