A member of an unidentified searchlight unit polishes the lens of a 60-inch searchlight downstream from the famous Ludendorff Railway Bridge at Remagen, Germany. In the background is the Rhine River.

Introduction: Lights at Bastogne Searchlight units deployed in the ETO (European Theatre of Operations) were generally involved in airfield and bridge defense, and most photos of searchlight equipment (rare to begin with) show actual searchlights in standard setups, teamed with ack-ack guns and radar sets, either on airfield perimeters or near river crossings. In the famous photo of Bastogne taken a few weeks after the town was relieved during the Battle of the Bulge (at left; click here for a larger version), a 60-inch searchlight, wearing a coating of whitewash winter camouflage, is visible on the left side of the busy street, lens pointing in the general direction of the camera. The photograph (reproduced here courtesy of the U. S. Army) was taken on January 22, 1945, at the height of American efforts to reduce the "bulge" in Allied lines created by the German counteroffensive. If any readers can identify the unit that may have been operating lights in Bastogne at that time, please contact the Webmaster. In the enlarged portion below (click here for a larger version), the unit is easily seen, to the right of the jeep parked in the left-center of the picture, surrounded by a considerable amount of camouflage netting. In all, 88 American searchlight battalions were formed in WW II, most of which saw action. The unit information [covering both the ETO and the Pacific Theatre of Operations (PTO)] has been culled from Shelby L. Stanton's indispensable World War II Order of Battle.

U.S. Searchlight Units by Theatre of Operations

[ European Theatre | Pacific Theatre ]

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