Edward S. Thoden
Weehawken, New Jersey 1926–2015
- Branch of service
- United States Army
- Primary military occupation
- Rifleman
- Highest rank achieved
- Technician Fifth Grade
- Dates of service
- October 1944 – July 1946
- Wartime unit
- Company E, 414th Infantry Regiment, 104th Infantry Division
- Campaign awards
- Central Europe
This shade of olive drab paint is often associated with helmets from the 104th Infantry Division.
Notice the stitching work on the chinstraps is not factory applied. Given that this helmet is an earlier war model, they were probably applied at a repair depot and re-issued to Edward.
The helmet bears a simplified version of the 414th Infantry Regiment’s Distinctive Unit Insignia (DUI), which was often paired with a Timberwolf stencil or paper decal on the right side.
Faintly visible, "THODEN" is written in pen on the liner's sweatband.
Edward Thoden, date unknown
A few print materials Edward brought back from the war.
Inside the Timberwolves pamphlet, a beautifully executed illustration can be found showing the 104th Division’s exploits during World War II.
Edward Thoden was born in Weehawken, New Jersey, in 1926 and grew up in nearby Jersey City. At the time, industry and transportation were central to the city’s economy. Despite the Great Depression, Jersey City continued to expand, even gaining a minor league baseball team, the Jersey City Giants, in 1937. Certainly, the area he grew up in would influence his later career choice of working on the railroad, but World War II interrupted any prospect of an ordinary young adulthood. Edward enlisted in the U.S. Army in October 1944.
The war in this time period, at least in Europe, had become fairly stagnant. The U.S. Army had made a large breakout from Normandy, reaching as far as Germany, and the Allied liberation of the Netherlands had already collapsed. By October 1944, the rapid Allied advance from Normandy had slowed considerably. American forces had reached the German frontier, while Operation Market Garden had failed to secure an Allied bridgehead across the Rhine. Fighting continued along Germany’s western defenses, and the front would soon erupt again during the German Ardennes Offensive in December. Many thousands of men were lost, and replacements were desperately needed as you will see in some other examples within the museum. Given that the demand for replacement troops was urgent, the training times for soldiers in America were shortened. For Edward Thoden, that would be his ticket to combat in Germany.
Edward reached the front lines on March 30, 1945, with Company E, 414th Infantry Regiment, 104th Infantry Division “Timberwolves” as a Rifleman in a light machine gun section. The 104th was spearheaded by the legendary Major General Terry Allen, who formerly commanded the 1st Infantry Division in North Africa and Sicily. The Timberwolves vigorously trained in night fighting, and often, as noted in a report from the former commander of the 2nd Battalion, 414th Infantry, the “men preferred to attack at night”. Unfortunately, this sort of training was not available to Ed since he had not been in the Army when the 104th Division was formed.
Following the capture of the Ludendorff Bridge on March 7, Edward and the 2nd Battalion, 414th Infantry was attached to Task Force Lovelady (named after the commander, William Lovelady), working closely with the 2nd Battalion, 33rd Armored Regiment of the 3rd Armored Division.
Some pieces of kit Edward brought home. The canteen cover has his laundry number “T-2267”. You may note that muzzle cover and canteen cover have laundry numbers that do not belong to him.
Edward Thoden’s haversack, entrenching tool, and poncho.
Within a day of joining the unit, Edward saw combat south of the German city Paderborn. The 104th Division was committed to fighting hastily formed SS regiments, comprised of SS combat school students and cadre. To the north of 104th Infantry Division line, other units within the 3rd Armored waged a struggle against a force of about 40 tanks from the neighboring armored training grounds. Three German King Tiger tanks pieced together from the training unit executed well placed and concealed ambush on a hilltop resulting in over a dozen American vehicles destroyed. This action in Paderborn also resulted in the death of Major General Maurice Rose, Commander of the 3rd Armored Division, on March 30th, 1945.
With the last major tank battle of the Western Front concluded, the combined arms task forces of the 3rd Armored and the 104th Division troops riding on the rear of the Spearhead’s steel beasts, they continued to drive the nail into the German homeland. On April 11th, the 3rd Armored and 104th Division uncovered the Dora-Mittelbau Concentration Camp, where Germany used forced labor in obviously appalling conditions to construct V-2 rockets in an underground facility. Knowing well that the American army was knocking on their door, the SS camp guards took the remaining living prisoners on a death march east, yet, the 104th and 3rd Armored still found around 3,000 dead prisoners among approximately 750 barely grasping to life. Such horrific scenes of human degradation and mistreatment were forever burned in the mind’s of 18 year old Edward Thoden and his fellow liberators.
From the departure of Paderborn on April 1st, Edward Thoden and the 104th Division would cover over 200 miles and reach the area of Thurland, Germany, on April 15, 1945, and the breakneck speed of the American advance made Blitzkrieg look like child’s play, due in part to the U.S. Army’s superior logistics and vehicle reliability. The actions in and around Thurland for the 2nd Battalion, 414th Infantry, are a particularly memorable part of Edward Thoden’s time in Germany.
Edward Thoden, possibly Camp San Luis Obispo, 1945/1946
Upon reaching the town of Thurland on April 15, Task Force Lovelady began to take fire and the 2nd Battalion, 414th Infantry would dismount. The town of Thurland was captured in about six hours, and the infantry pushed to the woods north of Thurland near the Mulde River. Just between the Mulde and Thurland lay their next objective, the town of Raguhn. Thurland became the command post for 2nd Battalion, 33rd Armored, and during the night of April 16-17, a strong German counterattack overcame the defenses in Thurland, capturing as many as 113 American prisoners, one of whose stories can be read here.
The 2nd Battalion, 414th Infantry’s Commanding Officer, then Lieutenant Colonel Edward E. Rager stated that the last thing he heard from the CP at Thurland was that his adjutant claimed over the radio, “Germans were in the hallway of the CP and that he was burning all the records”. With some brute force, the 83rd Armored Reconnaissance Squadron reacquired the command post, along with most of the prisoners. Edward Thoden clearly recalls this event, and some events from the following days in a letter sent to a friend who was wounded in the battle for Thurland, Private First Class Henry E. Gurney Jr.
Feb 16, 1999
Dear Henry,
I am responding to your letter appearing in the January issue of the Timberwolf Howl requesting letters from former members of Company E.
I was a member of this Company and remember quite clearly that April morning when you were shot in the stomach. We were in the edge of the woods ready to move out across the open field and into the town where you were encircled. The next thing we know, you and the others came running back across the field into the woods. You were holding the machine gun on your hip “Rambo Style” with your field jacket wrapped around the hot barrel and the “ammo” belt around your neck. I was only 18 yrs old then and this was impressive. Shortly after, I saw you being bandaged by a medic, and that was the last time I saw you. It is a relief to know you survived your wound and apparently doing well.
Enclosed is an enlargement of a picture of myself and the mortar squad. I have identified everyone in the picture. This picture was taken after we finally took the town of Raguhn and moved off the line. You will note we are all clean shaven and the dirt, dust and mud from riding with the 3rd Armored Division was removed. At this time I was in Sgt Swanson’s machine squad. As information, we never took that town from which you escaped. There was a counterattack by the enemy and we dug in. A shell exploded by the other machine squad while they were setting up. Boswell was wounded and I think Kraus was killed.
The next day we were moved back to Raguhn, where you remember the Germans blew up the bridge across the river as we were getting ready to cross. You will recall Fry was killed the night before you were wounded, then you, Boswell and Kraus were casualties. The machine gun squads were depleted of personnel. It was at this time I was put in your squad under Sgt. Swanson.
A few days later we crossed the river in assault boats in a night attack. The next day we captured the entire town of Raguhn. Platoon Sgts Lacy and Sabansky were killed in this action.
You might like to know Sgt Zank, Holcomb, Wooten, Kungle, Boswell and myself left the ETO at the end of June for Camp San Luis Obispo California. When these pictures were taken Sgt Swanson got Typhus and taken to a hospital. He never rejoined the Company. If there are any other GI’s you would like to know about, let me have their names and I'll prod my memory.
Again I say it was great to have read your letter and to know you survived. If you are ever down this way look me up. We have extra bedrooms and you are welcomed to stay. My telephone number is (Redacted).
May the good lord continue to bless you.
Ed Thoden
Edward Thoden, standing, far left. Germany, May 1945. Although the letter states the men with him are identified in this photo, I only received a copy of this photo and nothing is written on the back.
The final action for Edward Thoden and the 2nd Battalion, 414th Infantry concluded in the streets and homes of Raguhn on April 21st. The battle that took place that day has a well written account thanks to the 2nd Battalion CO aforementioned, Lt. Col. Edward Rager. As seen in the illustration he created here, the plan was to have 2nd Battalion cross the canal east of Thurland and secure houses in a small neighborhood nestled between the Mulde River and canal. By a stroke of pure luck, a German soldier intent on surrendering swam the canal and informed the 2nd Battalion command that there were about two companies of Germans stretched thinly on the north and south of the dike, (labeled in black) and that the majority of them went into the homes (labeled objective 1 on the map) to sleep at night.
Armed with this information, the 2nd Battalion crossed the canal by assault boat at 3:00 a.m., with Company E leading. Under the cover of darkness, helmets and rifles softly glistening in the night, the men silently crossed the river and entered the town until fire discipline had been broken by necessity. About 40 Germans were captured, with 15-20 killed. As daylight broke, the combat progressed to conventional warfare, and at the end of the day, Raguhn was secured. By the end of the day, approximately 200 German soldiers had been captured and 50 killed, while the Timberwolves suffered 45 casualties. Tragically, two men mentioned in Edward’s letter were killed in this action - Sergeant Windsor H. Lacy of White Oak, Kentucky, and Sergeant James T. Sobansky, Pennsylvania. Both men clearly left a lasting impression on the young Edward Thoden; nearly 60 years later, he still remembered their deaths and the fighting at Raguhn in remarkable detail. Two days later, Edward and the rest of Task Force Lovelady would be pulled off of the line, later being sent home to prepare for the invasion of Japan that never occurred.
Lieutenant Colonel Edward Rager’s illustration of Raguhn and the 2nd Battalion, 414th Infantry’s assault on the town.
Ed was honorably discharged from the Army in 1946. Like many veterans of his generation, he used the G.I. Bill to continue his education, earning a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. He went on to work for several railroad lines before retiring in 1989. Ed married in 1949 and raised a family. I was fortunate enough to contact one of his children and return several photographs of their father. The courageous acts he and his comrades performed in the heart of Germany would forever define the Timberwolf men in the history books, but the things Ed did otherwise would define him as a man.