Valiant Warriors “Valdi Milites”
by Tom Hanchett, M.A. 526th Historian
https://battleofthebulge.org/2016/02/05/526th-armored-infantry-battalion-final-salute/
The 526th Armored Infantry Battalion played a unique role in the United States Army’s European Theater of Operations during World War II. First, this battalion was the only separate armored infantry battalion (AIB), as they were usually attached to armored divisions. Second, the 526th was the only AIB to train with the top secret canal defense lights, or “Gizmos”, in the Arizona desert and Rosebush, Wales.
In late October 1944, while in Belgium, the 526th was attached to an intelligence organization called T Force, authorized by General Eisenhower soon after D-Day. T Force was designed to rush into captured towns and seize intelligence information and German personnel.
Company C of the 526th was detached and assigned to provide security to Eagle Tac, the advanced headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force, including Generals Eisenhower, Bradley, Patton and Simpson. At the end of the war, they provided security to visiting Russian marshals.
On the night of December 17th, 1944, the 526th convoy headed to blunt the German attack, more commonly known as the Battle of the Bulge. A task force comprised of Company A and a platoon from another battalion in T Force, under the command of Major Paul J. Solis, battalion executive officer, was sent to Stavelot. The remaining battalion, under Lt. Colonel Carlisle B. Irwin was ordered to defend Malmedy. As Company B entered Malmedy, some soldiers heard the church bells playing “Yankee Doodle Dandy” to warn the Germans the Americans were coming.
At Stavelot, though outnumbered in an unfamiliar area, Major Solis and Captain Charles Mitchell, Company A commander, set up a strong defense which delayed Colonel Jochen Peiper’s German SS Panzer regiment. Part of a large fuel depot along their retreat route was ordered burned so it would not fall into German hands. Their efforts bought time for American reinforcements to advance, and time for removal of fuel stores.
Throughout December, the 526th fought off the German forces that were trying to take over Stavelot and Malmedy. German Colonel Otto Skorzeny, whose American-uniformed commandos spread confusion behind American lines, led one of these attacks.
Just after New Year 1945, as the Allied command was beginning a large counterattack, the 526th was ordered to attack a German position near Malmedy. In a battle that has gone unrecorded in Battle of the Bulge history books, Company B was ordered to attack a much larger German unit without any support. Company B suffered enormous casualties.
T Force operations commenced again in March 1944 through May 1945, which included seizing the IG Farben plant in Germany. The 526th also guarded top Nazi leaders such as Field Marshals von Rundstedt, Kesselring and Colonel Skorzeny.