9th Infantry Division (United States)

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9th Infantry Division (United States)

9th Infantry Division patch.svg

Shoulder badge
active 1918–1919
1940–1947
1947–1962
1966–1969
1972–1991
Country United StatesUnited States United States
Armed forces Flag of the United States Army (fringed) .svg United States Army
Type Infantry division
structure see section
status inactive
Nickname "Old Reliables"
Wars / campaigns Second World War :

Vietnam War :

commander
Important
commanders

Jacob L. Devers
Manton S. Eddy
Donald P. Booth
Julian Ewell
John M. Shalikashvili

insignia
Distinctive Unit Insignia 9 Inf Div DUI.jpg

The 9th Infantry Division ( German  9th Infantry Division ; nickname "Old Reliables") was a division of the United States Army . Although it was installed in Fort Sheridan / Alabama in 1918 during the First World War , it was no longer used in the European theater of war overseas. During the Second World War and the Vietnam War , the US 9th Infantry Division was a major military association that was involved in numerous battles. During the peacetime it was stationed in Fort Dix / New Jersey and in Fort Carson / Colorado from 1947 to 1962 and later from 1972 to 1991 as the "active-duty infantry division" in Fort Lewis / Washington . In December 1991 the division was decommissioned.

history

Second World War

GIs of the 36th Infantry Regiment in December 1944

During the Second World War, the 9th Infantry Division was one of the first units in the US Army to be used in ground operations. Their first deployment was on November 8, 1942 in North Africa . As part of the Tunisian campaign, the division fought near Algiers , Safi and Port Lyautey. Safi was the first city in North Africa to be liberated by the Allies. After the resistance of the local Vichy forces collapsed, the division patrolled the border with Spanish-Morocco. In February 1943 she returned to Tunisia . On March 28, 1943, an attack began in southern Tunisia, which culminated on May 7 in the fighting north of Bizerte .

Manton S. Eddy

In August 1943, the division landed in Palermo , Sicily , and helped take Randazzo and Messina in part. She was then relocated to Great Britain to prepare for the Normandy landing . On June 10, 1944 ( D + 4 ), she landed on Utah Beach , separated the Cotentin Peninsula and fought for the heavily fortified port facilities in Cherbourg . After a brief refresher in July, she took part in the breakthrough at Saint-Lô and in the closure of the Falaise pocket. A little later she crossed the Marne and advanced as far as Saarlautern . In November / December 1944 she held defensive positions from Monschau to Losheim . During the battle in the Huertgen Forest , she suffered heavy losses. North of Bergrath , they attacked the Rur on December 10, 1944 and took the two towns of Echtz and Schlich near Düren . From mid-December to January 1945 the division again held a defensive position that ran from Kalterherberg to Elsenborn . On January 30, 1945, the 9th US Infantry Division advanced from Monschau across the Rur to the west and on March 7, 1945 crossed the Rhine over the Ludendorff Bridge near Remagen . After breaking out of the Remagen bridgehead, the division was involved in the closure and reduction of the Ruhr basin . Then she marched 240 kilometers to Nordhausen and fought in the Harz Mountains from April 14 to 20, 1945 . On April 21, the 9th US Infantry Division replaced the 3rd Armored Division near Dessau an der Mulde and held this line until unconditional surrender .

Mission statistics during the Second World War

  • Total losses: 23,277
  • Fallen: 3,856
  • Wounded: 17,416
  • Missing: 357
  • Captured: 908
  • German soldiers prisoner of war: 130,000

Vietnam War

9th Infantry Division in Vietnam

During the Vietnam War, the 9th Infantry Division was deployed in South Vietnam . In the Mekong Delta she was subordinated to the Mobile Riverine Force and US Navy units, the so-called "Brown Water Navy". The division moved from Fort Riley , Kansas reached Vietnam on February 1, 1966. They fought in the tactical zone of the III. Corps in Dinh Tuong and Long An provinces and participated in Operation Palm Beach from January 6 to May 31, 1967. From 1967 to 1972 it operated in the river and canal system of the Mekong . One of the larger operations, of a total of 22 military operations carried out in a difficult inaccessible zone known as the stronghold of the Viet Cong , was Operation Speedy Express from December 1968 to May 1969. During this operation there were numerous enemy contacts and skirmishes with the Viet Cong and the regular North Vietnamese Army . The order of the division was to secure the area of ​​the Mekong Delta and protect it against communist infiltration. This was part of the South Vietnamese pacification program. The service in the Mekong Delta was described by former combatants as a strain with great physical hardship, an insidious enemy fighting and a hostile environment. The war in the Mekong Delta was fought doggedly on both sides. The 9th Infantry Division reported a particularly high number of body counts in the statistics, with the majority of those killed being civilians. Their first units left South Vietnam on August 27, 1969 for Hawaii and Fort Lewis, the last unit on October 12, 1970.

Cold War

After the Vietnam War, the 9th Infantry Division was stationed in Fort Lewis, Washington until it was retired in 1992. From the mid-1980s it served as a "High Technology Test Bed (HTTB)", which led to a concept of "mechanized infantry" to close the gap between a light infantry formation and the armored forces. The idea behind it was that lighter mobile units could be relocated faster with transport aircraft than a tank formation. This was done with a view to possible warfare in the desert. Together with the UKMF (UK Mobile Force), the 9th Infantry Division was intended to reinforce the LANDJUT area in Northern Germany and Denmark in the event of a crisis . In 1989 the battalions of mechanized infantry were converted for lightly armed attacks ("light attack") with light ("light combined arms") or heavy ("heavy combined arms") combined weapons. This included vehicles like the Humvee and the Fast Attack Vehicle (later renamed the Desert Patrol Vehicle), which u. a. were developed at Fort Lewis. These vehicles were equipped with Browning M2 machine guns , 40 mm Mk 19 machine grenade launchers or TOW anti- tank missiles. This was to fight the Mot rifle divisions of the Warsaw Pact . At the beginning of the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union , this concept became obsolete. The use of the combat vehicles should then be reserved for special operations and were used by the SEALS. The US 9th Infantry Division tested the new military doctrine of mechanized infantry ("motorized infantry doctrine") at the Yakima Firing Center, a desert-like compound in Washington State, Fort Irwin , California and South Korea . Combat exercises showed that the new light infantry formations were very vulnerable to heavily armored forces and indirect artillery fire . Towards the end of the Cold War it was decided to decommission the division.

Gulf War and Out of Service

At the beginning of the Gulf War in 1991, one brigade was already inactivated. Since there was still a need for units that could be deployed quickly, the 3rd Brigade was maintained for a while. The 3rd Brigade was no longer used in the Middle East. Their material and personnel served to increase other divisions. The 199th Light Infantry Brigade , which was subordinate to the I. Corps, emerged from it. The 199th Light Infantry Brigade later became the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (Light) , which was stationed in Fort Polk . During the war effort of the US Army the remainder of the 9th US Infantry Division trained the Army Reserve and the National Guard. The division's association flags and insignia are displayed at the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning .

structure

Division structure 1989
  • 39th US Infantry Regiment "The Fighting Falcons"
  • 47th US Infantry Regiment "The Raiders"
  • 60th US Infantry Regiment "Go Devils"
  • 9. Mechanized reconnaissance force
  • 15th Engineer Battalion, 15th Engineer Combat Battalion
  • 9th Medical Battalion
  • 9th Division Artillery
  • 26th Field Artillery Battalion (105mm Howitzers)
  • 60th Field Artillery Battalion (105mm Howitzers)
  • 84th Field Artillery Battalion (105mm Howitzers)
  • 34th Field Artillery Battalion (155mm Howitzers)
  • Special troops
  • 709. Repair company
  • 9. Quartermaster company
  • 9. News company
  • Military Police Train
  • Headquarters Company
  • 9th ABC company
  • chapel

Division commanders

  • Major General Jacob L. Devers (October 1940 - July 1941)
  • Major General Rene E. Hoyle (August 1941 - July 1942)
  • Major General Manton S. Eddy (August 1942 - August 1944)
  • Major General Louis A. Craig (August 1944 - May 1945)
  • Brigadier General Jesse A. Ladd (May 1945 - February 1946)
  • Major General Horace L. McBride (March 1946--1947)
  • Major General William W. Eagles (July 15, 1947 - April 26, 1948)
  • Major General Arthur A. White (April 1948 - October 1949)
  • Major General John M. Devine (October 1949 - September 1950)
  • Major General William K. Harrison (September 1950 - February 1952)
  • Major General Roderick R. Allen (February 1952 - June 1952)
  • Major General Homer W. Kiefer (June 1952 - July 1953)
  • Major General Cornelius A. Ryan (July 1953 - May 1954)
  • Major General Donald P. Booth (May 1954 - June 1956)
  • Major General HG Maddox (November 1954 - June 1956)
  • Major General Harry P. Storke (June 1956 - September 1957)
  • Brigadier General Joseph B. Crawford (September 1957 - March 1958)
  • Major General Martin J. Morin (March 1958 - April 1959)
  • Brigadier General Richard A. Risden (April 1959 - March 1960)
  • Col. Charles L. Heltman Jr. (March 1960 - May 1960)
  • Brigadier General Ashton H. Manhart (May 1960 - February 1962)
  • Major General George S. Eckhardt (February 1962 - February 1966)
  • Major General George G. O'Connor (February 1966 - June 1967)

literature

  • The Army Almanac: A Book of Facts Concerning the Army of the United States , US Government Printing Office

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ engl. for "the old reliable"
  2. ^ Battle of Huertgen Forest: The 9th Infantry Division Suffered in the Heavily Armed Woods, on Historynet.org
  3. ^ Sixty Years of Reorganizing for Combat: A Historical Trend Analysis, Combat Studies Institute CSI Report, No. 14 (PDF)
  4. ^ Assembly of Western European Union. State of European security. Intervention Forces and Reinforcement for the Center and the North. April 26, 1989
  5. ↑ a b c Fort Lewis: 9th Infantry Division, A High-Technology Test Bed on Historylink.org
  6. ↑ also Yakima Training Center (YTC)