Description
WW2 US M43 Field Jacket size 34s
Found in the Ardennes region site of the famous Battle of the Bulge.
With 26th Infantry division colour sleeve and private rank insignia.
No label in pocket but believed to be PQD 370-C specification
A few small belmishes as expected but otherwise great condition
This M1943 field jacket, which is part of the M1943 uniform consisting of the jacket, separate hood and trousers. The M1943 field uniform was first evaluated by units of the 3rd Infantry Division on the Anzio Beachhead in the summer 1943. However the M43 field uniform was first issued in quantity to airborne units in the European theatre of operations in late 1944.
The 26th ID landed in France at Cherbourg and Utah Beach on 7 September 1944, but did not enter combat as a division until a month later. Elements were on patrol duty along the coast from Carteret to Siouville from 13 to 30 September. The 328th Infantry saw action with the 80th Infantry Division from 5 to 15 October. The division was then reassigned to XII Corps of Lieutenant General George S. Patton's U.S. Third Army. On 7 October, the 26th relieved the 4th Armoured Division in the Salonnes-Moncourt-Canal du Rhine au Marne sector and maintained defensive positions. The division launched a limited objective attack on 22 October, in the Moncourt woods. On 8 November, the 26th then went on the offensive, along with first all-Black tank Battalion, the 761st, who spearheaded the assault, the 26th Division took Dieuze on 20 November, advanced across the Saar River to Saar Union, and captured it on 2 December, after house-to-house fighting. Reaching Maginot fortifications on 5 December, it regrouped, entering Sarreguemines on 8 December. Around this time, it was reassigned to III Corps.
Rest at Metz was interrupted by the German offensive in the Ardennes, the Battle of the Bulge. The division moved north to Luxembourg from 19 to 21 December, to take part in the battle of the Ardennes break-through. It attacked at Rambrouch and Grosbous on 22 December, beat off strong German counterattacks, captured Arsdorf on Christmas Day after heavy fighting, attacked toward the Wiltz River, but was forced to withdraw in the face of determined German resistance. After regrouping on 5–8 January 1945, it attacked again, crossing the Wiltz River on 20 January.
A machine gun team of the 26th Division, alerted by potential German sniper fire (3 March 1945)
The division continued its advance, taking Grummelscheid on 21 January, and crossed the Clerf River on 24 January. The division was reassigned to XX Corps. The division immediately shifted to the east bank of the Saar and maintained defensive positions in the Saarlautern area from 29 January until 6 March 1945.
G.I.s of the 102nd Field Artillery Battalion, 26th Infantry Division, check a wire line at a forward observation post on the outskirts of Wiltz, Luxembourg, January 6, 1945.
The division's drive to the Rhine River jumped off on 13 March 1945, and carried the division through Merzig from 17 March to the Rhine by 21 March, and across the Rhine at Oppenheim on 25–26 March.
The division was subsequently reassigned to XII Corps. It took part in the house-to-house reduction of Hanau on 28 March, broke out of the Main River bridgehead, drove through Fulda on 1 April, and helped reduce Meiningen on 5 April. Moving southeast into Austria, the division assisted in the capture of Linz, 5 May. It had changed the direction of its advance, and was moving northeast into Czechoslovakia, across the Vltava River, when the cease-fire order was received. One day later, the division overran the Gusen concentration camp in conjunction with the 11th Armoured Division, liberating it from German forces. There, it discovered that the Germans had used forced labour to carve out an elaborate tunnel system with underground aircraft production facilities. SS officers at the camp allegedly planned to demolish the tunnels with the prisoners inside, but the movement of the 26th Infantry and 11th Armoured Divisions prevented this.
Casualties
Total battle casualties: 10,701
Killed in action: 1,850
Wounded in action: 7,886
Missing in action: 159
Prisoner of war: 806
Post-war
The 26th Infantry Division received one Distinguished Unit Citation (3rd Battalion, 101st Infantry Regiment, 18–21 November 1944; WD GO 109, 1945). Soldiers were awarded two Medals of Honor, 38 Distinguished Service Crosses, seven Legions of Merit, 927 Silver Stars, 42 Soldier's Medals, 5,331 Bronze Star Medals, and 98 Air Medals. The division returned to the United States and inactivated at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts on 21 December 1945
