Maurice Rose

Maurice Rose was born in 1899. He joined the Army at an early
age. In the following years, he progressed steadily through
the ranks, specializing in the mechanization of war. During
World War II he was first given command of 2nd Armored
Division, and later (now General) over 3rd Armored Division.

On March 30, 1945 he was in the front lines at Paderborn in Germany when his jeep came under fire. He was shot by a German soldier under circumstances that to this day are not entirely clear.

General Maurice Rose fought in Tunisia, Sicily, France, Belgium and Germany. He was 45 years old.

Youth

Maurice Rose was born on November 26, 1899 in Middletown, Connecticut. He was the youngest of four children, two of whom had already died in childhood. Maurice and his brother Arnold (1897 -?) grew up to be healthy boys.

Their parents, Samuel (1860 -?) and Katy (1863 -?) Rose, were Jewish immigrants from Warsaw. After they had first lived in New York, they moved to Middletown in 1897 and to Denver, Colorado in 1902. Samuel Rose was a tailor and later a rabbi.

The Rose family was Orthodox Jewish and followed an American lifestyle. Maurice grew up like most American boys at the time: he went to school and later High School, was a Boy Scout and played sports.

Maurice Rose knew at a young age that he wanted to join the
military. He would sign up three times.

The first time was in 1915 when he reported to the
National Guard to fight in the US-Mexico border war.
He had lied about his age (he was at that time only 15 or 16 years) and he was honorably discharged in 1916 due to his age.

At the start of 1917 he officially re-joined. His First Officers Training Camp was at Fort Riley, Kansas. He was given the rank of Second Lieutenant and served in 89 Infantry Division. The First World War was at that time still in progress and Maurice was sent to Europe. In France, he was wounded in 1918 in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel during the Meuse-Argonne offensive.

After the war in 1919 he left the army and was briefly employed as a salesman. But the attraction of the military was too strong and Maurice Rose returned in 1920 and was promoted to Captain. From then until the time of his death he served in the Army.

Armored Warfare

Between the First and Second World War Rose studied extensively the theory and practice of mechanized warfare. Many technical innovations were made and the army had to adapt to these changes.

That did not mean that that was the case at the outbreak of the
war. In fact, the US was not at all prepared for war. American
industry was primarily designed for the production of consumer
goods. Their isolationist policy was not really conductive to the
development of new weapons.

In most areas, the US was behind Germany, the UK, Japan and Italy. Only when America became involved in the war, was the enormous economic and industrial power converted into a war industry. The initial backlog was however quickly made up and from their initial disadvantaged position the US was able to develop "customized solutions" in the field of aircraft and the construction of tanks and vehicles.

The major industries (Ford, Chrysler, Boeing, Douglas) with their assembly line plants were set up for weapon production in no-time Soon the arms production was so great that the enemy could not compete. We know the outcome ...

Tunisia and Siciliy

On the eve of World War II Maurice Rose was a Major and had gained much experience in various branches of the military. In 1942 he became Chief of Staff of 2nd Armored Division.

On December 15, 1942, he went with 2nd Armored Division to North Africa to participate in the North African Campaign, in which the Allies fought against the German army. Although it soon became clear that the German army, commanded by

General Erwin Rommel, was unable to win this battle,
the Germans did not give up. Hitler had personally ordered
that they had to fight to the last man.

However, on May 13, 1943 the surrender was signed. Maurice Rose played an important role here. He was the one who led the negotiations with the Germans and eventually commanded the first massive unconditional surrender of the German forces.

From July 10, 1943, he was involved in the invasion of Sicily with the aim of defeating ItalyItalië and bringing the Mediterranean under Allied control. In November 1943 2nd Armored Division was transferred to England to prepare for the invasion of Normandie. On November 24, 1943 Rose was promoted to Commanding officer of 2nd Armored Division and was given the rank of brigadier-general, after having been promoted in 1943 to Lieutenant Colonel and later Colonel.

The invasion

On June 8, 1944 Brigadier General Maurice Rose, as commander of 2nd Armored Division landed on the beaches of Normandy (D-Day + 2). The weeks after he and his men fought in Operation Overlord.

On August 7 another promotion followed and Generals Omar Bradley and Dwight D. Eisenhower personally appointed him as Commander of3rd Armored Division and he was simultaneously promoted to Major General. Despite Rose's military successes in Tunisia and Sicily, this promotion was not without controversy: he had had no university education and his first appointment was as a reserve officer. With the advance with Rose as commander of 3rd Armored Division

Meanwhile, the implementation of Operation Cobra was in
full swing. The Allied armies had left Normandy and were
heading to Paris. During Operation Cobra the 3rd Armored
Division was nicknamed Spearhead because they always
went ahead in the battle.

The advance led them through northern France to Belgium. On September 2 they crossed the French-Belgian border at Bergen (Mons). Via Charleroi, Namur, Verviers and Eupen and September 15, they arrived at the German border in the village of Roetgen, just south of Aachen. They were the first Allied division to do so.

Between September 1944 and January 1945 the 3rd Armored Division took part in the Battle of the Bulge at Hürtgenwald . Then the division was given a well-deserved break of several weeks.

From February 25 the 3rd Armored Division were back in battle and moved steadily to Cologne that they took on 6 March. There was little resistance from this completely bombed city, which at that time had some 20,000 people inhabitants. Before the war there had been 770,000.

On March 25th the Division crossed theRhine. They were ordered to attack the Ruhr area, the heart of the German war industry. In the attack under Rose's command the division acheived something that to this day has not been met: on 29 March 1945 they advanced 150 kilometers in a single day, while under attack by the enemy.

Maurice Rose was killed

The day after this long march, Rose was en route to Paderborn
during a search for allied troops in enemy territory. Rose was
in a jeep along with his driver Glenn Shaunce and assistant
Robert Bellinger. They were accompanied by a second jeep and a tank in front. Behind them was an armored car and a messenger on a motorcycle.

Suddenly the small convoy was under heavy fire. Rose and his men fled into a ditch, while the tank suffered a direct hit. When they saw that they were surrounded by German tanks they jumped back into the jeeps and tried to escape by a detour to the road through a field.

When they reached it, several Tiger II-tankswere waiting for them. The driver of the first jeep accelerated hard and managed to get past the tanks. Rose's driver tried to do the same, but a tank cut them off and the jeep drove into a tree.

The tank hatch opened and a German soldier emerged and pointed his machine gun at Rose and his two comrades. History tells different accounts of what happened next. Did Rose reach for his gun and did the German soldier then shoot? Or did Rose want to throw his gun on the ground? Or was the German soldier trigger happy? Or was he just very nervous, and so pulled the trigger?

Whatever happened, Major General Maurice Rose was hit by
several bullets and died on the spot.
Shaunce and Bellinger managed to flee and survived.

It has long been thought that Rose was killed by two bullets which penetrated his helmet and entered his head. His helmet is preserved and shows clear traces of two bullet holes. However, the autopsy report found that there were no fewer than 14 places in his body that had been hit. Moreover, the holes in the helmet were not made when it was still on Rose's head, but probably when the helmet went flying through the air after the impact of a hit on chin. Did Rose remove his helmet before the German soldier fired? The real story will probably never be known. What is certain is that the Germans did not realise that they had just killed a Major General. They could have seen this by the two stars on his helmet. But the German soldiers just left his body and his troops found him a day later.

On April 1 Paderborn was occupied by the 3rd Armored Division. This mean that 350,000 German soldiers were trapped in the so-calledRuhr Pocket - later renamed Rose Pocket - and then were taken prisoner. So the Ruhr area was completely in Allied hands. The war in West Germany was thus basically over.

Buried

Major General Maurice Rose was killed in a way that
was characteristic of all his actions as a soldier: he did not stay
safely behind the front lines, like many other senior
officers, but led his men from the front. That of course had its own risks, but he took them knowingly.

Major General Maurice Rose was killed on March 30 in 1945, 45 years old, with the end of the war in sight. The spot where he was killed is precisely known and now called Rose Point. He was the highest-ranking US soldier killed by enemy fire in Europe.

The day after he was killed, he was temporarily buried in Ittenbach with the appropiate and possible military ceremony. Several photographs and authentic footage showed the ceremony.

Shortly after his death his widow received a telegram from General Dwight D. Eisenhower. He writes:

He was not only one of our bravest and best but was a leader who inspired his men to speedy accomplishment of tasks that to a lesser man would have appeared almost impossible. He was out in front of his division leading it in one of it is many famous actions when he met his death.

On August 25, 1945 Maurice Rose was buried in a
temporary grave Margraten (section HH, Row 4, Grave 95). His
final resting place, after the renovation of the cemetery,
is in Block C, Row 1, Grave 1. Although Rose is the highest
ranking soldier buried in Margraten, his cross is no different from all the other soldiers. In death, all people are equal.

It is worth noting that initially a Star of David was placed on Rose's grave, referencing his Jewish origin. Later, veterans of the 3rd Armored Division objected to this, as Rose had converted to Christianity, and so a cross was placed over his grave.

Maurice Rose left a wife, Virginia Barringer Rose, and two sons. Maurice "Mike " was 19 when his father died, Maurice Roderick 'Reece' was four years.

Maurice Rose was decorated during and after his military career with numerous medals and awards: the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star with to Oak Leaf Clusters, the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Bronze Star met Oak Leaf Cluster, de Purple Heart met 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Belgian War Cross / Croix de Guerre with palm, the French Legion of honor / Legion d’Honneur and the French War Cross / Croix de Guerre with palm.

Commemorated

Major General Maurice Rose is commemorated in many ways
and honored after his death. In 1950 the Army honored him
by naming a transport ship after him: the USNS (United
States Naval Ship) General Maurice Rose. Veterans of the 3rd Armored Division have over the years and on many occasions remembered the passing of their former commander.

The US Congress had a commemorative 50 cent coin made.

In Denver, Colorado, where he had lived, the General Rose Memorial Hospital (now Rose Medical Center). was opened in 1949. General Dwight D. Eisenhower personally laid the foundation stone. In his hometown of Middletown is the Major-General Maurice Rose United States Armed Forces Reserve Center.

In Margraten the local elementary school was named after Rose: the Roman Catholic Primary School Maurice Rose.