February 1996 - World War II History Round Table



January 2000

Volume 8 Number 5

Published by The WW II History Roundtable

Edited by Jim and Jon Gerber

Happy New Year and welcome to the January meeting of the Dr. Harold C. Deutsch World War Two History Roundtable. Tonight’s program is on the 45th Division in WW II.

The 45th Division saw a great deal of action in WW II. They suffered 3547 killed in action, 14,441 wounded in action and 533 who died of wounds. The division landed in North Africa on 22 June, 1943 and trained at Arzew. It assaulted Scoglitti Sicily on 10 July, 1943 taking Comiso and Ragusa Airport and repulsed several German counterattacks before contacting the Canadian 1st Division on 12 July, 1943.

The division assaulted Salerno Italy on 10 September, 1943 and engaged in heavy fighting at Ponte Sele and the Tobacco Factory. It fought up to the hills north of Monte Cassino and was withdrawn on 9 January, 1944.

The division next assaulted Anzio, Italy on 22 January, 1944 and was engaged in defending the beachhead for the next four months. On 18 February, 1944 the Germans counterattacked. This was stopped only after the 179th Inf. was pushed back to the final beachhead lines. The division engaged in holding actions until resuming the offensive during the breakout from Anzio on 23 May, 1944. On 16 June, 1944 the division was withdrawn for rehabilitation.

On 15 August, 1944 the division assaulted Ste. Maxime in southern France. It saw heavy action as it fought its way through France. The Battle of Nuremberg was fought 16 - 20 April, 1945 and then the division moved south to the Danube to prepare a path for the 20th Armored Division toward Munich. The division attacked across the Danube with all three regiments abreast at Merxhein and Bergoldsheim on 26 April, 1945. It then followed in the wake of the 20th Armored Division to reach Munich, 29 April, 1945 and remained in occupation of the area until hostilities were declared ended on 7 May, 1945.

Tonight we’ll hear from some of the men who fought in these battles.

The Code Talkers

In the Pacific Theater, the activities of the Marine Corps Navaho Code Talkers has been well documented. In the European Theater, however, a unit of Native American signalmen took part in the invasion of Normandy. Their story remains almost unknown. They were the Comanche Code Talkers.

Many historians have thought that the use of the Comanche Code Talkers was so secret that records of the unit would never be found. The truth is much simpler. The Comanche Code Talkers were never classified as the unit that some have made them out to be.

The origins of the group are unclear but it seems that during WW I there had been attempts to use Native Americans to send messages over field telephone lines. The Germans had developed excellent listening equipment and could eavesdrop on Allied telephone lines. American Indian languages were both difficult to speak and understand unless one was raised in the correct tribe. Many of the dialects were unlike any other languages spoken and few outsiders could understand them. After WW I, a few German language students took an interest in learning Native American languages but the Indians refused to instruct them. It was fairly clear that this interest had more to do with military intelligence than linguistics. Although the use of Indian languages in WW I was not fully documented, someone in the 4th Infantry Division in 1941 had known about it and thought that it might be good to try again.

Lt. Hugh F. Foster, a new Lieutenant out of West Point, was given the job of developing the use of the Comanche language in the 4th Infantry Division Signal Company. Foster found 17 Comanche speakers in the division and they were transferred to the 4th Signal Company. At that time no one had heard of the Navaho Code Talkers the US Marines were training.

Many of the military terms that would be needed had no matching word in the Comanche language. For months the men discussed substitute words that they could use. The word turtle would stand for tank. Bird meant airplane, and a pregnant bird stood for a bomber. For words that needed to be spelled out, a strange phonetic alphabet was used. The Comanches would first say a word meaning “ I am spelling”, then use Comanche words of which the first letter of their English meaning would spell out what was needed. Finally another word was used to say “I am no longer spelling”. After a time, a military vocabulary of 250 words was developed.

What is unusual about the Comanche Code Talkers was that these men had normal Signal Corps duties to perform in addition to working on the code. They had to put in their time as switchboard operators or telephone wiremen. They had to string field telephone wire between the various radio stations in the unit. The radio operators needed to use telephones to help get their early pattern radios tuned to the same frequency.

Out of the 17 Comanches trained only 14 or 15 went overseas in the Signal Company. All of them served in the 4th Infantry Division. The plan called for teams of two Comanches to be available at divisional and regimental signal units in case a message had to be sent in code. Although not kept a strict secret, the use of the Comanche language was not publicized before the 4th Division went overseas. Lt. Foster was sent to a special radar school and eventually commanded all radar installations along the North African Coast. He stayed in the Army and eventually commanded the 1st Signal Brigade in Vietnam.

A team of code talkers landed with the first waves of the 8th Inf. Regiment, 4th Infantry Division at Utah beach on D-Day. The first message sent back to the 4th Division Headquarters stated “Red beach, wrong place.” The Comanches continued to serve throughout the ETO with the 4th Division in dual roles as regular signalmen and as special code talkers when needed.

In 1989 the Comanche Code Talkers were officially recognized for their contributions by the French Government. Lt. Foster(now a retired General) was made an honorary member of the Comanche tribe with the name “Poo-hee-wee-tek-wha Eksa-bahn” meaning ‘Telephone Soldier’. It was the closest the Comanche language could come to “Signal Officer”.

Further Reading on Tonight’s Topic:

The Rock of Anzio

by Flint Whitlock

Westview Press

Boulder, Colo. 1998

Anzio; the Bid for Rome

by Christopher Hibbert

Ballantine Books, Inc.

New York, New York 1970

Anzio

by Wynford Vaughan-Thomas

Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.

New York, New York 1961

When the Odds Were Even: The Vosges Mountain Campaign, October 1944 - January 1945

by Keith E. Bonn

Presidio Press

Novato, CA. 1994

Sparks: The Combat Diary of a Battalion Commander

by Emajean Buechner

Thunderbird Press

Metarie, LA. 1991

Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome

by Carlo D’Este

HarperCollins

New York, New York 1991

Thunderbird: A History of the 45th Infantry Division

by Guy Nelson

45th Infantry Division Association

Oklahoma, OK. 1970

The Italian Campaign: 1943 - 45

by G. A. Shepperd

Frederick A. Praeger

New York, New York 1968

Invasion Diary

by Richard Trigaskis

Random House, Inc.

New York, New York 1944

See you next month.

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