35th Infantry Division (United States)

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35th Infantry Division

35th Infantry Division SSI.svg

Division badge
Lineup 1917
Country Flag of the United States.svg United States
Armed forces United States Armed Forces
Armed forces United States Army
Branch of service infantry
Type Infantry division
Nickname Santa Fe Division
Butcher Second World War

Operation Overlord Battle of the Bulge

The 35th Infantry Division ( German  35th US Infantry Division ) is a major unit of the Army National Guard .

history

First World War

Harry S. Truman as Captain of the 129th Field Artillery Regiment, 35th Infantry Division. Recorded around 1918.

The division was formed on August 25, 1917 in Camp Doniphan, Oklahoma and consisted of members of the National Guard from Missouri and Kansas . On May 11, 1918, the division landed in Le Havre , where it became part of the American Expeditionary Forces in northern France. Between June 30th and August 13th it was a brigade in the Vosges . Increased to the division, she took over a front section at Gerardmer in Alsace from August 14 to September 1 . From September 21 to 30 and from October 15 to November 6, she took an active part in the Meuse-Argonne offensive . The division was set up in the Sommedieue section on the left wing of the I. Corps under General Liggett to break through on Grandpré . The division succeeded in capturing Varennes on September 27, 1918 and by the 28th with the advance to the Aire, the occupation of Apremont . The troops advanced twelve and a half kilometers and took 781 prisoners, but lost 1,067 dead and 6,216 wounded. Two soldiers of the division, Captain Alexander R. Skinker and Private Nels Wold, received the Medal of Honor for their services . One of the division's soldiers was the later US President Harry S. Truman , who, as captain, commanded a battery of the 129th Field Artillery Regiment, which was then part of the division. In April 1919, the division returned to the United States, where it was deactivated.

On October 29, 1918, while it was still in action in Europe, the division received its official unit badge: a Santa Fe Cross , which is intended to commemorate the training of soldiers on the Santa Fe Trail . The Santa Fe Division is nicknamed the Santa Fe Division .

Second World War

The division was reactivated in 1935 and came to Great Britain on May 25, 1944 after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the US entry into the war . In July, the division landed at Omaha Beach in Normandy and then fought numerous German counter-attacks as part of the 3rd Army north of Saint-Lô . It reached Vire by August . Between August 7th and 13th, the soldiers of the 35th Infantry Division built an escape corridor for the 30th Infantry Division , who were surrounded by the Germans at Mortain . The Moselle was crossed on September 13th, Nancy was liberated on the 15th and Chambrey was liberated on October 1st . At the beginning of December Sarreguemines were liberated and at the same time the Saar was crossed. In mid-December the soldiers of the division came to Metz to rest behind the front . On Christmas Day 1944 the division was sent to Belgium to help defend against the Battle of the Bulge near Bastogne . In heavy fighting, the municipality of Villers-laBonne-Eau near Bastogne was liberated by January. A little later, due to the losses during the fighting, the division was relocated again behind the front line to refresh. At the end of January, fighting followed in eastern France and in February in the Netherlands . After the breakthrough of the west wall, the division moved into the Association of XVI. Corps of the 9th Army to the Reich before and crossed the Rhine , Wesel and the Rhine-Herne Canal . In the east the division advanced as far as Colbitz and Angern . Hanover in northwest Germany was occupied on April 10th. The division remained, from April 16, the XIII. Corps subordinated, after the end of the war on May 8th as an occupation force in Germany, before it returned to the USA on September 10th 1945 and was deactivated there.

During the Second World War, 2,485 soldiers of the division died in combat.

post war period

The division was reactivated in 1947 and numerous units were added during the Cold War . After the Bosnian War , the division came to the Balkans as part of SFOR . The headquarters was set up in Tuzla . a. Sarajevo and Doboj . In 2005, the division provided humanitarian aid to the state of Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina . Parts of the division were stationed in Kosovo between 2007 and 2008 as part of KFOR .

The current commanding officer is Major General Victor Braden, and the division's headquarters have been Fort Leavenworth , Kansas since 1984 . In the film Shock Troop Gold , the main characters wear uniforms from the 35th Infantry Division.

organization

During the First World War, the division was organized as follows:

  • Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 35th Division
  • 69th Infantry Brigade
    • 137th Infantry Regiment
    • 138th Infantry Regiment
    • 129th Machine Gun Battalion
  • 70th Infantry Brigade
    • 139th Infantry Regiment
    • 140th Infantry Regiment
    • 130th Machine Gun Battalion
  • 60th Field Artillery Brigade
    • 128th Field Artillery Regiment
    • 129th Field Artillery Regiment
    • 130th Field Artillery Regiment
    • 110th Trench Mortar Battery
  • 128th Machine Gun Battalion
  • 110th Engineers
  • 110th Field Signal Battalion
  • 110th Train Headquarters and Military Police
    • 110th Ammunition Train
    • 110th supply train
    • 110th Engineer Train
    • 110th Sanitary Train

During the Second World War, the division was set up as follows:

  • Headquarters and Headquarters Company
  • 134th Infantry Regiment
  • 137th Infantry Regiment
  • 320th Infantry Regiment
  • 35th Artillery Division
    • 127th Field Artillery Battalion
    • 161st Field Artillery Battalion
    • 216th Field Artillery Battalion
    • 219th Field Artillery Battalion
  • 60th Engineer Battalion
  • 110th Medical Battalion
  • 35th Reconnaissance Troop
  • Special troops
    • 735th Ordnance Company
    • 35th Quartermaster Company
    • 35th Signal Company
    • 35th Military Police Platoon
    • Division band

Today's list is as follows:

  • Special Troops Battalion
  • 127 Weather Fligh
  • 33rd Infantry Brigade
  • 39th Infantry Brigade
  • 45th Infantry Brigade
  • 67th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade
  • Combat Aviation Brigade, 35th Infantry Division
  • 110th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade
  • 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade

Division commanders

  • Major General William Mason Wright (August 25 - September 18, 1917)
  • Brigade General Lucien Grant Berry (September 18 - December 10, 1917)
  • Major General William M. Wright (December 10, 1917 - June 15, 1918)
  • Brigade General Nathaniel F. McClure (June 15 - November 2, 1918)
  • Major General Peter E. Traub (November 2nd - 25th, 1918)
  • Brigade General Thomas B. Dugan (November 25 - December 7, 1918)
  • Major General Peter E. Traub (December 7-27, 1918)
  • Major General Ralph E. Truman (December 1940 - October 1941)
  • Major General William H. Simpson (October 1941 - April 1942)
  • Major General Maxwell Murray (May 1942 - January 1943)
  • Major General Paul W. Baade (January 1943 - December 1945)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Alexander Skinker at Find A Grave
  2. Nels Wold at Find A Grave
  3. ^ Harry Truman joins Battery B of the Missouri National Guard