Harry A Jacobs

Harry A Jacobs
Personal details
Birth name	Jakob Helmut
Born	30 April 1924 Mannheim, Germany
Died	23 November 2018
Nativity	Germany
Religion	Jewish
Awards	Bronze Star Medal
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	33743685
Rank	Master Sergeant
Rank at Ritchie	Private
Camp Ritchie	Class 12 (27 September – 25 November 1943)
Section	5B
Enlisted	Ft Myer, Virginia
Specialty	Interrogation of Prisoners of War (IPW); Order of Battle (OB)
Unit / division	4th Armored Division
Team	IPW 24

Awards and honors

Bronze Star Medal with V-device	French Croix de Guerre	French Legion of Honor

Teammates

Team — IPW 24

These are other soldiers listed on the same team roster. People moved between teams; overlapping service dates are not always documented.

Research notes on this page are compiled from the source file and later edits. They may be unverified, incomplete, or incorrect, and should not be treated as established fact. Please correct the article or add sources on the talk page. For class-roster terms, see About the data.

Sources & confidence: Treat Research notes as leads, not settled fact. Prefer NARA, the class roster, newspapers, Find a Grave, or published histories for contested claims. Mark unsourced claims with {{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.

Harry A. Jacobs (30 April 1924–23 November 2018), born Helmut Jakob, was a German-born Ritchie Boy (Class 12 / OB Class 10) who served as an Order of Battle specialist with OB Team 24 of the 4th Armored Division.

Biography

Harry A. Jacobs, born Helmut Jakob, was born on 30 April 1924 in Mannheim, Germany, and emigrated to the United States during the Nazi period. He attended Eastern High School in Washington, D.C., from 1938 to 1940.

Jacobs enlisted at Fort Myer, Virginia, on 23 June 1943 as a private (ASN 33743685). He trained at Camp Ritchie in IPW German Class 12 and completed postgraduate Order of Battle Class 10. Naturalized at Hagerstown, Maryland, on 2 November 1943, he was promoted to master sergeant in March 1944, crossed to Europe aboard RMS Queen Mary, and after a short British OB course in London was assigned to OB Team 24 with the 4th Armored Division. He entered combat in July 1944, later served with CIC Detachment 504, and returned to the United States in late 1945; after the war he remained connected with division veterans including Gideon Kantor.

After the war he studied toward a foreign-service degree at Georgetown University. Jacobs wrote military-intelligence novels, including The Raid Toward Prague: May 1945. He died on 23 November 2018, several months after that book’s publication.

Gallery

• 
  Harry A. Jacobs at home, January 2018 (Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook)
• 
  Bruce Henderson (left) with Gideon Kantor (right) at the Greater Washington JCC Lessans Family Literary Series, Rockville, Maryland, 26 January 2018
• 
  Gideon Kantor (left) with Harry Jacobs (right) at the same JCC event, 26 January 2018
• 
  Left to right: Harry Jacobs, Gideon Kantor, and Alfred Shehab at a 4th Armored Division veterans luncheon, Fort Myer, Arlington, Virginia, April 2018
• 
  Cover of Harry Jacobs’s novel The Pentagon Brank (2007)
• 
  Cover of Harry Jacobs’s novel The Raid Toward Prague: May 1945 (2018)
• 
  Harry A. Jacobs at home (same sitting as the profile portrait; posted with his November 2018 obituary notice)
• 
  Harry Jacobs with his wife Selma
• 
  Selma Jacobs

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	94
Nara ASN	33743685
Nara Name	JACOBS HARRY A
Nara State	34
Nara County	1
Nara POE	3347
Nara DOE	230643
Nara Grade Alpha	PVT
Nara Grade Code	8
Nara Branch Alpha	NO
Nara Branch Code	2
Branch	No branch assignment
Nara Term or Enlistment	5
Term of enlistment	Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Defer. Date	0
Nara Source	0
Nara Nativity	N1
Nara Year of Birth	24
Nara Race	J
Nara Race Description	White not yet a citizen
Nara Education	5
Nara Civilian Occupation	101
Nara Marital Status	6
Nara Height (inches)	4
Nara Weight (lbs)	0
Class_ASN	33743685
Class_Name	JACOB, Helmut Albert; JAKOB, Helmut A.
match_method	pass2_asn_last
row_source	both

Research notes

• Also Class 10 GerOB
• Camp Sharpe
• OB 24
• Gross RITCHIE BOYS - FIELD NOTES: OB specialist Class 12 + GerOB Class 10; OB Team 24 / 4th Armored Division.

Timeline

• 30 April 1924 — Born in Mannheim, Germany (Helmut A. Jakob).
• 23 June 1943 — Enlisted as Pvt (ASN 33743685) at Fort Myer, VA.
• 2 November 1943 — Naturalized at Hagerstown, MD (5827246).
• 25 November 1943 — Graduated Class 12 as IPW Ge German Linguist (Cert.No. 4269).
• 13 March 1944 — Alerted for overseas deployment, promoted to M/Sgt.
• 13 March 1944 — Alerted for overseas movement.
• 6 April 1944 — Departed for Europe aboard RMS Queen Mary.
• 17 April 1944 — Assigned to Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), Military Intelligence Service in London.
• 14 May 1944 — After short British OB course in London, assigned to OB Team 24 (about this time attached to 4th Armored Division).
• 18 May 1944 — Assigned to newly established OB Team 24 for duty with 4th Armored Division (3rd Army).
• 4 July 1944 — Pvt Harry B. Levine (1906-1993) assigned to OB 24 from OB 33 (78th Infantry Div).
• 11 July 1944 — 4th Armored (“Spearhead”) Division landed at Utah Beach. Entered combat on 17 July 1944.
• 30 October 1945 — Awarded French Croix de Guerre.
• 26 August 1996 — Awarded Bronze Star Medal with V-device by Department of the Army.
• 4 March 2015 — Awarded French Legion of Honor at French Embassy, Wash, DC.
• Assigned to new OB Team 24 for duty with 4th Armored Division (3rd Army) along with 2nd Lt. Alfred Maul in charge. (S/Sgt Launer transferred from OB Team 24 to OB Team 4 on 13 May 1944).
• November 1945 — Detailed to 79th Infantry Division for shipment back to the U. S.
• 11/45 Detailed to 79th Infantry Division for shipment back to the U. S.
• 6/45 Attached to CIC Detachment 504.
• 6/45 Attached to Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) Detachment 504.
• 6/45 Awarded Bronze Star Medal at Landshut by 4th Armored Division.
• 7/44 4th Armored Division involved in action in the Ardennes, Battle.

Sources

• Dan Gross research archive (miscellaneous timeline-adjacent documents; not uploaded): RITCHIE BOYS - FIELD NOTES.doc
• Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
• Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
• NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
• 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2018-01-26 (2 posts)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2018-02-02 (1 post)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2018-04-16 (1 post)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2018-10-05 (1 post)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2018-11-26 (1 post)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2021-08-06 (1 post)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Harry A Jacobs for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 2 source documents reviewed)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Jacobs, Harry A for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 2 source files: HARRY JACOBS - 16.doc, HARRY JACOBS.doc)