This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2013) |
71st Infantry Division | |
---|---|
Active | 1943–1946 1954–1956 |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Army |
Type | Infantry |
Size | Division |
Nickname(s) | "The Red Circle" |
Engagements | World War II |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | William Westmoreland Willard G. Wyman |
The 71st Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army in World War II.
The division was first organized as the 71st Light Division (Pack, Jungle), intended for use in the mountainous jungle areas of the Pacific theater. Smaller than the standard 14,000-man infantry division, at about 9,000 personnel, its primary means of transport was hundreds of horses and mules controlled by several quartermaster pack companies of muleteers, and for artillery several battalions of 1,439 lb (653 kg) 75mm pack howitzers, instead of the standard 4,980 lb (2,260 kg) M2A1 105 mm howitzer, which could be broken down into several loads and carried by mule train.
The 5th and 14th Infantry Regiments, Regular Army units which had been stationed in the Panama Canal Zone for several years prior to the war and had received extensive training in jungle operations during that time, were assigned to the division to provide the nucleus of jungle expertise. The 66th Infantry Regiment was constituted in the Regular Army on 10 July 1943, and activated and assigned to the division on 15 July 1943 as its third regiment.
After training at Camp Carson, Colorado, the division was sent to Hunter Ligget Military Reservation in the mountains inland from Big Sur, California, where it maneuvered against the 89th Light Division as a test of the light division concept. As a result of the test, it was decided that the light divisions had insufficient manpower and firepower to be effective, and the concept was abandoned. The 71st Division was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia, where it was reorganized and retrained as a standard infantry division, although it remained unusual in having Regular Army infantry regiments assigned to a division raised in the Army of the United States.
The 71st Infantry Division arrived at Le Havre, France, 6 February 1945, and trained at Camp Old Gold with headquarters at Limesy. The division moved east, relieved the 100th Infantry Division at Ratswiller and saw its first action on 11 March 1945. Their ouster of the Germans from France began 15 March. The division moved through outer belts of the Siegfried Line, captured Pirmasens, 21 March, and crossed the Rhine at Oppenheim, 30 March. The 71st continued the advance, taking Coburg without resistance, cutting the Munich-Berlin autobahn, 13 April, and capturing Bayreuth after fierce opposition on 16 April. Moving south, the Division destroyed Schönfeld, 18 April, took Rosenberg, crossed the Naab River at Kallmünz on 24 April and crossed the Danube on 26 April. Regensburg fell on the next day and Straubing on 28 April. As resistance crumbled, the division crossed the Isar on 29 April and entered Austria, 2 May.
Participated in the liberation of concentration camps including one in Austria called Gunskirchen Lager, a subcamp of Mauthausen, on 4 May. [2] A pamphlet was produced by the US Army after they liberated the camp, called "The Seventy-First came to Gunskirchen Lager." The book recounts in detail, and with graphic photos, the tragedy they found in the camp. The complete booklet is available for free on-line.
The 71st organized and occupied defensive positions along the Enns River and contacted Russian forces east of Linz, 8 May, the day before hostilities ceased, having gone further east than any other U.S. Army unit. The division was assigned occupational duties until it left for home and inactivation 1 March 1946.
During the last several weeks of the war, the 761st Tank Battalion, an African-American unit, was attached to the 71st Division and fought with it. The 71st Division is also the formation in which Lt. John D. Eisenhower, General Dwight Eisenhower's son, served.
In January 1946, Colonel William Westmoreland was appointed commander, and was responsible for leading the units that had not yet been deactivated back to the United States so they could be demobilized. [3]
In 1954 the 71st Infantry Division was reactivated in the northwest United States and Alaska as the division headquarters for several geographically separated units, to include the 53d Infantry Regiment headquartered at Fort Richardson, Alaska, with additional units stationed at Fort Greely, and the 4th [9] and 5th [10] Infantry regiments at Fort Lewis, Washington. The 723rd Tank Battalion was also withdrawn from the Army Reserve and activated at Camp Irwin and assigned to the 71st. [11] In this status the division was known as a "static division" not capable of or intended for deployment. [12] (A second "static" unit, the 23d Infantry Division, was activated in the Caribbean region.)
Units of the reactivated 71st Infantry Division included the following: [13]
The division lasted in this status for less than two years, being inactivated at Fort Lewis on 15 September 1956.
The 5th Armored Division ("Victory") was an armored formation of the United States Army active from 1941 to 1945 and from 1950 to 1956.
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 65th Infantry Division—nicknamed the "Battle-Axe Division"—was an infantry division of the United States Army that served in World War II. Its shoulder patch is a white halberd on a blue shield.
The 78th Training Division (Operations) ("Lightning") is a unit of the United States Army which served in World War I and World War II as the 78th Infantry Division, and currently trains and evaluates units of the United States Army Reserve for deployment.
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 103rd Infantry Division 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.
The 66th Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army during World War II. Activated 15 April 1943, the division trained at Camp Blanding, Florida, and was later transferred to Camp Robinson, Arkansas and then later to Camp Rucker, Alabama before being shipped overseas to England on 26 November 1944. Commanded by Maj. Gen. Herman F. Kramer, the 66th Infantry Division's main role in World War II was containing and eliminating the remaining pockets of German soldiers in Northern France.
The 79th Infantry Division was an infantry formation of the United States Army Reserve in World Wars I and II.
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 conflict and contingency operations since World War II.
The 83rd Infantry Division ("Thunderbolt") was a formation of the United States Army in World War I and World War II.
The 86th Infantry Division, also known as the Blackhawk Division, was a unit of the United States Army in World War I and World War II. Currently called the 86th Training Division, based at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, members of the division now work with Active Army, Reserve, and National Guard units to provide them with a Decisive Action Training Environment on a yearly basis.
The 90th Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army that served in World War I and World War II. Its lineage is carried on by the 90th Sustainment Brigade.
The 106th Infantry Division was a division of the United States Army formed for service during World War II. Two of its three regiments were overrun and surrounded in the initial days of the Battle of the Bulge, and they were forced to surrender to German forces on 19 December 1944. The division was never officially added to the troop list following the war, despite having been almost completely organized in Puerto Rico by 1948; subsequently, the War Department determined the division was not needed and inactivated the division headquarters in 1950.
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 9th Infantry Division is an inactive infantry division of the United States Army. It was created as the 9th Division during World War I, but never deployed overseas. In later years it was an important unit of the U.S. Army during World War II and the Vietnam War. It was also activated as a peacetime readiness unit from 1947 to 1962 at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and Fort Carson, Colorado, and from 1972 to 1991 as an active-duty infantry division at Fort Lewis, Washington. The division was deactivated in December 1991.
The 6th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the United States Army active in World War I, World War II, and the last years of the Cold War. Known as "Red Star", it was previously called the "Sight Seein' Sixth".
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.
The 30th Infantry Division was a unit of the Army National Guard 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 was regarded by a team of historians led by S.L.A. Marshall as the number one American infantry division in the European Theater of Operations (ETO), involved in 282 days of intense combat over a period from June 1944 through April 1945. 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.