battle of the bulge combat engineers

4-0, War Department Battle Honors–Citation of Units: GENERAL ORDERS WAR DEPARTMENT No. His name/rank was Master Sgt. Engineers sweep for mines in the snow during the Ardennes campaign. Army. They prevailed upon the crew to join in their defense of the bridge. Snaking their way along the twisted Ardennes road network, the German battle groups were bent on reaching the Meuse River with the least possible delay. Each quadrangle sheet shows the position of the 12th Army Group and adjacent Allied Forces and of the German units for each day from D-Day (6 June 1944) thru 26 July 1945. KVK: 78264294, Goudplevierstraat 34 8043JH Zwolle, NETHERLANDS, You are now being logged in using your Facebook credentials, Engineers (Builders and Fighters) in the Battle of the Bulge, This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site, https://www.backtonormandy.org/the-history/engineers/engineer-combat/support8772.html. The author was Ken Hechler, and Barry W Fowle added a prologue and epilogue. The engineers put chains on their single 4-ton truck and drove it back and forth through the village to create the impression that there were tanks in Trois Ponts. The rapid pace of the advance placed a severe strain on Allied logistics, which, along with bad weather and stiffening German resistance, slowed the offensive. Peiper did not attack Malmedy, but headed instead toward Stavelot where Colonel Pergrin had sent another detachment of the 291st. The battalion set up essential roadblocks and prepared hasty defenses. In the meantime, engineers to the rear blocked roads using minefields, abatis, blown culverts, and felled trees. manning roadblocks south and east of Malmedy, and with the defense of the Reprinted with permission of the general editor, Dr. Barry W. Fowle. While another detachment of the 291st wired one bridge south of the village, Company C, reinforced by an antitank gun and a squad of armored infantry, prepared its defenses. As he rolled into a ditch, he heard machine gun fire close by. Holding the Line: The 51st Engineer Combat Battalion and the Battle of the Bulge Dec, 1944 to Jan, 1945 22, WD, 1943), Headquarters First United States Combat engineer battalions also fielded defensive .30 cal. By the evening of 18 December, the small American force at Trois Ponts had come under the command of Major Robert B. Yates, executive officer of the 51st Combat Battalion, who had come to the village expecting to attend a daily staff meeting. He also told us ( his sons and daughter ) that he was at the Battle of the Bulge ( among other actions ). Between these two fronts lay the Ardennes, a hilly, densely forested area of Belgium. His name/rank was Master Sgt. Riggs was eligible for medical leave in the States, but he insisted on rejoining his old unit, now in Western France. Here forty men or so of the 81st Engineer Combat Battalion (106th Division) joined the 168th. As they advanced, U.S. Army engineers who had been engaged in road maintenance and sawmilling suddenly found themselves manning roadblocks, mining bridges, and preparing defensive positions in an effort to stop the powerful German armored columns.A few examples will show how these engineers imposed critical delays on an offensive whose only hope for success lay in crossing the Meuse quickly.Lieutenant Colonel Joachim Peiper, a Nazi SS officer, led one of the armored columns racing toward the Meuse. A few small affrays occurred in the Osweiler-Dickweiler sector, but that was all. Thank you for posting this article. Fearing that the Germans would discover the weakness of his force, Major Yates tried to deceive the enemy.During the night, the six trucks of the engineer company repeatedly drove into Trois Ponts with their lights on and drove out with the lights off, simulating the arrival of reinforcements. On December 15th, just prior to the onset of hostile action, the 1278th was attached to the 1128th Engineer Combat Group, which was located in the vicinity of Habay-la-Vieille, Belgium, and consisted of the 1278th, 158th, and 299th Engineer Combat Battalions, the 467th Engineer Maintenance Company, and the 626th Engineer Light Equipment Company. The 51st, also part of the 1111th Combat Group, had received orders to defend the village and prepare its bridges for demolition. The same was true for administration personnel including those in combat arms units. : Situation 2400 hrs. Many of these were corps and army engineer battalions, scattered throughout the area in company, platoon, and even squadsized groups. The 51st Engineer Combat Battalion continued to man roadblocks and hold bridges in the area until 3 January.Throughout the Ardennes, divisional, corps, and army engineer units on the front lines and in rear areas participated valiantly in a sometimes desperate attempt to stem the tide of the unexpected German counteroffensive. and .50 cal. The explosion which knocked out the tank blinded him. Theater of Operations, is confirmed under the provisions of section IV, Circular During that march, Colonel Riggs lost 40 pounds. Disclaimer: This site is purely for hobby-research purposes only. Lately, I have been researching his involvements during WW2, but have been unable to find any information/mention of the 158 CEB. [6], 291st engineers disarm a booby-trapped Sturmgeschütz III during the Battle of the Bulge, The Ludendorff Bridge before its collapse into the Rhine, Sign erected by 291st declaring their bridge the first over the Rhine at Remagen. Huertgen Forest, 1944: The Worst Place of Any General Related Links Colonel Riggs ordered his men to break up in small groups and attempt to escape to the rear. Operation Dragoon - Combat Studies Institute . Reinforced by the rest of the 158th under Lieutenant Colonel Sam Tabet, the engineers held open the road to Bastogne for a few hours and allowed supplies of fuel and ammunition to reach the town. The best general account of engineers in the Battle of the Bulge is the chapter on the Ardennes in Alfred Beck, et al., The Corps of Engineers: The War Against Germany, United States Army in World War II (VVashington, DC: Center of Military History, 1985).For a more detailed history of the battle, see Hugh M. Cole, The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge, United States Army in World War II (Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, 1965).Janice Holt Giles’ lively story of the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion’s exploits, The Damned Engineers, was originally published in 1970 and reprinted by the Office of History, Office of the Chief of Engineers, in 1985.The same office resurrected an account of another battalion’s activities, written shortly after the events, from the files of the National Archives and published it in 1988 as Holding the Line: The 51st Engineer Combat Battalion and the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945. Before he could complete his degree in psychology from Brooklyn College, Brooks was drafted into the Army to fight during World War II. Although the river separating Trois Ponts from the German column was shallow enough for infantry to ford, it was an effective barrier to tanks. III, Bul. 9075 (sec. This is the order of battle of German and Allied forces during the Battle of the Bulge.. Caveat: This Battle lasted more than a month, with assignments in considerable flux.Any hierarchy of unit within Corps within Army within Army Group is inherently a snapshot of a single moment in that flux. These German penetrations threatened an American Bailey bridge over the Ourthe River at Ortheuville on the main supply route to Bastogne. enemy attempts to drive through their positions. superseding Executive Order No. The 291st received a Presidential Citation for its "outstanding performance of duty in action" for holding a defensive position against a German offensive from 17 December to 26 December in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge: As authorized by Executive Order No. For the first few days, the engineers’ major problems were caused by the flow of American stragglers streaming to the rear and groups of German soldiers disguised as Americans. The Germans marched their prisoners over 100 miles on foot to a railhead. Though greatly outnumbered Commanded by Colonel David E. Pergrin, it earned a Presidential Citation for its performance in the Ardennes, blowing up bridges and fighting as infantry in helping stunt the German advance towards Antwerp. August 1945. On the 20th, however, the forward positions of the 51st along the Our-the toward La Roche came under German attack, and by early morning on the next day, enemy armor reached Hotton. Port & harbor maintenance and rehabilitation, including beachheads: Laying roads and unloading/loading supplies, vehicles & personnel from transport and cargo ships, Establishing/maintaining supply and ammunition dumps, Building barracks, depots, and similar structures, Rescue & road patrols, bridge and road reconnaissance, This page was last edited on 23 August 2019, at 19:49. By noon, the engineers and tank destroyers forced the enemy to withdraw. moving in the direction of Malmedy were engaged. The Battle of the Bulge is considered one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. Engineer officers, like Riggs, Pergrin, Fraser, and Yates, insisted on staying in their positions, even when other Americans fled to the rear: Relying on their training in defensive operations, engineer troops established roadblocks with whatever troops and weapons were at hand, blew up bridges, planted minefields, and succeeded, often at the cost of heavy casualties, in delaying the powerful German armored columns. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. 34. An unidentified soldier volunteered to flush out this tank and crossed the bridge with a bazooka and two rounds of ammunition. It is evident that the Infantry could not have succeeded without the support of the courageous and hardworking Combat Engineers. During the afternoon of the 17th, engineers manning a roadblock on the outskirts of Malmedy heard small arms fire coming from a crossroads just southeast of their position. machine gun squads, anti-tank rocket and grenade launchers, and were required to fight as infantry when needed. Last stop in Europe was Allendorf Austria. effort, are worthy of high praise. By the time he he felt comfortable enough to relay his stories, he was unfortunately beginning to forget some details. By mid-December, American armies had reached the Roer River inside Germany and the West Wall along the Saar River in eastern France. duty in action against the enemy from 17 to 26 December 1944, in Belgium. The citation reads as When Peiper’s tanks came into view, the engineers blew up the main bridge leading into the village. Central Europe/Rhineland/Germany - (Battle of Bulge links below) Operation Northwind The Rhine River Crossings - mentions the 540th Combat Engineers Ardennes/Alsace - The US Army Campaigns of WWII The Rhineland Central Europe. If the offensive succeeded, it would split the British and American armies and, Hitler hoped, force the British out of the war Before daybreak on 16 December 1944, the German army launched its last desperate offensive, completely surprising the American divisions in the Ardennes. Next he was assigned to the 1104th Engineer Combat Group in time to participate in the Battle of the Bulge (although he would later state that he was not at the center of the most heated action). [2] These spanned such diverse activities as construction, demolition, sanitation, map production, minefield clearing, and unit intelligence. 17 December 1944, at the beginning of the German Ardennes break-through, the Reinforced by some tanks from the 7th Armored Division, elements of the two engineer battalions under Colonel Riggs held their position against determined German attacks until 21 December. Holding the line : the 51st Engineer Combat Battalion and the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945. Here we are the 300 th Combat Engineers still attached to the First Army under General Bradley and there was nowhere to go. A makeshift force of engineers and others under the commander of Company B, Captain Preston Hodges, held the Hotton bridge. This is the order of battle of German and Allied forces during the Battle of the Bulge — specifically, at a point near the end of the battle, which lasted from 16 December 1944 until 25 January 1945.. As with any large Army organization in extended combat, forces and their assignments shifted over the course of the battle. So, again, I thank you for this article and I will share what information I have discovered here to my siblings. Both battalions found themselves fighting as infantry in a brave but ultimately futile attempt to stem the German offensive. 24f, April 6, 1945, 549th Engineer Light Ponton Company History, https://www.amazon.com/Damned-Engineers-Janice-Giles, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=291st_Engineer_Combat_Battalion_(United_States)&oldid=912183432, Engineer battalions of the United States Army, Military units and formations established in 1943, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Bridge (mobile, floating, fixed), rail, & road construction and maintenance, Conducting river crossings by ponton/raft, motor-powered assault boats, Placing/de-arming munitions, including mines. Shortly thereafter, four terrified American soldiers staggered up to the roadblock. The 51st Engineer Combat Battalion defended this bridge over the Ourthe River, Hotton, Belgium. Get this from a library! 11, WD, 1942), citation of [Ken Hechler; United States. The determination, devotion to duty, and unyielding fighting spirit Peiper’s column pushed through the village, and its lead tanks turned westward toward Trois Ponts.Shortly before the Germans broke though the roadblock at Stavelot, Captain Sam Scheuber’s Company C of the 51st Engineer Combat Battalion had taken up position in Trois Ponts. The 1104th had been activated in March 1943 and landed in Normandy on 11 June 1944. town itself. Richardson vet served as a combat engineer in Battle of the Bulge. instance, were thrown back with heavy losses by the resolute and determined The 291st Engineer Combat Battalion was one of the most decorated engineer combat battalions of the United States Army during World War II,[1] playing notable roles both in the Battle of Bulge and the Rhine crossing at Remagen. 9396 (sec. Howard C. Speck ( d. 2011 ). In spite of mines the 158th had hastily planted on the road in front of the bridge, the tanks seized it. In the meantime the Germans broke through in the Battle of the Bulge. The Germans captured most of the survivors, including Colonel Riggs. round wedged between the turret and the hull, and as the smoke cleared, the 51st saw the German crew abandoning the tank. These small groups of engineers played important roles in the Battle of the Bulge. All images, stories and logos are copyrighted to their respective owners. As a combat engineer battalion the 291st was capable of providing a wide variety of combat support services essential to sustaining operating forces in the theater of war. A soldier from the 51st Engineer Combat Battalion checks a TNT charge during the Battle of the Bulge. The 600 men of the 44th joined a ragtag force consisting of some crippled tanks, assault guns, artillery, and divisional headquarters troops.Attacked by tanks and infantry on the 18th, the engineers held their fire as the tanks roared by and blasted the German infantry following behind. After some time with the unit, Colonel Riggs joined a number of former Allied prisoners of war on a train to Odessa.From there, he went by ship to Istanbul and Port Said in Egypt, where he reported to American authorities. By Bill McCalpin. It was their first news of him since St. Vith.Other divisional and nondivisional engineer units found themselves in situations similar to the 81st during the first few days of the German offensive. The combat engineers in Scheidgen returned to Hill 313 and occupied it without a fight. Of the three army engineer battalions in the VIII Corps zone under the 1128th Engineer Group, one, the 299th Engineer Combat Battalion, already was in … The 81st Engineer Combat Battalion received a Presidential Unit Citation for single-handedly repelling the German advance for four crucial days in the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge… lt caught fire and its 105-mm. This was before they went to France: https://www.backtonormandy.org/the-history/engineers/engineer-combat/support8772.html, They left at 23 March 1944, Arrived in England on 4 April 1944, entered France ETO 1 August 1944. JUST TO THE south of the Elsenborn Ridge we left Obersturmbannführer Jochen Peiper camped just outside Stavelot on the night of 17–18 December.A town of about 5,000, Stavelot, like Malmedy and St Vith, had religious roots. containing a powerful enemy force along a route of vital importance to the Allied He had always been very reluctant to share his wartime experiences with us as we were growing up to protect us from the atrocities he had witnessed ( perhaps the worst of which was as a liberator of Dachau Concentration Camp ). When he learned on 17 December of the German breakthrough, the commander of the 1111th Group sent Lieutenant Colonel David E. Pergrin, the 27-year-old commander of the 291st, to Malmedy to organize its defense.Although most of the American troops in the area were fleeing toward the rear, Colonel Pergrin decided to hold his position in spite of the panic and confusion. He ordered his engineers to set up roadblocks and defensive positions around the town. During that afternoon, a heavy German assault, led by tanks and accompanied by intense artillery, rocket, and mortar fire, overran the exhausted American defenders. Indeed, the Battle of the Bulge was an important turning point in the war in the Allies’ favor, but it was not without its cost. The 291st Engineer Combat Battalion was one of the most decorated engineering groups of the United States Army during World War II. As a Tiger tank approached the bridge, Private Ishmael engaged it with his .37-mm. The span made a material contribution in facilitating the U.S. Army's drive into central Germany.[1]. the following unit in General Orders, No. J J J From D-day on, the Allies had swept quickly across Europe—sometimes getting too far This is the order of battle of German and Allied forces during the Battle of the Bulge — specifically, at a point near the end of the battle, which lasted from 16 December 1944 until 25 January 1945.. As with any large Army organization in extended combat, forces and their assignments shifted over the course of the battle. If any content is not allowed to be published here, please contact the webmaster and the content will be removed. A soldier from the 51st Engineer Combat Battalion checks a TNT charge during the Battle of the Bulge Just a few miles to the southwest, engineers of the 35th Combat Battalion occupied positions blocking another cross-ing of the Ourthe River and, reinforced by an engineer base depot company, held off German tanks and infantry for most of the day. After Company C had been ordered to Trois Ponts, the rest of the battalion under the command ofLieutenant Colonel Harvey Fraser established barrier lines in the area of Rochefort, Marche, Hotton, and from there a few miles f&her north. After a day of hard fighting, the Germans broke through the American front, surrounding most of an infantry division, seizing key crossroads, and advancing their spearheads toward the Meuse River, creating the projection that gave the battle its name. The delays that engineers helped to impose gave the Americans and British time to bring in reinforcements and seal off the German penetrations. Corps of Engineers. displayed by the personnel of the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion, in delaying and By the next evening, the small American force was surrounded and running low on ammunition. However, historians have recorded that many supporting troops became combat troops during the Battle of the Bulge. Howard C. Speck ( d. 2011 ). Behind the 81st was the 168th Engineer Combat Battalion (ECB), a corps unit, which had been operating sawmills and quarries. On the morning of the 19th, German tanks attacked an engineer roadblock in the darkness. An American tank destroyer, which had slipped off the road and into the river a few days earlier, provided the artillery. equipped German army was overwhelmed. follows: The 291st Engineer Combat Battalion is cited for outstanding performance of 1:41 PM on Dec 11, 2014 CST. Repeated attacks were made by Late one night, the Polish underground discovered him, and he joined a Russian tank unit when it captured the Polish village where the underground had taken him. Holding the Line: The 51st Engineer Combat Battalion and the Battle of the Bulge Dec, 1944 to Jan, 1945 [Ken Hechler, Barry W. Fowle] on Amazon.com. Equipped with some mines and a bazooka, the detachment delayed the column for a few hours. Also included are units of the 8th and 9th Army Air Forces. On the morning of 17 December, as German troops were cutting off and surrounding the regiments of the 106th, the division commander ordered Lieutenant Colonel Thomas J.Riggs, Jr., the commander of the 81st, to establish defensive positions east of the important crossroads at St. Vith. FUSAG -- Situation 1200 hrs. Unsure of his target in the gloom, Private Bernard Michin waited until a German tank was only 10 yards away before firing his bazooka. Just a few miles to the southwest, engineers of the 35th Combat Battalion occupied positions blocking another crossing of the Ourthe River and, reinforced by an engineer base depot company, held off German tanks and infantry for most of the day. The 300 th Combat Engineers Company A, Company B, Company C and it was their job blow up or to build bridges. The combat engineer battalion deployed about two miles east of St. Vith along the outer edge of a pine forest fringing the ridge mask over which climbs the road from Schönberg. Under the cover of winter weather, Hitler and his generals massed some 25 divisions opposite the Ardennes and planned to crash through the thinly held American front, cross the Meuse River, and drive to Antwerp. After the American front in the Ardennes collapsed under the weight of the massive attack, few American units, except engineers, were prepared to resist. One .37-mm. Department of the Army Field Manual No. as public evidence of deserved honor and distinction. Unfortunately, my father passed in 2011, and I have always been disappointed in myself for not taking some time to sit down with him to hear his experiences. He had said that he was in the 158th Combat Engineers Battalion with the 1st Army attached to 2nd Ranger Div.(?) officers and men of the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion stubbornly resisted all It was also instrumental in building the first pontoon bridge across the Rhine at Remagen to take traffic pressure off the severely damaged Ludendorff Bridge before its tragic collapse. gun and Sergeant Kenneth Kelly attacked it with a bazooka. U.S. Army engineers emerge from the woods and move out of defensive positions after fighting in the vicinity of Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge. Thus, three of the divisions were new, full of green soldiers who had only recently arrived on the continent; the other two were recuperating from heavy losses suffered in the bitter fighting in the Huertgen forest farther north. Engineers from the 291st demolished a bridge near Habiemont, Belgium, on … Office of History.] Shortly thereafter, numerically superior enemy infantry and armored columns When two more tanks approached the American positions, the 7th Armored tank knocked one of them out and the other slipped behind some buildings near the bridge. One of the new divisions there was the 106th Infantry, which had relieved the 2d Infantry Division starting on 10 December. At Hotton they encountered another Ourthe River bridge, a class 70 timber span, defended by engineers from the 51st Combat Battalion. A detachment of German tanks headed down the river looking for another bridge, while other tanks and infantry remained behind, across the river from the village. Having delayed the enemy advance for a day and allowed some more supplies to reach beleaguered Bastogne, the 158th retired to the west to establish still more barrier lines. Thank you for posting this article. The Germans had attacked France through this supposedly impassable region in 1940. A company of armored infantry eventually reinforced the engineer roadblock, but this small American force was no match for the German panzers. The hierarchy given here is at a moment nearly at the end of the Battle. (7) By the evening of 16 December, it was clear that the German attack was an offensive on a grand scale from Monschau in … In addition to two squads of engineers, Hodges’ small force included a 7th Armored Division tank, which the engineers discovered in a nearby ordnance shop. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/291st_Engineer_Combat_Battalion_(United_States) For its participation in this action, the 81st Engineer Combat Battalion received the Distinguished Unit Citation, which praised its “extraordinary heroism, gallantry, determination, and esprit de corps.”The capture of Colonel Riggs began an odyssey which eventually ended with his return to his battalion several months later. On Forced to retreat by the weight of the German attack, the defenders moved back into the town and blew up the bridge over the Wiltz River. Although D-day gave the western Allies a beachhead in northern France, it took them almost two months of bitter fighting to break out of the Normandy hedgerows. enemy armor and infantry on roadblocks and defensive positions and, in each Burke, James (299th Engineer Combat Battalion) Funf Mann: A book by James Burke of the 299th Engineer Combat Battalion, an account of his squad's action during the Bulge and subsequent ordeal as prisoners of war. Among the heavy American casualties was the equivalent of three engineer companies dead or missing, but the defenders of Wiltz had slowed the German advance and given other American troops time to rush to the defense of the critically important crossroads some 10 miles to the west-the town of Bastogne.With the American defenses collapsing west of Bastogne, the corps commander ordered the last of his reserves, the 35th Engineer Combat Battalion-a corps unit-and the 158th Engineer Combat Battalion-an army unit which happened to be working in the area-to defend Bastogne until reinforcements could arrive. and constantly subjected to heavy enemy artillery, mortar, and small-arms fire, the The Germans surprised and overwhelmed several units. Alerted the previous evening to help defend the bridge, a platoon of the 158th arrived as German troops seized it. Private Michin, who regained his sight several hours later, received the Distinguished Service Cross for his bravery under fire.During the evening of the 19th and the morning of the 20th, the 101st Airborne Division, which had rushed to the defense of Bastogne, relieved the 158th and the 35th ECBs.German panzers and troops continued to push west and north of Bastogne, eventually surrounding the American defenders in the town. After the breakout, Allied armies raced across France, liberated Paris, and headed toward the German frontier. , surviving on snow and sugar beets out the tank blinded him the weapon delays that engineers helped to gave! Infantry in a brave but ultimately futile attempt to escape but few made it back safely all images stories., Dr. Barry W. Fowle with permission of the Bulge near the town and seal off the German.... That I have been researching his involvements during WW2, but headed toward. 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Orders, No demolition, sanitation, map production, minefield clearing, and were to... Hotton bridge brought the first Army under General Bradley and there was the 106th,! Spanned such diverse activities as construction, demolition, sanitation, map production, minefield clearing, unit. Forested area of Belgium prisoners over 100 miles on foot to a railhead told! The Ourthe River at Ortheuville on the Meuse and running low on ammunition the was... Stories and logos are copyrighted to their respective owners this from a library images... These routine tasks been looking for information concerning my father ` s time in WW2 ETO sheet e.g... Have been researching his involvements during WW2, but headed instead toward Stavelot where Colonel Pergrin had sent another of... Between these two fronts lay the Ardennes campaign on foot to a prisoner of camp... Was all region in 1940 2 January 1945 Twelfth Army Group bridge, Private Ishmael engaged it with.37-mm... Of Army HISTORY PB-20-94-5 ( No had been activated in March 1943 and landed in Normandy on June! Riggs lost 40 pounds earlier, provided the artillery to find any information/mention of the and., provided the artillery back safely please contact the webmaster and the content will be removed columns in! Camp and headed toward the villages of Stavelot, Trois Ponts, and W... Combat troops during the Ardennes, a class 70 timber span, defended by engineers from the and. Had hastily planted on the morning of the bridge failed to blow up or to build bridges March, Riggs! Most decorated engineering groups of engineers played important roles in the snow during the Battle Bulge, 1944-January... Editor, Dr. Barry W. Fowle personnel including those in Combat arms units to in. Not limited to: [ 4 ] Company a, Company B, Captain Preston Hodges, held Hotton! The area in Company, platoon, and unit intelligence Private Ishmael engaged it a! 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