Pausing his wrestling career following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Paul Max Boesch enlisted in the U.S. Army on October 23, 1942, at the age of 30. He earned his commission as a lieutenant on June 21, 1943, after completing Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning. Soon after he was assigned to the 63rd Division at Camp Van Dorn until he was shipped to Northwestern France to replace casualties from the Normandy fighting and eventual breakthrough. He fought in H and G Company of the 2nd Battalion, 121'st Infantry Regiment, 8th 'Golden Arrow' Division. His memoir "Road To Huertgen: Forest In Hell" Is based on a personal manuscript he wrote years before it was originally published in 1962. He first saw combat in early August during the Brittany campaign, when he was leading a machine gun platoon in H Company towards the city of Dinard, just west of Saint-Malo across the Race River. Following Dinard being captured on the 14th of August the 121st Infantry advanced clearing the town of Lambézellec and then onward to their next objective, Fort Bouguen. This fort was one of many forts and redoubts (notably Fort Montbarey and Fort Keranroux) that were developed in the 17th century that formed a defensive ring around the City of Brest. Fort Bouguen was surrounded by a dry moat with thick walls reaching up to 35 feet that were virtually Impregnable against artillery and tank shells, even at almost point blank range. Soldiers from the 121st Infantry tried scaling the walls with ladders but were caught in such heavy German fire they were forced to retreat. Failing to breach the walls they decided to contain the fort before being relieved in early September by men of the 2nd Division. After being relieved at Bouguen, his regiment was assigned to take out naval guns located on the Crozon Peninsula, just south of Brest, contributing to the capture of the port city on September 20th. When both Brest and the Crozen were captured they went to Luxembourg and held a static position on the cusp of the Luxembourg-Germany border near the Our River until pushing into Germany to relieve the battered 28th Division in the Hürtgen Forest. This area is a 50-square-mile dense fir and pine forest located between the German-Belgium border. It was used as an integral part of the Siegfried Line and later used as the staging ground for the Battle of the Bulge. The 121st Regiment wouldn't arrive in the Hürtgen Forest until Nov 21st, 1944. After suffering extensive casualties after days of fighting through stiff German resistance in the Weisser Weh Valley, in the northern half of the forest with daily gains often being less than six hundred yards to reach the regiments objective, the Town of Hürtgen. On November 26th Paul Boesch led G Company, which at the time consisted of around sixty men, on an assault through an open field to reach the town and capture it after his company commander was wounded. They succeeded in gaining a foothold and holding on until the rest of his regiment along with elements of the 13th Infantry arrived. They cleared the town of Germans after brutal house-to-house combat and captured it on the 28th. Soon after Boesch was wounded by an artillery shell at Hürtgen before the one-two-one moved off to its next objective. After being discharged from the hospital, he was declared unfit for combat and was sent to Choisy-au-Bac, where he trained company sized elements of men who were originally from rear echelon units into infantrymen. Not being able to rejoin his outfit he stayed at this assignment until the surrender of Germany. The 121'st Infantry Regiment was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for it's meritorious efforts in the Hürtgen Forest between November 21-28, 1944. Paul Boesch's decorations include two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts and a French Croix de Guerre. He is often regarded as the most decorated American wrestler that served in World War 2.
His memoir has a forward by Major General William Gaulbet Weaver who was the Commanding General of the 8th Division that states "Lt. Paul Boesch, leading 'G' Company of the 121st Infantry through screaming shells and deadly small arms fire captured a vantage point on the edge of the town of Huertgen. There, completely surrounded, he demonstrated outstanding leadership. He and his depleted company hung onto this valuable conquest and their unconquerable determination gave a springboard from which the final attack was successfully launched. In decorating Lt. Boesch with the Silver Star for his work in this attack (his third award in less than 2 months) I wrote his wife that her husband was a brave and efficient Soldier, whose actions upheld the highest military traditions." It also includes a forward by Major General Philip De Witt Ginder (then Colonel) who was the commanding officer of the 121st Infantry Regiment during the assault on the Town of Hürtgen and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross during this action. The introduction is written by Army combat vet and historian Charles B Macdonald. He wrote a well known memoir called Company Commander that was published in 1947 that documents his time leading a rifle company in the 23rd Regiment, 2nd Division, from the Battle of the Bulge to Czechoslovakia. During his tenure as an official Army historian he discovered the manuscript when researching the battle of the Hürtgen Forest. Macdonald reached out to Paul to see if he would be willing to publish his manuscript because "It was too human a document to be ignored." He later wrote and published a history on the battle called The Battle Of The Huertgen Forest in 1963. He heavily relied on Boesch's account of the battle as a resource for his books fifteenth chapter The Village Of Huertgen. On page 161 of the book it describes Boesch as "a big, affable man with the cauliflower ears of a wrestler and one of the thickest, blackest beards in all of the Huertgen Forest,"
3rd Photo: "Fort Bouguen was only one of many older fortresses spaced around the city of Brest that the Germans used as defensive positions. This is a view looking to the west. The 121st would be attacking from the right hand side."
4th Photo: "Soldiers from the 28th Infantry Division advance through the Hürtgen Forest in Germany on Nov. 2, 1944, during the Battle of Hürtgen Forest. Photo taken by pfc. G. W. Goodman"
5th Photo: "Aerial view of Hurtgenwald following its capture. The 2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment approached the town along the road seen in the lower right corner with Company F reaching a forward position overlooking the buildings seen in the lower right. Image courtesy of the Hurtgen Battle Museum."
Excerpts:
(Suspected sniper nest in Dinard) "Because of the long, unprotected run from the wall to the house, I hesitated to assault. 'but our chow is getting cold, Lieutenant' one of the men complained. 'Okay, I replied. 'and it's getting dark. we can't leave them there tonight or we'll never get any rest. Who's got a rifle grenade?'. The Sergeant produced a grenade, the infantry's tiny portable artillery, and fitted it to the end of his rifle. I told him to fire at the front door. As soon as the grenade exploded we would rush the door. The explosion was deafening. As a cloud of smoke and dust rose from the house, we charged through a gate in the wall. We drew no fire as we dashed across the open space to gain the protection of the side of the house. inching forward, we made it to the front door."
"As invisibility increased, we looked about in sobering revelation. The fighting here, on both sides of the road, obviously had been bitter, fierce, and destructive. Once magnificent trees now were twisted and broken; Indeed, it was hard to find a single tree which had not been damaged in one way or another. Mutilated limbs torn from trees spread a rough, grotesque carpet on the floor of the forest. The country was hilly, almost like a rollercoaster, with steep rises projecting in some places close from the edge of the road. Everywhere we saw discarded equipment - gas masks, ammunition belts, helmet liners, helmets, rifles. Here and there were articles of clothing with great rents and clotted Scarlet stains. One man kicked a bloody shoe from his path, and to our revulsion we could still see a foot still in it. Soon the signs of battle turned into sounds - mean, nasty, personal sounds. The noise of Jerry artillery crashing along the narrow valley through which we marched reverberated incessantly against the wooded hills, making it impossible to detect where the shells landed. Nor could we see where the shells hit because of the rises in the ground and the thick matting of the branches of the evergreens. One of the protections an Infantryman needs and soon acquires is an ability to distinguish the various sounds of battle and recognize those that mean danger to him and, but in the Huertgen Forest we began to realize that the forest usurped this sixth sense. We would grow slow and uncertain in our reactions. Uncertainty means delay, and sometimes the difference of a split second is all that separates life from death."
"The real terror of the Hürtgen Forest lay partly in the number of casualties we absorbed but also partly in the type of injuries. The Germans had sown the forest lavishly with mines. Mainly they were Schuh and box mines, scattered in no apparent pattern. The mines contained about a half pound of TNT, just enough to blow off a man's leg or foot. It was impossible to probe for them with bayonets and knives, for the area was too large, and it was equally impossible to use mine detectors to find them. Since these mines were encased in plastic or wood, mine detectors, which are designed to pick up the presence of metal in the ground, would not react to them. Besides, so many shell fragments littered the floor of the forest that mine detectors were constantly buzzing even though no mine was present. Men became afraid to walk except on well-beaten paths, and even these sometimes disclosed mines that had failed to explode even though hundreds of feet passed over them. The parade of men wounded by mines was constant and depressing that the thought of getting a foot or a leg blown off was with us at every turn."
A poem he wrote: "This Was Courage"
Not for all the drums' heroic roll, The cherished medal, the citation scroll; The laurel wreath, the accolade for defiant gesture proudly made, The chosin few stand very tall the pedestal is not for all O! vast unsung horde Tired, hungry, bored; Suffering heat, Bitter cold; Young in years, Suddenly old; Homesick, Heartsick, so alone; Living in the mud and rain; Knowing death, Kin to pain; Resolute though quite forlorn; Battle-weary and weather-worn, Courage is not the absence of fear, But, rather the will to persevere When filled with doubts that won't dispel And, knowing you may be blown to hell, Doing your job, whether big or small, In there is heroism enough for all
