13th Airborne Corps

....... "The soldier is the army."

................................. ......General George S. Patton

 
 
Unit History
    515th PIR
    517th PIR
     88th GIR
    326th GIR
    129th AEB
    460th PFAB
    676th GFAB
 
  Division History
    1st ABTF
    11th Abn Div
    13th Abn Div
    17th Abn Div
    82nd Abn Div
    101st Abn Div
 
  Resources
    Multimedia
    Books
    Glossary
 
 
    Combat Jumps
    Bulge Memories
    517th PRCT
 
  Research
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Organizations
  82nd Airborne Assoc
  504th PIR Assoc
  508th PIR Assoc
  Other Airborne Assoc
 
  Other Resources
  Paratrooper.Net
  Military.Com
  Airborne and Special Operations Museum
 
  Re-enactors
  WW II Historical Re- enactment Society
 

Bookmark and Share


676th GFAB Patch

(above insignia)
676th GFAB Patch


676th Glider Field Artillery Battalion
Unit History


he 676th Glider Field Artillery Battalion (GFAB) was was activatedLt Colonel Henry L Koren - 676th GFAB Commanding Officer on 13 August 1943 at Fort Bragg, NC under the command of Lt Col Clark Lynn as part of the new 13th Airborne Division. The battalion gre in size throughout the late summer and fall of 1943. Young inductees from the New England States and former ASTP men who had come from everywhere by way of the 72nd Replacement Battalion at Fort Bragg continued to arrive until November 1943 at which time the 676th GFAB reached full strength. At that time Lt Col Henry L.T. Koren assumed command (picture right), Basic Training began and the 676th started to truly colasce as a battalion of fighting men.

During Basic Training the 676th GFAB moved from Fort Bragg, NC to Camp Mackall, NC where Basic Training ended on a Saturday in February, 1944. During April of that year the 676th GFAB undertook Airborne Training over the tobacco fields and pine trees of North Carolina in the belly of a CG-4A glider. After this training 60 percent of the 676th GFAB personnel trained as parachutists at Fort Benning Parachute School in Georgia during midsummer 1944. The remaining personnel gave glider training at Camp Howze, TX to the 103rd Division. By September, 1944 the battalion was back together training for night landings at Camp Mackall. After attaining a high score on its Army Ground Forces Test the battalion was ready for overseas deployment.

On the 19th of January 1945, the 676th moved from Camp Mackall NC to Camp Shanks, NY for overseas deployment. Six days later the battalion arrived by train to New York and embarked on the U.S.S. General George O. Squier and landed in LeHarve, France on February 7th. On that same day the regiments were packed into 40 and 8s bound for the staging area called Camp Lucky Strike, 200 miles SE of Le Harve in the town of Auxerre, France.

During the months in waiting in France the 676th offered parachutist training to those men who were not already qualified. Also, during this time the 13th Airborne Division was alerted several times for possible operations, however each time the fast moving Army ground forces preempted the need for an airborne operation.

After the German surrender on May 7, 1945 the 13th and 101st Airborne Divisions were notified of their reassignment to the Pacific. In July, 1945 the battalion left Sens, France and made stops at Camp Pittsburgh and Camp Philip Morris. The dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan in August, 1945 cancelled the redeployment of the 676th to the Pacific. That same month the regiment was shipped home aboard the U.S.A.T Thomas H. Barry. The 676th GFAB arrived in New York Harbor on August 20th and was deactivated soon after at Camp Kilmer, NJ.


676th Glider Field Artillery Battalion - Pictures  Photos 676th GFAB  
  • Battery A - 676th GFAB - Photo of A Battery 676th GFAB aboard truck (Deuces Wild).   (SEE Inscriptions for trooper identification)       (Photo courtesy of Glenn Stimets)
  • Battery A - 676th GFAB - Photo of 676th GFAB A Battery friends.  (FRONT: [left to right] Wendell Stimets ,Irving Feder & Nathan Kaplan. REAR: [left to right] Peter Gudenzi ,Don Bruegger & Norbert Duffy - foot on car fender) (Photo courtesy of Glenn Stimets)


books
R E L A T E D   B O O K S

Ambrose, Stephen E D-DAY June 6,1944: The Climatic Battle of WW II. 6/93, Simon & Shuster ISBN: 0671673343
Archer, Clark Paratroopers Odyssey : A History of the 517th Parachute Combat Team. 266p., 1985, ISBN: 0961601507
Astor, Gerald 'Battling Buzzards': The Odyssey of the 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team 1943-1945. 338p., 7/93, Donald I Fine Pub, ISBN: 0440236932
Badsey , Stephen & Chandler, David G (Editor)  Arnhem 1944: Operation "Market Garden" (Campaign No.24) 1993 96p. ISBN: 1855323028
Breuer, William B Geronimo! American Paratroopers in WWII. New York: St. Martin Press, 1989 621 p. ISBN: 0-312-03350-8
Breuer, William B Unexplained Mysteries of World War II. John Wiley & Sons, Sept 1998 256 p. ISBN:0471291072
D'Este, Carlo  Patton: A Genius for War 1024 pp ISBN: 0060927623
De Trez, Michel  At the Point of No Return : Pictorial History of the American Paratroopers in the Invasion of Normandy 7/98, D-Day Pub, 200 p. ISBN: 2960017617
De Trez, Michel  First Airborne Task Force: Pictorial History of the Allied Paratroopers in the Invasion of Southern France 7/98, D-Day Pub, 500 p. ISBN: 2960017625
Devlin, Gerard S  Paratrooper! St Martin's Press, (P) c1976 ISBN: 0312596529
Gavin, James M.  On to Berlin : Battles of an Airborne Commander, 1943-1946 ISBN: 0670525170
Golden, Lewis Echoes From Arnhem Penguin ISBN: 0718305213
Hicks, Anne The Last Fighting General: The Biography of Robert Tryon Frederick Schiffer Pub Ltd, 320pp, ISBN: 0764324306
MacDonald, Charles B  A Time For Trumpets: The Untold Story of the Battle of the Bulge Wm Morrow & Co (P), 720 p. ISBN: 068151574
Masters, Charles J.  Glidermen of Neptune: The American D-Day Glider Attack  Southern Illinois Univ Press, ISBN:0809320088
McKenzie, John  On Time, On Target Novato, CA: Presidio, May 15,2000. 304 p. ISBN: 089 141 714 1
Nigl, Dr Alfred J & Charles A Nigl  Silent Wings - Savage Death Santa Ana, CA: Graphic Publishing, Dec 3,2007. 288 p. ISBN: 1882824318
Ryan, Cornelius  A Bridge Too Far 670p. ISBN: 0684803305
Wildman, John B All Americans 82nd Airborne. Meadowlands Militaria, 6/83 ISBN:091 208 1007
The Center of Military History The War in the Mediterranean: A WWII Pictorial History Brasseys, Inc., 465 p. ISBN:1574881302


More Books  |  Multimedia  |  WW2-Airborne Store  |  Support  |  Comments  |  Glossary