Medal of Honor: Victor Leonard Kandle, World War II, October 9, 1944

Name: Victor Leonard Kandle
Rank: First Lieutenant
War: World War II
Date of Action: October 9, 1944
Unit: 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division
Entered Service At: Redwood City, California
Born: June 13, 1921, Roy, Washington

Summary of Action
The cold fog of the Vosges Mountains concealed more than trees and stone that October day—it hid one of the toughest German strongholds in eastern France. For two days, an entire U.S. infantry battalion had been pinned down by the entrenched defenders near La Forge. When orders came to probe the enemy’s rear, 1st Lt. Victor Kandle volunteered to lead the way.
That morning, he’d already taken five prisoners and killed an enemy officer in a close-quarters duel. But what followed cemented his place in the annals of the 3rd Division. With only sixteen men and a single light machine gun squad, Kandle pushed into enemy territory through fog-shrouded hills, moving with quiet precision until the quarry stronghold loomed ahead. Without hesitation, he sprinted forward alone, charging into the heart of the German position. His audacity shattered the defenders’ will, and within moments the garrison surrendered.
When fire erupted from another machine gun nest hidden in the mist, Kandle calmly advanced to within fifteen yards and cut down the gunner with rifle fire before leading his men to overrun the crew. Then, with bullets whipping past, he turned toward a fortified house holding two officers and thirty enemy soldiers. Establishing a base of fire, Kandle dashed alone through open ground, burst through the barricaded door, and forced all thirty-two Germans inside to surrender.
By day’s end, his small platoon had captured or killed fifty-seven enemy soldiers, destroyed three strongpoints, and opened the road for the stalled battalion. His courage under impossible odds epitomized the ferocity and leadership of the 3rd Infantry Division—the famed “Rock of the Marne.”

Medal of Honor Citation
KANDLE, VICTOR L.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 15th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near La Forge, France, 9 October 1944. Entered service at: Redwood City, Calif. Birth: Roy, Wash. G.O. No.: 37, 11 May 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. On 9 October 1944, at about noon, near La Forge, France, 1st Lt. Kandle, while leading a reconnaissance patrol into enemy territory, engaged in a duel at pointblank range with a German field officer and killed him. Having already taken 5 enemy prisoners that morning, he led a skeleton platoon of 16 men, reinforced with a light machinegun squad, through fog and over precipitous mountain terrain to fall on the rear of a German quarry stronghold which had checked the advance of an infantry battalion for 2 days. Rushing forward, several yards ahead of his assault elements, 1st Lt. Kandle fought his way into the heart of the enemy strongpoint, and, by his boldness and audacity, forced the Germans to surrender. Harassed by machinegun fire from a position which he had bypassed in the dense fog, he moved to within 15 yards of the enemy, killed a German machinegunner with accurate rifle fire and led his men in the destruction of another machinegun crew and its rifle security elements. Finally, he led his small force against a fortified house held by 2 German officers and 30 enlisted men. After establishing a base of fire, he rushed forward alone through an open clearing in full view of the enemy, smashed through a barricaded door, and forced all 32 Germans to surrender. His intrepidity and bold leadership resulted in the capture or killing of 3 enemy officers and 54 enlisted men, the destruction of 3 enemy strongpoints, and the seizure of enemy positions which had halted a battalion attack.