Just after the start of 1945, the division saw its bloodiest fight. While the more famous Battle of the Bulge was going on in the Ardennes Forest, German troops launched counteroffensives in other parts of the Allied line. On the French and German border, some of these attacks focused on tanks of the 12th Armored near Herrlisheim, France.
The 12th Armored lasted long enough to be relieved by other U.S. units and was pulled back from the front. During the fighting around Herrlisheim, the division lost approximately 1,250 men and 70 combat vehicles.
Like other major Milwaukee brewers, Schlitz benefited immensely from the nearby Chicago market, opening an agency there in 1868. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 temporarily destroyed the local brewing industry, and Schlitz more than doubled sales over the next year.
Schlitz employed a wide array of scientific, technological, and marketing innovations to standardize their product and compete for leadership of the national market. In 1883 William J. Uihlein brought the first pure culture yeast strain to the United States from Copenhagen, which allowed Schlitz to produce a higher quality beer more consistently. Schlitz helped establish the Union Refrigerator Transit Company in the 1890s, with Joseph Uihlein, Sr. as president, to develop and operate a more cost-effective refrigerated freight line for the brewery. Schlitz was the first to introduce the brown bottle to industrial brewing in 1911, which protected the beer from the harmful effects of light during shipping.
Its decline began in the 1970s after recipe changes, leading to its sale to Stroh's (1982) and later Pabst (1999), with the original Milwaukee brewery closing in 1981 and becoming Schlitz Park, while the brand is now owned by Pabst Brewing Company and produced in other locations
Beer brewing during World War II saved the beer industry. During World War I, anti-alcohol crusaders launched a campaign to label beer makers in America, many of whom were German immigrants, as anti-American and wasters of U.S. resources. It helped the passage of the 18th Amendment, which banned the manufacture and import of alcoholic beverages.
After Prohibition was repealed, breweries went right back to doing what they knew best, but the industry was still on shaky ground. Then World War II broke out, and the U.S. government saw beer as what we would today call a "force multiplier." It declared beer production an essential wartime industry, with 15% of its output reserved for the military.
When the Korean War started, some of the old "dry" politicians and activists were still around, fighting against the evils of alcohol. The teetotalers somehow managed to convince the Department of Defense that troops could do without the two-beer ration. When the news hit headlines, it sparked a nationwide debate.
A U.S. representative, Democrat Andrew J. Biemiller, who represented Milwaukee, demanded on the House floor that the Army explain its rationale for cutting off its soldiers' taps. He argued that beer could be used in place of water when necessary and had "as much alcohol as a good pudding."
While the war raged in Korea, the war at home between beer lovers and anti-alcohol groups like the Woman's Christian Temperance Union was fought to keep beer out of the hands of the GIs. Then, a couple of brewing heavyweights escalated the conflict.
A U.S. representative, Democrat Andrew J. Biemiller, who represented Milwaukee, demanded on the House floor that the Army explain its rationale for cutting off its soldiers' taps. He argued that beer could be used in place of water when necessary and had "as much alcohol as a good pudding."
While the war raged in Korea, the war at home between beer lovers and anti-alcohol groups like the Woman's Christian Temperance Union was fought to keep beer out of the hands of the GIs. Then, a couple of brewing heavyweights escalated the conflict.
Milwaukee's own Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company and Blatz Brewing Company offered to buy the troops a round and see what might happen. The companies volunteered 600,000 cans or bottles (apiece) of their products to be sent to the Korean Peninsula and handed out to the Americans fighting there.
Army Secretary Frank Pace agreed to the donation, so long as the beer was less than 3.2% alcohol by volume.
The first cans of Schlitz, which was America's top beer at the time, rolled away from Milwaukee on Sept. 28, 1950. Blatz wasn't far behind, shipping theirs out on Oct. 4, 1950. The beer made it to the troops in time for Christmas.
The first cans of Schlitz, which was America's top beer at the time, rolled away from Milwaukee on Sept. 28, 1950. Blatz wasn't far behind, shipping theirs out on Oct. 4, 1950. The beer made it to the troops in time for Christmas.
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