At the beginning of December the 71st Infantry had fought their way another five miles to the north-east of Rauwiller, pushing the Germans out of the towns of Hirschland, Baerendorf and Eschwiller and establishing a front just to the northeast of the town of Berg. Since their first combat outside Embermenil, they had fought through some 30 miles of farms, forests, and towns to their current positions, with First and Third Battalions occupying defensive positions in the town of Berg, and Second about two miles behind in the town of Eywiller.
December 1, 1944
First Battalion pushed out of Berg and into the forested area to the north-east (part of that forest appears to still be intact, just to the north-west of Bettwiller). The Battalion encountered resistance in this “Bois de Todtenberg” (Todtenberg Wood), clearing it by late afternoon. Second Battalion pushed through their position, helping clear the area and setting up for an attack on Rexigen, to the northwest. As they pushed through what was at the time a forest, they encountered heavy resistance from small arms, mortar and artillery fire. Company F was able to push across the railroad tracks (abandoned today, but the corridor is still visible – dashed in orange in the image below) but the operation was halted due to the intense resistance. All companies fell back to defensive positions.
December 2, 1944
The regiment continued pushing east, beginning on the morning of the 2nd, taking the town of Rexingen and moving quickly by truck to prepare for an attack on Mackwiller, setting up defensive positions to the west of the town. Heavy resistance in the woods to the south made for tough fighting for Second Battalion but they were able to set up for the final push with Companies E and G on the high ground to the north-west and Company F set up in the woods to the south-east of town.
December 3, 1944
This morning dawned cold and cloudy with rain and poor visibility. Company F jumped off at 0715 and entered the town of Mackwiller by 0745. Companies E and G held the high ground to the north while F continued mopping up resistance. By early afternoon, the 71st had completely taken the objective and all three battalions were ordered to make reconnaissance of the new assembly area (in Mackwiller) at 1400. Mackwiller would be the jumping-off point for an attack on Diemeringen, a fairly significant city, to the northwest.
Pro Aris et Pro Focis 
Are you going to research and post chronologically?
My dad , John H. Dowd, was in a reconnassaince platoon attached to company headquarters and received a purple heart with two oak leaf clusters. I think his bronze star was awarded in late December 1944 when he was the rear point man returning from a recon and he had to call artillery in on his own solitary position which was overrun. He had a silver star, which I saw, and its ribbon which he wore on his uniform until leaving the army reserves in the early ’50s. His DD213 doesn’t show that, though. Keep up your great work! -Brian J Dowd, DDS
On Sat, May 23, 2020, 1:48 PM Pro Aris et Pro Focis wrote:
> Eric Davis posted: “At the beginning of December the 71st Infantry had > fought their way another five miles to the north-east of Rauwiller, pushing > the Germans out of the towns of Hirschland, Baerendorf and Eschwiller and > establishing a front just to the northeast of the town” >
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I am planning to go through the 71st’s complete WWII tour, as much of it as I can find anyway. I’ll keep my eyes open to see if I can find a recapitulation of your Dad’s action. I’m finding that they aren’t always where they should be in the reports. Thank you for sharing the story!
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