Dear Brian:

Hi just saw your post and will happy to help you out. I am out of town at the moment and am answering you from a friend's house. Will do some research when I get home. I'm sure we can find SOMETHING to help.

Till later, M

I found a website on the 333rd Engineer Special Service Regiment: http://333er.de/

Thanks Stevin,

I have looked through that website in the past and compared their roster page to a list my Grandfather had, and no names matched. However, do you know if the numbers are symbolic of od a higher order? for example: 333rd and 334th, from these numbers can you deduct that they are smaller regiments from a particular division?

Thanks for the help

brian

I can find very little on these units, but it seems that the numbers of these regiments all run into the 300's. It seems that most can be found on the 333rd, while I found only one on-line reference to the 334th. I can't find anything on these units in the books I have.

However, if you go to www.abebooks.com or www.bookfinder.com and type in ENGINEER SPECIAL SERVICE in the titel or keyword section, you will get some books that might be of interest. Again, the 333rd seems to have a history written, but at $85+ it is rather expensive, but maybe the other books might at least give you an idea about the make up and history of the Engineer Special Service Regiments in general.

When I find out more, I will let you know.

Stevin

I know this may be a stupid question but, Does the 334th infantry regiment of the 84th Division have anything in common with the 334th Enginners?

Thanks,

Brian

Sorry, no it doesn't. The infantry numbers are not related to the engineer units. Will have more for you soon, it's just been a very busy week at my household. Thanks for your patience.

Have you checked this out on our forum? It sheds a bit of light on the 334th. I was doing research on another unit and they came up several times. I will keep you posted...

https://ww2combatengineers.comeng...p?showtopic=700

yes, and thanks, That is how I found your forum, Josh(jsfreed) sent me a link to your site. He and I both are researching the same regiment and have continued to strike out

thanks

Brian

Oh, okay I see how it all comes together.

It is a very difficult unit to research. Have you contacted the Army Corps History Office yet? Let me know.

I will continue searching for the 762nd.

First off I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart, I was getting down right frustrated by seemingly hopeless search. I have not tried to contact the Army Corps History Office, can they help? Here is what i have done:

- spent countless hours on the internet, searching, looking, waiting

- Contacted the NARA and recieved replacement medals and discharge papers

- Contacted Modern Militay records and ordered copies of the general orders of the 334th and the 762d.

- I also have a list, written by Grandfather during WWII, of all of the men in his unit, from this list I have written letters to each of the men, with no response.

- The one thing that I have in quanity is his letter from his time overseas. From these I can tell he spent alot of time in Iran, but his children(my mom) swear up and down that he was injured in the Battle of the Bulge and the memories of Dachau haunted him his entire life. My question to you is: am I going about this all wrong? and is there anything that I could be overlooking, like a number on his discharge papers or a on the letters?

thank you so much! you have no idea how much this means to me

Brian

Dear Brian:

I can relate to you my friend. First off I tried for years to find something out. Mind you in the beginning it was pretty much an occasional search on the internet (several years back) and I could find NOTHING then. So I pretty much put that aside and thought, oh well. Sigh! But I had tried contacting NARA and the first time I waited months and got no response. I was bummed. I tried again and this time they said I would have to fill out the paper work again for some reason. Well I did that and still nothing. More sighing.

When I moved up north in Michigan from Detroit, I thought well, one last try. I DID get a response, but it wasn't what I was expecting. They told me his paperwork had burned in a fire. You can imagine how heartbroken I was. I was in tears. After all this time and then this.

Well a few months after that, I thought, I am not giving up and started searching Internet again. At first it was almost fruitless, but I kept at it and pretty soon I had a couple of names and some info. It kept me going. Then one day I received a hand-written letter from one of the guys I wrote to. It was about a month after I had mailed it to him. It was from a guy in my dad's unit. They didn't serve in the same company, but he was a member of the 540th. Oh man I was dancing.

Things started coming together slowly after that, but it was really happening. My head is still spinning.

Well onto the Army Corps of Engineers. They were my main source of information. I contacted the head historian there and within a couple of weeks, he called me on the phone. I was so impressed. Said they were sending me a big envelope with all kinds of documents. I was just thrilled.

So please DO contact them. They have folders on virtually every unit. Some are more comprehensive than others. The 540th were "popular", so I was lucky. Other units may just have a few sheets of documentation, but it's worthwhile my friend.

If you go to my RESEARCH section here, you will find out more. Included there are all the contact numbers for The Army Corps History Office too. Let me know what you find out. I am more than happy to help.

https://ww2combatengineers.comeng...hp?showtopic=23

Wow, were you ever right! I contacted the Office of History and within a week I had about 10 pages on the history of the 334th Engineers Special Service Regiment. I also recieved oversized maps/ blueprints of the 334th plan to build a railway bridge over the river Rhine. THANK YOU SO MUCH This has definately refreshed my determination to reconstruct my Grandfather military career during WWII

Brian

Brian:

What can I say but, "AWESOME!" You made my day too. Hey, I am here to help you, as were all the folks who helped me with my search on my dad. So I say, you're welcome and I'm so very glad I could be of assistance.

Now you can share what you've learned and we keep the ball in play.

Essayons,

M

Does the 334th infantry regiment of the 84th Division have anything in common with the 334th Enginners?

Not a dumb question. I created a quick reference table for each Infantry Division and their associated infantry regiments, engineer battalion and other attached units. It explains how the numbering system worked for units that were part of a division.

Table of Divisions and Regiments

Note the column on the far RIGHT has the number of each engineer unit that was a part of an infantry division. The 334th is not in this column. Apparently the 334th Engineers were an independent unit.

Keep this table handy. And please let me know if you find any mistakes in it. The Airborne Divisions moved and reassigned some regiments so that could be in error.

Steve