82nd MP Platoon

. 82nd MILITARY POLICE PLATOON .

The 82nd Infantry Division Military Police Platoon was reactivated as a component of the 82nd Infantry Division at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana March 25, 1942. His commanding officer was Captain William P Bowden.

The platoon followed the basic training of a platoon of MP within a division "triangular", that is to say, the hand signals, how to manage traffic, how to arrest and many things that should know any good MP.

On August 16, 1942, the 82nd Infantry Division became the 82nd Airborne Division. The pack followed in this conversion becomes 82nd Airborne Military Police. This change necessitated the loss of 50% of the workforce for the new party formed 101st Airborne Division. The unit was left with 2 officers and 36 men and 4 ¼ ton trucks all under the command of Major William P Bowden.

Then continued his training platoon same MP but also as airborne troops along the following locations:

- Camp Claiborne, Louisiana March 5 to October 5, 1942

- Fort Bragg, North Carolina October 5 to April 19, 1943

- Edwards, Minnesota April 21 to April 27, 1943

Then the squad boarded the USAT George Washington for a travel sea from April 28 to May 9, 1943. Having landed at Casablanca in North Africa, the unit was sent to Camp Dan E Passage.

Then, May 12, 1943, departure for Oujda, French Morocco until June 21, 1943.

On June 15 in Oujda, 9 men, qualified parachutists were detached from parachute regiments and placed in a special service within the platoon to respond to the composition of a squad of MP in relation to the organization of a division. These 9 men are probably the first 9 MP paratroopers from the U.S. Army. Then, the division undertook one of his many airborne movements. On June 24, 1943, the MP Platoon be displaced with the division on the airfield Kairowan, Tunisia.

Here, as in Oujda, the platoon received intense training for future combat operations. It was during this period that the platoon lost the first men when 5 men were killed and seriously injured in a traffic accident.

Sicily – Italy – July 43 – Operation Husky

The platoon’s strength had reached 57 men and 3 officers. Of this group, 23 men and 2 officers were parachuted with the division headquarters near Gela, Sicily and participated in the Tactical Operations Division near Traponi where they were stationed from July 23 to August 22. During this operation, a detachment of the platoon had its first encounter with German soldiers.

In this period 16 July to 22 August, 25 men have achieved what seemed impossible in dealing with 23,191 prisoners captured by the division and at the same time form a core of policing in the city torn by war where they Traponi worked in collaboration with with the military government to control the civilian population and track fascist sympathizer. The posting followed the rest of the division back to Kairowan August 22 and again near Licerta, Sicily September 7.

Salerno – Italy – September 43 - Operation Avalanche

On September 12, 1943, the division jumps on Salerno and participated in Altivilla Volturno and Naples campaigns. The MP platoon of LCI landed on the beaches of Maroi September 29 and was immediately directed towards Naples, where it served police. It was very concerned by the establishment of a stable civil government for the people and also the management of German prisoners of war who had been in Sicily. During the period from September 12 to November 17, only 74 prisoners were treated compared to 20,000 in Sicily. Tired Soldiers, aware of the end of the war. The platoon left Naples November 18, 1943. He embarked aboard the USS Frederick Funston to a destination unknown ".

Ireland.
The MP platoon and the division spent 21 days aboard the USS Frederick Funston landed December 9 in Belfast, Ireland. The platoon took these neighborhoods Castledawson, Northern Ireland in an old Irish neighborhood.

They also discovered that "lorry" meant truck and was stained with blood, and the word 'bloody' was one of these accursed words, making them realize that there was a different turn of the English language. Apart from their public relations and contacts in civilian life, five members of the platoon took the bull by the horns and said their "I'll do."

On February 8, 1944, the division was sent to England where she parked in a central city in the country, Leicester. The division continued its training of airborne troops with jumps and flights of gliders, both tactical and technical. However, all was not work. The men visited the beautiful English champagne, Piccadilly Circus, where they became familiar with Time's Square and Canal Street.

It was also the period or the division had reshaped its organization.

The size of the field was increased from 93 men and 3 officers.

D-DAY – June 44 – Normandy – France – Operation Neptune :

During the latter part of April and May, the MP platoon knew that something would happen. It was alerted to a possible moved from April 19 and placed in a state of constant alert until May 24

30 men under the command of S/Sgt Mulligan left Camp Braunstone in Leicester for the sector Budgend. They stayed until June 3 before embarking on a Liberty Ship, SS Webb Miller. The ship weighed anchor in Cardiff on June 5, 44. The group landed on the shores of Utah in Normandy on 8 June 44. After landing, it has moved inland and joined the 82nd Division in Ste Mere Eglise June 9

On May 29, the airborne forces of the bunch is composed of 18 men and 2 officers under the command of Major FG McCollum, Division Provost Marshal.

They left Camp Braunstone to the waiting area near Newbury. On the morning of June 6, 5 men landed by glider in Normandy and during the evening that followed, they were joined by the rest of the group.

Initially, since there was no real front lines, the MP made the hunt for snipers and took few prisoners.

Once the division permanently installed in Ste Mere Eglise, the platoon established a camp for prisoners of war near an assembly area for latecomers. In addition, they organized the traffic to the front line of men leaving the beaches of Utah Beach to avoid congestion on the roads.

Measures were prized to protect civilians and prevent a mass of refuge block the roads required for the supply and movement of reinforcements and in collaboration with the defenses to establish protection for the various headquarters of the division.

Teams were also sent to each HQ to assist in the evacuation of prisoners of war to the assembly area. During the 33 days that the division fought the Germans evacuated the MP 2,159 POW.

For their effectiveness during the operation to bring order to a seemingly chaotic situation, the platoon was well rewarded. The Provost Marshal, Major Frederick G McCollum was awarded the Legion of Merit and 5 men were awarded the Bronze Star. The MP also prevented refugees that clutter up the road, which was important as a barrier during the Battle of France in 40. 5 of them were wounded, including Major.

More than 2,000 POWs were treated and 327 paratroopers lost could join their units.

On July 11, 1944, 23 men boarded the LST from the coast of France to land at Southampton in England the next day.

After landing, the group took the train to their old camp Braunstone Park in Leicester. The rest of the platoon followed the same way July 12.

Durant la dernière partie du mois d’avril et au mois de main, le peloton de MP sût que quelque chose allait se passer. Il fut mis en alerte pour un éventuel déplacement à partir du 19 avril et placer en état d’alerte constant jusqu’au 24 mai.

30 hommes sous les ordres du S/Sgt Mulligan quittèrent le Camp Braunstone dans le Leicester pour le secteur de Budgend. Ils y sont resté jusqu’au 3 juin avant d’embarquer sur un Liberty Ship, le SS Webb Miller. Le navire leva l’ancre de Cardiff le 5 juin 44. Le groupe débarqua sur les côtes d’Utah en Normandie le 8 juin 44. Après avoir débarqué, il s’est déplacé à l’intérieur des terres et rejoignit la 82nd Division à Ste Mère Eglise le 9 juin.

Holland – Septembre 1944 – Operation Market-Garden

Back in England, the division began to replace these losses in Normandy with new recruits from Fort Benning. The platoon suffered some minor change in his staff. After several months of rest interspersed with patrolling the city and a few leaves, the platoon was again placed on alert.

On 15 September, 3 officers and 55 men left the camp in Braunstone orders McCollum. This time, they boarded a glider towards Holland.

Of this group only 48 men and 2 officers reached the Landing Zone. The glider was dropped for missing training for his aircraft tractor under fire from anti-aircraft batteries Germany approximately 30 minutes before the scheduled release.

This glider carrying the following men: Captain Shelby L White, S/Sgt Lois W Melvin, Sgt Delmar Whitt, Cpl George P Simon, Cpl Herring E Lindgren, Pfc David C Bailey and Pvt Walter J Lineham. From this group, Captain White and S/Sgt Melvin who were injured and were evacuated to England. The other 5 were declared Missing In Action.

Arrived in Holland, September 23, the group is assembled and installed them as a division headquarters near Grosbecken. The next day, the Guard's headquarters and was assured that roadblocks and checkpoints on roads and bridges. MP patrols were conducted in nearby cities to prevent crimes of military and civilian.

Shortly thereafter, the division headquarters that moved to Nijmegen where the bridges were an important objective for the division.

This shift is under the control of the "traffic" of the MP platoon under the command of G4. A police patrol was immediately assigned to the Nijmegen who worked closely with British forces and city authorities.

A patrol was sent to Brussels in Belgium to control the movement of staff from the division.

At camp prisoner of war, the section would be charging nearly 3,000 German soldiers behind the barbed wire, making a total of 29,000 prisoners of war from the beginning of the war.

Belgium – Decembre 1944 – Battle of the Bulge

Not members of the MP Platoon forget the appeal that was mobilized during the drive Sissonne in France to take part in the counter-offensive that would block the Germans in the Ardennes.

That north side of the salient that the Military Police Platoon had experienced the worst weather, snowstorms, ice and wind.

On the night of 17 December 44, at 21:30, the MP Platoon was warned that the division as a whole will move by truck up to Bastogne, Belgium. At 23:00, a small group under the command of Lt. Col. Ireland left Sissons to establish an assembly area near Bastogne.

Early the next morning, another small group left Sissonne to implement signposts along the path to be followed by the division.

Later that day, the main body of the platoon left in front of the convoy of the division and men stationed at strategic locations.

The platoon set up HQ in Werbomont, Belgium December 19, 1944. Several checkpoints were installed in the traffic in the area and traffic is recited almost continuous stream, day and night, barely slowed by snow and ice. From that date, the platoon began a series of constant movement, December 24 at City, 25 to Homblemont, 29 to Chevron, January 2 at High Bordeaux and January 11 to Sedoz.

The number of prisoners of war gathered at that date amounted to 2513.

Moreover, many of the latecomer 82nd were returned to their units. From January 13 to 24, the division was kept in a rest area for nearly Sedoz but the MP remained vigilant now post information, two PCs and a PC war, organizing road patrols in and around the division.

On January 25, the platoon moved to Stavelot and January 28 planted for the first time its PCs on German soil in Medell.

The next day, his platoon lost one man during the Battle of the Bulge, Pvt Woodward was killed in Werth, Germany. On February 7, 1945, the division with the MP Platoon moved to Rott deepest penetration into Germany.

On 19 February, the team left Rott traffic to determine the route of the convoy returned to Sisson. On February 22 the first elements of the convoy arrived at Sissonne followed the rest of the platoon MP tired and frozen. It was very busy two months. And 4,529 Germans were imprisoned behind barbed wire.

On the Belgian front, January 21, 1945, the 82nd MP Platoon established a prison camp in an old abandoned farmhouse.

Germany – April 1945

At the end of March 1945, the platoon was with the division in Sissonne, France when the 31 March it was placed on alert and prepare to move. On 1st April, the small group that would mark the road left Sissonne for Weiden, Germany, near Cologne. They mark the road for the convoy to mark the danger points.

At midnight, April 2, the bulk of the convoy arrived in Weiden. Nearly half the platoon arrived with the convoy, the rest arrived by train.

Once there, the work of the MP Platoon was to conduct patrols in the area of the division to prevent accidents among civilians or military personnel and work with the military government of Cologne. The former Gestapo prison in Klingelputzwas used.

The division was again placed on alert for possible movement and April 25, the 82nd Airborne Division was relieved of Cologne and headed towards the Elbe.

Again, the MP Platoon made its work tagging Hobrenzetben down the road where the division established its headquarters April 29.

The next day it was Bleckede direction. There, the MP Platoon including established a headquarters and a camp for prisoners of war. However, the military police platoon were scattered all along the route from Cologne to Bleckede, directing traffic elements of the division still in motion.

The first day of a major attack, the camp hosted 588 prisoners. Some days later would be the largest day camp prisoner of the Military Police Platoon. On May 2, General von Tippelskirch commanding the 21st Army totaling 144,000 men. Monitor such a large number of prisoners behind the barbed wire was too big a burden for the MP, they were assisted in this task by the men of the 505th PIR.

It was a great month for the platoon. He had met the Russians captured a general, and finally the War was over.

The commanding officer at that time was Major Paul E Vaupel. During the last days of May, the division began to return to Sisson and then to an unknown destination, they do not know if they were going to the Pacific, where such return occupation troops, where to be demobilized or anything else.

In early June 1945, the 82nd Division was sent to Epinal, France in order, thereafter, to be redeployed.

The MP took up their quarters in a school for girls and organizes frequent patrols in the city and control traffic under the command of Captain Robert B Patterson.

<= Capitaine Robert B Patterson

The redeployment began by transferring all the men totaled 85 points or more in the 17th Airborne Division Military Police Platoon and the transfer of the 17th MP in the 82nd.

The pack was also reinforced by personnel from the headquarters of the 1st Allied Airborne Army. After all these permutations, the pack was the height of 179 men and 3 officers. 76 was the Glidermens and 106 paratroopers.

In late July, the 82nd Division was officially notified, which put an end to many rumors, it would have the honor to occupy the German capital, Berlin. On July 30, 2 officers and 22 men left Epinal for the Military District Berlin with a mission to map the road. The rest of the platoon followed two weeks later with a convoy of trucks and trains. Finally, all components reached Berlin August 16, 1945.

In the divided city, the platoon will catch up with old friends, English and Russian. Reporting to the 2nd Armored Military Police, the platoon prepared immediately patrols and foot to monitor civilian and military. The MP Platoon was at that time under the command of Captain Robert B Patterson, now Provost Marshal.

In Berlin, the platoon suffered two more losses, first, Pfc S.E Floyd was killed in a car accident August 14 and Pvt James S George died of a bullet in the stomach in a fire accident on September 27, 1945.

The platoon was then further on alert for future redeployment. Paratroopers with less than 45 points were transferred to the 508th PIR. The others were transferred to the infantry and the group that had more than 45 points could hope to soon return home.