Rank and Name in, Private First Class Fred D. Zahn.
Unit/Placed in, 49th Armored Infantry Battalion, 8th Armored Division “The Thundering Herd “.
Fred was born approx. in 1925 in Saginaw County, Michigan.
Father, Robert E. Zahn.
Mother, Eva C. Zahn (Helveston).
Brother, Edward , Arthur, Harvey and Frederick Zahn.
Fred enlisted the service at Michigan with serial number # 36464594.
Fred D. Zahn was a Rifleman C-Comp. in the 49th Armored Infantry Battalion.
Fred was KIA in the battle near Rheinberg, Germany, on March 4, 1945, he is honored with Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Marksmanship Badge, Army Presidential Unit Citation, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, WW II Victory Medal.
Fred is buried at Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial
Margraten, Eijsden-Margraten Municipality, Limburg, Netherlands.
Thanks to 8th AD org http://www.8th-armored.org/
Jean Louis Vijgen, ww2-Pacific.com and ww2-europe.com.
Air Force Info, Rolland Swank.
ABMC Website, https://abmc.gov
Marines Info, https://missingmarines.com/ Geoffrey Roecker
Seabees History Bob Smith https://seabeehf.org/
Navy Info, http://navylog.navymemorial.org
POW Info, http://www.mansell.com Dwight Rider and Wes injerd.
Philippine Info, http://www.philippine-scouts.org/ Robert Capistrano
National Historian
Navy Seal Memorial, http://www.navysealmemorials.com
Family Info, https://www.familysearch.org
Info, https://www.pacificwrecks.com/
Medals Info, https://www.honorstates.org
Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com
Tank Destroyers, http://www.bensavelkoul.nl/
WordPress en/of Wooncommerce oplossingen, https://www.siteklusjes.nl/
Military Recovery, https://www.dpaa.mil/
THE 8TH ARMORED DIVISION
The nickname of the 8th Armored Division, the “Thundering Herd,” was coined before the division went to Europe in late 1944. It was also known as the “Iron Snake” late in the war, after a correspondent for Newsweek likened the 8th to a “great ironclad snake” as it crossed the Rhine River in late March 1945.
Insignia of the 8th Armored Division. The nickname of the 8th Armored Division, the “Thundering Herd,” was coined before the division went to Europe in late 1944. It was also known as the “Iron Snake” late in the war, after a correspondent for Newsweek likened the 8th to a “great ironclad snake” as it crossed the Rhine River in late March 1945.
The 8th Armored Division landed in France in January 1945 and advanced rapidly to the Alsace region by the end of the month. From here, the “Iron Snake,” or “Thundering Herd,” division was deployed to the Netherlands in late February or early March 1945. In late March, the 8th crossed the Rhine River and moved into the industrial Ruhr region, where it took part in heavy fighting. By war’s end, the division had advanced to the Harz Mountains.
As it moved into central Germany, the 8th liberated Halberstadt-Zwieberge, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp, between April 12 and 17, 1945. The area around the city of Halberstadt housed a number of Buchenwald subcamps that had been established in 1944 to provide labor for the German war effort, including Halberstadt-Zwieberge I and Halberstadt-Zwieberge II. More than 5,000 inmates were incarcerated in these two subcamps, where they were forced to hollow out massive tunnels and build underground factories for Junkers Aircraft of Aircraft Motors Construction Company, which produced military aircraft.
The 8th Armored Division was recognized as a liberating unit by the US Army’s Center of Military History and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1995.
Casualty figures for the 8th Armored Division, European theater of operations
Total battle casualties: 2,011
Total deaths in battle: 469
Division nickname
The nickname of the 8th Armored Division, the “Thundering Herd,” was coined before the division went to Europe in late 1944. It was also known as the “Iron Snake” late in the war, after a correspondent for Newsweek likened the 8th to a “great ironclad snake” as it crossed the Rhine River in late March 1945.
