Surviving the Battle of the Bulge: The Extraordinary WWII Journey of Seymour 'Sy' Lichtenfeld
I had the pleasure of meeting Seymour “Sy’ Lichtenfeld on 20 September 2014. I was passing through Montgomery, Alabama on a road trip when I came across a large gathering near the state capital building. It was September 20th, National POW/MIA national recognition day and Sy was walking around. I decided to approach him and talk about his experience during The Battle of the Bulge. Sy was an infantryman with the 106th Infantry Division, 422nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Battalion, I Company when he and his unit came under a vicious attack from the Germans that included heavy artillery shelling; it was complete chaos for Sy and his unit.
The men of the 422 Infantry Regiment, 106th Infantry Division were stationed on the German-Belgian border and were overrun by German troops on 16 December 1944. Early in the morning heavy artillery shelling and the sounds of tanks moving towards them from the German line made the men jump into their foxholes. The Americans were surrounded. Communication on the line was poor, the conditions were brutal as it was freezing cold and visibility was limited. Men were being separated from their units in the fog of this battle, adding confusion to an already chaotic situation.
Later that evening on the 16th of December the Germans charged the 422nd’s perimeter with fixed bayonets. The Germans were determined to bring the fight to the men of the 422 by any means necessary. Hand grenades were being tossed into American foxholes, who at this point of the fight, had little to zero ammunition left. Sy Lichtenfeld and his foxhole buddy only had a dozen rounds between them. After an unrelenting frontal assault from the Germans with fixed bayonets and grenades being effectively tossed into foxholes, Sy and his buddy decided to leave their foxhole and make a break for it.
Being a young Jewish man, Sy ripped his dog tags off that had an “H” on them for his faith, Hebrew. He tossed them in the dirt and covered them up. Right after Sy and his buddy made a mad dash to leave their foxhole, Sy was captured by a German who yelled at him to put his hands up as the German lunged at Sy with his bayonet, slicing Sy in the shoulder.
The young Jewish Lichtenfeld, who was 19-years-old at the time of capture, spent the next 5 months in a German Prisoner of War camp. Cold and hungry, Sy and his fellow American prisoners would search dung mounds for potatoes buried by farmers. Sy was eventually liberated by the Russian forces on 22 April 1945. The Russians took the American POW’s on a forced march which they would eventually break free from and finally make their way back to American lines. By the time Sy found friendly troops, he was 60 lbs lighter.
The 106th Infantry Division was an inexperienced unit that was thrust into a very tough assignment, fighting Hitler’s troops in his last major offensive in the European theater of the war. This was the first battle assignment for the 106th Infantry Division, an assignment that left many from the 106th killed or captured. On the day Sy was captured, elements of the 101st Airborne were just arriving at Bastogne. During World War II there were over 142,000 POW’s, many never making it home.
Seymour “Sy’ Lichtenfeld did make it home and went on to graduate from Purdue University and start a family. He was an active member of the American EX-POWS. He would write a book about his war story titled, Kriegie 312330: A Prisoner’s Story. Sy passed away peacefully on 3 November 2023 after a long and meaningful life.
Louisiana Native and WWII Ranger Edward V. Loustalot
The story of the first American solider killed on European soil in WWII.
Edward V. Loustalot was a native of Franklin, Louisiana. In 1939, before joining the Army, Loustalot would earn an engineering degree from Louisiana State University. The first Americans to engage in combat in Europe during WWII were forty-four enlisted men and five officers from the 1st Ranger Battalion; Edward V. Loustalot was one of those men.
In 1941, the United States Army did not have any special operations units. As the U.S. declared war on the AXIS powers, forming a special operations unit was a top priority. General Lucian K. Truscott Jr., the U.S. Army Liaison with the British Combined Operations Headquarters proposed to Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall that the U.S. Army needed a unit similar to the British Commandos.
William O. Darby was chosen to command the 1st Ranger Battalion. It was formed in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland on 19 June 1942. Darby and the newly formed Special Operations unit soon relocated to Scotland for the first phase of their rigorous training. For the first three months under instruction from the British Commandos, the Rangers underwent a grueling physical training program in the Scottish countryside. The training included hand-to-hand combat, weapons, street fighting, patrolling and small boat operations.
While the rest of the 1st Ranger Battalion continued to train, Edward V. Loustalot and 44 other Rangers were selected to take part in the Dieppe Raid, a joint operation with the Canadian Commandos in Northern France on 19 June 1942. The primary objective of the mission was to eliminate coastal guns the Germans had placed on the French coast. The landing craft Lt. Loustalot was aboard found themselves in a vicious firefight to exit the beach as soon as they landed. Ranger Loustalot displayed incredible intestinal fortitude during his relentless pursuit to eliminate a German machine gun nest. In his brave attempt to eliminate the enemy, Lt. Loustalot was cut down by machine gun fire making the Ranger from Franklin, La the first American killed on European soil during WWII. Arguments continue to be made that the tactical lessons learned from the Dieppe Raid taught Normandy invasion planners ways to save thousands of lives during the D-Day invasion amphibious assaults.
Why the Deippe Raid?
The Rangers and allied planners needed combat experience in conducting amphibious raids. Another reason the Dieppe Raid took place was pressure from the Russians to open up the Western Front. Opening up the Western Front would eliminate the Germans tactical and logistical success on the Eastern Front allowing the Russians to regroup from Operation Barbarossa, the brutal German invasion of the Soviet Union that took place from 22 June 1941- 7 January 1942.
RTLW!