U. S. 7th Armored Division
European Continent Deaths in World War II
Grouped by Last Duty Location and Date:
Who Died Where and When?
Bookmark this page as http://www.7thArmdDiv.org/7adeaths-loc.htm
Last updated: October 28, 2024 - What's New?

7th Armd Div Patch
| Contents | Loc Not Yet Known | Training |
France: | 203AAA pre-7AD | Chartres | Dreux | Seine Crossing | To Verdun | Metz |
Netherlands: | Overloon | 9-26 Oct 1944 | 27 Oct-8 Nov 1944 |
Netherlands and first time in Germany: | Heerlen and Linnich: 9 Nov-16 Dec 1944 |
Belgium: | St. Vith | Manhay-Grandmenil | Jan 1945 Rest | Return to St. Vith |
Second time in Germany: | To the Rhine | Breakout from the Rhine | Ruhr Pocket | Post-Combat |

Spare a minute
to think
of the young who didn't grow up,
and how young they looked when they died,
and how no one will ever remember them looking tired and middle-aged
or even be bored by tiresome recitals of the time of their youth.

- - - - Russell Baker "How to Observe Dec. 7" (NY Times, Dec. 1965)

This is a list of all men of the 7th Armored Division who died overseas in World War II. This page groups the men by the their last duty date and location, thus grouping them so that we can know who died in which battle area. Within each date, the men are roughly in order by battalion and within battalion by name.

This page can also be used as an alternate index to the more detailed information on each man that is contained on the web page for his Battalion (or other unit). Click here for the links to the specific Battalions/Units. See the CONTENTS section below to help navigate this large web page.

Note that if a man died at a later date, for example one who died of his wounds or one who was captured and then died later as a prisoner of war, he is NOT listed under his date of death but rather is listed under his last duty location and last day on duty, since he was a casualty of the action on that date.

CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list. There are at least two monuments in France that have erroneous information on them because they created the monuments without contacting me.

CAUTION #2: This page is still under development. Just because I show a list of names for a particular location or time does NOT mean that that is the complete list of names that I have for that location or time. The process of creating this page is extremely laborious, as I deal with 1,300+ men for whom I have greatly varying amounts of information.

Click on photo for full size. (Not yet implemented for every photo)

This is a working list, begun originally from the Adjutant General's June 30, 1947 official list, which is known to have omissions and errors. Some people think that all you have to do is ask the Army for a list of who died where, but that is a fantasy. It has taken years of work to gather the information contained in this web page. Even so, there are still many men for whom we do not yet know where or when they died.

This is an extremely difficult list to put together and maintain. So there are almost certainly errors in this list. So if you see an error or omission, please contact me (wwjohnston@aol.com). I cannot fix the errors unless I know about them; so please let me know.

Contents
So they will not be Forgot
There is a word
Which bears a sword
It hurls its barbed syllables,-
At once is mute again.
But where it fell
The saved will tell
On patriotic day,
Some epauletted brother
Gave his breath away.
Wherever runs the breathless sun,
Wherever roams the day,
There is its noiseless onset,
There is its victory!
Behold the keenest marksman!
The most accomplished shot!
Time s sublimest target
Is a soul forgot !
 ----- Emily Dickinson

A Note for the Children of these Men

The American World War II Orphans Network (AWON) is an organization created by and for those who lost their father in World War II. AWON has an annual conference and a newsletter filled with useful information. Click here to go to the AWON web page and find those who share your experience.
The entries in parentheses correspond to units of the 7th Armored Division as follows: Note that there are no entries for Division Band, CCR, or 446th Quartermaster Truck Company, since there were no deaths recorded for these units.

There are two other special sections at the end of the list, which you can jump to by clicking on the entry here:

7th Armored Division Overseas Deaths in World War II
Grouped By Last Duty Location (or Last Day on Duty)
Men for whom last duty location is not yet known, in two groupings

Note that some of these men do have some fragmentary information known, such as that they must have died before or after some date or in some country. But they lack specific details to tie them to a specifc location and date.

Grouping 1 of 2: Alphabetical list of those for whom no specific location or date information is known

  1. Eckert, John K. (Arty) - Rank: - Last Day on Duty: - Last Duty Location: - Died Actual: - Died Official:
  2. Harris, Cyril R. (814) - Rank: Pfc. - Last Day on Duty: - Last Duty Location: Netherlands - Died Actual: - Died Official:
  3. La Paille, Denis K. (203) - Rank: Pfc. - Last Day on Duty: - Last Duty Location: - Died Actual: - Died Official:
  4. Leadbetter, Arthur J. (48) - Rank: - Last Day on Duty: - Last Duty Location: - Died Actual: - Died Official:
  5. Mattes, Matthias Richard (814) - Rank: Tec 5 - Last Day on Duty: - Last Duty Location: Netherlands - Died Actual: - Died Official:
  6. McKinney, Charles R. (203) - Rank: - Last Day on Duty: - Last Duty Location: - Died Actual: - Died Official:

Grouping 2 of 2: Very roughly (many exceptions) chronological list of those for whom partial location or date information is known -- NOTE that even the official dates of death were sometimes wrong. And since men who were wounded may have lived for several weeks, even a known date of death does not confirm where and when he suffered the wounds that took his life. So these dates should NOT be taken as certain. They all need further research. In addition, the organization of these names is in flux, as I try to find some way to turn the massive list into something that can at least rule out names for specific dates (e.g. a man known to be alive on 20 Oct 44 could not have been killed in France in Aug or Sep 44 nor at Overloon in early Oct 44).

1944
203 AAA Bn men who died prior to 203 AAA Bn being attached to 7th Armored Division

The 203rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion was not an organic element of 7th Armored Division. The 203rd arrived in France before 7th Armored Division. When 7th Armored Division landed (10-11 August 1944), the 203rd was attached to the 7th Armored Division. This attachment remained in place, with minor exceptions, throughout the remainder of the war in Europe.

Enroute to Chartres Area - 14-15 August 1944

CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
The first fatality of the 7th Armored Division was 2nd Lt. James Earl Newberry, Jr. of Company A of the 23rd Armored Infantry Battalion. A parade ground was named for him at Osterurken, Germany (in the U. S. Zone of Occupation) after the war.

B/23 at Marboué, France - 15 August 1944

CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
On August 15, 1944, Company B of 23rd Armored Infantry Battalion was ordered to march east to a point south of Chartres and then drive north into the city. Instead, they turned south and drove a long way until they were ambushed as they came into the town of Marboué, France.

Marbou Monument

A monument to the B/23 men killed there was erected about 1995. However, in 2008, it was learned that Pfc. Joseph A. Guido had definitely survived the attack and in fact had not died in WWII.
  1. De Simone, Justine (23) - Rank: Pvt. - Last Day on Duty: 1944-Aug-15 - Last Duty Location: Marbou , France - Died Actual: 1944-Aug-15 - Died Official: 1944-Aug-15
  2. Haney, Clyde H. (23) - Rank: Pvt. - Last Day on Duty: 1944-Aug-15 - Last Duty Location: Marbou , France - Died Actual: 1944-Aug-15 - Died Official: 1944-Aug-15
  3. Hobel, John J. (23) - Rank: S/Sgt. - Last Day on Duty: 1944-Aug-15 - Last Duty Location: Marbou , France - Died Actual: 1944-Aug-15 - Died Official: 1944-Aug-15
  4. Jenkins, Clinton W. (23) - Rank: Pvt. - Last Day on Duty: 1944-Aug-15 - Last Duty Location: Marbou , France - Died Actual: 1944-Aug-15 - Died Official: 1944-Aug-15
  5. LeMay, Louis R. A. (23) - Rank: Pvt. - Last Day on Duty: 1944-Aug-15 - Last Duty Location: Marbou , France - Died Actual: 1944-Aug-15 - Died Official: 1944-Aug-15
  6. Lemmon, Robert T., Jr. (23) - Rank: 2nd Lt. - Last Day on Duty: 1944-Aug-15 - Last Duty Location: Marbou , France - Died Actual: 1944-Aug-15 - Died Official: 1944-Aug-15
  7. McCartney, Francis J. (23) - Rank: Tec 5 - Last Day on Duty: 1944-Aug-15 - Last Duty Location: Marbou , France - Died Actual: 1944-Aug-15 - Died Official: 1944-Aug-15
  8. Sanford, Nathan H. (23) - Rank: Pfc. - Last Day on Duty: 1944-Aug-15 - Last Duty Location: Marbou , France - Died Actual: 1944-Aug-15 - Died Official: 1944-Aug-15
  9. Stern, Jacob (23) - Rank: Pfc. - Last Day on Duty: 1944-Aug-15 - Last Duty Location: Marbou , France - Died Actual: 1944-Aug-15 - Died Official: 1944-Aug-15
  10. Sutton, Bennie L. (23) - Rank: Pvt. - Last Day on Duty: 1944-Aug-15 - Last Duty Location: Marbou , France - Died Actual: 1944-Aug-15 - Died Official: 1944-Aug-15
Chartres, France and Immediate Environs - 15-18 August 1944

CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
Moving east from Courville, the first attacks into Chartres included efforts to encircle it on both the north and the south. Thus the city itself and all of these areas encircling it are placed together in this list.

Northeast of Chartres: Rambouillet, Epernon, Ablis ... - 17-18 August 1944

CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.

  • Dreux: 19-20 August 1944
    Dreux: 19-20 August 1944

    CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
    Following the battle at Chartres, the 7th Armored Division moved into the 5th Armored Division's positions at Dreux, France, so that 5th Armored Division could support the first crossing of the Seine River.

    Seine River Crossing - Melun, Tilly, Seine-Port: 21-25 August 1944

    CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
    While one Combat Command attacked directly into Melun (a night attack as soon as they arrived) from the south and held the Germans' attention, another CC crossed at Tilly and Seine-Port to the north and sought to encircle the Germans inside the city.

    Dash to Reims and Verdun: 26 August-2 September 1944

    CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
    The Division traveled rapidly over many miles and a broad front, with casualties along the route. Reims was bypassed, going around it to the north and leaving it to the following 5th Infantry Division to clean out the city as 7th Armored Division pushed on east to liberate the historic WWI city of Verdun, France.

    Metz and Vicinity: 6-25 September 1944

    CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
    The Division's role in the battle at Metz was very complex. Elements of the Division were in very different actions in very different parts of this large battle area, and sometimes they were attached to other divisions. For now, this is simply a list of all deaths in or arising from actions in the period from 6 Setpember (when the Division began the attack toward the Moselle River in four separate columns) until 25 September, when the Division left France enroute to Netherlands.

    Note that the Army has given a number of these men incorrect official dates of death in October 1944. This is because their remains were not recovered until October, while there was still active combat going on in the area. (Metz was not taken until 21 November 1944, almost two full months after 7AD had left the area.) Thus they were believed to have been recent deaths (i.e. October 1944 deaths) and were given official dates of death that reflected that belief, even though 7th Armored Division had long since left the area. These errors in the official dates of death were never corrected. However, the listing below gives both actual date of death and official date of death, so that the confusion is cleared up here. Here are the known errors:

    1. George Louis Bailey (C/38) - actual death date: 6 September 1944 - official Army death date: 15 October 1944

    2. George Moore (B/38) - actual death date: 11 September 1944 - official Army death date: 6 October 1944

    3. Joseph Brennan (A/38) - actual death date: 19 September 1944 - official Army death date: 10 October 1944
    Overloon and Vicinity: 30 September-8 October 1944

    CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
    The original First U. S. Army plans were for the 7th Armored Division along with the 29th Infantry Division to attack Overloon. However, excessive optimism at the First U. S. Army led to 7th Armored Division being given the mission alone. The result was very costly. Many 7th Armored Division men were killed, wounded and captured, and many tanks and other vehicles were destroyed. The German forces were far stronger than the optimistic thinkers had thought possible. The battle became more like a World War I battle with numerous attacks and counter-attacks across open no-man's-land, over a wide front stretching almost to Vierlingsbeek in the east. Ultimately, the Division had to be relieved by British troops, in order to take on replacements, re-euip and reorganize.

    9-26 October 1944: Griendtsveen - Meijel - Ell

    CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
    When the 7th Armored Division was pulled out of the line north of Overloon, they moved to the positions where their support troops had been, south of Overloon. The main effort of the Division during this time was a demonstration attack eastward through Griendtsveen and across the Deurne Canal. The purpose of this attack was to draw German forces away from Overloon, to the north, where British forces were now attacking. This proved successful, as the British finally took Overloon on October 14, but the demonstration attack cost the lives of 7th Armored Division men.

    In addition to the main effort in the demonstration attack, the Division was spread thinly over a wide front, south along the west side of the Deurne Canal, from Griendtsveen to Meijel, and then west along the north side Noorder Canal (Noordervaart) south of Horik and Ospel to the canal junction south of Nederweert, and then from the canal junction south along the west side of the Wessem Canal to Ell. The main purpose was to defend against incursions across the canals by the Germans, essentially a defensive role. Nevertheless 7AD men lost their lives at these locations during this period as well.

    All of the deaths resulting from these widespread actions in the mid-October period are listed here together, without trying to group them by location.

    The battle east of the Deurne Canal is one of four truly forgotten battles that took the lives of 7AD men. While Metz and Overloon are called "forgotten", they are at least covered in the 7th Armored Division Association's own publications. However, the battles east of the Deurne Canal, at Ospel (Netherlands) in early November 1944, at Beeck-Linnich (Germany) in late November and early December 1944, and in the Huertgen Forest (Germany) in early February 1944 are not even known to most 7th Armored Division men, since they were battles in which only part of the Division was in combat while the bulk of the Division was resting.

    German Counter-attack: Liesel-Meijel-Nederweert: 27 October - 8 November 1944

    CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
    On the morning of October 27, 1944, two German divisions launched a powerful attack against the thinly spread lines of the 7th Armored Division. In fact, if the Germans had known just how thinly spread 7AD was, they could have succeeded far beyond their hopes. The German hope for this attack was limited: while they did threaten the narrow salient that the Allies had driven nearly to Nijmegen, the real purpose of the attack was a demonstration attack to attempt to force the Allies to move forces out of the battle for the Scheldt Estuary in western Belgium. The Scheldt Estuary controlled shipping access to Antwerp, and both Eisenhower and Hitler knew that Antwerp was the key to the battle in western Europe: if the Allies could ship from England into Antwerp, the war would soon be over.

    But the Germans did not realize how thinly held the 7AD line was. This may have been due to 7AD Commanding General Silvester's rotation of battalions in key areas, so that the impression that the Germans had was that there were more troops arrayed against them than there really were. Nevertheless, the reality of those thin lines still made the initial German attack successful. The main force of the German attack was through the town of Meijel, at the junction of the Deurne Canal and the Noordervaart canal. However, they also sent forces across both of the canals at points north and west of Deurne. The western attacks were blunted by 7AD, though not without 7AD deaths. The main attack and the northern attack succeeded in pushing back the 7AD forces in place at the time, and the reserve forces brought up were slowly driven back. After the first day, the two German thrusts were more equal. The thrust through Meijel attempted to drive northwest, up the road to Asten, where the 48th Armored Infantry Battalion and attached units fought to stop them. The northern force drove toward Liesel, with the 23rd Armored Infantry Battalion fighting to stop them.

    Despite being one division fighting against two, the men of 7th Armored Division -- greatly aided by US and British artillery -- stopped the German counter-attack. 48 AIB stopped the Germans before they reached Asten. The Germans did succeed in taking Liesel, but by then the lines had held, and on 29 October 1944 7AD had just launched a counter-attack to retake Liesel when orders came down to halt the attack and consolidate the division in a more compact zone. After holding the Germans off for 3 days, other Allied forces (from the immediate area and not from the Scheldt Estuary battle) finally were sent to aid 7AD in dealing with the Germans.

    What followed was the second of the four truly forgotten battles of 7AD -- forgotten in the 7AD Association's publications and unknown to most of the men of 7AD since they thought of this time as a rest period, not realizing that other elements of 7AD were in major combat. (The other three were the Deurne Canal (Netherlands) attack in mid-October 1944, the combat in the area of Beeck-Linnich (Germany) in late November and early December 1944, and the combat in the Heurtgen Forest in early February 1945.)

    The Division was able to focus on the area from Nederweert to Meijel. They moved south and then on November 1 launched a series of sweeping attacks eastward toward Meijel, with the mission to clear the German forces east of Nederweert from the area north of the Noordervaart canal. This was a very costly battle, since the German forces on the south side of the canal had excellent observation of the Americans north of the canal and continually barraged the 7AD men with artillery and mortars. There is now a monument at Ospel, Netherlands with the names of 48 men (and 2 more later identified who have yet to be added to the monument) who were killed in the Ospel area, most of them in this first week of November 1944.

    7AD still had the responsibility for defending the west bank of the Wessem Canal (south of the canal junction by Nederweert), and thus there were 7AD casualties in that area who should not be forgotten.

    Heerlen (Netherlands) and Linnich (Germany) Areas: 9 Nov-16 Dec 1944

    CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
    This period is hard to fit into the standard mold of this web page. The period began with the entire 7th Armored Division in reogranization. This initial period was entirely in Netherlands, in the area east of Maastricht to Heerlen. The Division was widely spread across many towns surrounding the area where the Margraten U. S. Military Cemetery now sits. There were a few non-battle deaths in Netherlands during this time.

    The Allies were not resting during this time however. In the latter part of November, elements of 7th Armored Division were attached to the 84th Infantry Division. 84ID and the British had launched an attack up along both sides of the Wurm River valley through Geilenkirchen, Germany. After an initial success, their attacks needed more forces, and some of the elements of 7th Armored Division were thrown into the fray, first at Beeck, Germany and then at Linnich. This is the third of the four truly unknown battles that took 7AD lives. Since most of 7AD was resting during this time, even the 7AD publications and most of the 7AD veterans are not aware of these battles. (The other three were the Deurne Canal (Netherlands) battle in mid-October 1944, the Horik-Ospel (Netherlands) battle in early November 1944, and the combat in the Huertgen Forest in early February 1945.)

    St. Vith, Belgium: 17-23 Dec 1944

    CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
    On December 16, 1944, the Germans launched the massive attack that would come to be known as the Battle of the Bulge. On December 17, 7th Armored Division began a move 60 miles to the south to attempt to reach two surrounded regiments of the 106th Infantry Division. By the time 7AD arrived, the full nature of the German attack was clear, and there was no real hope of reaching the surrounded regiments, since very large numbers of German forces had already swept past them. 7AD took on the mission of defending the most critical road and rail junction in the entire 80-mile front of the Bulge, the town of St. Vith, Belgium.

    Though the battle at Bastogne has received far more publicity, it is really the battle at St. Vith that was most responsible for the failure of the German offensive in the Battle of the Bulge. In fact, had it not been for the holding of St. Vith far beyond the German timetable for taking it, Bastogne probably would have been overwhelmed by German forces and never have been known as anything more than just another place that the Germans had taken.

    The 7AD combat area stretched far to the west, as German forces swept westward to the south and north of 7AD and attached troops (mainly one regiment of 106ID, one of 28ID, and one combat command of 9AD). In fact, a map in Gen. Omar Bradley's autobiography shows the 7AD salient looking like a nearly-surrounded thumb sticking down the throat of the German offensive. Even the cooks and other support troops who were normally well out of the battle wound up as front line troops 20 and more miles west of St. Vith, as far west as Samr e and La Roche, with a critical battle also at Baraque de Fratiure -- even as the defenders of St. Vith continued to hold.

    Eventually the sheer weight of German forces (on the order of 5 or 10 to 1) drove 7AD out of St. Vith on the night of 21-22 December. But 7AD fell back only grudgingly until finally withdrawn west of the Salm River and up to the area of Manhay on 23 December.

    Manhay and Grandmenil, Belgium: 24-31 Dec 1944

    CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
    After withdrawing from the St. Vith salient, 7th Armored Division received no rest, as the Germans continued to press their attacks. The majority of the Division withdrew to positions north of Manhay and Grandmenil. However, a German tank column made its way into Manhay on 24 December before escaping to the west. Christmas Day saw no respite, as the battle continued. Once Manhay was retaken, the Division (and the attached 424th Infantry Regiment of 106ID) stayed in defensive positions overlooking the Manhay-Grandmenil road. Finally they were withdrawn for a rest at the end of the year, after two weeks filled with intense combat.

    Rest and Reorganization: 1-19 January 1945

    CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
    The Division was first pulled back to Awan and Aywaille and other nearby towns north of Manhay, from 1-13 January. They then marched on 13 January to locations in and around Verviers. Here, from 13-17 (some as late as 19) January, they were quartered in Belgian homes as the Division reorganized and re-equipped.

    The deaths in this period are unique. One (Frank Eva) was an accidental shooting, a non-battle death. The other (Vernon Kocher) was killed by shelling. The artillery battalions were being used, even though the rest of the Division was not in combat.

    Return to St. Vith: 20-28 January 1945

    CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
    By December 19, the attacking elements of the Division had moved into position for the attack to the south to retake St. Vith. The attack jumped off on January 20. After St. Vith was retaken, there were still many German troops to be driven out of the area. Even after the Division had originally planned a January 28 move north to rest, some of the battalions had to be thrown into battle east of St. Vith once again, costing more lives.

    To the Rhine: 29 January-24 March 1945

    CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
    The Division moved north to the area of Baelen, Belgium at the end of January. They then headed again into Germany, where another forgotten combat took place in the Huertgen Forest. The Germans destroyed some of their own dams to flood the Allied path in February 1945. During this time, the Division remained in Germany, but hundreds of men were sent back into Belgium, attached to engineers in order to rebuild the forest roads torn up by the heavy vehicles in December and January. The Division moved up to the Rhine River in early March and remained along the west bank of the river, as the 203 AAA Bn aided the defense against German planes attempting to destroy the bridge at Remagen.

    Breakout from the Rhine (Encirclement of the Ruhr Pocket): 25-30 March 1945

    CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
    The Division crossed the Rhine and assembled on the east side of the River and then began a 125 mile drive as the interior southern force in the double-envelopment of the Ruhr Pocket. The culminating achievement was the intact capture of the Edersee Dam, west of Hannover.

    Reduction of the Ruhr Pocket: 1-17 April 1945

    CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
    An entire German Army was surrounded in the Ruhr Pocket, and after a brief break Allied forces attacked directly into the pocket. After fighting eastward for the entire war, 7AD was now attacking westward. The combat was exceedingly bitter, as the Germans would defend a village and then pull back 2 or 3 villages during the night to set up another defense. Some historians foster the illusion that after the Rhine was crossed, it was an inevitable downhill coast to victory. But there was no coasting in the Ruhr Pocket; instead there was a high cost.

    Post-Combat Non-Battle Deaths: 18 April 1945 and after

    CAUTION: If you are preparing a monument and want to know whose names to include, please do NOT consider this list to be definitive. Please contact me, in order to have me establish a definitive list.
    After the Ruhr Pocket collapsed, 7AD had no further combat. Nevertheless, men placed in harms way continued to die from non-battle casuses.

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