The 1139th Engineer Combat Group (1139th Engr C Gp) was a technical United States Army Headquarters Unit providing administration and supervision support to Combat Engineers on bridge building and other construction activities during World War II. The 1139th Engineer Combat Group was part of the Third Army and was attached for operations to the XX Corps in direct support of the 7th Armored Division. The 1139th Engineer Combat Group fought from northern France to Austria in World War II, supporting General George Patton's Third Army's rapid movements during the war.
The 1139th Engineer Combat Group is credited with opening routes for the advancement of troops which included building 119 tactical bridges, of which 39 were 200 feet or longer, including the 1,896 foot "longest floating tactical bridge constructed in the European Theater of Operations." The Group was first formed in December 1943 and deactivated in December 1946.
Development of the Engineer Combat Group Concept
Starting with WWII, the United States Army defined a "group" to be similar in concept to a regiment, the unit type from which the group was evolved. In general, a regiment is composed of a fixed number of assigned battalions, whose personnel and equipment are likewise fixed. The battalions have only the minimum administrative personnel, with the result that administrative details are handled by the regimental headquarters. In warfare as mobile and on as vast a scale as the European campaign was, it was felt regiments were sometimes not sufficiently agile for achieving maximum effectiveness. Therefore, the group was designed as a flexible organization set up to efficiently meet rapidly changing tactical requirements. The group would consist of a small headquarters and a varying number of separate companies and battalions which could be attached to and detached from the group headquarters as the situation demanded.
The Engineer Combat Group had many duties: construction, repair and dismantling of various bridge types; clearing of obstacles; road repair and construction; ferrying troops in river crossings; laying smoke screens; detecting, removing, and laying of mines and demolitions, in addition to offensive and defensive infantry functions.
In the instance of the 1139th Engineer Combat Group, there were as many as five battalions and three separate companies under their command at one time, and at other times the group headquarters controlled as little as a single company. The job of the 1139th was twofold. Primarily, they were responsible for the administration of the units under their command, and secondarily, they acted in a supervisory capacity for all work assigned to the group. In addition to the combat engineer battalions, the group could have separate battalions and companies that specialized in constructing specific types of bridges such as heavy and light pontoon bridges, treadway bridges, Bailey bridges, or other specialized support functions such as area lighting or smoke generation. The units under control of the group headquarters were used to support divisions' engineer operations, providing special equipment which the division engineers did not carry, and augmenting the engineer personnel strength of the divisions' engineer battalions.
1139th Engineer Combat Group Training and Deployment
The 1139th Engineer Combat Group was activated on August 25, 1943, at Camp Beale, California. Many of the troops that would eventually make up the 1139th Engineer Combat Group received their initial training at Camp Ellis, Illinois, an Army Services Training Center for the Corps of Engineers located southwest of Peoria, Illinois. Most were not career soldiers, and were consigned to "the duration plus six months" of service. From there they were sent to Camp Beale, California, to join the 1139th and complete training as a unit. In addition to their basic training courses, the men of the 1139th received courses in camouflage, mine field clearing, mapping, reconnaissance, bridge building, and road construction. The 1139th was commanded by Colonel John S. Niles, with Lt. Colonel George H. Walker Special Order 32, 13 September 1944, relieving Lt. Col Walker from assignment at HQ 1139th Engr C Gp and assigning him as CO of the 1103rd Engr C Gp effective 29 August 1944 as the executive officer.
On July 1, 1944, the 1139th Engineer Combat Group, consisting of 16 officers and 66 enlisted men, left Camp Shanks by train to the New York Port of Embarkation and began loading on to the USAT Thomas H. Barry. Early the next morning the ship joined a convoy heading to Scotland. They arrived at the town of Greenock, Firth of Clyde, Scotland on July 12, 1944. The next day they disembarked and traveled via a twelve-hour train trip to Doddington, Nantwich, England, where they organized their men and supplies, and drew vehicles, trailers and other T/E equipment (equipment specified for their specific operations) as required.
On August 1, 1944, they traveled via truck convoy from Doddington to Bournemouth, England; a large troop marshaling area in preparation of movement to Continental Europe. On August 5, 1944, they left England sailing on the USAT George Custer and arrived on Utah Beach just two months after the D-Day landings there. Over the next two days, the unit disembarked and bivouacked in the Utah Beach area.
The 1139th in the European Theater of Operations
On August 8, 1944, they proceeded in motor convoy across the Cherbourg Peninsula moving north to Bricquebec, France, and at that point they began to work as an operational unit taking its position in the line of advance, with the First Army on its left flank and the XII Corps on the right flank. The 1139th Engineer Combat Group was assigned to the Third Army and attached for operations to the XX Corps in direct support of the 7th Armored Division. (When a unit is "assigned", it becomes a permanent part of the headquarters to which it is assigned. When the unit is "attached", it comes under the administrative and operational control of that unit to which it is attached.)
It was at that point that their executive officer, Lt. Col. George H. Walker, outlined their responsibilities; as part of General Patton's army the mission of the 1139th Engineer Combat Group was to travel directly behind the armor and remove mines, build bridges, fight as infantry and perform other engineering activities that allowed the rapid advancement of the XX Corps. (The XX Corps played a measurable role in Patton's dash across France in August and early September 1944, earning the nickname "Ghost Corps" for the speed of its advance; starting in Bricquebec, France, they traveled 600 miles in their first 30 days). The XX Corps armored divisions typically traveled many miles ahead of the main body of the army, which resulted in many enemy positions being overrun before alarm could be given.
The 1139th Engineer Combat Group arrived in the vicinity of Saint Jean sur Erve, France, on August 10, 1944, and was joined by their first battalions; the 135th, the 179th, and the 206th Engineer Combat Battalions. The initial activity of the Group was to support the 80th Infantry Division in its thrust north against the enemy near Sainte-Suzanne, France.
On August 13, 1944, while en route during this advance, the Group removed landmines from roads and shoulders, and the first of the 1139th's bridges were constructed; two 60 foot Bailey bridges built at St. Mars and St. George, France, on the sites of two bridges that had been blown up by the enemy. (A Bailey Bridge is a temporary pre-fabricated, truss bridge, quickly assembled from prefabricated, standardized parts, assembled on land and then launched across an opening). Two days later they constructed two Treadway Bridges M2 across the Huisne River at La Ferté-Bernard, and at Nogent-le-Rotrou, France. (A Treadway Bridge is a floating bridge, using pontoons to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel). In his European campaign, General Eisenhower recognized that the Treadway bridge was an essential piece of equipment to the campaign, easy to transport, quickly installed, and capable of sustaining heavy military loads.
On August 17, 1944, the 1139th meet stiff resistance as they were trying to enter Chartres, France, requiring the 1139th Engineer Combat Group to take on their infantry role. They engaged in firefight operations by cleaning out machine-gun and anti-tank gun nests in Bonville, France, suffering 6 dead and 12 wounded. They constructed two short Treadway bridges at Luce, France, west of Chartres and removed twelve large bombs from bridges in Chartres. By the next day they were joined by the 7th Armored Division, and the city was finally liberated.
The Group then moved north to the vicinity of Treon, France, in support of the 7th Armored Division. There they were tasked with clearing the roads of mines, removing booby-trapped vehicles from roads, de-booby-trapping the Railroad station at Dreux, France, and filling in road craters in the routes of the advancement. They continued to move rapidly forward, and the Seine River was reached on August 23, 1944, where they bivouacked in an open field near Melun, France. At Sainte Sauveur, the 1139th Engineer Combat Group supported the 7th Armored Division in its initial crossing of the Seine River at Tilly by manning assault boats, by establishing a beachhead and constructing a 504-foot Treadway Bridge while under direct fire, and by constructing a 204-foot footbridge across the canal at Melun. The construction of the foot-bridge was carried on under heavy small arms and 88mm fire. An 88mm shell blew out 50 feet of the bridge during construction, which had to be replaced while under intense enemy fire.
Over the next few days, the Seine was bridged in three more places by the 991st and the 994th Engineer Treadway Bridge Companies, the 537th Engineer Light Ponton Company, and the 135th, 179th, and 206th Engineer Combat Battalions. These crossings consisted of multiple span continuous Bailey bridges, a 210-foot Bailey at Vulaines-sur-Seine, Frances, and a 420-foot Bailey at Champagne, France. Most of the construction was carried out at night, and took place under enemy fire, resulting in several lives lost. When the bridges were completed, they were guarded and maintained while under considerable fire.
Arriving at Montmiral, France on August 28, 1944, the 1139th Engineer Combat Group underwent a leadership change with executive officer Lt. Col. Walker leaving to become the commanding officer of the 1103rd Engineer Combat Group, and Lt. Col Robert Eininger replacing him.
The next major objective of the Third Army was Verdun and the Moselle Valley, which offered a natural gap in Germany's frontier line. Early in the morning of September 2, 1944, the XX Corps arrived 5 miles west of Verdun. Within a matter of hours, the city fell to the armored division, and on September 4, 1944, the 509th Engineer Light Ponton Company had built a 200-foot Baily bridge over the Meuse River and a bridgehead was established on the eastern side of the river. At this point, the Third Army's Armored Divisions had outpaced the Redball gasoline supply column, and although emergency supply convoys were rushed south, the Germans had time to reinforce their positions at Metz, Germany. The American bridgehead had to be withdrawn from across the Meuse. While awaiting gasoline reinforcements the 1139th Engineer Combat Group completed a considerable amount of repair on the railroads in the vicinity. Repairs were made by filling in bomb craters in the yards east of Verdun, and by rehabilitation of the track and roadbed from Conflans to Verdun, France, including construction of a 280-foot single track bridge at Conflans.