European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 26, 1950, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Itse the stars and stripes Page 7 lives again in Europe in histor Fouth Frano invasion a Pogo with Little its forested from 8 to h c As us planning Cju Bori the broke Llo the a Sefc by and Saverne Gap and arg the 240mm eng positions in i deeper and deeper withdrawal Vosges Rcd closely with army in Saverne i Gen Alexander Patch was cd of the the army from the time of the landings in Southern France to the end of the the objective of the on nose German Given the code name 1st launched an Oflia Nordwind was to annihilate 7th turned the Ger army forces in Northern Alsace and Force to secure a juncture with the Ger oilman the 7th then of was attacking in copied an 84mile front from the which a to the attempted to extended by the Rhine to a Point a few Miles West of Saa Brucken and a flank along the Rhine North and South of Stras the enemy aimed the full fury of its drive at the 71st inf div i the 7th in a Bil the 7th not Hac Nau in the Vicinity i where the Siegfr rth of that town considerable bulge picture the Day it irn hed the von re offensive in the t although this j of Miles above t it a Din Progress of the supplies re diverted to the a Patter s ordered to make h North to relieve t n the 3d pulled he 7th had to s from n line of the of 3d although Matat attack to the be age of the thin tji uth and to regain hut the division held and Nordwind Strasbourg held on sheaf order As the Battle of the bulge mounted and the 7th continually spread its defensive lines along the Southern line the army found itself lacking strength to be sufficiently Strong everywhere on a strategic it was necessary to predict and anticipate successive enemy thrusts at various blunting them with artillery fire and moving scanty reserves into areas where they could limit the area of enemy Pene the 6th army up recognized the Kyes As 7th army As with it d a March uterus Tacoroni flaws in the 7th army and Retreat from a potential trap in Alsace appeared both feasible and Devers gave order that Strasbourg would be evacuated in the withdrawal and that the com manding 7th would attention to any or to continue to hold but while Devers was still at 7th army sheaf changed its mind about recognizing the concern of the French thus orders were changed to a withdrawal to Maginot positions from the Low Vosges mountains to the Shine and to hold Munich captured the germans tried a Large scale track across the Moder River in but the reduced de Jive area and a gradual increase 7th army strength caused the ick to then the 7th re cd the which it held the rest of the the first facing the 7th was to straighten it its front and ensure a clean line departure for a future e 7th began a limited offensive regained the lost in luding land within Germany proper ing the Siegfried the end of the Well As the 3d and 1st to the were ready for the final of the 7th had the assign it of Clearing Northern Alsace land by the Middle of the army had breached the Siegfried Hue and captured Heun Kirchen and St the moved across main White named to top posts on reactivation Taining a Broad front with that of the 3d the collapse of the germans in the palatinate was evident to every one in both the 7th and 3d Patch said it was due to tac tical Surprise and to German Dis appointment Over the failure of the Siegfried on March the 3d and 45th inf dive were prepared for Crossings of the which were made near Hamm and Rhein Durkheim against Only slight after the Rhine the 7th met its first stiff opposition in Wurzburg but pushed through to spread through out Bavaria and capture the nazi stronghold of germans surrender to Patch then the 7th pushed South into where the German army group g surrendered to Devers and an is Garrison near refused to accept the stating they were not bound by German army this brought about an unusual incident in which and German army troops fought Side by Side against the is men and eliminated with the close of the the 7th army was handed occupation duties in the Western military District with Headquarters in Patch returned to the to take command of the 4th army at Sam and it Gen Geoffrey Keyes took Over the death came to Patch on on the eve of his 56th birth unit deactivated on March 1946 on March the 7th army closed an important chapter in its history when it was deactivated in colourful ceremonies at Heidelberg attended by Gen Joseph Mcnar then theater a Flag and the 7th army Battle Flag were presented to Keyes during the ceremony to be for warded to where they were to be held until another Call to duly brought Back the famous red and Gold seven stepped Trian Gular Patch of the 7th it Gen Manton and wartime cd of the 9th inf div and later the in has been named new commander of the 7th maj Gen co Stab has been appointed Deputy commander of the reactivated 7th he retains co Stab control but co Stab he is four phases of seventh army in France German moving up x seventh army 63d infantrymen enter War torn town of Homburg during the Advance in photo women mail Yule gifts of gis in Korea 25 the package was a pair of size the message that went with it said never having seen i just Hope this fits another parcel contained a stuffed toy and this note Hope some Day we can get a these were Christmas gifts from soldiers fighting in who never saw the presents they were sending nor did they write the greetings to their loved the shopping and card writing is being done by some 300 Volunteer workers with the red they Call it operation Santa Claus special service it is Remote control special service enabling gis in War torn Korea to Send Home Christmas remembrances from Well stocked stores in operation Santa Claus started late in october it was evident then the korean conflict was not almost Over after chairman of the shopping organization in Japan is Anthony of los wife of Gen Douglas Macarthur personal about 100 orders a Day Are being soldiers in Korea were Given a list of gifts All they had to do was fill out an order it was to get forms to some Forward they were advised to write operation Santa enclosing whatever they wished to spend and a description of the person who would receive the seventh army in France and Germany during four critical stages of phase one started on the beaches of Southern France while phase four ended in the mountains of coi Stab he had four cos constabulary which has been inactivated with the reactivation of the 7th has had four com manding generals and been located in three German cities since the co Stab came into being on july the co Stab was first commanded by maj Gen Ernest who headed the famous hell on wheels 2d army div during the War and later was commander of the Xxiii Harmon stated on the Day of activation that he wanted the co Stab troopers to be the Best Best manned police Force in the co Stab he moved to Heidelberg at the end of the year and slowly began relinquish much of its original police Mission to the German the growing East West tension also caused the co Stab to readjust its pro Gram to the new problems facing the on March maj Gen Withers War time cd of the 100th inf replaced Harmon As con Stab he was replaced a year on april by maj Gen Louis the new had hardly settled in his Job when he was appointed inspector general of the army by president the present co Stab commander is maj Gen who was appointed on May Whites career closely parallels that of the co Stab founder like he had risen through every command of the 2d army div from battalion to division when Neucom he moved to Heidelberg from Frank the co Stab made its new Headquarters in near where it was located on the Day of in i says Beer saved lives 25 wounded Soldier said today some of those controversial cans of Beer saved the lives of a number of american troops in Cpl Trevis said a trapped american unit which he could not name would have perished of thirst if planes had not dropped unbreakable cans of Beer to the stranded he said containers of water would have smashed on the recovering from leg wounds and an Eye injury he got in the korean said the North koreans Are poor marksmen but Good at he said one trick was to place a hand grenade under each armpit with the pins the pressure of their arms against their sides kept the grenades from he they and when they were told to put their hands Over their the grenades killing both the North korean and his troops of 7th fulfilled ikes linkup prediction i was never much Given to making military predictions one of the few i have made was made Good for me by the 7th Gen Dwight Eisen Hower wrote in his Book Cru Sade in Eisenhower told of the meet ing Between the 103d inf div of the 7th army and the 88th inf div of the 5th army on the italian Side of the International Boundary at the Brenner my prediction of a year and a half before that i would meet the soldiers of the Mediterranean command in the heart of the enemy was Ful Eisenhower