On March 6, 1941, Frank Grubb (William Franklin Grubb) was drafted into the Army.  He served a year as a private before entering officer’s candidate school.  After graduating from officer’s advanced training, Lieutenant Grubb was assigned to the 110^th Regiment of the 28^th Division.   Frank’s unit landed in Normandy in July 1944 and he was continuously in combat for the next five months. The division fought in three major battles during this time period: the battles for Northern France, the Rhineland and the Ardennes. As an added attraction, it was the 110^th Regiment’s picture, displayed across America, that showed the American army parading down the Champs Elysees in Paris in August, 1944.

During this period Frank served as regimental munitions officer.  The 28^th Division continued its fight across France until they were given the duty of attacking the Germans in the Hurtgen Forest. In this bloody fight the 28^th lost 6,000 men. After they were relieved they were sent to a “rest” area in the Ardennes to recuperate. Sometime during this period Frank was assigned duty as a heavy weapons platoon leader in the 110^th Regiment, 2nd battalion, Company H (Heavy Weapons), and was also the company executive officer.

The 110^th assignment, in the “quiet” Ardennes front, change suddenly, when it was struck on December 16^th by two German divisions at the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge. During the fight on December 16^th,, the110^th was given their final orders by the Division Commander – “Defend in place … hold at all cost”. The 110^th did their duty . They were able to slow the German advance for three days, but at a cost of 90% killed, wounded or captured.

On December 16, 1944, the 1^st and 3^rd battalions of the 110^th Regiment, numbering 2,000 men, were occupying strong points along the front line. They were surrounded in the early morning hours by German infantry of the 26^th VG Division who launched a surprise attack. Those battalions held their ground all day.

The Army’s official historian, Charles MacDonald writes, “With only two battalions supported for part of the day by two companies of medium tanks, the 110^th Infantry had held off four German regiments and had nowhere been routed. That was around two thousand men versus at least ten thousand (Germans).” “Considering the odds, nowhere on the first day of the German offensive was there a more remarkable achievement by the American soldier.”

During the initial fight on December 16^th, the 2^nd battalion ,was held at Clerf, Regimental Headquarters, as the Division’s only reserve. The 1,000 men of the 2^nd Battalion  were released back to the 110^th Regiment on December 17^th. They counter attacked and ran headlong into the 2^nd Panzer Division. They fought the entire day in defense of Clerf and the hard surface route to Bastogne. They delayed the Germans for another day. From there they escaped as best they could to the west, joining other forces to continue the fight to delay the German’s approach to Bastogne.

War correspondent Morley Cassidy remarked, “For four days from 16 December to 20 December, the main roads were denied to the enemy. The type of resistance offered by the Keystone troops was one of the greatest feats ever performed in the history of the American Army.”

In the detailed history of this fight it is recorded that members of the 110^th fought at every blocking position (Lullange, Allerborn, Longvilly, Mageret) along the road from Cerf to Bastogne. At Lullange and Allerborn, the scattered remnants of the 110^th plus Company G of the 110th, the only cohesive unit left, provided infantry support to the 9^th Armored roadblocks. On December 18^th at Longvilly remnants of the 110^th formed a skirmish line to protect the 58^th Field Artillery.  On December 19^th the 58th Artillery was firing point blank into the enemy, eventually they had to withdraw. Longvilly was a scene of total confusion with the road clogged with vehicles and men.

 This melee lasted several hours until the dismounted and disorganized column was brought into some order “by several unknown officers who …brought leadership and confidence to our troops”.

It is believed that Frank was one of those officers. This column was ambushed at Mageret, just outside of Bastogne on December 19^th. At this point what was left of the 110^th and other units simply escaped as best they could to Bastogne. The 101^st Airborne Division had occupied Bastogne on December 19^th. Without the delaying action of the 110^th, the town would have been occupied by Germans on December 17^th and the glory gained by the 101^st in defense of Bastogne would never have occurred.

The actual footsteps of Frank during this phase of the battle can not be documented precisely. Frank never would discuss the Battle of the Bulge at any great length, but made several relevant comments over the years:

He mentioned about being in Clerf (family actually visited Clerf in 1950) and losing his whole platoon; he talked briefly about organizing stragglers; about being in several firefights and losing men; he talked about being cold and hungry; he reminisced about a traffic jam in a town and how long it took to obtain some semblance of order; he discussed getting hit by a sniper’s bullet between the eyes but was unhurt because he had just then looked at his boots and his helmet took the blow; he talked about being shelled by mortars. One source of comments occurred during a detailed questioning by another officer.  Frank answered reluctantly and his son overheard the comments.  After that discussion that officer shook Frank’s hand and said simply – “Thank You”.

The above account represents the most likely footsteps of Frank from December 16^th to December 20^th .  It is recorded that Frank was suffered a severe concussion from an artillery shell on December 21^st. and it is known that the 28th Division’s Commanding Officer, General Cota, was in Bastogne on December 20^th and proceeded to organize the evacuation of the remnants of the 110^th. It is believed that Frank was one of those evacuated. It should also be noted that unwounded members of the 110^th volunteered to stay in Bastogne and became part of Battalion S.N.A.F.U. which was used as a source of replacements for other units fighting in Bastogne.

The German commander of the 26^th VG Division which attacked the American 28^th Division is quoted as saying, “What had not been expected to such an extent was the way the remnants of the beaten units of the 28^th  did not give up the battle They stayed put and continued to block the road. Fighting a delaying battle…individual groups time and again confronted our assault detachments from dominating heights, defiles, on both sides of gullies and on forest paths. ….and was making efforts to delay and to stop the German assault with all available means”.

The efforts of most of these men were only recorded by graves registration units after the battle was over. Frank was in the 130^th General Hospital in Belgium on December 22^nd .  He was out of action for the rest of the war. He had earned three battle stars, his Combat Infantryman Badge and several letters of commendation.  In August 1945, he was re-assigned to Fort Hood, Texas until he left the army on January 11, 1946.

I hope this helps. The 28th Davison in two battles - the Hurtgen Forrest and the Battle of the Bulge suffered an estimated 14,000 causalities.  We do not have enough words to say "Thank You"  properly - but words are all we have to give.

William Grubb

Son of Frank Grubb