103rd Infantry Division | |
---|---|
Active | 1921 – 1945 |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Army |
Type | Infantry |
Size | Division |
Nickname(s) | "Cactus Division" (Special Designation) [1] |
Engagements | World War II |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Anthony McAuliffe |
The 103rd Infantry Division ("Cactus Division" [1] ) was a unit of the United States Army that served in the U.S. Seventh Army of the 6th Army Group during World War II.
It was variously assigned to the VI Corps, XV Corps, and XXI Corps. By war's end it was part of VI Corps' dash across Bavaria into the Alps, reaching Innsbruck, Austria, taking the Brenner Pass, and earning the honor of linking up with the U.S. Fifth Army coming north from Vipiteno, Italy, joining the Italian and Western European fronts on 4 May 1945. [2]
The 103rd Division was constituted in the Organized Reserve on 24 June 1921, allotted to the Eighth Corps Area, and assigned to the XVIII Corps. The division was further allotted to the states of Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico as its home area. The division headquarters was organized on 31 August 1921, at the State Capitol in Denver. The headquarters was moved on 29 March 1922 to the Kittredge Building at 16th Street and Glenarm Place in Denver and remained there until activated for World War II. To encourage esprit de corps, in 1922 the division’s officers adopted the nickname “Rocky Mountain Division” after the majestic mountain range that defined much of the division’s home area. However, this nickname soon gave way to the moniker “Cactus Division” after the unit’s shoulder patch. To maintain communications with the officers of the division, the division staff published a newsletter appropriately titled “The Cactus.” The newsletter informed the division’s members of such things as when and where the inactive training sessions were to be held, what the division’s summer training quotas were, where the camps were to be held, and which units would be assigned to help conduct the Citizens Military Training Camps (CMTC).
The large geographical area of the division made it difficult to bring subordinate units of the division together for virtually any training events except for those units in Denver; the division headquarters, special troops, 206th Infantry Brigade (less one regiment), 176th Field Artillery Brigade (less one regiment), and a few other assorted units were located in that city. Inactive training period activities of the division were generally conducted at the local level near concentrations of division personnel. One event that turned out large numbers of the Denver members of the division was the Memorial Day parade held in that city each year. The subordinate infantry regiments of the division held their summer training with the 25th Infantry Regiment at Fort Huachuca and Camp Stephen D. Little, Arizona, and with the 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment. at Fort Logan, Colorado. Other units, such as the special troops, artillery, engineers, aviation, medical, and quartermaster, trained at various posts in the Eighth Corps Area. For example, the division’s artillery regiments trained at Fort Bliss, Texas, with the 82nd Field Artillery, or at Fort Francis E. Warren, Wyoming, with the 2nd Battalion, 76th Field Artillery; the 328th Engineer Regiment trained with the 2nd Engineers at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and later at Fort Logan; the 320th Medical Regiment trained at Fort Sam Houston with the 2nd Medical Regiment; and the 328th Observation Squadron trained at Brooks Field and some years at Fort Bliss.
On a number of occasions, the division participated in Eighth Corps Area and Third Army command post exercises (CPXs) in conjunction with other Regular Army, National Guard, and Organized Reserve units. These training events gave division staff officers’ opportunities to practice the roles they would be expected to perform in the event the division was mobilized. Unlike the Regular and Guard units in the Eighth Corps Area, however, the 103rd Division did not participate in the various Eighth Corps Area Maneuvers and the Third Army maneuvers of 1938, 1940, and 1941 as an organized unit due to lack of enlisted personnel and equipment. Instead, the officers and a few enlisted reservists were assigned to Regular and Guard units to fill vacant slots and bring the units up to war strength for the exercises. Additionally, some officers were assigned duties as umpires or as support personnel. However, for each maneuver, the division maximized the number of participants. For example, for the 1938 maneuvers at Fort Francis E. Warren, Fort Bliss, and Fort Huachuca, the 103rd Division provided 228 officers to Regular Army units and 53 to units of the National Guard's 45th Division. Similar numbers participated in the two succeeding Army maneuvers. [3]
The 103rd Infantry Division was ordered into active military service on 15 November 1942 at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. The officer and enlisted cadre came from the 85th Infantry Division at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and the enlisted fillers arrived from reception centers located in the 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Service Commands (Camp Grant, Illinois, 4,060; Fort Custer, Michigan, 3,845; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1,307; Camp Dodge, Iowa, 1,036; Fort Snelling, Minnesota, 990; Eighth and Ninth Service Command reception centers, 921; Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 600; Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, 600; Fort McPherson, Georgia, 537; Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, 526; Fort Jackson, South Carolina, 218).
During 1944, the division lost 2,550 enlisted men from transfers to other divisions or to overseas replacement depots, and replenished its ranks with men transferred from antiaircraft artillery, coast artillery, and tank destroyer units, and aviation cadets and Army Specialized Training Program students reassigned to other duties. After nearly two years of training, the 103rd departed the United States for Europe on 5 October 1944. The division arrived at Marseilles, France, 20 October 1944. It relieved the 3d Division at Chevry on 8 November, arrived at Docelles (Vosges) on 9 November, and attacked west of St. Dié, 16 November, in its drive through the Vosges. Meeting heavy resistance all the way, it crossed the Meurthe River, took St. Dié on 23 November and captured Diefenbach on 29 November and Selestat on 4 December.
The division crossed the Zintzel river at Griesbach, 10 December 1944. Pushing through Climbach, the 103rd crossed the Lauter River into Germany, 15 December, and assaulted the outer defenses of the Siegfried Line. On 22 December, the division moved west to the Sarreguemines area where an active defense was maintained. The enemy offensive did not develop in its sector and the 103rd moved to Reichshofen, 14 January 1945, to take up positions along the Sauer River. On 15 January, General Anthony "Nuts" McAuliffe was redeployed from the Battle of the Bulge and given command, which he retained until July 1945. Defensive patrols were active and a limited attack on Soufflenheim on 19 January was repulsed by the enemy. On 20 January, the division withdrew to the Moder and repulsed German advances near Muehlhausen, 23–25 January. The 103rd's offensive began on 15 March 1945. Crossing the Moder and Zintzel rivers and taking Muehlhausen against sharp opposition, the division moved over the Lauter river and penetrated the defenses of the Siegfried Line.
As German resistance disintegrated, the 103rd reached the Upper Rhine Valley, 23 March, and engaged in mopping up operations in the plain west of the River Rhine. In April 1945, it received occupational duties until 20 April when it resumed the offensive, pursuing a fleeing enemy through Stuttgart and taking Münsingen on 24 April. On 27 April, elements of the division entered Landsberg, where Kaufering concentration camp, a subcamp of Dachau, was liberated. [4] [5] The men of the division crossed the Danube River near Ulm on 26 April. On 3 May 1945, members of its 409th Infantry Regiment captured Innsbruck, Austria with little to no fighting. The 411th Infantry Regiment continued on to take the Brenner Pass and earn the honor of linking up with the 88th Infantry Division of the Fifth Army, which had been fighting its way north up the Italian peninsula. Troops met at Vipiteno, Italy, near the Austrian border, on 4 May 1945, joining the Italian and Western European fronts. [2]
After Victory in Europe Day, the division received occupational duties until it left for home and inactivation. It returned to the continental U.S. on 10 September 1945, and was inactivated on 22 September 1945 at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey.
Components of the 103rd Infantry Division included: [7]
The following units, or their constituents, were attached for a time to the 103rd Infantry Division during its career:
This section needs additional citations for verification .(September 2011) |
The 103rd was activated as an Organized Reserve Corps division on 7 May 1947 in Des Moines, Iowa. Its combat elements were reorganized and redesignated as the 205th Infantry Brigade and the 103rd Operational Headquarters in February 1963. The 103rd Operational Headquarters was redesignated as the 103rd Command Headquarters (Divisional) in June 1963. In December 1965, the unit was reorganized as the 103rd Support Brigade.
In September 1977, the unit was redesignated and reorganized as the 103rd Corps Support Command (COSCOM), the first Corps Support Command in the United States Army Reserve. On 15 September 1993, the 103rd COSCOM inactivated, followed by the creation of two new reserve units: 19th Theater Army Area Command (CONUS) and 3d COSCOM (CONUS). On 14 February 2006, the 103rd was redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 103rd Sustainment Command. The 103rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command was activated as a reserve command, effective 16 September 2006. The division shoulder patch is worn by the United States Army Reserve 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary). [8]
The 36th Infantry Division ("Arrowhead") also known as the "Panther Division", the "Lone Star Division", "The Texas Army", and the "T-patchers", is an infantry division of the U.S. Army and part of the Texas Army National Guard. The 36th Infantry Division was organized during World War I (1914–1918) from units of the Texas National Guard and of the Oklahoma National Guard. As an all-Texas unit, the Arrowhead Division was called to service for World War II (1937–1945) on 25 November 1940, was deployed to the European Theater of Operations in April 1943, and returned to the Texas Army National Guard in December 1945.
The VII Army Corps of the United States Army was one of the two principal corps of the United States Army Europe during the Cold War. Activated in 1918 for World War I, it was reactivated for World War II and again during the Cold War. During both World War II and the Cold War it was subordinate to the Seventh Army, or USAREUR and was headquartered at Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart, West Germany, from 1951 until it was redeployed to the US after significant success in the Gulf War in 1991, then inactivated in 1992.
The 14th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army assigned to the Seventh Army of the Sixth Army Group during World War II. It remains on the permanent roll of the Regular Army as an inactive division, and is eligible for reactivation. The division is officially nicknamed the "Liberators".
The 91st Infantry Division (famously nicknamed as the "Wild West Division" with a "Fir Tree" as its Division insignia to symbolize its traditional home of the Far West) is an infantry division of the United States Army that fought in World War I and World War II. From 1946 until 2008, it was part of the United States Army Reserve. It was briefly inactivated from 2008 until 2010 when it was elevated back to a division size element as the 91st Training Division (Operations).
The 87th Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army in World War I and World War II.
The 89th Infantry Division, originally known as the "89th Division," was an infantry formation of the United States Army that was active during World War I, World War II, and the Cold War.
The 84th Training Command ("Railsplitters") is a formation of the United States Army. During World War I it was designated the 84th Division, American Expeditionary Forces; during World War II it was known as the 84th Infantry Division. From 1946 to 1952, the division was a part of the United States Army Reserve as the 84th Airborne Division. In 1959, the division was reorganized and redesignated once more as the 84th Division. The division was headquartered in Milwaukee in command of over 4,100 soldiers divided into eight brigades—including an ROTC brigade—spread throughout seven states.
The 95th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the United States Army. Today it exists as the 95th Training Division, a component of the United States Army Reserve headquartered at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
The 100th Training Division (Leader Development) (formerly the 100th Infantry Division) is a division of the United States Army headquartered at Fort Knox, Kentucky. It currently serves as a major training command of the United States Army Reserve. It has been known as the "Century Division" owing to its "100th" designation.
The 102nd Infantry Division ("Ozark") was a unit of the United States Army in World War II. The unit is currently active as the 102nd Training Division (Maneuver Support).
The 79th Infantry Division was an infantry formation of the United States Army Reserve in World Wars I and II.
The 88th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the United States Army that saw service in both World War I and World War II. It was one of the first of the Organized Reserve divisions to be called into federal service, created nearly "from scratch" after the implementation of the draft in 1940. Previous divisions were composed of either Regular Army or National Guard personnel. Much of the experience in reactivating it was used in the subsequent expansion of the U.S. Army.
The 77th Sustainment Brigade is a unit of the United States Army that inherited the lineage of the 77th Infantry Division, which served in World War I and World War II. Its headquarters has been at Fort Dix, New Jersey, since its predecessor command, the 77th Regional Readiness Command, was disestablished in 2008 from Fort Totten in Bayside, Queens, New York. Soldiers from the 77th have served in most major conflicts and contingency operations involving the US since World War II.
The 71st Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army in World War II.
The 70th Infantry Division ("Trailblazers") was a unit of the United States Army in World War II, spearheading the Seventh United States Army's drive into Germany, south of Saarbrücken.
The 44th Infantry Division was a division of the United States Army National Guard from October 1920 to November 1945, when it was inactivated after Federal Service during World War II. A second 44th Infantry Division existed in the Illinois Army National Guard from 1946 until October 1954, when that division was disbanded after federal service during the Korean War.
The 43rd Infantry Division was a formation of the United States Army from 1920 to 1963, serving in the Pacific during World War II. It was activated in 1920 as a National Guard Division in Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The 143rd Regional Support Group of the Connecticut National Guard now carries on the heritage.
The 28th Infantry Division ("Keystone") is a unit of the Army National Guard and is the oldest division-sized unit in the Department of Defense. Some of the units of the division can trace their lineage to Benjamin Franklin's battalion, The Pennsylvania Associators (1747–1777). The division was officially established in 1879 and was later redesignated as the 28th Division in 1917, after the entry of America into the First World War. It is today part of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, Maryland Army National Guard, Ohio Army National Guard, and New Jersey Army National Guard.
The 85th Infantry Division also known as "Custer Division" was an infantry division of the United States Army in World War I and World War II. It currently exists as the 85th Support Command.
The 26th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the United States Army. A major formation of the Massachusetts Army National Guard, it was based in Boston, Massachusetts for most of its history. Today, the division's heritage is carried on by the 26th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade.
This article incorporates public domain material from The Army Almanac: A Book of Facts Concerning the Army of the United States U.S. Government Printing Office, 1950. United States Army Center of Military History.