291st Engineer Combat Battalion (United States)

ferry infantrymen in an M2 assault boat supported by pneumatic pontoons As a combat engineer battalion the 291st was capable of providing combat support essential to sustaining operating forces in the theater of war. These spanned such diverse activities as construction, demolition, sanitation, map production, minefield clearing, and unit intelligence. Combat engineer battalions also fielded defensive .30 cal. and .50 cal. machine gun squads, anti-tank rocket and grenade launchers, and were required to fight as infantry when needed. The range of services provided included but was not limited to: • Bridge (mobile, floating, fixed), rail, & road construction and maintenance • Conducting river crossings by ponton/raft, motor-powered assault boats • Demolition • Placing/de-arming munitions, including mines • Port & harbor maintenance and rehabilitation, including beachheads: :*Laying roads and unloading/loading supplies, vehicles & personnel from transport and cargo ships • Camouflage • Water supply and sanitation • Map production • Vehicle maintenance • Establishing/maintaining supply and ammunition dumps • Building barracks, depots, and similar structures • Rescue & road patrols, bridge and road reconnaissance • Clearing of debris and wreckage • Serving as infantry when needed These included the deployment and operation of assault boats and the construction of various pontoon bridges, including M1 treadways, and modular steel truss Bailey bridges. ==Presidential Citation==

The 291st received a Presidential Citation for its "outstanding performance of duty in action" for holding a defensive position against a German offensive from 17 December to 26 December in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge: As authorized by Executive Order No. 9396 (sec. I, Bul. 22, WD, 1943), superseding Executive Order No. 9075 (sec. III, Bul. 11, WD, 1942), citation of the following unit in General Orders, No. 30. Headquarters First United States Army, 18 February 1945, as approved by the Commanding General, European Theater of Operations, is confirmed under the provisions of section IV, Circular No. 333, War Department, 1943, in the name of the President, of the United States as public evidence of deserved honor and distinction. The citation reads as follows: The 291st Engineer Combat Battalion is cited for outstanding performance of duty in action against the enemy from 17 to 26 December 1944, in Belgium. On 17 December 1944, at the beginning of the German Ardennes break-through, the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion was assigned the mission of establishing and manning roadblocks south and east of Malmedy, and with the defense of the town itself. The battalion set up essential roadblocks and prepared hasty defenses. Shortly thereafter, numerically superior enemy infantry and armored columns moving in the direction of Malmedy were engaged. Though greatly outnumbered and constantly subjected to heavy enemy artillery, mortar, and small-arms fire, the officers and men of the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion stubbornly resisted all enemy attempts to drive through their positions. Repeated attacks were made by enemy armor and infantry on roadblocks and defensive positions and, in each instance, were thrown back with heavy losses by the resolute and determined resistance. The determination, devotion to duty, and unyielding fighting spirit displayed by the personnel of the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion, in delaying and containing a powerful enemy force along a route of vital importance to the Allied effort, are worthy of high praise. ==Images==

File:291st Combat Engineers disarm Sturmgeschütz III.jpg|Engineers from the 291st disarm a booby-trapped Sturmgeschütz III during the Battle of the Bulge File:Remagen Bridge side view.jpg|The Ludendorff Bridge before its collapse into the Rhine File:Bruecke von Remagen 1945 3.jpg|The Ludendorff Bridge after its collapse File:291st Engineer Combat Battalion sign at Remagen.jpg|Sign erected by the 291st declaring their bridge the first over the Rhine at Remagen File:291st-remagen.webm|Army footage showing March 10 construction and bombing near the Rhine treadway bridge (1 minute). File:OmahaBeach-25Jun1944-291stECB.jpg| View of Barrage balloons above Omaha Beach on June 24, 1944 as seen by the 291st after arriving from Southampton, England aboard a Landing Ship. == References==