511th Parachute Infantry Regiment (United States)
The 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment (511th PIR) was an airborne infantry regiment of the United States Army, first activated during World War II under Colonel Orin D. "Hard Rock" Haugen. It formed the parachute infantry element of the 11th Airborne Division. The full history of the regiment is the subject of the book, When Angels Fall: From Toccoa to Tokyo, the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment in World War II (2019)[1] by author and historian Jeremy C. Holm whose grandfather served in the regiment's Company D during the war.
| 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Active | 1943–1958 1993–1995 1997–2005 |
| Disbanded | 2005 |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| Type | Airborne forces |
| Role | Parachute infantry |
| Size | Regiment |
| Part of | 11th Airborne Division |
| Motto(s) | Strength From Above |
| Anniversaries | Formed: January 1943 |
| Engagements | World War II
|
| Decorations | The Presidential Unit Citation (PUC) Philippine Presidential Unit Citation Badge |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Orin D. Haugen Edward H. Lahti |
| Insignia | |
| Distinctive unit insignia |  |
U.S. Infantry Regiments | |
|---|---|
| Previous | Next |
| 509th Infantry Regiment | 513th Infantry Regiment |
Activation and Training
The 511th PIR was formed at Camp Toccoa, GA, in January 1943 and in March transferred to Camp Mackall, NC before heading to Fort Benning, GA, battalion by battalion for jump training. After the difficulties encountered by Allied airborne operations during Operation Husky in July 1943, from 6–10 December the 511th PIR took part in the successful Knollwood Maneuver that secured the future of American airborne units. After final examination at Camp Polk, LA, the regiment proceeded to Camp Stoneman, CA, and in May 1944 embarked for the Pacific on the troop transport SS Sea Pike. It trained at Oro-Dobodura in New Guinea until November 1944, when it was sent to the Philippines to join the Battle of Leyte.[2]
Philippines
Initially the regiment was tasked with a "reconnaissance en force" operation, but their orders changed to take and hold the passes through the mountains in the center of the island, and engage and reduce the Japanese forces in the area, ultimately in support of the battle of Ormoc which was simultaneously ongoing. The 511th successfully performed this mission during harsh monsoonal weather in the steep, heavily forested terrain, emerging shortly after Christmas of 1944 onto the Ormoc plain after suffering severe casualties.
After a brief rest and resupply the regiment was sent to the island of Mindoro as the 11th Airborne was preparing for its part in the Battle of Luzon. On 3 February 1945 the 511th on board 48 C-47 aircraft performed a combat jump on Tagaytay Ridge. Due to the shortage of planes, the regiment and its associated elements jumped in 3 echelons. Despite some misdrops, the 511th assembled successfully at its drop zone at the Manila Hotel Annex on Tagaytay Ridge and proceeded in battalions north towards Manila, encountering occasional Japanese resistance in the towns of Imus and Las Piñas before engaging the Japanese at the Parañaque River just south of Manila.
During the Battle of Manila, the 511th fought through the Japanese Genko Line from 5–12 February, penetrating as far into Manila as the Dewey-Libertad area, before turning east to attack and recapture Fort William McKinley (Fort Bonifacio, now Bonifacio Global City). On 23 February its 1st Battalion took part in the Raid at Los Baños, freeing over 2,000 foreign Allied civilians from a Japanese internment camp south of Manila, with its B Company performing a parachute jump on the camp itself.[3]
The regiment proceeded to clear a transport corridor from Manila to the towns of Lipa and Batangas City, which has an important port, and took the crossroads town of Santo Tomas. With the rest of the 11th Airborne it also engaged Japanese forces throughout the provinces of Laguna, Batangas, and Tayabas (modern Quezon); the regiment's 1st and 2nd battalions in Sixth Army reserve in the towns of Batangas and Bauan, its 3nd battalion in active fighting. From 27 to 29 April it engaged and eliminated the remaining Japanese forces entrenched in underground complexes in the Mount Malepunyo (Malarayat) range east of Lipa.
On 23 June elements of the regiment took part in the war's final combat jump at Aparri in northern Luzon, part of the effort to seal off the retreat of Japanese commander General Yamashita. The regiment remained in the Lipa-Batangas area, training for the planned invasion of Japan, until the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Japan
After the surrender of Japan, the 511th under Colonel Edward H. Lahti went with the 11th Airborne Division as the first Allied unit to land on Japan. After securing the Atusgi Air Base near Yokohama on 30 August 1945, for General Douglas MacArthur's arrival, the regiment took up defensive positions before being tasked with guarding the departure docks for the Surrender Ceremony on board the USS Missouri. On 2 September the 11th Airborne's Division Band was on hand to greet the debarking 1st Cavalry Division with the strains of "The Old Grey Mare."[4] The 511th was later sent to northern Honshū to perform occupation duty.[5]
On 16 September 1945 the 511th moved to Morioka, Japan to begin the occupation of Iwate and Aomori Prefectures in Northern Honshu. In February 1949, the Regiment except for the 3rd Battalion departed Camp Haugen and returned to the United States via the Panama Canal and arrived in New Orleans in March 1949, from where it moved to Camp Campbell, Kentucky. The 3rd Battalion remained in Camp Haugen until April 1949, when it departed for the United States.
Germany
In March 1956 the 511th (as part of the 11th Airborne Division) crossed the Atlantic into Europe to replace the 5th Infantry Division at Augsburg, Germany during Operation Gyroscope.
Inactivation
The 511th was inactivated at Fort Campbell in July 1958.
Company A
On 1 June 1993, Company A, 511th Infantry was reactivated at Fort Rucker, Alabama to serve as pathfinders by reflagging the existing Company C, 509th Infantry. The company was inactivated in November 1995 and the pathfinder mission discontinued, along with the Air Assault course for which the company provided instructors, due to budget and manpower ceiling cuts. On 1 October 1997, Company A, 511th Infantry was reactivated as a test company for the Enhanced Fiber Optic Guided Missile (EFOGM) system, under the command of Captain Stephen Inouye at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It was the first and only EFOGM company in the world. On 28 July 2005, Captain Mark Chandler cased the colors during the inactivation ceremony at Rose Field in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
References
- Holm, Jeremy (2019). When Angels Fall: From Toccoa to Tokyo, the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment in World War II. ISBN 978-1087303185.
- Col. Orin D. "Hard Rock" Haugen
- "Los Baños Raid Operational Timeline". The 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
- History of the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment
- History of the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment
Other sources
- Flanagan, Lt. Gen. E. M., Jr. The Angels: A history of the 11th Airborne Division. 1989 Presidio Press.
- Holm, Jeremy C. "When Angels Fall: The 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment in World War II MacArthur’s Secret Weapon & Heroes of Los Baños" 2019 Amazon