Courtesy Photo | Lt. Col. George C. Dewey, 75th Infantry Division G-2, faced challenges from both the...... read more read more
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by Michael E. Bigelow, INSCOM Command Historian
On March 31, 1945, Maj. Gen. Ray Porter’s 75th Infantry Division attacked east into the Ruhr area of Germany. The 29-year-old Lt. Col. George C. Dewey, the divisional G-2, faced challenges from both the enemy and the terrain during the operation.
Dewey had entered the Army on the eve of World War II. In 1939, he was a second lieutenant with the 6th Infantry at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. By April 1944, he had risen to the G-2 position of the newly formed 75th Infantry Division as a lieutenant colonel. Arriving in France in December 1944, he gained experience as a combat G-2 during the Battle of the Bulge and in the reduction of the Colmar Pocket. In March 1945, Dewey and his division joined the Ninth Army for an offensive into the German Ruhr Valley.
The Ruhr region was the most highly concentrated industrial area in Germany and, consequently, a primary Allied operational objective. From the north, divisions from the Ninth Army would drive south to meet with those from the First Army approaching from the south to encircle the region. Other divisions, like Porter’s, would drive east and then south to defeat the estimated 370,000 German defenders trapped in the region. Porter’s regiments began their advance on Saturday, March 31.
Supporting General Porter’s tactical decision-making presented challenges for Colonel Dewey and his G-2 staff. The division primarily faced, according to the corps estimate, the veteran 116th Panzer Division’s 16th Panzer Grenadier Regiment. However, elements of nine other units could oppose the division’s advance making for an order of battle Gordian knot. These defenders could convert the villages, cities, and industrial plants into strong points to delay the advance. Moreover, the forested terrain was interlaced with a system of steeply banked canals, averaging ten feet in depth and one hundred feet in width. Colonel Dewey had to assess how the enemy would use this highly defensive terrain during the operation.
Like most successful division G-2s during World War II, Dewey knew the importance of energetic patrolling to uncover information on the enemy situation as well as the lay of the land in front of the division. During one patrol, Staff Sgt. Alfred J. Williams nonchalantly measured the depth of one of the canals in full view of some startled Germans. In addition, the G-2 knew the usefulness of information from prisoner of war interrogation. Over the next two weeks, Dewey’s interrogation teams faced a torrent of German prisoners with more than 3,600 passing through the division’s cages. From this flow came a large amount of all kinds of information, including the insight that the Germans planned to continue delaying actions, withdrawing after the first significant contact. Plentiful aerial photography from Col. Frederic de L. Comfort’s XVI Corps G-2 greatly aided Dewey’s quest for information.
Over the next two weeks, Dewey’s success in providing meaningful tactical intelligence to General Porter did not go unnoticed. Maj. Gen. John B. Anderson, the XVI Corps commander, commended the 75th Infantry Division for its “aggressive patrolling, constant observation, and the activities of [its] intelligence agencies.”
| Date Taken: | 03.28.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 03.28.2022 14:17 |
| Story ID: | 417318 |
| Location: | FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 245 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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