Brief History

Below is a short synopsis of the role the 40th ECR played in WWII.  A full history is available in the book History of the 40th Engineer Combat Regiment in WWII, by Alexander French, 40th ECR Historian.

Recollections of WWII, a collection of stories of interest to 40th ECR members is available for viewing or free download. In Adobe Acrobat PDF format (229K).

The 40^th Engineer Combat Regiment is formed

The WWII 40th Engineer Combat Regiment (ECR) consisted of 3 battalions, the 495^th ECBn, 496^th ECBn, and 497^th ECBn and earned 7 WWII Battle Stars: N. Africa, Sicily, Naples-Fogia, Rome-Arno, S.France, Central Europe, Rhine Valley, and Central Europe.

The 497^th, then known as the 3^rd Bn, became eligible for the Presidential Unit Citation, awarded to the 3^rd Infantry Division to which it was attached during the Colemar Pocket Campaign. Upon reactivation it is eligible to claim the Croix de Guerre decoration, awarded for the fighting from the Southern France landing through the Voges Mountains, Alsace, Germany and Austria to the Danube River.

The 40^th ECR was organized at Camp Pickett, VA in January 21, 1943. The 497^th ECBn (originally the 2^nd Bn of the 133^rd Engineer Combat Regiment, a California National Guard unit), arrived from Basic Engineer training at Ft. Lewis Washington. The 495^th ECBn and 496^th ECBn, as well as the 1^st and 2^nd Bns. of the 40^th ECR, arrived from the Desert Training Center in California.

The 40^th Engineer Combat Regiment was attached to the 45^th Infantry Division, an Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico National Guard, which had already been picked for the invasion of Sicily.

 

By the end of January the entire regiment was in Ft. Pierce FL for training as amphibious engineers. After amphibious training at Ft. Pierce, the 40^th ECR boarded trains for Camp Bradford, Virginia and rejoined the 45^th Division. From Camp Bradford, they boarded ships for amphibious maneunvers the Chesapeake Bay. Then the 40th ECR returned with the 45^th Infantry Division to Camp Pickett Virginia to undergo additional training for the campaign in Sicily. 

May 1943 found the 45^th Division, including the 40^th ECR, at Camp Patrick Henry in Newport News, VA. From there the entire 45^th Division was "combat loaded" aboard the two dozen attack transports that were a part of Convoy UGF 8A, and shipped out for Oran, Algeria, North Africa.

Floating Bailey Bridge at a bridge school near Mostagnem, Algeria. See more photos and complete descriptions on photo page.

 

 

 

A rehearsal landing exercise was conducted in June at Arzew Algeria, and by July 1^st the entire 45^th Division had been reloaded for the invasion of Sicily.

 

The Invasion of Sicily occurred on July 10, 1943. The 40^th ECR worked the beaches, rebuilt port facilities, built supply dumps, and hauled supplies to support the 45^th division and other divisions of the 7^th Army commanded by General Patton, as well as Air force units operating from captured Sicilian air fields.

In August, the 40^th ECR had started on a motor convoy from Palermo to Naples Italy to support the 45^th Division and the 5^th Army commanded by General Mark Clark, and became a part of the Peninsula Base Section while rebuilding hospitals, docks and other facilities in the Naples area until February 1944.

After experiencing bombing attacks in several bivouac areas, the 40^th ECR was order to board LSTs for a return trip to Arzew, Algeria.  In Arzew during the spring of 1944, the 40^th ECR underwent additional engineering, combat, and amphibious training. 

 

 

By July 1944 the 40^th ECR was back in Italy training for the invasion of Southern France with the 45^th Division of the 6^th Army Group, General Devers, commanding,. The invasion took place on August 15th in the vicinity of St Tropex, St. Maxime and Nice, France.

Vogues, France.  See more photos.

 

 

 

 

After the landing, the 40^th ECR became a unit of the 7^th Army, General Patch Commanding, and supported or was attached to various divisions including the 42^nd, 44^th, 45^th, 3^rd, 36^th, 1st French Army, and several armored divisions. They traveled through the Voges Mountains, Alsace France, across the Rhine, and through Germany from Nurenberg to Munich and Dachau and on to Austria before hostilities ended in early May 1945.

Click the across the Rhine link to see pictures of the Storm Boats used.

More photos are on the Pictures page.

See the Buy the Book page to obtain the full history of the 40th ECR.

 

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