- and closely supporting the assaulting infantry attacks of its Corps, which
converted the "Ardennes Bulge" into the "Ardennes Bubble".
- d) During the Period 18 December 1944 to 3 January 1945 the Battalion, with blazing courage and tenacity of purpose, fearlessly stood and fought the enemy on the ground, and in the air, shoulder to shoulder with the infantry, in the bloodiest battle of the European Campaign. When their 90 mm guns were overrun or destroyed by tanks, the gun crews of the gallant battalion unfalteringly battled on as infantry, seizing bazookas and other abandoned infantry weapons, in implementing their attacks along the general line Trois Ponts -- Stavelot -- Malmedy.
- e) With the launching of the Roer and Rhine offensives, the 143rd AAA Gun Battalion, utilizing its weapons to the maximum in an antiaircraft role at Duren and Remagen, successively and successfully supported the pulverizing smash of the First U.S. Army which terminated all German resistance in its zone of action of the Rhineland. The termination of hostilities on 9 May 1945 found the Battalion well on the road to Berlin with a record that no objective defended by it had been damaged by air, or taken by ground attack.
- d) During the Period 18 December 1944 to 3 January 1945 the Battalion, with blazing courage and tenacity of purpose, fearlessly stood and fought the enemy on the ground, and in the air, shoulder to shoulder with the infantry, in the bloodiest battle of the European Campaign. When their 90 mm guns were overrun or destroyed by tanks, the gun crews of the gallant battalion unfalteringly battled on as infantry, seizing bazookas and other abandoned infantry weapons, in implementing their attacks along the general line Trois Ponts -- Stavelot -- Malmedy.
- 3. The fighting instincts, esprit de corps and aggressive soldierly qualities of the officers and men of the 143rd AAA Gun Battalion, during the most crucial battles of the European Campaign, redounds to the glory of the Battalion as a whole, and reflects the leadership, high degree of personal courage, and technical and tactical skill of Lieutenant Colonel Myron T. Flemming, who led this Battalion in the greatest military campaigns of history.
E. W. TIMBERLAKE
Brigadier General, U.S.A.
Commanding