| If you do
NOT see the Table of Contents frame to the left of this page, then
Click here to open 'USArmyGermany' frameset |
|||||||||||||
|
Communications
in USFET 1940s |
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||
| The 1940s | |||||||||||||
| (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.) |
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| 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. | |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||
| (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 |
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||
| (Source: SIGNAL, Jul-Aug 1947) | |||||||||||||
| Constabulary Communications by Capt. Harry Margolies Content under revision |
|||||||||||||
| CONSTABULARY TELEPHONE TRAFFIC DIAGRAM | |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| (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 |
|||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||
| 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. |
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
Related Links: |
|||||||||||||
