Into The Fire: the 275th Infantry Regiment in WWII by Tim Desiderio (2005-01-18) Paperback – January 18, 2005

This book allows me to follow the steps of my father in World War II. I knew very little about what he did in the war since he died when I was two. All we had was artifacts and pictures but not the story behind it. He is listed in the book as a bronze star recipient which my sister has the star. Very cool.

At the end of World War II, the U.S. found itself without the numbers of trained infantrymen needed to refill its combat divisions and press the offensive into the German heartland. Tim's narrative is a readable tale of one partially trained combat unit, the 275th Infantry, committed to battle in the Vosges Mountains of Alsace to face one of the last offensives in the West. Tim's experience as a professional soldier helps him to give enough detail to make the work valuable to those interested in the "technical" aspects of Infantry combat while his style makes it readable. Since Tim's father (a later Medal of Honor winner) was in the unit, he had access to those veterans finally ready to tell it like it really was.

My Dad fought with the 70th Infantry (Trail Blazer). Used this as a principal resource in tracking where my Dad fought. Just returned from a trip to Phillipsbourg France. To walk where Dad had walked. To see the terrain. To understand a little better what he had seen and gone through. Thank You for your research Mr. Desiderio.

A very detailed book of this regiment's history and its combat operations against the German Operation Nordwind in the winter of 44/45. Well researched and documented.

This is the most used resource book of the Battle of the Bulge. It was clear and concise. My uncle who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, uses this book to help tell his story.

WWII heros are reaching the age that we are losing many everyday. Soon they will be gone. But thankfully, many of their true stories will live on in this book. It is important that we know what they went through to keep us free and pass on that heritage.

Tim Desiderio's "Into The Fire" is not just the finest Book on the U.S 275th Infantry Regiment of the U.S 70th Infantry Division in World War II, It's also one of the three finest Books on the Central Section of the German 15 Division Counter-Offensive codenamed "Operation Nordwind" in the Northern Vosges Mountains, from January 1-25, 1945, in which the U.S 70th Infantry Division, the U.S 45th Infantry Division and Elements of the U.S 36th, 79th, 103rd and 14th Armored Division stopped the 22,000 Soldier Strong German 6th SS Mountain Division and the 256th, 257th, 361st and 559th Infantry Divisions from capturing the "Saverne Gap" and surrounding a large part of the U.S 7th Army that received all of it's supplies through this Gap in the Northern Vosges and in the "Lauterbourg Salient" in Northeastern France along the Upper Rhine River Plain North of Strasbourg. Those interested should also read "Snow, Ridges and Pillboxes" by Lt. Colonel Wallace Cheves and "Ordeal in the Vosges" by Donald Pence and Eugene Peterson for more Information about the Battles and Campaigns of the U.S 70th "Trailblazer" Infantry Division in World War II. Because General Eisenhower ordered General Dever's and General Patch's U.S 6th Army Group and 7th Army not to cross the Upper Rhine River from Gambsheim, France to Rastatt, Germany starting on November 25, 1944, the U.S 7th Army suffered 55,000 Battle Casualties in Northern Alsace and the French 1st Army suffered 40,000 Battle Casualties in the Colmar Pocket of Southern Alsace which was formed when Eisenhower made the "admittedly imbecilic decision" to send the entire U.S 7th Army North into the Siegfried Line to support General Patton's U.S 3rd Army which was still 75 Miles to the Rear in Saar Basin when of the U.S 7th Army's were already along the Upper Rhine River, in ever increasing strength, North of Strasbourg and the Black Forest in late November 1944. In ordering General Devers to not send the 12 Divisions of the U.S 7th Army and 4 Division of the U.S 3rd Army's XII Corps with the U.S 4th and 6th Armored Divisions, to "slide-slip"across Northern Alsace and also across Upper Rhine River to Rastatt, Karlsruhe, Mannheim, Pforzheim and the Frankfurt Corrider or "Southern Fulda Gap" in late November 1944, General Eisenhower incurred 100's of Thousands of Casualties in the Siegfried Line, The Battle of The Bulge and the Rhineland before He finally crossed the The Rhine River, 3 1/2 Months later at Remagen which was... "After Yalta" meaning, the United States and Britain and It's Western Allies would lose Berlin and All of Eastern Europe to the Soviet Union who formed Puppet States later called the "Warsaw Pact". General Eisenhower also created the "Colmar Pocket" by turning the U.S 7th Army north away from the Colmar Pocket's Northeast Face where they would have easily "crushed it" while the rest of the U.S 7th Army and 3rd Army's XII Corps crossed the Upper Rhine River into Central Germany outflanking the Saar-Industrial Basin facing Patton by Mid-December, but instead, not liberated until March 1945, again, 3 1/2 months after "highly classified Vittel Conferences" which were only revealed in 1993 in U.S Army Center of Military History's Green Book "Riviera to the Rhine" was finally published. The German Theater Commander, Field Marshall Gerd Von Rundstadt's 1st Question to General Alexander M. Patch, Commander of the U.S 7th Army upon His Capture in May 1945 was "Why didn't you cross the Rhine River in November?" and General Patch answered "Because General Eisenhower ordered us not to..." Between November 1944-March 1945, the U.S 6th Army Group suffered nearly 95,000 Battle Casualties in Alsace which doesn't include All the Allied Losses, in the same time frame in the U.S 12th and British 21st Army Group constantly attacking heavily fortified positions in the Siegfried Line like Aachen, the Hurtgen Forest and Metz and The Rhineland for months on end on the Western, or Wrong Side of The Rhine River! U.S Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall awarded General Jacob L. Devers his 4th Star a week before General Omar Bradley was awarded His in March 1945. But Marshall regretted never having British Field Marshall Lord Alanbrook having British Field Marshall Bernard Montgomerery replaced with Field Marshal Alexander in late November 1944, by which time, General Marshall essentially wanted General Eisenhower and Bradley and Field Marshall Montgomery "metaphorically taken out and shot" for gaining only 22 Miles from Aachen to Duren in the U.S 1st and 9th Army Sectors and 10-40 Miles from the Metz and the Moselle River to the Siegfried Line in the U.S 3rd Army Sector in 3 Months from Mid September 1944 to Mid December 1944! Sincerely, Daniel P. Kneeland, Grafton, Ma.

My dad was in the Trail Blazers, and 274th. He used to tell about it while I was growing up. He was a private, with a radio pack, the army trained him to speak German. I have a period picture of him w/ Bronze star. Said he was on the Rhine when news came that the war ended. That plus some stories is all I know ... Al Homer... 1923-2007 RIP.