23rd Infantry Division (United States)
The 23rd Infantry Division ( German 23. Infantry Division ) was a division of the US Army , which was originally in the Second World War under the name of Americal Division (for American, New Caledonian Division set up) and during the Pacific War, the Solomon Islands and the Philippines used has been. After its deactivation in 1945, the division was reactivated for a short one and a half year deployment in Panama and dissolved again in 1956. In 1967, the US Army Command reorganized the division for the Vietnam War . There she performed operations in the Chu Lai area until 1971 .
Second World War
When the US entered World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the military high command decided to form additional units for use in the Pacific region . After Japan occupied the Philippines, parts of Southeast Asia and many Pacific islands, further expansion was to be stopped.
On January 14, 1942, Einsatzgruppe 6814 was activated in New York Harbor and placed under the command of Brigadier General Alexander M. Patch . Their target was the Pacific, especially the island of New Caledonia . The group reached the port of Nouméa on March 12th. The order was to defend New Caledonia against any attempted Japanese attack.
The 164th Infantry Regiment replaced the two regiments 132 and 182 of Einsatzgruppe 6184 on April 19 . In addition, field artillery was landed. The units then went through a reorganization.
Foundation of the division
The Americal Division was established in New Caledonia on May 24th. It was the only American division that was not marked with a number.
After completing their tasks, new forces from Einsatzgruppe 6814 replaced the Americal Division , whose 164th Infantry Regiment was moved to Guadalcanal .
Solomon Islands
The Solomon Islands of Guadalcanal was reached by the first units on October 13th. There the American Division intervened seriously for the first time in the fighting of the Pacific War when the Japanese attacked the positions of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 164th Regiment on October 26, in order to break through to Henderson Field . After two hard days of fighting, the troops of the Americal Division prevailed and the Japanese army withdrew, losing around 1,000 men.
After the entire division had arrived on November 12th on Guadalcanal, they took part in the offensive west of the Matanikau River. At the beginning of December she then took full control of all battle sites on the island. So she replaced the 1st US Marine Division .
Heavy fighting for the strong Japanese position on Mount Austen determined the end of the year, but the mountain could not be held by the Japanese against the strong American forces and fell during an assault.
At the headquarters of the XIV. Corps, Generals Alexander M. Patch and Edmund B. Sebree , who had replaced General Patch as commander of the American Division at the beginning of the year , planned a major offensive to take the still occupied areas of the island. Land and sea units started moving west to conquer the area near Kokumbona . Troops of the 132nd Infantry Regiment reached Verahue by sea to stab the Japanese in the rear. On February 9, the American forces united on the Tenamba River and Guadalcanal was completely in their hands.
To defend the Fiji Islands, large parts of the Americal Division were relocated there on March 1 , since the islands were an important communication point between the United States and the troops fighting in the Pacific. In May General John R. Hodge took command. The division used the time in Fiji for training purposes and manned observation posts and reconnaissance patrols.
Towards the end of 1943, the division received an alarm call for use on Bougainville in the northern Solomon Islands. In early January 1944, the division replaced the 1st Marine Division there and all units of the Americal Division were moved to Bougainville. In the Kaiserin-Augusta-Bucht she took over the security of the bridgehead . To this end, patrols were sent along the Torokina River and the east-west path to keep an eye out for hostile Japanese activities. They got into fierce fighting north of the Torokina estuary. Therefore, at the end of January, the leadership worked out plans for an offensive to conquer the estuary eastwards. The rifle units of the 132nd Infantry Regiment came under heavy fire on their advance in spite of the tank support . Since the tanks were closed at the top, they were hardly able to make out the enemy positions. A sergeant of the unit, neglecting his own security, directed them close to the Japanese dugouts so that the Americans could ultimately break out.
In the course of the following month, the soldiers were able to penetrate further and further into the Japanese-occupied area. In addition, other enemy positions were scouted far to the east in order to explore the Japanese strength. In the early morning of March 8th, the Japanese began heavy artillery fire at the American positions. This began a month-long battle for strategic height 260 on the Torokina River. After a long siege , the Americans could no longer hold their position. After a short retreat, however, they began to advance again towards Height 260. The following day, the F Company tried to defeat the Japanese in close combat. After heavy fighting, the Japanese withdrew, but continued to fire their artillery on the division's main lines. Wave after wave, the Japanese tried to break through the US lines. The fighting lasted for a few days. It was not until March 28 that the Americal Division succeeded in retaking the hill.
On April 1, command of the division changed from General Hodge to General Robert McClure . Reconnaissance patrols secured the area around the Torokina and by the end of May the American-controlled area had been extended to the Bagana volcano . There the division built a strong defense line.
The next goal was to push the Japanese back to the coast. With increasing experience in jungle fighting, the advancing infantrymen of the Americal Division gained a dreaded reputation among the Japanese as tough, unyielding fighters.
In November, the 3rd Australian Division moved to Bougainville and replaced the Americal Division . At the same time the command of the division changed from General McClure to Brigadier General William H. Arnold . He immediately began preparations for the next duty station of the division during the American Iceland Hopping (island hopping) in the Pacific.
Philippines
At the beginning of January 1945, the first division of the Americal Division left Bougainville for the Philippines. On October 19 of the previous year, the first American units of the 6th US Army landed there and the battle for Leyte broke out. Although the US had the command of the sea, having decisively defeated the Japanese in the sea and air battles in the Gulf of Leyte , the landing forces were repeatedly exposed to stubborn air attacks , including by kamikaze pilots. Operation Mike I started on January 9 with the landings in the northern Philippines on Luzon in the Gulf of Lingayen .
The first detachments of the American Division arrived on Leyte on January 21st and were placed under X Corps . Here, too, the soldiers of the 164th Regimental Combat Group had the difficult task of locating and fighting Japanese positions. As a detachment from troops of XXIV Corps, they faced the Japanese on the Jaro - Valencia - Palompon line to push them north towards Villaba . Other units of the division, along with Filipino soldiers assigned to them, advanced from the northeast to increase pressure on the Japanese. The plan envisaged a slowly tightening ring around the Japanese positions, which were particularly concentrated on hills in the Ormoc-Valencia Valley.
On February 12, the real battle began with the clearing of the sectors assigned to the battalions. As of February 14, the Americans counted 288 Japanese dead. By the end of the month the ring was closed around the Japanese. After some heavy fighting, a total of around 3,500 Japanese died and 68 were taken prisoner by the Americans.
Further missions in the Philippines led units of the American Division to Samar . There they were supposed to protect the American transport ships in San Bernardino Strait and clean up the Balicuatro and Nornajo Islands. This mission was successfully completed on March 6th, although action had to be taken against incessantly fighting Japanese in heavy tropical rain and sticky air.
In April, almost the entire division was on Cebu , while smaller divisions fought on the island of Bohol and Negros Oriental . The islands were liberated by Japanese guerrillas by June 24th . The end of the war was announced on August 14, and on the following day all American troops in the Philippines ceased fighting.
The Americal Division left Cebu on September 1 for the main Japanese islands to take part in the occupation. From September 10th she took over the area near Yokohama - Kawasaki - Yokosuka . They stayed there until the end of October and were then replaced by the 1st US Cavalry Division .
As part of Operation Magic Carpet , the first units of the Americal Division landed in Seattle on November 19 . The entire division was back in the States by the end of the first week of December, where the Americal Division was officially retired on December 12th.
Panama
After the end of the Korean War , General Matthew Ridgway , who had become Chief of Staff of the Army in 1953, activated a number of divisions to maintain the balance of power of 22 active divisions. At the end of 1954 , the Ministry of Defense also approved the reactivation of the unit, now known as the 23rd US Infantry Division, which set up its headquarters in the Panama Canal zone at Fort Amador . The service of the American Division lasted until April 10, 1956, after which it was deactivated immediately.
Vietnam
In February 1967, General William C. Westmoreland , Commander in Chief of the American Forces in Vietnam , set up a planning group for an Army Task Force to be deployed to the I Corps area of operations. This planning group, under the command of Major General William B. Rosson, organized an inter-brigade task force consisting of elements from the 196th Light Infantry Brigade, the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division and the 3rd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division (later 4th Infantry Division ) duration.
Task Force Oregon
The Task Force Oregon , as it was called, began its operations on April 20, 1967, when troops of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade on the airfield of Chu Lai landed and began to round the site with publicity. Shortly thereafter, the remaining units landed there. The 3rd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division started search and destruction operations in Quảng Ngãi Province . The 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division landed at Duc Pho in May and began operations west in the jungle area.
The early missions of Einsatzgruppe Oregon were Operations Malheur I and Malheur II , Hood River , Benton and Cook . On September 11, Operation Wheeler began against units of the 2nd North Vietnamese Army Division northwest of Chu Lai.
Reorganization and start-up
The command changed on September 22nd to General Samuel W. Koster and three days later the task force was renamed the Americal Division . It consisted of the 196th, 198th and 11th Light Infantry Brigades, with the last two brigades still training in the United States. The Americal was at that time the seventh American division that was used in the Vietnam War.
Missions in Vietnam
In the course of Operation Wheeler, on October 4, the Americal Division received support from the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Air Cavalry Division , which launched Operation Wallowa in the northern sector of Operation. Both operations were merged on November 11th and placed under the 196th Brigade. The 11th Light Infantry Brigade joined the division on December 20th and began their jungle combat training program at Duc Pho . Security and combat operations from 1967 to 1968 in the area near Duc Pho made the soldiers of the brigade known as the "Jungle Warriors". Operation Muscatine , a cross-battalion campaign in the northern district of Quảng Ngãi Province , which began on January 2, 1968, underlined its reputation in particular . Some special task forces were formed in February. By April, the Barker group was able to drive fighters from the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam , commonly known as the Viet Cong , from a strong position that had been held for 20 years. The Miracle group , which was formed during the Tet Offensive , supported the Marines in the four-day battle for Da Nang .
The Americal Division also took part in the pacification program developed by the Vietnamese government for the population during its deployment. The program provided medical and nutritional support to the Vietnamese. Furthermore, attacks by the Viet Cong fighters on the civilian population should be prevented.
The My Lai massacre occurred on March 16 when a group of soldiers from the 11th Infantry Brigade were supposed to take the small village of My Lai south of the demilitarized zone, the residents of which were considered to be potential supporters of the Viet Cong, and killed a large number of civilians there .
Other combat missions were Operation Norfolk Victory in the mountains north of Quang Ngai and Operation Burlington Trail in north Chu Lai to open the road between Tam Ky and Tien Phuoc . The road was then expanded by the 39th Engineer Corps.
On June 23, Major General Charles M. Gettys assumed divisional command from Brigadier General George H. Young, Jr.
In the fierce fighting between units of the Americal Division and soldiers of the 2nd North Vietnamese Army (NVA) seven kilometers west of Tam Ky from August 25 to 27, 548 Viet Cong fighters died. Another 442 died in September in the attempted storm attack on Quang Ngai, the plans of which had been exposed by the American secret service.
Operation Champaign Grove began in early September to prevent North Vietnamese attacks on civilian camps near Ha Thanh . In a clash with NVA soldiers seven kilometers southwest of Quang Ngai, the American Division fell into a large North Vietnamese arms depot. In Operation Golden Fleece , which lasted two months , soldiers from the American Division helped Vietnamese farmers harvest rice . A total of around 3,200 tons of rice were brought in. Another 9 t were stolen from the North Vietnamese during minor skirmishes in October .
In November, the two long-running operations Wheeler / Wallowa and Burlington Trail ended. A total of 10,020 North Vietnamese fighters died at Burlington Trail during the year. 2,053 weapons were confiscated.
In the mountainous region southwest of Quang Ngai, troops of the Amerival Division exposed 81 NVA base camps and three medical supply stations in Operation Vernon Lake II from November . 455 NVA soldiers died during the three-month campaign. The USS New Jersey was in support of the division and destroyed 122 NVA buildings, 55 bunkers and 32 combat shelters with its naval artillery .
Operation Hardin Falls , a pacification mission that began in December and lasted until the end of February 1969, was held in support of Vietnamese government forces in the Thang Binh district. Six smaller villages were searched for North Vietnamese fighters. Simultaneous Operation Fayette Canyon took place northwest of Tam Ky. 327 NVA soldiers were killed in the destruction of bunkers and positions.
In February, Americal Division units sealed off the Russell Beach peninsula from the mainland and began cleaning it up. In the process, they killed more than 210 NVA fighters and fell into their hands with 15.5 tons of table salt , two tons of grain , 13 tons of rice and 59 light and six heavy weapons. At the end of February, almost 12,000 civilian Vietnamese were relocated from the peninsula to a reception center near the city of Quang Ngai. After the Vietnamese New Year celebrations, the NVA began heavy, coordinated mortar and rocket fire on positions throughout the American Division .
From March each brigade's area of operation was given a separate code name and three major operations were launched in the northern division sector: Operation Frederick Hill , Operation Geneva Park and Operation Iron Mountain . In mid-May, the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division was placed under the combat command of the Americal Division. It was supposed to help the 196th Brigade fight communist infiltration in their operational area. The operation Lamar Plain began the month in the middle. Within two weeks, the US forces managed to clear the area around the American landing zones west of Tam Ky. However, it took another three months before the NVA withdrew completely and the operation could be ended.
Another change of command took place on June 1, 1969, when Major General Lloyd B. Ramsey took the place of Major General Gettys. Shortly thereafter, the infantry repulsed a heavy attack on the East Landing Zone, which was about 18 kilometers west of Tam Ky.
During the summer the change in American war policy towards "Vietnamization" began. This meant extensive troop transfers within the country and increasing troop withdrawals back to the USA. The American Division was also affected. The NVA immediately increased its pressure on the American positions south of the demilitarized zone. The NVA units increasingly attacked the reception camps, air bases and artillery positions of the division. In August the fighting spread to the Que Son and Hiep Duc valleys, in which more than 410 NVA fighters were killed. Although the Viet Cong of the 2nd NVA Division were equipped with heavy automatic weapons, helicopters of the Americal Division began to supply the combat area with supplies and relief units. A machine was shot down over hill 102 on August 19. Eight soldiers lost their lives in the process. To recover the bodies, men from the 3rd Battalion of the 21st Infantry Regiment tried to get through to the crash site for a week. They lay almost continuously in the NVA's continuous fire.
In this context, reported PFC ( Private First Class, German : Obergefreiter ) Barry Daniels, a combatant of the C Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 21st Infantry:
“It was hell out there. The NVA were all over the place with weapons and packs. We couldn't move 100 meters without being attacked. "
“It was hell out there. The NVA was just everywhere with their weapons and automatic rifles. We couldn't move 100 meters without being attacked. "
Hill 102 could be taken on August 24th. The two valleys were hit by repeated heavy American air strikes against the local NVA bunker systems. It was not until the end of August that the Viet Cong fighters retreated north. They had lost more than 1,000 men in the fighting, while the US units had remained almost lossless.
The 1970s began for the Americal Division with repeated NVA attacks on its positions. The counterattack was launched on January 13, 1970. The Viet Cong positions in a forest near Tam Ky were quickly taken. Around 700 NVA soldiers died. In March, Major General Lloyd Ramsey was stranded in a helicopter crash in dense jungle, killing two soldiers. The injured Ramsey was rescued after a few hours, but had to hand over command to Major General AE Milloy on March 22nd .
In early summer, after almost nine days of searching, soldiers of the 11th Infantry Brigade managed to locate a large NVA rice warehouse 17 kilometers north of Duc Pho and to confiscate around 44 tons.
In November 1971, with the withdrawal of the 198th Light Brigade and the 11th Infantry Brigade, the deactivation of the Americal Division began . The 196th Brigade remained in Vietnam as a separate unit until the end of June 1972. It was the last major combat unit to be withdrawn from Vietnam. The 3rd Battalion of the 21st Infantry was the last combat battalion to leave the country on August 23.
The later Generals H. Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell served in the division during the Vietnam mission.
Commanders
Second World War
- May to December 1942 - Major General Alexander M. Patch
- January to May 1943 - Brigadier General Edmund B. Sebree
- May 1943 to April 1944 - Major General John R. Hodge
- April to October 1944 - Major General Robert B. McClure
- November 1944 - Major General William H. Arnold (for retirement)
Vietnam
- Sept. 22, 1967 - Brigadier General Samuel W. Koster
- Jun. 23, 1968 - Major General Charles M. Gettys
- Jun. 1, 1969 - Major General Lloyd B. Ramsey
- Mar. 22, 1970 - Major General AE Milloy
Web links
- The Americal Division History ( Memento June 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- Americal Division Veterans Association. " Under the Southern Cross ". Retrieved October 11, 2012 .
Notes and individual references
- ^ The American Division History. (No longer available online.) Americal Division Veterans Association, 1971, archived from the original on June 10, 2011 ; accessed on December 7, 2010 (English).
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