World War II, August 22, 1944, my grandfather arrived in the European
Theater of Operations. His listed organization was Co E 372d Engr G S
Regt (I read this as Company E, 372nd Engineer General Support
Regiment). Generally, what happened to Co E 372d Engr GS Regt?
Specifically, During the campaign and battles of Rhineland and Central
Europe GO 40 WD 45, where was Company E 372nd Engr G S Regiment and
(tip opportunity) what was it doing?

---

Request for Question Clarification by justaskscott-ga on 29 Oct 2002 10:01 PST

It appears that the 372nd Engineer General Service Regiment was
attached to XII Corps during the Battle of the Bulge.

"Order of Battle WWII (As appears in A Time for Trumpets: The Untold
Story of the Battle of the Bulge, written by Charles B. MacDonald)"
[Part of page "9th Infantry Division: 'Old Reliables': Lineage and
Honors"]
9th Infantry Division: Vietnam Vets"
http://www.angelfire.com/nc2/VietnamVet/history/

"Order of Battle (Battle of the Bulge)"
Military Shoulder Patches of the U.S. Armed Forces 
http://ranger95.crosswinds.net/military_history/order_battle_battle_bulge.html

Here is one soldier's reminiscence of his service with what appears to
be the 372nd Engineer General Service Regiment, through the end of
1944.

"Biography of Cliff Miller: 372nd Eng Bn / 3rd Pltn, C Troop, 42nd
Sqdn, 2nd Cav Grp, U.S.A."
http://members.aol.com/famjustin/CMillerbio.html

Please note that "GS Regt" appears to stand for "General Service
Regiment".  (A search for "General Support Regiment" on Google shows
that that term is used for British units, not American ones.)

Cached copy of "The United States Army in World War II - Engineers",
Rich Anderson (2000)
Military History Online
http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:fwmpq7yxeD4C:www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/usarmy/engineers.asp+%22general+service+regiments%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Search on Google for "general support regiment"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22general+support+regiment%22

It might be difficult to find information on a particular company
within a general service regiment.  I've seen one review of a book on
the World War II order of battle that is pleased to find the general
service regiments listed; the implication is that these regiments are
often not listed.  If it is difficult to find information on the
general service regiments themselves, it would be harder to get
information on each company within the regiment.

"Full of data on every regiment and battalion in US Army", Reviewer:
Robert E. Duchesneau (September 9, 1999)
"World War II Order of Battle, by Shelby L. Stanton, Shelly L.
Stanton"
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0883657759/qid%3D1019707176/sr%3D1-2/ref%3Dsr%5F1%5F2/103-4433389-8979014

I do not want to discourage other Researchers from doing more
investigation; they might find material that I did not.

If, ultimately, you think that the information that I have provided is
sufficient for an answer, I would be happy to post it as an answer.

---

Clarification of Question by sigma88-ga on 29 Oct 2002 21:49 PST

The information you have provided is an excellent start, but not quite
as specific or as extensive as I had hoped for at this price level. I
agree that uncovering information about the Company is unlikely, but I
would like to know a bit more about the 372nd in an answer. I guess
the question that I think is answerable is what happened to the 372nd?
For instance, where did it land on August 22, 1944? Any other
attachments outside of XII Corp? I know that a historical question
such as this can be difficult to answer given that much of the
information is probably buried in government documents if available at
all. I am thrilled that you have taken a shot at it. I want to be
fair, so let me know your thoughts.

---

Request for Question Clarification by justaskscott-ga on 29 Oct 2002 23:50 PST

I'd certainly be happy to do more work on this, when I have the proper
amount of time, hopefully in a couple of days.

In the meantime, perhaps some other Researcher who is interested in
military history will find some or all of the information you're
looking for.

One thing you can clarify:  Do you know whether the entire regiment
arrived in the European theater on August 22, 1944, or only that your
grandfather arrived on that date?

---

Request for Question Clarification by justaskscott-ga on 01 Nov 2002 20:22 PST

Here's a useful web page:

"Robert J. Hellner, Sr."
Lexington Country Club Veterans
http://members.tripod.com/rich07/hellner.htm

Does this help to answer your question?

---

Clarification of Question by sigma88-ga on 11 Nov 2002 13:04 PST

Sure, you have helped out. Go ahead and post as answer. Thanks for your efforts.

After you posted your most recent clarification, I did a little more
research, but did not find anything new.  However, I wanted to give
you something else that might help you.  So, here are two web sites
concerning veterans of World War II.  You might read the information
on these sites and contact them to see if they can provide further
assistance.

Sons of World War II Veterans
http://www.sonsofworldwartwoveterans.org/

National World War II Memorial
http://www.wwiimemorial.com/

Incidentally, the National World War II Memorial site (under
"Education"; click on "Book Lists") recommends the Shelby L. Stanton
book that I mentioned in my clarification (and that I will mention
again below).  This book might be useful to you as well.

Now, I will repeat the information from my clarifications, so it is
all in one place.

It appears that the 372nd Engineer General Service Regiment was
attached to XII Corps during the Battle of the Bulge.
 
"Order of Battle WWII (As appears in A Time for Trumpets: The Untold
Story of the Battle of the Bulge, written by Charles B. MacDonald)"
[Part of page "9th Infantry Division: 'Old Reliables': Lineage and
Honors"]
9th Infantry Division: Vietnam Vets" 
http://www.angelfire.com/nc2/VietnamVet/history/ 
 
"Order of Battle (Battle of the Bulge)" 
Military Shoulder Patches of the U.S. Armed Forces  
http://ranger95.crosswinds.net/military_history/order_battle_battle_bulge.html
 
Here is one soldier's reminiscence of his service with what appears to
be the 372nd Engineer General Service Regiment, through the end of
1944.
 
"Biography of Cliff Miller: 372nd Eng Bn / 3rd Pltn, C Troop, 42nd
Sqdn, 2nd Cav Grp, U.S.A."
http://members.aol.com/famjustin/CMillerbio.html

Another web page contains information on a private first class in the
372nd Engineer Regiment, including his activities before, during, and
after D-Day.
 
"Robert J. Hellner, Sr." 
Lexington Country Club Veterans 
http://members.tripod.com/rich07/hellner.htm 

Please note that "GS Regt" appears to stand for "General Service
Regiment".  (A search for "General Support Regiment" on Google shows
that that term is used for British units, not American ones.)
 
Cached copy of "The United States Army in World War II - Engineers",
Rich Anderson (2000)
Military History Online 
http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:fwmpq7yxeD4C:www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/usarmy/engineers.asp+%22general+service+regiments%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
 
Search on Google for "general support regiment" 
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22general+support+regiment%22
 
It might be difficult to find information on a particular company
within a general service regiment.  I've seen one review of a book on
the World War II order of battle that is pleased to find the general
service regiments listed; the implication is that these regiments are
often not listed.  If it is difficult to find information on the
general service regiments themselves, it would be harder to get
information on each company within the regiment.
 
"Full of data on every regiment and battalion in US Army", Reviewer:
Robert E. Duchesneau (September 9, 1999)
"World War II Order of Battle, by Shelby L. Stanton, Shelly L.
Stanton"
Amazon.com 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0883657759/qid%3D1019707176/sr%3D1-2/ref%3Dsr%5F1%5F2/103-4433389-8979014

But, as I indicated, perhaps the two World War II veterans web sites
will assist you in finding additional material.

I hope that this information is helpful.

- justaskscott-ga


Search strategy:

Searched on Google, AllTheWeb ( http://www.alltheweb.com/ ), and
Ixquick ( http://www.ixquick.com ) for various combinations of the
following search terms:

372nd
372d
372
engineer
engineers
engr [Note: If you search for "372 engr", "372nd engr", "372d engr",
or "372 engrs", you'll find some names of persons who are now deceased
who served in the 372nd.]
eng
en
regiment
regt
"general service regiment"
"world war ii veterans"