Historic Quotations

Timberwolf Tracks (page 51):

"On 22 October the I British Corps, under the command of Major General John A. Crocker, directed that the 104th Infantry Division relieve the 49th Infantry Division (British) during the period 23-25 October ..."

Timberwolf Tracks (page 53):

"Private Hubert L. Merritt of Company A, 413th Infantry Regiment, was the first casualty (23 Oct 44)."

Timberwolf Tracks (page 61):

"The First Attack. At 1010 on 25 October a patrol of Company E , 414th Infantry Regiment - Lieutentant Cramer, Sergeant Joseph and Pfc. Fortner - gained contact with the enemy in the vicinity of the Custom House on the Wuustwezel-Breda highway just north of the Holland frontier."

The Commercial Appeal (27 October 1944)

"In Europe, the U.S. 104th 'Timberwolf' Infantry Division storms Zundert in the southern Netherlands..."

Timberwolf Tracks (page 92)

"Throughout 3 November the infantry elements shoved forward. By nightfall the 413th Infantry had Nordhook and Checkpoints 16 and 21, while the 415th Infantry had gained Checkpoint 22 - the bridgehead (across the Mark) was definitely established."

G.G. Simonds, Lieutenant General, First Canadian Army, Commanding
(7 November 1944)

"...once the 'Timberwolves' got their teeth into the Boche, they showed great dash, and British and Canadian troops on their flanks expressed the greatest admiration for their courage and enthusiasm."

Courtney H. Hodges, Lt Gen, First U.S. Army, Commanding (15 November 1944)

"I am very pleased to learn of the high esteem in which both British and Canadian troops hold your division..."

Timberwolf Tracks (page 115)

"The biggest Allied attack since the St. Lo breakthrough was to commence in nine hours and twenty minutes....At 1105 (16 Nov 44) you heard distant continuous thunder like Niagara Falls, very far away. It was the heavy bombers of the 8th Air Force and the Royal Air Force arriving on schedule from England. ....This was the beginning of the biggest air assault of World War II."

Timberwolf Tracks (page 117)

"On 18 November the Germans were driven from Hill 287 and the 414th Infantry now held the dominating terrain with observation over Stolberg and Eschweiler. Only effective coordination and teamwork by the tanks, artillery, air, engineers, and the determined fighting infantrymen enabled the regiment to seize the fiercely defended Hill 287 by 1230." (1st Bn, 415th Infantry, was attached to the 414th Regiment for the initial attack).

J. Lawton Collins, Major General, VII Corps, U.S. Army, Commanding
(19 November 1944)

"The Timberwolf Division has indeed made an enviable record in Holland and is daily adding distinction to its reputation in the current operation."

J. Lawton Collins, Major General, VII Corps, U.S. Army, Commanding
(November 1944)

"General Hart (First Army artillery officer) says the whole artillery section functions beautifully according to the book and what the General (Hodges) particularly likes thus far of what he has seen of the 104th is their ability to button up tight and hold the place tight once they have taken it. There is no record of the 104th giving ground."

Don Whitehead, Associated Press (22 November 1944)

"With the U.S. First Army in Germany (AP): The U.S. 104th Infantry Division commanded by Major General Terry Allen, who led the 1st Division through North Africa and Sicily, was the first American outfit to enter Eschweiler....the Timberwolves proved themselves to be an outstanding Division as they drove to Eschweiler."

Graham Miller, The New York Daily News (26 November 1944)

"...other leathery-faced troops in tough divisions are talking respectfully of the 104th."

The Stars & Stripes (6 December 1944)

"Inden: There we stuck it out for four days under the heaviest artillery concentration ever experienced by American troops."

Army Times (9 December 1944)

"Correspondents predict that the coming battle of the Roer will see the bloodiest fighting yet experienced on the Western Front ..."

Al Newman, Newsweek (11 December 1944)

"They Fight by Night. --Nightmares at Arms: Allen taught his Timberwolves some new tricks along with the old, for as the Germans on their sector have discovered, the 104th is a body of night-fighting specialists."

Time (11 December 1944)

"The Germans fought for the Roer River, between Aachen and Cologne, as if it were the Meuse, the Marne and the Somme of the last war all rolled into one. German radio broadcasts called it 'the most terrible and ferocious battle in the history of all wars....The Germans fought like wild men for the Inde also. Ousted again, they put down an artillery barrage in which the Yanks counted 60 shells a minute."

J. Lawton Collins, Major General, VII Corps, U.S. Army, Commanding
(26 December 1944)

"We regard the Timberwolf Division as one of the finest assault divisions we have ever had in this Corps."

The New York Times (25 February 1945)

"The battle of Duren has some house-to-house and cellar-to-cellar fighting, but most of it is from isolated strongpoint to isolated strongpoint....One of the hardest fights was by a company of Colonel Summers' battalion, commanded by Capt. Arthur D. Decker of Indiana."

C. R. Cunningham PM, New York, (26 February 1945)

"Duren, Germany, Feb. 26 - Major General Terry Allen's Timberwolves of the 104th Infantry Division swept through the last remnants of German resistance in this flattened city yesterday..."

Don Whitehead, Associated Press, Washington's Evening Star
(26 February 1945)

"With the United States First Army in Germany, Feb. 26 - Maj. Gen. Terry Allen, who once led the Fighting 1st Infantry Division, has another red-hot division which now is winning combat laurels. It's the 104th Infantry Division, known as the Timberwolves....It's a tough, disciplined, aggressive outfit which has made a specialty of night fighting. It takes well-trained, disciplined, aggressive troops to fight successfully in darkness -- troops with a lot of confidence in themselves and their division, and that is what Gen. Allen has achieved with his new command."

James L. Kilgallen, International News Service ( 27 February 1945)

"After Major General Terry Allen's Timberwolf Division of the First Army seized Golzheim, 14 miles west of Cologne, American infantry struck out in a lighting-like thrust that swiftly enveloped at least another dozen towns."

John Wilhelm, Chicago Sun (2 March 1945)

"With 104th Infantry Division in Front of Cologne, March 2, -- German jet planes, especially the now notorious Messerschmitt-262, a bomb-carrying version, are becoming increasingly active on the Cologne battlefields."

Iris Carpenter, Herald (6 March 1945)

"We are in Cologne. Once capital of the Rhineland, now third largest rubble pile in Germany, it is being mopped up by General Maurice Rose's 3rd Armored Division and General Terry Allen's famous Timberwolves."

Associated Press (30 March 1945)

"Last night, when the pocketed and alarmed Germans began trying to smash at least one avenue through which they could pour troops, Maj. Gen. Terry Allen's 104th Infantry 'Timberwolf' Division sent a force of tanks and doughboys to clamp a strong roadblock on Brilon, highway center 25 miles southwest of Paderborn."

Ann Stringer, United Press (3 April 1945)

"With 104th Timberwolf Division south of Paderborn, Germany. The 'Dusty Devastators,' an all-Negro platoon saw action for the first time today, and licked Adolf Hitlers's supermen."

G. K. Hodenfield, The Stars and Stripes (8 April 1945)

"With 104th Div. East of Weser River, Apr 8: The Jerries blew up the bridge across the Weser River yesterday almost right in the face of Lt. Col. Bill Summers, of Tulsa, Okla., but today doughs of his 413th Regt. of the 104th 'Timberwolf' Div. are across the 80-yard-wide obstacle and headed east."

Timberwolf Tracks (11 April 1945)

"In Nordhausen the (104th) Division found a large German concentration camp for political prisoners, discovering 5,000 corpses among the 6,000 inmates in various stages of decay. The corpses were scattered throughout the buildings and grounds of the large camp and all of them appeared to have been starved to such an extent that they were mere skeletons wrapped in skin."

Timberwolf Tracks (page 336)

"After completing its mission of holding the German forces within the Harz mountain,....the 413th moved to the east on the afternoon of 15 April, and rejoined the Division which was then along the Salle River. Over 65,000 German troops were later gathered from the Harz Mountain area."

Time (April 1945)

"Count Felix von Luckner, 58, famed 'Sea Devil' scourge of Allied shipping in World War I, turned up behind the Western Front, trying to save his hometown of Halle, from Major General Terry Allen's attack....But General Allen's only terms were unconditional surrender, and three days later Halle fell."

Timberwolf Tracks (page 346)

"Since 25 March the (104th) Division had advanced 375 miles, had captured 19,152 prisoners and had played a vital role in trapping the 335,000 German troops in the Ruhr pocket and the 65,000 Nazis in the Harz Mountains."

Timberwolf Tracks (page 351)

"Visual contact between the 104th Division and the Russian forces was first made on 24 April at 1305."

Timberwolf Tracks (page 361)

"All of our own troops were now west of the Mulde and regimental and battalion commanders and staffs from all units exchanged visits with the Russians."

414th Infantry History (page g-35)

"On 6 May 1945, when the Russians closed up to the east bank of the Mulde River, it was announced that the Division had officially broken contact with the enemy, after 195 consecutive days of arduous combat."

Timberwolf Tracks (page 194)

"A famous war correspondent once remarked that in all his exhausting travels through war torn Europe, he had probably seen enough unusual signs representing units' command post, fire direction centers, main supply routes and airstrips to compile a history of the war using a collection of just such signposts. He also made note of the fact that while many of these direction finders were cryptically unimaginative, no matter where he went in the First Army zone of Advance, one sign always stood out from all the rest - TIMBERWOLF UP!"

Major General Terry de la Mesa Allen,
Commanding General, 104th Infantry Division (October 1945)

"To all Timberwolves: - - During six and one-half months of continuous combat in Holland and Germany, you participated with outstanding success in spearheading five major offensives. You always attained your objectives and you never gave ground. I wish to pay tribute to our gallant dead, to whom we dedicate 'Timberwolf Tracks'. They made our success possible. It is our proud boast, that we have always lived up to our battle slogan, 'NOTHING IN HELL CAN STOP THE TIMBERWOLVES'. My thanks to you all for your unfailing loyal support."

Robert P. Patterson, Secretary of War (31 November 1945)

"To the officers and men of the 104th Infantry Division: The deep appreciation of a grateful nation goes out to you men of the Timberwolf Division who, by your heavy fighting overseas, did so much to smash the powerful German army."

Kenneth T. Downs, The Saturday Evening Post (17 August 1946)

"Led by Terry Allen, who blooded the famous 1st in North Africa, the 104th Division night-fought its way through Germany and became one of the greatest outfits in our Army....The story of Terry Allen and the Timberwolves is one of the most spectacular of the war. Allen was the only general in the war to coach two divisions, take them overseas and quarterback them through a series of unbroken victories to brilliant records....despite it's late start, the 104th, in less than a year of combat, won the reputation of being one of the cleverest night-fighting divisions in the entire Army."

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