Description
US Army Captured Nazi Flag Pennant
A captured Nazi flag pennant, it was captured by the 35.th Infantry Division, 137 Inf Regt .
On the top rear of the pennant it says” 35 ID 137 In Regt Luxembourg Lutrebouis 44-45.
62 KIA Jan 7 1945 “.
The pennant is obviously damaged, there are many troop signatures on it. It measures 46 CMs wide and 57 CMs in length.
The 137th Infantry
The 137th Infantry was inducted into Federal service on 23 December 1940 in preparation for the possibility that the United States might enter WW2 The regiment was assigned to the 35th Infantry Division, just as it had been during World War I. The regiment soon arrived in England on 25 May 1944, and then into the frontline in Normandy on 8 July 1944.
Here in Normandy, the 137th took part in the Battle of Saint-Lô where savage fighting among ruined urban streets and dense hedgerows caused numerous casualties.Since arriving in France, the 137th Infantry had suffered 1,183 casualties, consisting of 177 killed, 946 wounded, and 40 missing in action. Many of the wounded had returned to duty, and these and new replacements totaled 826.
In the afternoon of 6 August 1944, the regiment was on the move again, to the Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët area.
They continued moving until they reached the vicinity of Mortain, where the men began patrolling in conjunction with soldiers from the 30th Infantry Division.
The Germans launched Operation Lüttich, a counterattack against Mortain, to contain the Allied breakout from Normandy, and they met heavy opposition from the American forces.
The 137th fought here from 7–13 August, and they suffered 23 killed, 140 wounded, and 40 missing in action.The German counterattack was beaten back.
The regiment continued on through the Allied breakout and pushed east to the city of Orléans and then onto Nancy which they captured after heavy resistance.
After beating back a fierce German counterattack in the Gremercey Forest, the regiment moved north to Metz.
After minor patrolling in Alsace-Lorraine, they moved north to fight in the Battle of the Bulge on 26 December 1944.
Heavy fighting in Luxembourg and Belgium saw the 137th suffer heavy casualties, but they beat back the enemy wherever they met them.
Fighting along the Dutch border of Germany saw the regiment cross the Rhine in March 1945.
They advanced east through Germany encountering heavy resistance along the Autobahn superhighway, and they captured hundreds of German prisoners in the Ruhr region by the time the war ended.
They assumed occupation duties in Germany until returning to the US,and were inactivated on 5 December 1945 at Camp Breckinridge.
