Regiment

MOSCOW -- Ethnic fighting flared in a southwestern splinter of the former Soviet Union yesterday, while ongoing battles brought dozens of new deaths in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, where an Afghanistan War hero was dispatched by Russia to withdraw the last of the Soviet troops.In the breakaway section of the former Soviet republic of Moldova, clashes between separatists and police left four dead and 15 people injured, according to reports from the region, which is near the Romanian border.

Col. Wendell W. Wichmann, a highly decorated career Army officer who fought in three wars, died May 22 of renal failure at Lorien Mays Chapel Health Center in Timonium. He was 96. Wendell Willard Wichmann, the son of farmers, was born and raised in Leonard, N.D., where he graduated in 1934 from Minot High School. After earning a bachelor's degree in 1939 from what is now North Dakota State University, he taught math for three years in Waubun, Minn. Because he had attended reserve officers training during his college days and held a reserve officer's commission, he was called to active duty in mid-1941 and sent to Camp Claiborne, La., where he was assigned to Company D, 164th Infantry Regiment.

SAMARA, Russia -- Surviving officers of Russia's most crippled regiment believe they know what went wrong when their men took horrendous casualties in Chechnya: They contend that Russia's liberal politicians stabbed them in the back.It's a time-honored complaint among losing soldiers, but it could be a harbinger of dangerous unrest in the military in the months to come.The officers of the 81st Motorized Infantry Regiment, based in this Volga River city, say they were ordered into Grozny, the capital of rebellious Chechnya, on New Year's Eve and then were abandoned when the government withdrew air and artillery support because of protests over the killing of Chechen civilians.

More than 2,000 Ocean City evacuees have arrived in the Baltimore area for temporary housing during Hurricane Irene, as part of the state's preparations for the storm. Six hundred foreign exchange students traveled in buses from Ocean City on Thursday night and stayed on cots in Burdick Hall, a gymnasium on the Towson University campus, said John Hatten, director of emergency operations for Maryland's Department of Human Resources. In Owings Mills, 395 more students are being housed at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore, while 1,000 to 1,100 are staying at the 5th Regiment Armory near Bolton Hill, according to Hatten and human resources department spokesman Ian Patrick Hines.

SAMARA, Russia -- An abiding dread has settled on this peaceful old city along the Volga River, as Samarans have begun to understand that those were mainly their sons whose bodies were left behind on the streets of Grozny, to be torn apart by hungry dogs and bursts of shrapnel.They were from Samara's own 81st Motorized Infantry Regiment, which led the assault on the Chechen capital and lost as many as 70 percent or more of its men -- dead, wounded or missing -- in three horrible days.That one regiment from one city could take such losses seems too much to take in. Yesterday, as a deadening snow was drifting down, on tramcars, on buses, on street corners and in churches -- in all the places where people were huddled together -- they were quietly asking each other, when will we know who is coming back?

On New Year's Day of 1863, Col. Edward E. Cross of New Hampshire told a Concord crowd about 10 bloody battles by his "brave boys" who "have never on any field moved except toward the enemy ... " and had suffered heavy losses by standing their ground while soldiers fled. The battlefield deaths suffered by Cross' 5th New Hampshire Volunteers surpassed those of any of the 2,000 Union regiments in the Civil War, according to official tallies after the war. Cross could be harsh. Just before his regiment's 10 companies executed a dazzling maneuver at Antietam, he had ordered that any man who ran be shot - and vowed to do it himself if necessary.

The last time an infantry company of the Maryland Army National Guard was mobilized for combat duty was 60 years ago for the D-Day invasion. Now, about 130 members of the 1st Battalion, 115th Infantry Regiment's Bravo Company have been called up for duty in Iraq - a move that reflects the military's desperate need for combat soldiers. "It's obvious that the Army is too small," said Jack Tilly, who retired in June as the sergeant major of the Army, or its most senior enlisted solider. "Right now you're having people going over as many as three times."

Peppi Simmeth considers himself one of the lucky ones. Simmeth, a Bel Air resident, is a German World War II veteran who fought in the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk and then survived six years in a Russian prisoner-of-war camp. "I don't hold anything against anyone," he said to students at John Carroll School last week. "A war is a war, people react differently in a war." Simmeth, who will turn 80 next week, was invited to speak at John Carroll as part of the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad, said Ed Miller, Russian language teacher at the school.

Dec. 17 1835: Colonel Smith dies During the War of 1812, Harford County citizens furnished men and materials for the promotion of the war. Col. William Smith was commander of the Harford Regiment known as the 42nd Maryland Militia. The 42nd was organized in the lower section of the county around 1813 and existed for 12 years. The regiment drilled on Patterson's Old Fields on the road from Havre de Grace to Bush. On July 14, 1814, a detachment of four companies of the 42nd was called out for duty.

As of Thursday, at least 2,557 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003. Identifications Lance Cpl. Geofrey R. Cayer, 20, Fitchburg, Mass.; died Tuesday in Anbar province during a nonhostile incident; assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. Sgt. Mark R. Vecchione, 25, Tucson, Ariz.; died Tuesday in Ramadi when an explosive detonated near his vehicle; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment, 1st Armored Division, Friedberg, Germany.

On June 9, 1908, Philip Webster applied for a pension for his service and injury as a member of the 4th Regiment United States Colored Company C during the Civil War. He was born May 2, 1838, to Moses and Diana Webster and worked as a stonemason before joining the Army. After volunteering for Maryland's first African-American regiment in 1863, he saw action with the regiment, which earned commendations for bravery and efficiency. The regiment suffered heavy casualties during the capture of Fort Fisher, N.C., fighting through a storm and strong counterattack.

Another wave of hundreds of Maryland's citizen-soldiers bade farewell to loved ones yesterday, bound for training and then deployment in Iraq for the next year. The send-off of 640 state National Guardsmen represents about half of the roughly 1,300 called up last month for combat duty overseas. The mobilization order roughly quadruples the number of guardsmen from the state who will be deployed overseas. The deployment is drawn from the Guard's famed 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment, one of the oldest regiments in the Army.

As of Thursday, at least 2,557 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003. Identifications Lance Cpl. Geofrey R. Cayer, 20, Fitchburg, Mass.; died Tuesday in Anbar province during a nonhostile incident; assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. Sgt. Mark R. Vecchione, 25, Tucson, Ariz.; died Tuesday in Ramadi when an explosive detonated near his vehicle; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment, 1st Armored Division, Friedberg, Germany.

Dec. 17 1835: Colonel Smith dies During the War of 1812, Harford County citizens furnished men and materials for the promotion of the war. Col. William Smith was commander of the Harford Regiment known as the 42nd Maryland Militia. The 42nd was organized in the lower section of the county around 1813 and existed for 12 years. The regiment drilled on Patterson's Old Fields on the road from Havre de Grace to Bush. On July 14, 1814, a detachment of four companies of the 42nd was called out for duty.

On the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, at Pickett's Charge, two Vermont regiments from Brig. Gen. George J. Stannard's 2nd Vermont Brigade helped break the charge. The 13th and 16th Vermont Infantry Regiments turned toward the exposed Confederate advance and dispensed point-blank fire into Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett's flank, according to George R. Stewart and his book, Pickett's Charge: A microhistory of the final attack at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863, published in 1959. "Now the long months of tedious close-order drill suddenly paid off for the Vermonters," wrote Stewart.

The battle of Dabney's Mills, Va., on Feb. 6, 1865, was fought by the 1st Maryland Infantry Regiment. Company G of the regiment had men enrolled from Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick counties. Among them was John W. Breshears, who enlisted Feb. 1, 1864. His rank is listed as "Musician." Source: From History and Roster of Maryland Volunteers, War of 1861-5, prepared under the Authority of the General Assembly of Maryland by L. Allison Wilmer, J. H. Jarrett and Geo. W. F. Vernon, State Commissioners, 1898, Vol 1, pages 14 and 52.

The battle of Dabney's Mills, Va., on Feb. 6, 1865, was fought by the 1st Maryland Infantry Regiment. Company G of the regiment had men enrolled from Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick counties. Among them was John W. Breshears, who enlisted Feb. 1, 1864. His rank is listed as "Musician." Source: From History and Roster of Maryland Volunteers, War of 1861-5, prepared under the Authority of the General Assembly of Maryland by L. Allison Wilmer, J. H. Jarrett and Geo. W. F. Vernon, State Commissioners, 1898, Vol 1, pages 14 and 52.

On June 9, 1908, Philip Webster applied for a pension for his service and injury as a member of the 4th Regiment United States Colored Company C during the Civil War. He was born May 2, 1838, to Moses and Diana Webster and worked as a stonemason before joining the Army. After volunteering for Maryland's first African-American regiment in 1863, he saw action with the regiment, which earned commendations for bravery and efficiency. The regiment suffered heavy casualties during the capture of Fort Fisher, N.C., fighting through a storm and strong counterattack.

The last time an infantry company of the Maryland Army National Guard was mobilized for combat duty was 60 years ago for the D-Day invasion. Now, about 130 members of the 1st Battalion, 115th Infantry Regiment's Bravo Company have been called up for duty in Iraq - a move that reflects the military's desperate need for combat soldiers. "It's obvious that the Army is too small," said Jack Tilly, who retired in June as the sergeant major of the Army, or its most senior enlisted solider. "Right now you're having people going over as many as three times."

The flag rests, tattered edges, deep stains and all, beneath a protective mesh cover and curious eyes. It's a peaceful change of pace for an artifact that, nearly 140 years ago, helped lead hundreds of pioneering Baltimore troops into battle in America's bloodiest war. Recently acquired by the Maryland Historical Society, the 5-by-5 1/2 -foot, handmade silk flag belonged to Baltimore's 4th Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops, one of the Union Army's first units...