The War – 75 Years later
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the next part of an ongoing series that began in the Messenger last year about the 75th anniversary of World War II. The series has covered, and continues to cover, both world and local news regarding the war. Information for this installment has been obtained through various local media outlets including the Democrat Messenger and from the books”The Southern Front” and “The Desert War.”)
The Axis Beast still has a Bite: The Battle of Kasserine
Here in Greene County, the war continued to go on as rationing began to tighten, the college readied to receive air cadets and a disaster hit Greensboro.
As one war was heating up, another was at last receding with the passing of Greene County’s last veteran of the Civil War when the Democrat Messenger reported the death of 101-year-old Bazel Lemley to the public on Feb. 19, 1943. Mr. Lemley was an active man right till his death in Mount Morris and had served in Company I of the 8th PA Reserves and had served four years of long service to the Union cause.
The war was beginning to make an impact on the consumer, as gas was not the only item to be rationed. Now the largest step was being taken as it was announced that food items – bulk, canned and meat – was to all be rationed beginning March 1.
Registration for the Ration Book 2 was announced and lines for the new books started to appear outside all of the major high schools, as well as public information meetings being conducted – all beginning on Feb. 20 at the high school in Waynesburg. The first step was the freezing of all sales of those items and the closing of stores for a week beginning Feb. 20.
Active home front activity was reported on Feb. 19 when it was announced that the commander and his staff had arrived in Waynesburg to begin preparations for the arrival of the first 175 Army Air cadets on the campus of Waynesburg College. Captain George Weathers and his three-man staff were to stay with College President Paul “Prexie” Stewart and other members of the faculty until more permanent arrangements could be made. It was said that the cadets where to conduct both classroom study and 10 hours of flight instruction at the local airport.
In a tragic symbol of the frigid cold which held the entire area of Southwestern Pennsylvania in its cold hands that February, a terrible fire took the life of three in Greensborough. Kelly Cogar Sr. and his two younger sons, Kelly Cogar Jr. and his older brother Jimmy, died as Mr. Cogar was pouring fuel oil onto a fire in the kitchen when it exploded, killing the children instantly and mortally wounding Mr. Cogar Sr. The resulting flames quickly consumed the home and the remaining eight Cogar family members were barely able to escape with Ms. Lillian Cogar suffering slight burns on her hands.
By early 1943, the Allied push in northwestern Africa had reached the Algerian-Tunisian border. There, the British 1st Army was in position – that army was truly an allied force consisting of the British, French and American forces. The American forces consisted of the II Corps of the 1st Armored, 1st and the 34th Infantry Divisions and were led by Corps commander Major General Lloyd Freedendall, who was more concerned about his own protection than creating good defensive positions for his corps.
Lt. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of allied forces in the Mediterranean at the time, noted the ill preparedness of the troops and was ready to start to make changes; but as he returned early in the morning Feb. 14 from an inspection tour, the German Army hit the Americans hard. The German 10th Panzer Division, a Harden combat unit of the eastern front, hit the green U.S. 168th Infantry Regiment and tired Combat Command (CC) A, of the 1st Armor Division at Sidi Bou Zid, pushing them easily aside.
Pushing on, the Germans were reinforced by the 21st Panzer division, a equally battle-tested veteran unit of North Africa against the British. On Feb. 15, the CC C of the 1st Armor Division and the remains of the rest of the same division launched a failed counter attack owing to both German air support and flat and generally poor allied ground to make the attack from. By Feb. 17, the Americans were in retreat and the Germans had nearly reached Kasserine Pass.
The Battle of the Kasserine Pass (Feb. 19-21) was a hard fight for all as the Germans reinforced by the 15th Panzer of the German Africa Corps (D.A.K.) and the Italian Centauro Division, both battle-hardened North African veteran units. The Americans were just as well reinforced by the both fresh U.S. units in the form of the famed 1st “Big Red One” Infantry Division and the 9th Divisions artillery, the British 6th Armor Division as well as some Free French battalions.
The hard-fought battle was intense and the German-Italian force was only really stopped due to its overextended supply lines and surprisingly poor coordination of its multiple axis of advance than to any real Allied (American) effort to stop it … though it must be said that effective U.S. Artillery support played a large role in stopping the German thrust at several points.
The Americans lost 300 killed and suffered 3,000 wounded with anther 3,000 missing – most, if not all, being captured. The total Axis losses was 2,000 with only 34 of its tanks being lost to the American’s 183.
It was without any doubt an old-fashioned American “butt whipping” for the first time that U.S. soldiers faced German troops. The U.S. and allies knew it and started to make moves to fix it, and the first step was to bring General George S. Patton in to take command of II Corps.