USAREUR Units - Signal Corps

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Communications in USFET 1940s
US Forces, European Theater
Looking for more information from military/civilian personnel assigned to or associated with the U.S. Army in Germany from 1945 to 1989. If you have any stories or thoughts on the subject, please contact me.

Theater Sig Comm Svc

ACAN

3118th Sig Sv Gp

126th Sig Sv Bn

3110th Sig Sv Bn

3139th Sig Sv Bn

3159th Sig Sv Bn

3160th Sig Sv Bn

AN/TRC-1

AN/TRC-3

AN/TRC-7

SCR-399

Decimeter

Related Links

The 1940s

"Mike" VHF Relay Station - Grosser Feldberg, Taunus , 1946

(Source: Communications, OCCUPATION FORCES IN EUROPE, )

Radio Communications

Throughout the OVERLORD period, two principal types of radio communications, requiring different equipment and suitable for use under widely differing conditions, were employed in military operations in the ETO. These types were known as HF (high frequency) and VHF (very high frequency). They not only used different bands in the radio spectrum but depended on different types of transmission, HF employing amplitude modulation (AM) and VHF frequency modulation (FM).

HF Radio
HF radio proved itself invaluable in backing up long distance wire circuits on the Continent. Because of its special characteristics, it was standard for radio communications between static headquarters. Ordinarily, HF circuits carried a light load, being used steadily and at full capacity whenever wire circuits went out of operation. (Standard equipment used for HF was the SCR-399 set.)

HF & VHF network (1945)

VHF Radio
By V-E Day, VHF radio transmission was recognized as one of the important developments of the war. Its special value for military purposes lay in the wide range of frequencies available for VHF transmission and in the compactness of the equipment required. It was ideally suited for use in advance of main hqs, in mobile situations. Wherever there was a gap in wire communications, VHF could be used to complete the circuit. (When connected to a telephone switchboard, VHF provides circuits that can be used in the same way as any wire circuit.) By the use of directional antenna, VHF is beamed in a straight line to a direct point. Normal curvature of the earth necessitates relay stations at intervals of approx 25 miles. (Standard equipment used for VHF was the AN/TRC-3 set.)

Throughout the European campaign, VHF radio provided the main type of communications between Army Group and the Armies. Other types of equipment used for VHF were AN/TRC-6 sets. They arrived in the Theater too late for extensive use during OVERLORD. This equipment was designed for SHF (super high frequency) transmission. Decimeter equipment captured in Germany was also used. A laboratory was established at MANNHEIM and German technicians were employed to develop this equipment for use by US forces.

3146th Sig Sv Gp
USFET

1. Gibbs Bks, 1945 (KB)

2. Zugspitze relay station (KB)

3. The Zugspitzbahn leaves Garmisch for the climb up to the relay station (KB)

4. Unidentified relay tower (KB)

5. Unidentified relay tower (KB)

6. VHF antenna (KB)

(Source: Email from Mitchell L. Cotton)

The 3146th Sig Sv Gp is not known to me. I thought we (Co. B, 3112th Sig Svc Bn) were the only ones operating microwave links for 12th Army Group in Europe during 1945-46. Apparently there was a good deal of reorganization during this period.

The 3112th seems to have had a relatively short lifetime. My company had 72 sites, from Cherbourg, to Potsdam, to Garmisch. Included were such interesting summits as (1) top of Eiffel tower, (2) Mt. Brocken (Hartz Mountains in Russian zone), and (3) Zugspitze.

The quarters we occupied were also quite notable. In Bad Tölz, Bavaria we enjoyed "Hof Saursberg", a multi-million dollar alpine cottage of Friedrick Flick, the German steel magnate. His family servants remained resident on our payroll to keep everything tidy. Shortly after I came home it was taken over as a General Officers Club ("we" had been one 2nd Lt. and one Corporal).

I look forward to referencing your web site. There does not seem to be very much out there about our history. The equipment we operated on the Zugspitze was AN/TRC-6. Hauling the towers (14 ft. telescoped) sticking out sideways from the cable gondola, in a windy snowstorm was an adventure. Fortunately the sergeant who sat on the inside end was a bit fat.
Mitchell L. Cotton

1947

(Source: SIGNAL, Jul-Aug 1947)

Constabulary Communications

by Capt. Harry Margolies

Content under revision

CONSTABULARY TELEPHONE TRAFFIC DIAGRAM

US Constabulary Telephone Network (April 1947)

Large image file! (402 KB).

Will do some research (in the OCCUPATION FORCES series) on it and provide some details as soon as I can.

Input from readers would also be greatly appreciated!!!

CONTINENTAL TELETYPE TRAFFIC DIAGRAM

1946

TSCS Teletype Traffic Routing Diagram (July 1946)

Large image file! (800 KB).

Will do some research (in the OCCUPATION FORCES series) on it and provide some details as soon as I can.

Input from readers would also be greatly appreciated!!!

1947

EUCOM Teletype Traffic Routing Diagram (August 1947)

Large image file! (697 KB).

Will do some research (in the OCCUPATION FORCES series) on it and provide some details as soon as I can.

Input from readers would also be greatly appreciated!!!

(Source: Email from Edsel H. Freeman, B Co, 7773rd Sig Bn)

I was in the 7773rd Signal Battalion in Fuerth, Germany, from 1947 to 1948. I was on guard duty at the Nuernberg Military Post Stockade for two moths. Then I was in the message center as a clerk.

I roomed with Harold P. Hill, Jesse C Hill (Brothers), Bruce D. Hoslingsworth.

I left New York on the USAT Gen. M. B. Stewart. On the 9th day out, I come down with the German Measles. I got off in Bremenhaven and was quarantined at the 319th Station Hospital for 22 days with Guy Fletcher, James Ballard and John B. Clark. I left Bremerhaven for Marburg. There I was assigned B Company, 7773rd Signal Bn in Wuerzburg. From there I was transferred to Fuerth.

Some of the War Crimes trials were still going on in Nurnberg. The buildings were laying in the streets from the bombings during the war.
Edsel Freeman

ARMY GROUP COMMUNICATIONS

Radio Link Circuits, as of May 8 1945 (Map "C")

Twelfth Army Group	Wiesbaden		AN/TRC-6 (SHF)
	Hohe Wurzel	Hill 614	W of Wiesbaden
		Hill ?	(Marburg area?)
	Hohes Lohr	Hill 657	S of Bad Wildungen
	Twelfth AG TAC
Twelfth Army Group	Wiesbaden
	Hohe Wurzel	Hill 614	W of Wiesbaden
	Giessen Wire Term
	Taufstein	Hill 774	E of Schotten
	First U.S. Army
Twelfth AG TAC	Bad Wildungen
	Billstein	Hill 642	W of Bad Soden
	First U.S. Army
Twelfth Army Group	Wiesbaden
	Hohe Wurzel	Hill 614	W of Wiesbaden
	Geyersberg	Hill 585	E of Aschaffenburg (Breitsol)
		Hill 514	near Ansbach?
		Hill ?	near Weissenburg?
		Hill ?	N of Regensburg
	Third U.S. Army
Twelfth AG TAC	Bad Wildungen
	Hohes Lohr	Hill 657	S of Bad Wildungen
	Kreuzberg	Hill 928	W of Bad Neustadt a.d.S.
	Schneeberg	Hill 1053	E of Bayreuth
	Third U.S. Army
Twelfth Army Group	Wiesbaden		AN/TRC-6 (SHF)
	Hohe Wurzel	Hill 614	W of Wiesbaden
	(Hohe Warte)	Hill 569	E of Aschaffenburg
	(Schwanberg)	Hill 475	E of Kitzingen
	Hetzleser Berg	Hill 548	NE of Erlangen
	Third U.S. Army Rear
Twelfth AG TAC	Bad Wildungen
	Hohes Lohr	Hill 657	S of Bad Wildungen
		Hill 944	East Germany ?
	Sig Sec Det D
Twelfth Army Group	Wiesbaden
	Hohe Wurzel	Hill 614	W of Wiesbaden
	Giessen Wire Term
	Hoher Meissner	Hill 750	E of Kassel; actually 754 m
	Schalke	Hill 763	S of Goslar
	Ninth U.S. Army
Twelfth AG TAC


	Ninth U.S. Army

FIELD ARMY COMMUNICATIONS

301st Signal Operation Bn, Seventh US Army
302nd Signal Operation Bn, Third US Army

3118th Signal Service Group

(Source: 204th Military Intelligence Battalion Lineage and History)

Constituted 4 November 1943 in the Army of the United States as the 3118th Signal Service Battalion.
Activated 15 November 1943 at Camp Crowder, Missouri.
Reorganized and redesignated 13 April 1945 as the 3118th Signal Service Group.
Reorganized and redesignated 14 November 1945 as the 3118th Signal Service Battalion.
Headquarters reorganized and redesignated 3 April 1946 as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 3118th Signal Service Group (remainder of battalion concurrently disbanded).
Inactivated 20 June 1947 in Germany.

(Source: "History - SHAEF/ETOUSA Veterans Association" on Military.com; retrieved December 25, 2010)

Unit Designation: 3118th Signal Service Group, APO 757, C/o PM, NYC, NY
Commanding Officer: Lt. Col. Robert C. Angster.

Type of work unit is equipped to do: Planning, installation, and operating communications for a Major Headquarters, originally for COSSAC (Chiefs of Staff Supreme Allied Command), then SAC which subsequently became SHAEF, and finally for Hq, U.S. Forces European Theater.

Length of stay in European Theater: This unit, the largest Signal Service Group in the Army was activated 15 Nov 1943 as a Bn. The first contingent arrived in the U.K. 14 Dec 1943 and operated communications in London, Rotunda Signal Center, SHAEF Hq. at Bushey Park, and the SHAEF CP at Portsmouth. In July 1944. our first detachment landed in France to handle communications of the Normandy Campaign for SHAEF and continued to operate with SHAEF from Jullouville to Versailles, Reims, and finally Frankfurt.

Simultaneously, this unit operated Signal Centers for three echelons of SHAEF (Advance CP, Main, and Rear) as well as operating communications for Missions in Brussels, Paris, Luxembourg, The Hague, Berlin, and other European Capitals; this unit likewise had communications detachments with the 6th, 12th, and 21st Army Groups.

Statistics: Handled, in 20 months of operation, 5,250,000 tactical and administrative messages by electrical means, Wire and Radio, totaling more than 700,000,000 groups. Handled approximately 3,700.000 registered packets and 14,000,000 unregistered packets by Motor, Air, Train, and Boat Messenger Service. An average of 10,000 long distance telephone calls and 30,000 local calls are handled daily through the exchanges operated by this unit. This would total 24 million for the 20 month period, or 28 calls per minute. Such traffic might be compared to the traffic generated by a city of 45,000 in the United States. The unit Motor Messengers have driven over 5,200,000 miles throughout England, Scotland, Wales, and every continental country to deliver message traffic for SHAEF. The Group Supply had driven over 21,000,000 truck miles, carrying 16,800,000 pounds in 2,750 truck loads, worth $6,000,000 of signal communication supplies to equip, install, and repair all the above mentioned installations.

Battle Experience: Members of this unit participated in all five European campaigns and the Group as a whole participated in the Northern France, Rhineland, and Central European Campaigns.

Unusual Jobs:
1. Installed, operated and maintained the first Signal Center for General Eisenhower on the continent, near Cerisy de Foret, Normandy.

2. Upon orders of Gen. Eisenhower, through the Chief Signal Officer, operated a 24 hour Radio Network at Dover and Chatham, England, back to London for the purpose of deceiving the German High Command to believe that the Americans were in that area in strength preparing an invasion from those ports. This small radio detachment, the only Americans in that area, were successful in effecting a diversion of German troops to a position across the Channel from Dover and Chatham to anticipate this supposed attack.

3. This unit conceived, installed, operated, and maintained both a private Telephone and private Radio network, known as "Redline Switchboard" and "Redline Net" for the Supreme Commander to his Army Groups, Chiefs of Staff, and all echelons of SHAEF .

4. During the past 20 months the Group has installed, operated, and maintained the Signal Communication facilities for the various conferences of Generals Marshall, Eisenhower, and De Gaulle; Presidents Roosevelt, and Truman; Prime Ministers Churchill and Atlee, and Marshals Stalin, Zhukov, and Montgomery.

5. Installed, operated, and maintained three Radio Studios for Public Relations Division of SHAEF in London and Paris for the use of Commercial Broadcasters disseminating battle news to the United States.

6. The Group Supply trucks hauled vital supplies unceasingly, day and night, seven days a week, for 21 days from Omaha and Utah Beaches to SHAEF Forward at Versailles or SHAEF CP at Reims, without accident or vehicle breakdown, the vehicles stopped only long enough to refuel.

7. This unit established the first direct communication with the German High Command which resulted in the surrender at Reims.

8. With 8 men, in 29 days, working seven days a week, installed for SHAEF a 14 position (1400 line) manual Switchboard; an installation that would be inconceivable in the United states in less than three months.

9. The 40 KW Radio Team assigned to this unit operates one radio circuit with five channels. The voice channel is capable of transmitting colored pictures to the United States. It operated formerly direct to the American Telephone and Telegraph Co., in New York at a cost of $1,000 per hour. It now operates directly to the War Department in Washington, D.C. During the Postsdam Conference, many calls were made by President Truman through this system to the United States. This $2,300,000 installation was installed and operating in eleven days from the States, a record hitherto unsurpassed.

10. A detachment of this unit operated the Radio communication facilities to Saltzburg to Marshal Kesselring, insuring that his surrender would be made to the Russians, as well as the other allies.

11. The only Enlisted Man officially at the confirmation of the surrender terms at the Potsdam conference was furnished by this organization to operate the radio communications back to the U.S. Sector and thence to Washington.

12. This unit refitted, installed and operated a communications car on the train, formerly belonging to Hitler, for the use of General Eisenhower. It is a complete mobile Signal Center with a 12 KW radio transmitter, Teletype, Cipher Room, complete inter-train telephone system with facilities for plugging into the local exchange of whatever city in which the train is located. It was the first Allied communications car fitted with radio communication while on the move.

13. We have installed and operate an Airborne Signal Center in the C-53 airplane assigned to this Group. This radio plane is used to overcome the obstacle of time and distance in a special or emergency mission where there is a demand to set up an emergency radio link in a given location within the shortest possible time.

14. This unit has installed, operated and maintained a radio teletype circuit from Nuremburg to provide the War Crimes Commission with teletype relay facilities to Frankfurt and thence to any point on earth.

15. We have operated highly successfully as the only major Anglo-American Signal Installation in the European Theater. The majority of the signal equipment used by the British in SHAEF has been provided and installed by this unit. The 3118th has salvaged, rehabilitated and operated, in a minimum of time, with a maximum of efficiency, British, French, German, Danish, Dutch, Belgian, and Russian equipment without prior instruction or knowledge.

Outstanding Individuals: There have been 36 members of this organization awarded the Bronze Star Medal for outstanding merit and achievement. For the superior manner in which this unit has overcome all adversities, distinguished itself by setting an example of such high degree of efficiency, and installing three permanent, complete, elaborate, and modern Signal Centers, this organization has been awarded the Unit Meritorious Service Plaque and is at present under consideration for a second award of the same plaque {This second award has since been made}.

The unit has been commended by the Chief Signal Officer of the British and American Armies, the Chief of French Signals, General Eisenhower, and President Truman.

For the Commanding Officer: PAUL C. KEISLER Capt., Infantry

(Source: OCCUPATION FORCES SERIES)

Frankfurt Signal Center

When FRANKFURT was selected as hqs for the US forces in Germany, the Sig Div, SHAEF set to work to supply initial communications requirements. Fwd Echelon, SHAEF, was scheduled to begin operations at FRANKFURT on May 25. SHAEF FWD opened at Frankfurt on 26 May, 1945. SHAEF Main moved from Versailles to Frankfurt on June 15, 1945 and absorbed SHAEF FWD.

The 3118th Sig Svc Bn reached FRANKFURT in mid-April to install telephone, radio, and signal center facilities in the I.G. Farben Building. This building provided ample basement space for a Signal Center and already contained a 1200-line Siemens automatic telephone system in good condition.

The first switchboard put into operations (in the basement) was an Army TC-10, later converted to the official "Redline" switchboard for top-level subscribers. Control and allocation of circuits in local cable facilities was placed in the hands of the HQ Signal Officer.

As the headquarters continued to grow, telephone equipment in the I.G. Farben Bldg was supplemented by
the Norden Exchange,
the newly installed Frankfurt Switch at Ginnheim Repeater Station,
the I.G. Farben Exchange at Höchst, and
the Senkenberg Exchange.

By the summer of 1946, this military system was serving 3,000 subscribers in FRANKFURT and 1,000 in HÖCHST.

3139th Signal Service Battalion

(Source: Email from Mark Sexton)

Saw your request for info re service in Europe 1945 - 1989.

I was posted to 3139 Signal Sv Bn, a signal messenger unit, about August of 1946. We lived in a small town called Homberg, about 30 miles from Kassel.

We were quatered in german houses, there were about 20 of us. We delivered official Gov't documents many related to the war crimes trials
in Nurenburg.

In 1947 we moved to Bad Wildungen where we were quartered in a sanatoriam. The outfit disbanded after a few months and I was transferred to the 3160 Signal Sv Bn in Bremen. There were about 10 of us. We were quartered in a beautiful house on Barbarossa Str. We ran a radio teletype station there. That lasted about a year. The station was dismantled and moved to Bremerhaven and set up on a Luftwaffe base outside of Bremerhaven right on the edge of the north sea. We were quartered in a German naval compound called the Marine Barracks (I Think). The RTT transmitter at the airbase was dismantled and we all became radio telegraph operators at the Signal Center in Bremerhaven. I remained at this post until spring of 1949 and then returned to ZI.

It seems strange to me that I can't find any information on the 3139 & 3160 Signal anywhere.

It was a very interesting time there in Germany. The winter of 1946/'47 was dreadful. Very very stressful for the germans shortage of food, fuel, electricty and so on. There are many interesting stories of this time.

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