the 740th railway operating battalion

8/14/2019 The 740th Railway Operating Battalion

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The 740th Railway Operating Battalion

in France & Belgium

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Sometime after the termination of World War I, the War

Department, in conjunction with the Class I railroads,

formed paper organizations of Railway Operating Battalionswhich were designated reserve elements under the Corps of

Engineers. Until the beginning of World War II, however,

the Battalions remained on paper; but then the WarDepartment called on the railroads to supply officer

personnel for the formation of Units, the enlisted personnel

to be drawn from inductees who had had civilian railroadexperience.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company was called on

in summer of 1942 to supply qualified men for filling the

positions of officers, but it was not until April of 1943 that

appointment began coming through. The first officer wascalled for active duty on 10 August 1943 and the others on

28 and 29 October. All positions had not been filled and

men from other railways were assigned to the organization,which had been designated the 740th. In the meantime,

military railway units had been transferred from the

Engineers to the Transportation Corps, and all officers wererequired to undergo a basic military training course at the

Transportation Corps Officer's Training School at Fort

Slocum, New York. The 740th-to-be- officers graduated on2 December.

The next duty station was the Transportation Corps, Army

Charles W. HEFFNER

740th Raiwlay

Operating Battalion
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Service Forces, and Unit Training Center at Camp Plauche,

New Orleans, Louisiana, where the Battalion was activated

on 14 December 1943 Completing basic training at CampPlauche, the Battalion departed on 23 January 1944 for

Camp William C. Reid, Clovis, New Mexico, to take

technical training on the Santa Fe Railroad, where it arrivedon 25 January. The training territory was from Amarilla,

Texas, on the east, to Belen, New Mexico, on the west, and

on the branch line from Clovis south to Carlsbad. Operatorswere assigned, track gangs, bridge and building forces and

telegraph and signalmen were scattered over the line with

the Santa Fe workers. Shopman were placed in the engine

houses at Clovis, New Mexico and Amarillo, Texas, andtrain and engine crews assigned to road and yard service.

Technical training was completed on 30 April and the

Battalion began marking time pending receipt of overseas

orders. The interim was filled in by an intensified militarytraining program, recreation, etc. Finally, on 20 May 1944

the advance party of two officers and one enlisted man

departed for the New York Port of Embarkation, fromwhere they sailed on 29 May, arriving at Liverpool on 5

June and debarking on 7 June. The Battalion left Camp Reid

on 2 July and sailed from New York on 18 July, arriving atLiverpool on the 29th and debarking on the 30th. From there

it proceeded to St. Mellons, near Cardiff, Wales, where it

was split up into twenty detachments for work in the various

General Depots throughout midland and southern England.

Battalion Headquarters were established at Egginton,Derbyshire, on 1 August. On 5 August orders were received

to call in the Detachments and assemble at St. Mellons formovement overseas. Reaching St. Mellons on the 7th, the

Battalion remained until the 9th when it left for the

Marshalling Area in Nightingale Woods at Eastleigh, justnorth of Southampton. 13th of August saw the Unit

embarking for the continent; Battalion Headquarters, and

Headquarters, "A" and "B" Companies, loading on one

transport and Company "C" on another. The convoy arrivedoff Utah Beach the next day and while Company "C"

debarked immediately, the other Companies did not landuntil 16th. On landing of Company "C", one detachmentwas sent to Cherbourg to run engines east to Mayenne; truck

on the 14th, and the balance on the 15th sent one to

Mayenne.

When the other Companies landed they spent the night in abivouac area, with part leaving the area at noon on the 17th


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and arriving at Mayenne that night, and the remainder

leaving about midnight and arriving at Mayenne the

afternoon of the 18th.

As of this time, tracks had been restored from the beaches

and Cherbourg through Coutances, Folligny, Avranches,Pontaboult, Mayenne, La Chapelle and Sille Le Guillaume

to Le Mans, the railhead. The line from Pontaboult throughMayenne to La Chapelle was a secondary single-track

railroad, the selection of which was made necessary because

the high bridge at Laval, just west of La Chapelle, on thedouble track Rennes-Le Mans line, had been blown up. The

718th Railway Operating Battalion, which crossed the

channel in the same convoy with the 740th, had its eastern

terminus at Mayenne.

When the Battalion arrived at Mayenne, it was withoutsupplies or equipment, insufficient time having been

allowed in the United Kingdom to accumulate them, and

found trains waiting to be run east, only one track open, allbuildings severely damaged by bombing, no communication

lines to the east, and the one to the west inoperative; very

little water in the tank and the pump broken; only 15 tons ofcoal on hand with the nearest supply 65 kilometers away; no

roundhouse facilities available, and no flagging equipment.

Information was received that 31 trains of ammunition,rations and gasoline that General Patton said was required to

enable him to take Paris in 20 days, were on the waythrough. Three of these trains had passed Mayenne by the

17th of August, but on the afternoon of that day, crews ofBattalion relieved at Mayenne, all crews of other Battalions

to the west.

From this beginning, trains were operated to the east on

manual block system; then lenemen opened a circuit to theeast, and assisted in the repair of the line west to Fougeres;


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track laborers, with a motley and inadequate collection of

tools, restored three yard tracks at Mayenne and started on

the removal of slow orders between that point and LaChapelle; and old reciprocating steam pump that had not

been used for years was repaired and used for pumping

water to the tank from the river; a small open air engineterminal was established; a supply of very poor coal was

sent in, and an additional water pint was provided at Erne

as the pump at Mayenne continually gave trouble.

An officer to take charge of the railhead operations was sentto Le Mans on 19 August, but as this was the scene of our

principal operations, Battalion Headquarters were moved

there on 22 August, leaving a detachment at Mayenne.

Le Mans, one of the largest rail terminals in France, wasfound to have been given a severe bombing and was almost

completely demolished. As of the 22nd of August, only onemain line into the terminal and two yard tracks had beenrestored. Orders were received to begin the rehabilitation of

the yard for increased unloading. This was a stupendous

task. The terminal was a twisted mass of wrecked

locomotives, cars, rails, ties, buildings, etc. The work wasplanned and started and continued under the supervision of

this Battalion, but on arrival at Le Mans of the 712th and

722nd Railway Operating Battalions, their trackmen werealso assigned to this work. While operations of Le Mans

terminal was assigned to the 712th Railway Operating

Battalion effective 31 August, the SuperintendentMaintenance of Way of this Battalion remained in charge of

the rehabilitation on request of the Commanding Officer of

the 706th Railway Grand Division. To 15 September, when

the Battalion was transferred from this territory, 20 yardtracks, the 'loop' tracks and five engine house tracks had

been restored for service.


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When the Maintenance of Equipment Company moved into

the engine terminal on 20 August, they found it deserted.

One roundhouse had been completely destroyed, the otherbadly damaged and the machine shop about two thirds

wrecked. Bomb craters, collapsed walls and beams, wrecked

locomotives and machinery proved a great obstacle tosetting up shop. Men were assigned the job of clearing a

working space, and a survey was made of the tracks to

determine what would be necessary to get engines into theshop. This revealed that one track could be used with a little

repair work. When a search failed to locate tools,

blacksmiths were assigned the task of making wrenches,

hammers, screw drivers, punches, chisels, etc., so that theother crafts could go to work. Oil was no problem The

Germans had left a large quantity. The mechanism of the

turntable had been damaged and had to be manually

operated, requiring the services of eight to ten men eachtime an engine left the roundhouse. Despite these handicaps,

engines were serviced and light repairs made and there wasno delay to movements due to lack of power. While the

764th Railway Shop Battalion moved into Le Mans and

took over the back shop about 1 September and jurisdiction

of the entire terminal was assigned to the 712th RailwayOperating Battalion on 30 August, shopmen of this Unit

continued to work in the shops until the Battalion was

assigned to another sector on 15 September.

The Car Platoon also suffered from lack of tools with a

tremendous job facing it. Soon after arriving at Le Mans, acall was made for every available empty car for the ports.

Great numbers of cars, of all European nationalities and inall states of condition were in the yard. Many were

completely wrecked, some required minor repairs and a

large number were serviceable but on tracks that had hadswitches or leads blown out. To get out these cars, track

repair was necessary and then frequently the use of an old

French 'tea kettle' hook that had been resurrected, was

required to clear out damaged cars and locomotives thatwere blocking exits. The car shop was completely wrecked.

On arriving a search was made for tools, brasses, and otherequipment. Baling wire was used to make repairs to cars intransit. Journal brass was a problem until a Frenchman

informed the car force that some American brasses were

stored in an old warehouse uptown. On investigation, it wasfound this brass had been sent over in 1918 for use on

World War I equipment. It was collected and immediately


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put to use.

For the first few days of operation between Mayenne and Le

Mans, the very crudest of operating conditions prevailed.

On the completion of the communication circuit dispatchersand operators were placed. At night, absolute blocking was

in force, with both permissive and absolute blocking,

depending on conditions, prevailing in the daytime. Trainswere operated and switching performed at night by thetrainmen using personal flashlights, cigarettes lighters and

lighted cigarettes for flagging. Crews were on the road as

long as 96 hours, catching catnaps in cabs and cabooses.The Germans that had been bypassed at Mayenne by the

combat forces, cut the wires night after night, and sniped at

passing trains, and at yard and engine house men.

Until the end of August, no civilian traffic was permitted onthe railroad. The food situation in Paris was so acute,

however, that the French were finally permitted to move so

much tonnage per day over the road. By this time the linehad been restored through Chartres and Dreux to the

outskirts of Paris.

In reassignment of territory effective 30 August, the 740th,

which was under the 708th Railway Grand Division, gaveup the Le Mans terminal and the line to Paris, retaining the

line from Mayenne to the west switch of the Mans yard, and


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being assigned the double track road from Surdon to Le

Mans. Only one track on this latter line was open, but

trackmen sent to Alenon opened for traffic 15 miles ofsecond track to 14 September. Effective 31 August, the

bridge at Laval was completed and traffic was then routed

through Rennes; the first train over the bridge being loadedwith potatoes destined for Paris. All operation over the

secondary railroad from Mayenne to La Chapelle was

discontinued effective 4 September.

In the meantime, the Engineers were engaged inrehabilitating the northerly and more direct rail route from

the beaches and Cherbourg to Paris; and one completion

thereof on 14 September the roundabout line from Follignyto Rennes, thence through Laval, Le Mans, Chartres and

Dreux to Paris was discontinued as the main supply route

and it's operation turned over to the French.

The Battalion had been well baptized. It had learned underwhat conditions it was expected to perform; conditions that

in civilian life would have been deemed impossible, testing

the intelligence, ingenuity and physical stamina of every

officer and enlisted man. Suffice it to say that without GIsupplies of any kind until 30 August (when our supplies and

equipment started catching up), the road, yard, motive

power and communication facilities and operating practiceshad been improved to the extent that from the handling of

36 trains in the first six days, 45 trains were handled on 13

September.Concurrently with turning over the Rennes Le Mans linephase III operation, the Battalion received orders to move to

Laon, France, for operation of the railroad from there to

railheads in Belgium. West of Paris we had served the ThirdArmy, but with arrival at Laon on 17 September, we began a

service to the First Army that continued without interruption

until after V-E day.

As the Army rapidly advanced until it reached the defensesof the Siegfried Line, the Engineers restored a single track

line, and as that was done, the Battalion moved in and

established railheads; then improved the roadbed for

operation at higher speeds, opened yard tracks for increasedtraffic, and constructed additional communication lines. As

of 17 September, one track had been restored to Liege,

Belgium, the most advanced railhead. A circuitous routereached this over secondary roads, mainly, from Laon

through Liart, Hirson and Anor, France; and Mariembourg,


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Charleroi, Gembloux, Ramillies, Namur and Huy, Belgium.

On 25 September, however, restoration of the bridge over

the Meuse River into the Liege Guillemins passenger stationwas completed. While this station was a bottle neck, trains

having to pull in, the engines run around the cars and then

coupled on again and run east, it re-opened Liege as the hubof railroad supply lines to the east, north and south, and

Advance Section, Communications Zone, and Air Corps

Units to the West. One of these lines ran north to Vise,another through Chenee to Pepinster, and the other from

Chenee to Herve.

While the combat forces were butting against the Siegfried

Line, restoration of the lines east of Liege were in progress,and continued so until finally railheads were established

only a few kilometers behind the line. On 2 October 1944,

rail territory was reassigned giving to the 740th all lines

from Namur to the railheads. This brought the Headquartersup to Liege on 4 October.

LiegeLiege, Incidentally, is also a province, not only a city;

although Guillemins, Ans, Longdoz, Bressoux, Tilleur,Kinkempois, Renory, etc, are so closely grouped they

appear to be one big city. Effective 5 October, the road east

from Vise through Remersdael and Montzen to Herbesthalwas opened, and later in the month, the track was restored

from Herbesthal to the Belgian-German border town of

Raeren. The opening of operation of the Vise-Herbesthalline was just another case of getting a supply road opened

quickly. It was a circuitous route from Liege to Herbesthal,

but was the more feasible of the two that could be quicklyrestored while work was in progress on the bomb-damaged

bridge just east of Pepinster. Outside of distance, another

objection was that at Remersdael, the road was on an

ascending grade in the direction of loads through a tunnel,from the lining of which seepage caused slippery rails. With

the completion on 21 October of the bridge east of

Pepinster, traffic for Herbesthal and east was routed over

this line.

On 15 October, the Gembloux Landen Ans Liege Line

was opened to relieve traffic conditions on the one through

Namur Huy Liege. To ever come some of the difficultiesat the Liege-Guillemins station, Company "B" and

Company "C" were moved to Ans so that engines and crews

could be changed there.

Ninth Army units began moving into Holland in the early


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There were no changes in assigned territory during the first

half of November, but improvements to track and structures

were still in progress. Company "A" track forces restoredthe track into Germany as far as Walheim, which had been

chosen as a prospective railhead. No heavy work was

involved except where the line runs through the 'DragonsTeeth' at Smithoff, and there it was found the work was not

only heavy but also dangerous. The first swipe of the

bulldozer blade raked up four mines. Before completion ofthe job, a total of twenty-five were removed. The work was

completed on 7 November and on that day a work train of

Company "A" passed through the Siegfried line; followed

on 14 November by the first of two trains of Engineer

supplies and equipment for Walheim. While the track wasready for operation, First Army authorities refused to grant

permission to establish a railhead at Walheim, giving as thereason that it was too close to the front line.

To overcome the objectionable operation through Liege-

Guillemins passenger station, construction of a bridge at

Flemalle-Grande over the Meuse and the restoration oftracks in Kinkempois yard had been started in October.

With the completion of the bridge on 14 November, the bulk

of the traffic was routed over the Namur Huy Kinkempois line. Kinkempois yard was another Le Mans

and Laon. Concurrently with the completion of the bridge,three tracks on the Maastricht side of the yard, five on theHerbesthal side and three stub tracks were ready for use.

This brought a reassignment of operating territory effective

as of 15 November, whereby the 740th gave up all lines

west of the Meuse River and took over all east of the Meusein Belgium and Holland; i.e.:


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Flemalle-Grande to Raeren, via Kinkempois, Chenee,

Pepinster and Herbesthal.

Chenee to Battice.

Chenee to Herbesthal, via Vise and Montzen

Vise, through Maastricht to Schinnen and Wylra Gulpen.

The line in Holland was extended during November andDecember eastward to Kerkrade and Kerkrade-Rolduc. The

lines east and north of Maastricht resembled a crude figure

'8', with Maastricht and Sittard on the west, Schinop-Gueland Heerlen in the middle, and Kerkrade and Kerkrade-

Rolduc on the east. Except for the short stretch between the

last named two stations, the line was in operating condition,although after Sittard had been shelled by artillery several

times, the section north from Maastricht was discontinued.

The only other extension of note in December was fromPepinster to Malmedy where a gasoline railhead wasestablished on the 14th. This operation was short-lived. The

German break-through in the Ardennes swept quickly into

Malmedy and the last train in on 16 December was turned

around and brought it's load right back, out. At that, thecrew had to locate a track gang to replace a rail length that

had been blown out by an aerial bomb between the up and

down trips. Besides abandonment of this line, all supplieseast of Pepinster on the road to Herbesthal and Raeren were

evacuated to depots west of the Meuse, and traffic east of

Pepinster practically ceased until after the enemy was drivenback across the border.

Again on 1 January 1945 the Battalion relinquished the lines

in Holland. This time for good. The 734th Railway

Operating Battalion arrived just after Christmas and wasassigned the territory north from the east switch at Liege

Bressoux. The only other changes to the end of January

were the opening up of the branch out of Angleur south toTrois-Ponts on 17 January, and resumption of service on the

Malmedy line to Sart-lez-Spa on 25 January. Repairs to this

line continued through January and most of February until

the entire loop (a scenic route through the northern part ofthe Ardennes) Pepinster Stavelot Malmedy Waimes

Weywertz Roetgen Raeren was in operation.


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Reconstruction work was in progress on the line throughRaeren and Walheim to Stolberg, and on 7 February the first

freight railhead in Germany was established at Walheim.

This was not the first train operation into Germany;

however, as the Battalion had run trains into Walheim andAachen as far back as November. While the road was

opened to Stolberg by the 8th of February, further extensionof rail service was stopped until the first part of March thebridge and tunnel work necessary between that point and

Eschweiler. Extension of the line east necessarily caused a

reassignment of territory. Effective 1 March, the Battaliongave up line except the one from the east switch at Chenee,

through Pepinster, Herbesthal and Raeren, Belgium, to

Stolberg, Germany; and the loop Pepinster Stavelot Malmedy Weywertz Raeren. There was assigned the line

from Aachen West (exclusive) to Stolberg to connect up

with the Maastricht Aachen line. Battalion Headquarters

was moved from Liege and opened at Aachen on 8 March.On completion of the bridge and tunnel work just east of

Stolberg, rapid progress was made in restoring a single-track

line through to Duren, then Zulpich, then Euskirchen, then

Bonn and then Urmitz Again on 19 March a reassignmentof territory was announced. Under this, the 740th

relinquished the line from Chenee to Herbesthal, and of the

loop, retained only that part between Raeren and Weywertz.


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A complete account of the activities of the various

Companies and sections of the 740th Battalion would fill

several books Beginning with the operation at Laon, ournotes include the following:

Arriving on 17 September the railroad was in a very

disorganized state. Through communications did not exist.

Railway maps were hard to find and the average Frenchrailway employee did not know anything about general

conditions. While we were operating in Phase II, due to lack

of communications, we actually had no centralized control.Trains were blocked and operated by the French

stationmasters. G.I. operators were placed at the more

important stations, and by various methods ofcommunications, managed to maintain some sort of train's

records. When the Battalion moved to Liege, we found

conditions not much improved. This area was directly in the

rear of the First Army and we were faced with the problemof establishing and supervising a large number of railheads.

The Belgian soon set up a system of centralized dispatching.

Our dispatchers kept joint records with them, and operatorswere placed in their block offices.

. When the assigned territory was changed on 2 October,

Company "A" was sent to Herbesthal due to the fact this

was German territory prior to 1918 and there was very littlenative labor to rely on for maintenance. In addition to

performing normal maintenance around Herbesthal, men

from this Company acted as guards for bridges and tunnelsbetween St. Martin and Remersdael and at Berneau until

relieve by the Belgian F.I. A track gang was also sent to

Maastricht to open additional tracks. The Telephone and

Signal section found some communication lines to the frontalready installed by Signal Corps, had to install others, and

patched up German cables when found and suitable for use.

At Laon switchboards were installed in the Headquarters ofthe 740th and 708th Railway Grand Division; and from the

740th board, lines were run to all companies, dispatcher's

office, motor pool, the towers, sand house, roundhouse, etc.

One dispatcher's circuit and a message circuit were patchedup between Laon and Hirson. When the railroad from

Namur to the railheads was taken over, lines were installed

from Liege to Tilleur; at Ans from station to Company "C"engine house and to each end of the yard; from switchboard

at Liege to dispatcher, Chief Dispatcher; yard office; Tower

2; roundhouse; barracks; motor pool, 741st Headquarters;two trunks to the 708th; yard office to Tower 2; roundhouse,


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and from 708th switchboard to the Belgian board in Liege.

From Liege to Namur, and Liege to Herve Verviers

Herbesthal, German cables were used. From Liege toPepinster, through Chenee and Trooz; Liege to Maastricht,

Holland, via Vise; and from Liege to Landen via Ans,

German circuits were rehabilitated. In one instance whenwire ran out, a wire fence along the right of way was used.

At Laon, messes were established for all companies, and in

addition, a 24-hour mess was opened at the passenger

station. On moving to Liege, 24-hour messes wereestablished at Liege, Ans, Pepinster, Herbesthal and

Maastricht, with regular messes at Headquarters Company,

Company "B" and Office's Quarters. Rations weredistributed by truck to all men yardmen; telegraph

operators, car inspectors, switching and pusher crews, and

linemen.

For one period while Headquarters were at Liege, theBattalion served a total of 31 railheads. The table of

organization allowed three yardmasters. Because the

number of railheads, conductors and brakemen were utilized

as yardmasters. Officers from other companies were detailedto duty with Company "C" as railhead commanders.

Although Belgian and Dutch crews were utilized, and crews

were reduced to four, and sometimes three men, a shortage,

and a crew that spent less than four continually plagued fivedays or us on the road without rest was the exception.

Company "C" of the 741st Railway Operating Battalion,newly arrived from the States was attached about the middleof October and this helped to ease the situation. A few days

later, the main body of the 741st reached Maastricht, and the

line in Holland was turned over to it

The numbers of individual acts of heroism are toonumerous to attempt to record here, and this is true also of

the men who put in long, arduous hours of toil in all

companies and sections. The Battalion has ample reason tobe proud of its men individually and collectively; and higher

headquarters, as well as the First Army have commanded its

achievements, and the Traffic Regulating Station with

which it was longest associated. Some of the achievementsof special note are:

During the period 20 November 1944 to 28 January 1945,

when Liege and vicinity were subjected to an intensive

barrage of robot bombing (V-1 and V-2), and, in addition,during the period 16 December 1944 to the end of the month


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to aerial bombing and strafing attacks, the Battalion suffered

casualties of eight killed and thirty-three wounded, besides

damage to tracks and equipment and constant interruption tocommunication lines. The 'Battle of the Bulge' caused the

Battalion to cease operations entirely on the Malmedy

branch and the line east of Herbesthal. All supplies andmaterial from railheads at Malmedy, Eupen, and Herbesthal

were evacuated and moved west of the Meuse River. All

guards were doubled and men of Company "A" spent theirnights in foxholes south of the town of Herbesthal.

Although conditions in Liege and environs at times

approximated from line conditions, the Battalion (to borrow

from a letter from the Commander of the 708th RailwayGrand Division) did not "back up inch or lose one ounce of

supplies entrusted to its charge." "Buzz Bomb Alley" will

long remain in the memories of the veterans of this Unit.

the 740th railway operating battalion

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