2371

106TH RECONNASSANCE SQUADRON WW2.

Currency:USD Category:Firearms & Military Start Price:300.00 USD Estimated At:600.00 - 800.00 USD
106TH RECONNASSANCE SQUADRON WW2.
3’ x 4’ embroidered on yellow field, ink inscription: “Maj. T. M. Roberts / 1943 / Moknashy, Algeria”. The 1943 date and Algeria are unknown as unit was training in Texas at that time before deployment to France. The genesis of this command was the 1st Illinois Volunteer Cavalry from the Spanish-American War era through World War One. In 1921, the unit was part of the Illinois National Guard. During the years between the world wars, the unit went through several reorganizations. In September 1940, the unit was redesignated as 1st Squadron, 106th Cavalry (Horse/Mechanized).
In November 1940, the unit was Federalized at its home city of Chicago and entered into an intensive training regimen along with other expanding Army units. In 1942 the regiment became fully mechanized. The typical vehicle make up for cavalry groups was jeeps, trucks, M-8 armored cars plus light tanks like the M-3/M-5 Stuart which was perfect for the reconnaissance role the regiment was training for. Mobile artillery was also attached to these units for fire support.

In 1943 unit was reorganized as 106th Mechanized Cavalry which consisted of the 106th and 121st Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadrons as well as a Group Headquarters. The unit moved to Normandy and entered action in July 1944 as part of the VIII Corps. After the Allied breakout, VII Corps moved west to Brittany while the rest of the armies turned east towards Paris. 106th Group was transferred to XV Corps to lead them in the drive holding the corps flank at the Falaise Pocket. Now part of Patton’s Third Army, the group covered both flanks of the drive as Patton’s tanks ripped into German troops and defenses. The 106th Group worked with the French 2nd Armored Division and helped destroy a German infantry division.

In September, XV Corps was transferred south to Seventh Army but held the gap between Third and Seventh. With support from a tank destroyer battalion attached, the group fought as infantry and held a gap that was 125 miles wide. An infantry division that was over ten times larger was supposed to hold no more than 8 miles of front! Seventh Army’s offensive continued into the rugged Vosges Mountains with XV corps finally taking the city of Strasbourg. On November 23rd, a German panzer division counter-attacked and forced the 106th back after a delaying action. On December 16th, the Germans launched the Battle of the Bulge and Third Army was involved within days and pivoted towards the north. The 106th Group was sent further north to hold the lines where a Third Army unit had been.
Just as the New Year was ringing in, the Germans launched Operation Nordwind, the Alsace-Lorraine offensive designed to trap several American divisions there including the 106th Group. Initially forced back, the 106th eventually stopped the German attacks on their front. Nordwind was defeated by the end of January and the 106th Group was withdrawn to rest and refit. It was during this time they received their new M-24 Chaffee light tanks, a vast improvement over the Stuarts. After resting for about a month, the 106th was back in action in the Allied drive to the Rhine River which they crossed in late March. Driving deep into Germany the regiment assisted in capturing Nuremburg and then helped capture Munich. The 106th then set its sights on invading Austria. While there, the 121st Cavalry of the regiment helped liberate the King of Belgium who had been a German prisoner since his country’s fall in 1940.
With the war’s end, the 106th received several awards including from the French as they often worked with the 2nd French Armored Division. The unit remained in Austria until October 1945 and then went back to Illinois where they were deactivated in Urbana.
The unit flag is yellow reflective of the traditional colors and lineage of the cavalry branch from which armor descended. CONDITION: good overall, soiled and stained. (02-17547-10/JS). $600-800.