Schmitz, Raymond George.

Schmitz, Raymond George, born 19-06-1919, in Illinois, United States, to Michael Cornelius Schmitz and Ida Bertha Schmitz and had one sister Marie M Schmitz. Raymond was married to Elizabeth K Knepper. Raymond enlisted in the US Army at Chicago, Illinois on 23-04-1941. He was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant with the 506th Ëasy Company of the 101 Airborne Division nickname “Screaming Eagles” in 1942 under command of General Maxwell Davenport Taylor,

and promoted to 1st Lieutenant in August 1943. He went overseas in November 1943.  In 1944 and 1945, Kesselring, here on the photo with General Taylor and Major General Maxwell Murray, left,   had to lead the battles against advancing American (in Italy) and Russian (in the Balkans) troops. These battles ended in defeat for the Germans due to a lack of men and supplies. Kesselring was eventually captured on May 6, 1945 by the 101st Airborne Division under Maxwell Taylor.

The Easy Company was founded in 1942 and was first deployed during the Normandy landings, “Operation Overlord.. She carried out her first real combat act in the early morning of D-Day. A German battery, with four 105mm guns aimed at Utah Beach, had to be defused. Following this, the company led the Battle of Carentan, took part in Operation Market Garden,

  iin the Netherlands, where they liberated my hometown of Eindhoven, and held out at the Battle of Bastogne, led the counter-offensive at the Battle of the Bulge, fought in the Rhineland Campaign and captured Hitler’s Berghof  and Kehlsteinhaus.

 

Their first commander in the US was Captain Herbert Maxwell Sobel, an unpleasant man and not beloved by his men. In 1970, Sobel shot himself in the head with a small-caliber pistol in an attempted suicide. The bullet entered his left temple, passed behind his eyes, and exited the other side of his head. Both of his optic nerves were severed by the shot, leaving him blind. Soon afterward, he began living at a VA assisted-living facility in Waukegan, Illinois. Sobel died there of malnutrition on 30-09-1987, age 75. No memorial services were held for him.

Death and burial ground of Schmitz, Raymond George.

Operation Market Garden was an Allied military operation during the Second World War fought in the Netherlands from 17 to 25 September 1944. Its objective was to create a 64 mi (103 km) salient into German territory with a bridgehead over the River Rhine, creating an Allied invasion route into northern Germany. This was to be achieved by two sub-operations: Seizing nine bridges with combined U.S. and the British 1st Airborne forces (Market) followed by land forces swiftly following over the bridges (Garden). the 1st British Airborne under command of General-major Roy Urquhart

The total number of Allied soldiers who died in the Battle of Arnhem is 1,984 victims. Of the troops who landed at Arnhem, 1,485 soldiers died. The 1st Airborne Division had the most casualties: 1,174 soldiers. At least 1,725 Germans died during the Battle of Arnhem. This high number shows once again how fiercely the British fought, despite their light armament. After all, the Germans had tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons. The number of Dutch civilian deaths during the battle is 453. Most Dutch victims were killed by the Allied bombings in the morning of Sunday, September 17. These bombings preceded the airborne landings. Several dozen Arnhem residents were shot by the Germans because they had helped the British. The last casualty of the Battle of Arnhem fell in November 1947. housewife Kate ter Horst, who became known during the Battle of Arnhem for caring for 250 wounded British paratroopers, lost her eldest son when he fell on an abandoned mine in a meadow near the Rhine. stepped.

The airborne operation was planned and undertaken by the First Allied Airborne Army with the land operation by XXX Corps, under command of Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks

here with Bernard Montgomery  of the British Second Army. On the right the Dutch Prince Bernhard of the Netherland Although the largest airborne operation of the war up to that point,[e] Market Garden’s ultimate outcome remains debated: The operation succeeded in liberating the Dutch cities of  my birthtown Eindhoven  and Nijmegen along with many towns, and limited Werner von Braun’s V-2 rocket  launching sites.

However, it failed to secure a bridgehead over the Rhine, with the advance being halted at the river. A bridge too far (see Lieutenant Colonel John Dutton “Johnny” Frost)

 

Raymond Schmitz died 22-09-1944, age 25, from the concussion of exploding ammunition that was loaded on a burning truck in Veghel in the Netherlands. The northern flank of the Allied armies was extended 65 miles across two canals and the Maas and Waal rivers, while a considerable amount of Dutch territory had been freed from Nazi occupation. The division had killed many Germans and captured 3,511, while suffering 2,110 casualties itself.

Raymand is buried at the American War Cemetery Margraten, Netherlands, Plot K, Row 18, Grave 17.

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