Subscribe
by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
7 APRIL 1945
On 7 April 1945, Col. Robert S. Allen, executive officer for the Third Army G-2 section, was wounded and captured by German forces near Ohrdruf, Germany. At the time, just one month before the war in Europe came to an end, he had been confirming information obtained from a German prisoner.
Sixteen-year-old Kentucky native Robert Allen lied about his age to enlist in the Army in 1916. He served during the Punitive Expedition and World War I. Post-war, he continued his service in the Wisconsin National Guard while also completing post-graduate degrees in journalism. Allen wrote for The Christian Science Monitor, even becoming its Washington bureau chief for a short time. After 1931, he co-authored a nationally syndicated political column.
In July 1942, Allen joined the Regular Army and was assigned to public relations for Third Army headquarters at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. In February 1943, he completed the Command and Staff School Special Course for intelligence officers and returned to Third Army as the G-2’s chief of training and operations. Promoted to lieutenant colonel in May, he served as G-2 of the XXI Provisional Corps during the Louisiana Maneuvers and designed and conducted training courses and proficiency tests to ready the Third Army’s intelligence sections for combat operations.
Shortly after Third Army arrived in England in early 1944, Allen became chief of the Situation (Combat Intelligence) Section in Col. Oscar Koch’s G-2 section. By mid-1944, Allen was the G-2’s executive officer and Koch’s assistant. Through the exhausting months of 1944 and early 1945, Allen helped produce the intelligence estimates, summaries, and terrain and target analyses that kept Third Army moving forward. In early March 1945, he was promoted to full colonel.
Throughout early 1945, Third Army had captured hundreds of thousands of German soldiers and officers. One major—adjutant to the chief of the Wehrmacht’s signal section—produced a map showing the locations of future communications centers in various stages of construction in the Ohrdruf area. After the town was captured, Patton directed Colonel Allen to take a small party to investigate. On 7 April 1945, Allen found four bombproof subterranean structures in and around Ohrdruf. He later described them as “literally subterranean towns,” three stories high and several miles in length, “extending like the spokes of a wheel.” The Ohrdruf structure was meant to house the Signal Communications Section that would service a nearby High Command headquarters if it was forced to relocate from Berlin.
After confirming the veracity of the German officer’s information, Allen and his party began their return trip. While Ohrdruf had been cleared, the battle situation nearby remained fluid. Upon encountering a small group of German soldiers, a firefight ensued, during which an American gunner was killed, a jeep driver severely injured, and Allen’s right elbow shattered. Most of Allen’s group escaped, but he and the driver were captured and taken to a nearby German military hospital. An Austrian surgeon amputated Allen’s forearm and then shielded him from interrogation by German intelligence.
On 11 April, elements of the 80th Infantry Division reached the town of Erfurt and rescued Allen and several other American prisoners. After seven days of recovery in an American military hospital, Colonel Koch recalled that Allen was “back at his desk doing full military duty, asking no favors and receiving none.” By the end of the war, Colonel Allen had received a Purple Heart, Silver Star, Bronze Star, and the French Croix de Guerre with Gold Star.
Upon returning to the United States, Colonel Allen left the Army and returned to his journalism career. He died on 23 February 1981 while battling cancer. Allen’s war diary, titled Forward with Patton, was published by University Press of Kentucky in 2017.
----
"This Week in Military Intelligence" publishes new issues each Friday. To report story errors, ask questions, or be added to our distribution list, please contact usarmy.huachuca.icoe.mbx.command-historian@army.mil.
| Date Taken: | 04.03.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 04.03.2023 11:30 |
| Story ID: | 441837 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 97 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Col. Allen Captured in Germany, by Lori Stewart, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
