Replacement depots question

[Heath MI]

Hello,
I’ve been researching my grandfather’s WWII service for a few years now. Long story short, I’m trying to retrace his path across Europe in 1945. I have many of the pieces of the puzzle for his journey; US to Scotland (aboard the Queen Mary), across England, came ashore at Omaha Beach (his recollections), and his final destination near Forbach, France (70th ID), in February’45.

What I’m trying to find is the locations of the replacement depots. I’d like to see if there’s anything out there that might allow me to connect the dots for his path across France before he arrived at his unit? I’m not only looking for the names of the camps, but maybe documentation that shows names and dates. I don’t know if such things still exist to be quite honest. Books? Websites? Informational documents?

Any assistance or leads anyone can provide would be much appreciated. Thank you up front.

v/r,
Heath

[70th Division]

Hello,
I’ve been researching my grandfather’s WWII service for a few years now. Long story short, I’m trying to retrace his path across Europe in 1945. I have many of the pieces of the puzzle for his journey; US to Scotland (aboard the Queen Mary), across England, came ashore at Omaha Beach (his recollections), and his final destination near Forbach, France (70th ID), in February’45.

What I’m trying to find is the locations of the replacement depots. I’d like to see if there’s anything out there that might allow me to connect the dots for his path across France before he arrived at his unit? I’m not only looking for the names of the camps, but maybe documentation that shows names and dates. I don’t know if such things still exist to be quite honest. Books? Websites? Informational documents?

Any assistance or leads anyone can provide would be much appreciated. Thank you up front.

v/r,
Heath

Hello Heath,

There was a forward Repple Depple Depot that the 70th took replacements from in Saint Avold France.
I know one 70th Veteran who was there, a BAR man, and a 70th Division Command Car rolled up, and asked him if he knew how to use his weapon,
he said he did, and told him to get in, he was in the 70th Infantry Division now.
He said he was supposed to be sent to the Third Infantry Division, and the officer told him not to worry about that, and went with them.
3 months, 4 Purple hearts, and 2 Silver Stars later, and after crossing the Saar River solo, and capturing a German Soldier in a mansion along the river, and bringing him back across the river, for the G-2 to question for intel about Saarbrucken, someone told him the MP's were looking for him.
The MP's said he was awol from the 3rd Infantry Division, so he was sent to the 3rd, just in time for their assault and capture of Nuremberg.
He got an additional Purple Heart there.

He has a lot of shrapnel in him, and for years, was having pieces removed that in more recent years were causing pain.
He also wore a back brace, but never complained, and returned with the 70th Veterans many times to France and Germany, and to Saint Avold, where the largest US Military Cemetery is located in France with over 10,000 US Soldiers buried there, including many of his 70th friends he lost, several of his assistant BAR Men.

I also knew an 82AB Veteran that was wounded in North Africa and eventually was sent to the 70th as a replacement.

I am not familiar with other depots that your Grandfather may have gone through, and he may also have been in other units, and was sent to the Infantry, as things got very precarious towards late 1944 and early 1945.
Every one available was funneled in to Infantry units , as replacements were needed, as the Bulge heated up.


You may have to look in College Park Maryland for in depth records at the National Archives, they might have the lists of soldiers, that went through them in France, but having the numbers of the replacement Depots will help in that search.
They would have the original documents turned in after WW2.

Here is a 70th Division Military Police After Action Report, that mentions a Replacement Depot that they got some men from.
A very interesting report to read, as it also mentions the unit vehicle maintenance methods, and needing higher level tool kits, and also that they
took tool kits from captured German vehicles to supplement and replace their own lost or broken tools.

" The acquisition of tools from captured enemy vehicles were
used to replace some of our broken or lost tools"

It also mentions an additional rare bit of vehicle information :

" During the month of March, the thirty-one (31)
vehicles assigned to the Platoon, were driven approximately 27,000 miles "

https://www.trailblazersww2.org/70thMP/ ... 45_AAR.pdf

It may help in your search for records.



Best Regards,
Ray

[tuareg]

Amazing!

[dpcd67]

Realize that every Infantry Regiment went through more than 100% of its 11B authorizations, in one year. Which means that replacements were streaming through France by the literal thousands; sure kept records, which were promptly abandoned after VE day. I have never seen or heard of such records in existence.
Only by individual vignettes like this one, are the records still alive.

[Klaas]

I am just now re-reading "Citizen Soldiers" by Stephen Ambrose and there is a whole chapter in there about the replacement system. A very good book and well worth a read.

[70th Division]

Realize that every Infantry Regiment went through more than 100% of its 11B authorizations, in one year. Which means that replacements were streaming through France by the literal thousands; sure kept records, which were promptly abandoned after VE day. I have never seen or heard of such records in existence.
Only by individual vignettes like this one, are the records still alive.

Hello,
There were replacement depots set up all over the Theaters of Operations, here is a list of many.
There are also many books written about them as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replacement_depot

https://www.abebooks.com/9781425752071/ ... 752071/plp

The US National Archives, in College Park, Maryland would have individual Replacement Depot records there.

Best Regards,
Ray

[dpcd67]

I mean with a list of names. Have you seen those?

[70th Division]

I mean with a list of names. Have you seen those?

Hello,

I haven't seen the records that list all the soldiers in each replacement Depot, but I am thinking that if those records exist, they would in deed be
at College Park, Maryland.

I have been there, and once you find interesting information headings, they will bring you push carts full of boxes of original documents to look through, and you can then copy of photograph, what ever you find, that is pertinent to your search.

The 70th Division's documents from their combat time in France and Germany are there, in many, many boxes.

As an example of other things I happened to look at, I did a search for POW Camps in Florida, as there was one near where I live here.

The documents they brought out, in boxes, had old yellowed papers, from the POW Camps that listed every German prisoner there.
The problem was many were handwritten names, and in pencil, so fading was in issue, but it was a great discovery.

Things like this have likely never been looked at since they were boxed and put away for safe keeping.

So I am thinking that the organized replacement depots have their info all preserved there.

Likely the War Assets Administration vehicle auction sales lists are there too, or at least were until recent years, when destruction orders were sent by some bureaucrats.
Whether they were saved, or trashed, I don't know, but I saw that a destruction request was sent for the WAA sales documents.

https://www.archives.gov/research/guide ... s/270.html


Best Regards,
Ray

[Heath MI]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I did find a few sources that a few of you mentioned. I also found a CMH pub on the Army Replacement System. It’s a dry read but starting to show a few potential locations.

If I one day get the chance to retrace his route across France, I’ll at least hit the locations that are potential possibilities for a 70th ID replacement. Sure wish I would’ve asked more questions years ago.

I hope I can one day find the time to get to the archives. I bet that place is just a treasure trove of information for WWII buffs like myself and many of you.

Thanks again to all who posted. I appreciate the assistance. I’ll keep the post updated if I find any new groundbreaking sources.

v/r,
Heath