colorblind.
(he drank many cases of carrot juice hoping it
would improve that condition but it did not
work) He was assigned to Company A, 7th Infantry
Battalion, 8th Armored Division, when he entered
the service on 17 November 1943. It is
interesting that he worked in a factory that
made tanks from May of 1943 until November of
1943 when he left for service.
Robert was
well liked by his peers, he played trombone in
the high school band and was the first male
cheerleader in our high school. In late fall of
1944 he was sent oversees and saw much action,
he wrote often how terrified he was. In February
of 1945 his unit was sent to Holland for R&R.
While there he stayed with a Dutch family named
Loop near Wylre, Holland, our parents
corresponded with them for years. Robert dearly
loved the Dutch people and I am sure would have
contacted them after the war. Robert
enjoyed visiting the churches and cathedrals
whenever he visited a new area, his best buddy
would always laugh because he knew what they
were going to do when they had a few days
leave."
Robert was
killed on 11 April 1945 in the fighting for the
German town of Unna, in the Ruhr area. The
different After Action reports mention the heavy
resistance of the Germans and the heavy sniper
fire. Platoon leaders T/Sgt Emmett Segrue and
T/Sgt Orman Spear , of the 7th AIB, filed the
following report after the fighting, during
which Robert was most likely killed:
"The night of
10 April was spent in Kesseburen. We moved out
mounted on the road between Kesseburen and Unna
and rode to the high ground and then dismounted.
We walked to the vicinity of 978257. The first
platoon set up its mortars to assist Company A.
The ground was too open and the enemy had
machine guns and flak guns set up to their
front. The company withdrew down the road to the
railroad tracks and followed the railroad tracks
to the underpass, where they took the road
leading into Unna. During this time we were
receiving some artillery and mortar fire. When
the mortars started falling around the men, all
the tanks in the vicinity opened up on the left
(west) flanks even though they didn't know where
the fire was coming from. However, they
succeeded in stopping the enemy fire.
The anti-tank platoon was working as foot
troops. When the unit reached the vicinity of
974264, the anti-tank platoon was sent to the
left (south) flanks to clean out the machine
guns in the woods. While the anti-tank platoon
was working on the machine guns, the rest of the
company continued on along to the intersection
at 973264 where they turned south and at the
next intersection, turned west. As they were
rounding the corner, they drew fire from the
enemy which had been been chased out of the
woods by the anti-tank platoon. The first
platoon which had come down the road (south) at
intersection in the vicinity of 971265 and had
made contact with the leading elements of the
third platoon and found out about the situation.
The company commander sent one squad to form an
ambush and found on a line on the road where the
second and third platoon had come down. When the
enemy began coming out of the woods and
approached to within about 15 yards of their
position, the squad opened up and simply mowed
the enemy down.
As a reinforced squad (mentioned above) was
coming up to join with the second and third
platoons at about 1130 hours, they noticed a
German counterattack coming up the road in the
vicinity of 969263. The purpose of this
counterattack was to come up and cut off the
rear of the battalion. The squad layed in ambush
and when the enemy got into the open (they were
jammed up), the squad open up with BAR, Mgs &
rifles. When the enemy got by the squad there
were only eight left out of the 100. The platoon
sergeant then called the anti-tank platoon and
informed them of the eight men coming up. Only
one man was left when the enemy got by the
anti-tank platoon.
The second and third platoons moved on into the
square. In the vicinity of the square, the enemy
began firing panzerfausts at out troops. These
were fired above the heads of the men and the
ricochets, shrapnel, etc. hitting the men and
riddling them with schrapnel. After this, we
started cleaning out the town block by block. No
more opposition was met. About 1700 hours, the
town was pretty well cleared out and we remained
there for the night."
Other After
Actions Reports mentioned the following:
"April 11th,
the company, acting as attack element of the
task force, dismounted and led the attach on
Unna at 0630. Heavy sniper fire was encountered
and all but scattered resistance was gone by
1400. The Battalion the occupied and outposted
Unna till the 13th."
"The TF moved
out of BUDERICH at 2355 and closed KESSEBUREN at
0330 on the 11th. At 0700 lead elements of the
TF crossed the LD and moved quickly into the SE
edge of UNNA reaching the edge of town at 0740
and completing occupation of the town by 1137.
Throughout the day, the TF mopped pockets of
enemy resistance in town."
"Enemy
resistance in Unna A9726 was very heavy. The
Volkssturm backed by SS troops used 88mm and
tank fire to cover all roads leading into the
town. Although surprised by an attack from the
S, the enemy defended the southern outskirts of
Unna with heavy S/A, AT, Mortar and Arty fire.
The defense of Unna south to the Ruhr R was
moderate. Fromern A005228 and Frondenberg
A025195 was defended with S/A, mortar and arty
fire."
"At 0400 hours
11 April orders were received to attack Unna
from the south. The attack was to start at 0630
hours. The line of departure was a line
970246-984247. Two platoons of infantry moved
out of Kesseburen on the road just south of the
line of departure. One platoon moved west to the
north-south road toward Unna. There they
encountered heavy small arms fire. At 974242 the
platoon encountered resistance of all types from
strong enemy positions to the south and west.
Several efforts were made to contact this
platoon but it wasn't until about noon that
contact was again established. They took about
40 prisoners and had nine casualties. Their
action slowed up the attack but turned out to be
to our advantage because it was later found out
that the enemy had a strong concentration of
troops in that area and such a concentration
would have jeopardized the rear of TF Goodrich"
The above
After Actions Reports are from the 8th Armored
Division website ((C) www.8th-armored.org)
Mrs. Helen
Fortener Bottorff: "We do not know the exact
location where Robert was killed though we were
told that he was killed by a sniper somewhere in
the Ruhr Valley. Our oldest brother Eugene was
in the battle of the bulge and after the war he
was able to visit the Margraten Cemetery before
he returned to the states. At that time the
cemetery was not finished.
When we heard
that Robert was killed in action we notified the
Loops and for many years they would visit his
grave and send us pictures, now we annually send
a bouquet for his grave on Memorial Day."
Pfc Robert
Fortener is
buried at Margraten American Cemetery, Plot K
Row 6 Grave 19.
