Photo By Erin Thompson | Capt. Hans Trefousse, one of the IPW Team chiefs, 1944.... read more read more
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by Michael E. Bigelow, INSCOM Command Historian
IPW TEAMS PROVIDE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS OF ATTACK
On 24 January 1945, Maj. Gen. Clift Andrus’s 1st Infantry Division captured the Belgian towns of Morschreck and Moderscheid as part of the American counteroffensive against the Germans in the Ardennes. During the attack, Lt. Col. Robert F. Evans, the division’s G-2, was able provide important situational awareness through the hard-work of three capable Interrogation of Prisoner of War (IPW) teams.
Just over four weeks earlier, Andrus and his division had arrived on the Elsenborn Ridge to help defend the northern shoulder against the German offensive in the Ardennes. On 20 and 21 December 1944, the division had fought off heavy German attacks. From the end of December to mid-January, however, the division largely remained on the defensive, while it prepared for the eventual counteroffensive. Colonel Evans used the time to develop an accurate disposition of the enemy forces facing the 1st Infantry Division.
In planning for the attack, Evans laid out the disposition of the German 3d Parachute Division and the 89th Volksgrenadier Division for Andrus and his commanders. Moreover, he correctly assessed the enemy would fiercely defend their positions. “[The enemy] no longer had the initiative of attack;” the G-2 wrote, “his most pressing concern, in fact, was to get what he could of his indispensable panzer divisions off the hook. To accomplish this it was imperative that the shoulders of his original salient be held firm…he had to hold the ground he was on and hold it to the last man.”
With this knowledge of the enemy, Andrus’s regiments attacked to the south and southwest on 15 January. Over the next nine days, the division’s tank-infantry teams moved forward with artillery and engineer support under what one veteran described as “the worst weather conditions experienced by this division during its four hundred and forty-three days in combat.” The soldiers battled 20-degree temperatures, deep snow, and cutting winds. Moreover, the assault was made over difficult terrain: a series of high ridges and deep heavily wooded draws. Accompanying the advancing regiments were the three IPW teams.
These teams were led by 23-year-old Capt. Hans Trefousse; 35-year-old 1st Lt. William Boehme; and 22-year-old 2d Lt. Gideon Oppenheimer. All joined the Army from New York and were fluent in German. Trefousse and Oppenheimer had been born in Germany, while Boehme was a first generation American. Trefousse and Boehme had been with the 1st Infantry Division since Normandy. Working with the front-line regiments, the officers submitted daily reports to the G-2 detailing combat information gleaned from their interrogations. This information included unit identifications and strength, as well as tactical data like locations of minefields, command posts, and artillery positions. In addition to their written reports, the IPW team chiefs would forward information by radio or telephone. These updates dot almost every page of the G-2’s journal for the nine-day operation, providing Colonel Evans with a constant update on the enemy activities.
In the days leading up to the capture of Morschreck and Moderscheid, the IPW teams processed almost 1,200 German prisoners. From these, the teams provided on-going order of battle updates, placing company-sized units to specific locations. The teams also uncovered how adjoining German divisions were extending their frontages to assist the 3d Parachute Division being hard-pressed by the 1st Infantry Division’s attack. Collectively, the teams also reported the formation of ad hoc battle groups from several badly battered units, another sign the enemy defense was weakening. Moreover, the interrogators noticed a marked decline in German replacements: they were older, untrained, and often disabled. Of the latter, Lieutenant Boehme’s team interrogated a soldier from a battalion composed of men with missing ears or impaired hearing.
To these IPW reports and updates, Colonel Evans added information from patrols and other sources to provide General Andrus and his commanders with an accurate appraisal of the enemy situation during the nine-day operation.
| Date Taken: | 01.24.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 01.25.2024 10:01 |
| Story ID: | 462406 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 119 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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