(above picture)Col Maurice G Stubbs
Commander 193rd GIR
R E L A T E D
S I T E S
Camp Mackall in World War II
Camp Forrest in World War II
Dead Man's Ridge (The Drop Zone)
ETO Cross Channel Attack (Hyperwar)
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The 193rd Glider Infantry Regiment
Unit History
 he 193rd Glider Infantry Regiment (GIR) was constituted on 16 December 1942
in the Army of the United States. It was activated 15 April 1943 at Camp Mackall, North Carolina under the
command of Colonel Maurice G Stubbs
(picture left). The 193rd GIR was immediately assigned to the 17th Airborne Division.
Moved to the Tennessee Maneuver Area 7 February 1944 then transferred to Camp Forrest, Tennessee 24 March 1944.
Staged at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts 14 August 1944. Departed the Boston Port of Embarkation 20
August 1944 and arrived in England on 28 August 1944.
When the 193rd GIR arrived in England, the regiment was immediately shuttled to
Camp Chisledon, the 17th Airborne Division staging area, on August 28, 1944. Flight and tactical training
continued and night maneuvers were added to the training schedule. When Operation Market Garden was initiated,
the 17th Airborne Division was still in training and was held in strategic reserve.
Battle of the Bulge - The Ardennes Offensive
Suddenly, on December 16, 1944, the Germans launched a surprise offensive through the
Ardennes Forest which caught the Allies completely by surprise. The 17th was still in England. But the 82nd
and 101st Airborne Divisons were in Sissones, France and were rushed by truck to contain the bulge in the Allied lines.
Between December 17 and 23, the Germans were halted near St. Vith by the 82nd Airborne and Bastogne by a roadblock,
defended by the U.S. 7th Armoured Division and the 101st Airborne Division. To help reinforce the siege
at Bastogne the entire 17th Airborne Division was finally committed to combat in the European Theater of
Operations.
From 23 to 25 December, elements of the Division were flown to the Reims area in France
in spectacular night flights then hastily trucked into Belgium.  Meanwhile, Patton's Third U.S. Army
had finally broken the siege at Bastogne with a marathon thrust from the south. Upon arriving the
513th PIR and the other elements of the 17th Airborne Division were attached to Patton's Third U.S.
Army and ordered to immediately close in at Mourmelon. After taking over the defense of the Meuse
River sector from Givet to Verdun on 25 December, the 17th moved to Neufchateau, Belgium, then
marched through the snow to Morhet, relieving the 28th Infantry Division on 3 January 1945 and
establishing a Division Command Post.
(picture above right: Men of the 30 Caliber Heavy Machine Gun Platoon, HQ 2nd Battalion of the 193rd GIR before deploying overseas circa Spring, 1943.(Source: Thunder From Heaven News Bulletin - Sept. 2005.)
 (^^ Click Picture to Enlarge ^^) )
A howling blizzard with below freezing temperatures greeted the 17th Airborne on the morning
of 4 January 1945. General Patton had ordered the 17th Airborne to seize the town of Flamierge where the
11th Armour and the 87th Infantry Divisions had encountered brutal resistance from the Germans.
Two regiments, the 513th PIR on the right and the 194th GIR on the left attacked the town of Flamierge while
the 193rd GIR and the 507th PIR were held in reserve to counter an anticipated German panzer counterattack.
In the ensuing days, the 193rd GIR as well as the rest of the 17th Airborne would gain their baptism of fire that
would have tested the mettle of the most experienced airborne units. The fighting was so intense that the
area would forever be called "Dead Man's Ridge" because of the high casualty count sustained in order
to take the strongly defended German emplacements.
By 11 January the German lines were crumbling and all of the 17th Airborne units regrouped
except for the 193rd which drove on with American armored units to seize the town of Houffalize. On 16 January
the 193rd rejoined the rest of the 17th Airborne and relieved the 11th Armour Division in pursuit of the 9th &
130 German Panzer Divisions and the 26th German Infantry Division. This took the 17th Airborne through Flamizoulle,
Gives and on to Bertogne as the Germans continued retreating toward the Siegfried Line.
Beyond Bertogne, 193rd GIR split into "Task Force Stubbs" and "Task Force Bell"
with the combined objective of seizing the town of Compogne and the high ground in its immediate vicinity.
Turning east from that area the 193rd along with the 507th PIR led the continuing attack across Luxembourg
to the Our River on the border of Germany. The German 5th Airborne Division made a vain attempt to maintain
a bridgehead at the Our but the 507th manged to cross into Germany and probe the Siegfried Line.
The 17th Airborne was finally relieved by the 6th Armored Division and returned to camp at
Chalons-sur-Marne in France on 11 February 1945. The 193rd Glider Infantry Regiment was disbanded 1 March 1945 in
Belgium in a reorganization of the XVIII Airborne Corps. The 550th Airborne Infantry Battalion was also disbanded.
Both units had suffered heavy casualties during the Ardennes Campaign and the remaining troopers were consolidated into
the 3rd Battalion of the 194th Glider Infantry Regiment.
( Sources: "
Paratroopers" by Gerard M. Devlin , "Geronimo! American
Paratroopers in WWII" by William B Breuer
& Thunder From Heaven by Don R Pay)
193rd Glider Infantry Regiment - Pictures 
- 193rd GIR - C Company
- Photo of troopers from the 193rd GIR C Company.
- 193rd GIR - E Company
- Photo of troopers from the 193rd/194th GIR E Company. (Standing: [L-R] Avio Ross-194E; P Craighead-194E; Unknown; Melvin Lagoon-193E. Kneeling: [L-R] Elmer Beto-193E; Harold Hughes-193E; Edward Shartle-193E.) >
(Photo courtesy of Mel Lagoon)
- 193rd GIR - E Company
- Photo of troopers from the 193rd GIR E Company in France. (Standing: [L-R] Pfc Melvin Lagoon-193E & Pvt Henry Holler-193E.)
(Photo courtesy of Mel Lagoon)
- 193rd GIR - F Company
- Photo of troopers from the 193rd GIR F Company at Camp Forrest, TN circa June 1944.
books
R E L A T E D B O O K S
Ambrose, Stephen E D-DAY June 6,1944:
The Climatic Battle of WW II. 6/93, Simon & Shuster ISBN: 0671673343
Badsey , Stephen & Chandler, David G (Editor)
Arnhem 1944:
Operation "Market Garden" (Campaign No.24) 1993
96p. ISBN: 1855323028
Black, Wallace B.& Blashfield, Jean F. Battle of the Bulge
(World War II 50th Anniversary Series). Crestwood House, 48 pp May,1993 ISBN: 0896865681
Blair, Jr, Clay Ridgeway's Paratroopers:
The American Airborne in WW II. New York: Doubleday, 1985 588 p. ISBN: 0385278888
Breuer, William B Geronimo! American
Paratroopers in WWII. New York: St. Martin Press, 1989 621 p. ISBN: 0-312-03350-8
D'Este, Carlo
Patton: A Genius for War 1024 pp ISBN: 0060927623
De Trez, Michel
At the Point of No Return : Pictorial History of the American Paratroopers in the
Invasion of Normandy 7/98, D-Day Pub, 200 p. ISBN: 2960017617
Gavin, James M.
On to Berlin : Battles of an Airborne Commander, 1943-1946 ISBN: 0670525170
Golden, Lewis Echoes From Arnhem Penguin
ISBN: 0718305213
Kormann, John G Echoes of a Distant Clarion: Recollections of a Diplomat and Soldier Vellum
(P), 520 p. ISBN: 0979448832
MacDonald, Charles B A Time For
Trumpets: The Untold Story of the Battle of the Bulge Wm Morrow & Co
(P), 720 p. ISBN: 068151574
McKenzie, John
On Time, On Target Novato, CA: Presidio, May 15,2000. 304 p. ISBN: 089 141 714 1
Ryan, Cornelius
A Bridge Too Far 670p. ISBN: 0684803305
Wildman, John B All Americans 82nd
Airborne. Meadowlands Militaria, 6/83 ISBN:091 208 1007
The Center of Military History The War in the Mediterranean: A WWII Pictorial History Brasseys, Inc.,
465 p. ISBN:1574881302
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