Embedded Files
This is my first attempt to provide a map based on the chronological list of locations, from the company's history. This first image simply shows Weymouth, England (the departing point for crossing the Channel), over to Utah Beach, and then the circuitous route (each star is a town or village visited) taken from 31 July 1944 onward through France to this point on 4 October 1944, at Dombasle-sur-Muerthe, near Nancy. I will continue to work on this.
Arrived in Weymouth July 28th. Processing took two days.
Early on July 30th the vehicles were again lined up and directed to the docks where all was loaded on an LST and an LCT, and then waited in the harbor all that afternoon and part of the night. Sometime during the evening of the 30th, the boats weighed anchors and the trip across the English Channel began.
You will notice on the list below it all begins with "D-Plus-56" (referring to the 56th day after D-Day).
The afternoon of July 31st, the LST dropped anchor at Utah Beach, and men and vehicles were unloaded, bringing the first group of 841st men to French soil, and to Transient Area "B" where camp was set up for the night. The LCT waited off the coast until after midnight, due to the tide, and by the time the remainder of the company reached the transient area it was three o'clock the morning of August 1st.
The night of August 2nd was spent at the transient area, and the next day, Aug 3rd, the company crossed the peninsula to set up operations just above the town of Bricquebec.
Both maps show "Transit Areas" "A" and "B"
At first I was unsure about the use of the word Transient in "Transient Area B". In researching, I found references using this term in historical documents from several units that landed at Utah Beach. There is a reference to this in a book "Saving Lives, Saving Honer", by Jeremy C. Schwendiman, providing the day-by-day activities of the 39th Evacuation Hospital during World War II. After the 39th Hospital unit arrived at Utah Beach on July 16th, they "went on convoy to a temporary transient area known as "Transient Area B", and then on to their bivouac area near Bricquebec". Another reference stated " The equipment was unloaded on the beach by 2000, and was then loaded onto several cargo trucks for further transportation inland. Officers collected the men and marched them eight miles to Transient Area B". I've since found several other units referring to "Transient Area B", in a similar way, but no map showing it. The history of the 712th Railway Operating Battalion, Transportation Corps, U.S. Army makes this reference "they debarked from the Empire Cutlass, carrying their duffle bags, full field pack and arms, they hiked to the receiving area not far from the beach. There they left their duffle bags and walked on to area 34, Transient Area B, Utah Beach and bivouacked for the night".
Now I find WWII European Theater Army Records Records of the U.S. Army's European Theater of Operations (ETO), 1942-1946, are from NARA's Record Group 498. They include essentially all administrative, strategic, and other documents relating to U.S. operations in Europe during World War II. They were filed within folders, later microfilmed, and now presented on Fold3 as digital images. Three of these maps are posted above, and do actually use the word "Transit" as the chosen term for "Transit Area A and B". Also, several chapters in this large document are of interest, especially the section: Utah Beach . Detailed descriptions of the entire operation are covered, with maps. So which term is correct? I would go with what is used in the Army's documentation - "Transit Area", which, using another military term, is a kind of "Staging Area", or "Regrouping Area". But transient does imply an area as a place used for a temporary time, or "staying only for a short time" before moving on. I believe the confusion began with the words sounding so much alike, and because the meanings were similar. Many using the terms may have not seen the "official written" word, as used by the top planners, but only spoke what they "heard". And then, later, when histories were being composed to document the many stories, both were used.
Another excellent resource is "The Ordnance Department , on beachhead and battlefront", by Lida Mayo. Published 1991 by the Center of Military History, U.S. Army, For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O. in Washington, D.C. Especially pertinent are chapters XIII through XVIII.
The following .pdf file shows the original pages (99 - 102) of chronological locations as listed at the end of the company's history. I'm referring to this file as an "Operations List". There are many typos and misspelled names. Using these as a starting point, I am in the process of transcribing this list into an Excel file, and will post it soon.
I have now created an "Operations" route map shown below, based on each location listed in that file, using GoogleMaps. Again note that it begins with "D-Plus-56".....56 days after D-Day.
From Bristol Bay, arriving on April 26, 1944, to the end of their mission in Regen, Germany on June 24, 1945.
841st Ordnance Depot Company Operations Itinerary Original Pages 99 - 103.pdfPage updated
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