37th Infantry Division | |
---|---|
Active | 1917–1919 1923–1968 |
Country | United States |
Branch | Army |
Type | Infantry |
Role | Headquarters |
Size | Division |
Part of | Army National Guard |
Nickname(s) | "Buckeye Division" |
Colors | Red and blue |
Engagements | World War I |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Robert S. Beightler |
The 37th Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army in World War I and World War II. It was a National Guard division from Ohio, nicknamed the "Buckeye Division". Today, its lineage is continued through the 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, with battalions from Ohio, Michigan, and South Carolina.
It was initially activated as the 16th Division, a National Guard formation from Ohio and West Virginia in 1913. It was federally activated in August 1917 as a National Guard Division from Ohio. It was sent overseas in June 1918 and fought at the Meuse-Argonne and at Ypres-Lys offensives
The 37th Division was reconstituted in the National Guard in 1921, allotted to the state of Ohio, and assigned to the V Corps. The 145th and 146th Infantry Regiments were consolidated and designated the 145th Infantry, while the 166th Infantry Regiment, which had been assigned to the 42nd Division in World War I, was assigned to the 37th Division. The 37th Division headquarters was federally recognized on 31 May 1923. The division trained most years at Camp Perry, Ohio, except for the 62nd Field Artillery Brigade, which often trained at Camp Knox (later Fort Knox), Kentucky, to utilize the artillery ranges located there. Newly-commissioned Organized Reserve lieutenants assigned to the Regular Army's 60th and 61st Infantry Regiments, which were maintained in an inactive status in the Fifth Corps Area, also trained with the division at Camp Perry. The division staff usually trained at Camp Perry, but participated in the Fifth Corps Area command post exercise (CPX) in 1929 and the Second Army CPX in 1938. In 1936, the division participated in the Fifth Corps Area phase of the Second Army maneuvers at Fort Knox. The entire division was called up for flood relief duty during the Ohio River Flood of 1937. In 1940, the division participated in the Second Army maneuvers near Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. The 37th Division was inducted into federal service at home stations on 15 October 1940 and moved to Camp Shelby, Mississippi. After the division’s basic training, it participated in the V Corps maneuver in June 1941, and in the GHQ maneuvers in August–September 1941. [1]
The 112th Engineer Combat Battalion had been sent to Ireland in May 1942 as part of an advance party in anticipation of the 37th Infantry Division's deployment to Europe, but the division's orders were shortly changed to deployment to the Pacific Theater. The 29th Infantry Division's 121st Engineer Combat Battalion, less five officers and 120 men that remained with the division to form the nucleus of a new battalion, was assigned to the 37th Infantry Division as the new 117th Engineer Combat Battalion.
The 37th Infantry Division arrived in Fiji in June 1942 to fortify the islands against possible invasion. The division continued its training on the islands. With the end of ground fighting on Guadalcanal, the division moved to that island in April 1943, continued training, and staged for the Munda campaign. Two battalions joined the Marine Raiders on New Georgia, 5 July 1943, while the remainder of the division landed, 22 July, and assisted the 43d Infantry Division in taking Munda airfield in heavy fighting. After mopping up on New Georgia, the division returned to Guadalcanal, 9 September 1943, for rest and rehabilitation.
The division's next assignment was Bougainville as part of the I Marine Amphibious Corps. Landing between 8 and 19 November 1943, the 37th Division expanded the western beachhead sector, constructed roads and bridges, and engaged in extensive patrol activity. On 15 December 1943, IMAC was relieved by the XIV Corps, to which the 37th Division was then assigned. In March 1944, two Japanese divisions made eight major attacks, but division lines held. In April patrols cleared the Laruma Valley area of major enemy units. The division remained on Bougainville and trained for the Luzon campaign. Landing with the Sixth Army on the beaches of Lingayen Gulf, 9 January 1945, the 37th raced inland against slight resistance to Clark Field and Fort Stotsenburg where fierce resistance delayed capture of those objectives until 31 January. The division continued to drive to Manila against small delaying forces, and entered the city's outskirts, 4 February. Upon crossing the Pasig River, it ran into bitter Japanese opposition. [2] By heavy street fighting, American and Filipino troops cleared the city by 3 March 1945.
After garrison duty in Manila, 5–26 March, the division shifted to the hills of Northwest Luzon, where heavy fighting culminated in the capture of Baguio, 26 April with aided Filipino troops under the 66th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFIP-NL. Rest and rehabilitation during May were followed by action in June in the Cagayan Valley against deteriorating Japanese resistance. With the end of hostilities, 15 August, the division was concerned with the collection and processing of prisoners of war, leaving November 1945 for the States and demobilization.
Major General Robert Beightler was one of only eleven generals who commanded their divisions for the entire war, and was the only National Guard general to do so. [3]
The division was reorganized in the Ohio Army National Guard in 1946. It served under federal control from 1952 to 1954 at Camp Polk, Louisiana. Although the division was not sent to Korea, nearly every soldier was as an individual replacement. The 37th went through a number of reorganizations from 1959 until it was disbanded on 15 February 1968.
The bulk of the division's combat units became the 73rd Infantry Brigade, 38th Infantry Division with the remaining becoming the 16th Engineer Brigade and other combat support units. In 1977, the 73rd Brigade was released from assignment to the 38th ID and was redesignated the 73rd Infantry Brigade, a separate brigade. During the draw down of forces after the Cold War, units of the 73rd and the 107th Armored Cavalry Regiment consolidated to form the 37th Brigade, 28th Infantry Division. A year later, the brigade was reunited with the 38th Infantry Division.
On 1 September 2007, 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) was activated under the Army's modular plan. The shoulder sleeve insignia of the 37th IBCT is heavily based on that of the 37th Infantry Division and many units that are part of the 37th IBCT, served in the 37th Infantry Division.
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 first organized during World War I (1914–1918) from units of the Texas and Oklahoma National Guards. After the war, the division was reformed as an all-Texas unit, and 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 National Guard in December 1945.
The 9th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army during World War II. In honor of their World War II service, the 9th was officially nicknamed the "Phantom Division."
The 20th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army that fought in World War II. It was activated on 15 March 1943 at Camp Campbell in Kentucky.
The 40th Infantry Division is a modular division of the California Army National Guard. Following the Army's modularization in the mid-2000s, the division has become a modular unit consisting of three brigade combat teams, with National Guardsmen from throughout the Pacific and Western United States and Oceania. Its division headquarters is located at Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, California.
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 29th Infantry Division, also known as the "Blue and Gray Division", is an infantry division of the United States Army based at Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County, Virginia. The division is currently a formation of the Army National Guard and includes units from Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia.
The 35th Infantry Division, formerly known as the 35th Division, is an infantry formation of the United States Army National Guard headquartered at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
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 76th Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army in World War I, World War II and the Cold War. The division was inactivated in 1996 and has been reconstituted as the 76th US Army Reserve Operational Response Command in 2013.
The 71st Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army in World War II.
The 34th Infantry Division is an infantry division of the United States Army, part of the National Guard, that participated in World War I, World War II and multiple current conflicts. It was the first American division deployed to Europe in World War II, where it fought with great distinction in the Italian Campaign.
The 30th Infantry Division was a United States Army unit of the National Guard that served in World War I and World War II. It was nicknamed the "Old Hickory" division, in honor of President Andrew Jackson. The Germans nicknamed this division "Roosevelt's SS". The 30th Infantry Division, involved in 282 days of intense combat over a period from June 1944 through April 1945, was regarded by a team of historians led by S.L.A. Marshall as the American infantry division that had "performed the most efficient and consistent battle services" in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). In the present day, the division's lineage continues as 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team, part of the North Carolina National Guard. The unit's most recent combat deployment was in 2019.
The 33rd Infantry Division was a formation of the U.S. Army National Guard between 1917 and 1968. Originally formed for service during World War I, the division fought along the Western Front during the Battle of Amiens, the Battle of Hamel, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, at the Second Battle of the Somme, and at the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. It was re-formed during the inter-war period, and then later activated for service during World War II, seeing action against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Pacific. In the post war era, the division was reconstituted as an all-Illinois National Guard division. In the late 1960s, the division was reduced to a brigade-sized formation, and its lineage is currently perpetuated by the 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team.
The 27th Infantry Division was a unit of the Army National Guard in World War I and World War II. The division traces its history from the New York Division, formed originally in 1908. The 6th Division designation was changed to the 27th Division in July 1917.
The 28th Infantry Division ("Keystone") is a unit of the United States Army National Guard, and is the oldest division-sized unit in the Army. 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 371st Sustainment Brigade is an Ohio Army National Guard Sustainment Brigade located at the Springfield–Beckley Municipal Airport in Springfield, Ohio. The Brigade includes the 371st Special Troops Battalion and the 112th Transportation Battalion and is assigned to the 28th Infantry Division.
The Ohio Army National Guard is a part of the Ohio National Guard and the Army National Guard of the United States Army. It is also a component of the organized militia of the state of Ohio, which also includes the Ohio Naval Militia, the Ohio Military Reserve and the Ohio Air National Guard. The Ohio Army National Guard consists of a variety of combat, combat support, and combat service support units. As of September 2010, its end strength exceeded 11,400 soldiers. Its headquarters is the Beightler Armory in Columbus, Ohio. Many units conduct Annual Training at Camp Grayling, Michigan.
The 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Buckeye) is an infantry brigade combat team of the United States Army National Guard with the brigade headquarters, cavalry squadron, field artillery battalion, engineer battalion, one infantry battalion, and support battalion stationed in Ohio, one infantry battalion and military intelligence company stationed in Michigan, and a third infantry battalion stationed in South Carolina. The headquarters of the 37th IBCT traces its lineage and honors back to the headquarters of the 37th Infantry Division.
Major General Gregory Lynn Wayt served as Adjutant General of Ohio under Governors Bob Taft and Ted Strickland.
The 145th Armored Regiment, Ohio Army National Guard, is a parent regiment under the U.S. Army Regimental System, with headquarters at Stow, Ohio. It currently consists of the 1st Battalion, 145th Armored Regiment, a 600-soldier combined arms battalion of the Ohio Army National Guard located throughout northeast Ohio.