110TH INFANTRY REGIMENT
28TH INFANTRY DIVISION
IN THE ARDENNES
DECEMBER 1944
The 110th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division, on 16 December 1944, held the center sector of the defensive zone of the division and VIII Corps in the Ardennes. Here it lay astride the main attack axis of the German LXVII Panzer Corps of the Fifth Panzer Army headed to Bastogne, Belgium, and points west. Vastly outnumbered and outgunned by the attacking German force, the 110th Infantry put up one of the classic defensive stands in American military history. By sacrificing themselves, the officers and men of the 110th Infantry bought the precious time needed for the 101st Airborne Division to be trucked into the vital crossroads town of Bastogne and consolidate its defenses with elements of the 9th and 10th Armored Divisions and miscellaneous remnants of the 28th Infantry Division and VIII Corps. The story of Bastogne is well-known, but it was only possible with the sacrifice of those American soldiers to the east.
After the war and before its release from Federal service, the110th Infantry Regiment compiled its wartime history that is now located in box8596, World War II unit records, Record Group 407, Records of the U.S. Army Adjutant General, in the National Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, in College Park, Maryland. In this history, the members of the 110th Infantry recorded their history and listed their casualties, by name and campaign. Their history was broken up into the main campaigns in which the 110th Infantry participated. Two of the sections are reproduced here:
The Our River, November 15, 1944 to December 15, 1944
The Ardennes Breakthrough 16 December 1944-15 January 1945
Also among the pages appended to this history are documents that were submitted to support the division`s recommendation of the 110th Infantry Regiment for a Distinguished Unit Citation (later redesignated as the Presidential Unit Citation) for its actions from 16 through 23 December 1944 during the German Ardennes offensive. Three of these documents that are particularly important for understanding the story of the 110th Infantry are the personal accounts of the successive commanders of the 110th Infantry during the Battle of the Bulge that are published here:
Col. Theodore A. Seely`s letter of 8 May 1945 to Maj. Gen. Norman D. Cota
Both Cols. Fuller and Seely became prisoners of war during the early days of the German offensive, and Strickler, who became regimental commander after Seely, had his own personal Odyssey that he tells in his report.
John T. Greenwood
Chief, Office of Medical History
Office of The Surgeon General, U.S. Army
