Seeking records of 164th Engineer Combat Battalion

Dear Mr. Wittwer,

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

We searched the National Archives Catalog and located a series titled Unit Histories, 1943 - 1967 in the Records of U.S. Army Operational, Tactical, and Support Organizations (World War II and Thereafter) (Record Group 338) but were unable to locate records of the 164th Engineer Combat Battalion during WWII.

The World War II Operations Reports, 1940-1948 in the Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1917-1981 (Record Group 407) may contain after action reports for the 164th Engineer Combat Battalion during WWII. For more information about these records, please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) via email at archives2reference@nara.gov.

Photographs of various U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps activities dating from 1940 to 2007 are in the custody of the National Archives at College Park - Still Picture (RDSS). Please contact RDSS via email at stillpix@nara.gov and their web site is https://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/college-park/photographs-dc.html.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to guidance received from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), NARA has adjusted its normal operations to balance the need of completing its mission-critical work while also adhering to the recommended social distancing for the safety of NARA staff. As a result of this re-prioritization of activities, you may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgement as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RDT2 and RDSS. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience.

We also searched the Library of Congress’s Veterans History Project and located the following collections related to the 164th Engineers. Some of these materials have been digitized and can be viewed online through their website, to include a 5-page history of the unit in the first collection.

• https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp-stories/loc.natlib.afc2001001.00649/
• https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/bib/62374
• https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/bib/54517

In addition, we located the U.S. Army’s Center of Military History’s publication The Corps of Engineers: War Against Germany which contains several mentions of the 164th. We also searched the Ike Skelton Combined Arms Research Library Digital Library and located Report of Rhine River crossings, First United States Army and  Action report - Rhine River crossing which reference the unit.The U.S. Army Engineer Museum may have information about the unit as well.

Finally, we located a newspaper article about a veteran of the unit at https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/05/28/d-day-engineer-built-and-blasted-across-europe/9670071/.

We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your family research!

The following link is to a pdf file at the Combined Arms Reference Library.  The document, Report of Rhine River crossings, First United States Army., mentions the the 164th Engineer Combat Battalion 4 times

http://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p4013coll8/id/3201

see p 87

see p 106

see p 111