TOUJOURS PRET!
ALWAYS READY!
VŽDY PŘIPRAVEN!
More than sixty years ago, this inscription
decorated the uniform sleeves of the American 2nd Cavalry Group
soldiers. ln late April and early May 1945, they operated in this area in
fulfillment of their mission. It was an extraordinary action, unique in the
whole history of American combat actions of
the European campaign. Their goal was to liberate Allied POWs and save several hundred thoroughbreds in the bargain. The soldiers were
very well trained and prepared for this mission following their own slogan,
Always Ready. Two of the soldiers. Pfc. Raymond F. Manz and Tech/5 Owen W. Sutton, fulfilled the slogan to the
letter, and their names are now engraved on a new memorial in Bělá nad Radbuzou.
They were ready to give their lives in combat to liberate the enslaved people of Europe and to defeat the Nazi enemy. The place where they delivered on their promise and received their fatal wounds
is located not too far from here. It happened on the forest road following the green marked
tourist trail in the direction of Karlova Huť, Valdorf, Pleš, and the
border crossing to Bavaria. On April 30, 1945, a five hour battle on the
outskirts of the former settlement of Rosendorf (Růžov) claimed the lives of both these
brave soldiers, Pfc. Manz being killed in
action that day, and Tech/5 Sutton dying of his wounds the next day in a
hospital. After the war ended, the
bodies of both soldiers were transferred to the United States and buried with
honors in their home towns
in Toledo, Ohio, and Kinston, North Carolina. On April 28, 2006, a commemorative plate was officially revealed on the
actual battle site. It is attached to the stonework foundation of a crumbled farmhouse. More information is displayed on
the information panel nearby.
What brought the U.S. Cavalry soldiers to this place in late April and
early May 1945?
The 2nd Cavalry Group under Col.
Charles H. Reed was at the time part of the 3rd Army's XII Corps under Gen. Patton. Two squadrons
comprised the Group, the 2nd and the 42nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadrons. Their task was to cover
the left flank of the Corps units advancing across the border mountains
deeper into the Czech interior. However, just before the move started, the Cavalry commander received a message about
American, British, French and Polish prisoners being interned just
behind the border forest near Hostouň and Bělá nad Radbuzou. Immediately, an improvised rescue mission was conceived to
liberate the prisoners and transfer them to safety across the border. However, the task was not easy as the
movement of the American units between Bělá and the border was monitored
by SS units located in the former Sudetenland. The original intent of the Cavalry was even more amplified when a
parliamentarian, the German Army veterinarian of Hostouň, told Col. Reed about a herd of some
650 horses facing certain slaughter. Col. Reed was a horse riding enthusiast, and decided quickly to act. At least 250 of
the horses were the noble Lipizzans from the Hofburg Imperial Riding Academy in
Vienna. There were stallions of Petar, the King of Yugoslavia, and
Ribbentrop, the Nazi State Secretary. There were Kabardinian. Arabian, and Don
thoroughbreds, two of them of full English blood. The action was set to go. The
German parliamentarian persuaded the Hostouň
Wehrmacht headquarters to establish a no-attack zone around Hostouň, and lead the
Cavalry soldiers through the mine fields, but the Cavalry had to provide an
armed force to fight through the German SS troops in the area.
On April 28. 1945, a task force
composed of Troop A. a platoon of
tanks from Company F, and a platoon of
assault guns from Troop F, all of the 42nd Cavalry Reconnaissance
Squadron and called Task Force
Stewart, started the operation. Troops B and C, 42nd Squadron,
covered their flanks. The actual
takeover of the horses and their transfer across the border got the codename
"Operation Cowboy". Penetration of Bělá, Hostouň, and the surrounding settlements was
carried out successfully and the horses got
new masters. A counter-attack by German SS troops on April 30th near
Rosendorf resulted in the deaths of Raymond Manz and Owen Sutton. In spite of the clash
in Rosendorf, the cavalrymen retained their
horse caring duties to the
very end of the war in Europe. On May 12, 1945, when all hostilities had ended
and the German surrender treaty was signed, the actual transport of the horses
across the border was finalized. At first, the horses were moved to Swarzenberg in
Bavaria, then in two convoys on the 18th and 25th of May, to St. Martin, where
215 horses were returned to the Austrian. The remaining horses were claimed
as war booty, and from the
port of Genova, Italy, many were shipped to the United States. No sooner than September
20 part of the herd came back. Major Babarin, a military veterinarian, took
over 250 horses. Czech administration took over the tow horses and thoroughbreds. Some of the
Lipizzaners were returned to their home in Lipice, Slovenia.
The famous "Ghosts of Patton’s Third Army", with their heritage reaching back to l836,
left Czechoslovakia on routine rotation of the combat weary units. Keep in
mind that since their arrival on Utah Beach June 19, 1944, they were
immediately incorporated into the 3rd Army under Gen. Patton. They
were engaged in battles throughout all Western Europe and finalized their WW2
campaign in the former Czechoslovak Republic. They did not stay for a long
time, leaving on May 15-17, 1945, back
across the border to nearby Koetzing in Bavaria. They acted as border guards of
the whole area spreading up to
Grafenau. In this role, you could see them in Cham, Regen, and other Bavarian border communities. Gradually, they were
transformed into the 2nd Constabulary Regiment and then the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment.
In 1955, they were recalled to Fort Meade, Maryland. However, in loss than three years they came back
to Germany to resume their border duties, establishing their
headquarters in Nuremberg. Cooperating
with the German border police, they guarded the 731 km long segment of the
"Iron Curtain" bordering Czechoslovakia and East Germany. Following the downfall of the Iron
Curtain and the border opening eastward, their military specialty in
Germany lost reason to exist and they were charged with other duties outside
Europe. In 2006 the gradual Cavalry unit
redeployment to Bavaria started. At the limo when we are unveiling the
monument honoring two American heroes in Bělá, the redeployment of their original
unit may be complete and the unit is scheduled for an official welcome back to
Germany. The headquarters will be
established just across the border in nearby ViIseck. According to engineer
Picka, the Mayor of Bělá, a new partnership with this town can result and
logically extend to the Cavalry headquarters as well. The idea is
stretched to the point when, perhaps on the next meeting, we can really welcome
the “Ghosts of Patton's
3rd Army" here again. Let’s hope that ranks of these soldiers
will include son’s or grandson’s of those heroes fighting for our freedom in
1945.
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