42nd Infantry Division (United States)
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| 42nd Infantry Division | |
|---|---|
 42nd ID Shoulder Sleeve Insignia |
|
| Active | 1917-1919; 1943- |
| Country | USA |
| Branch | Army National Guard |
| Type | Division |
| Role | Infantry |
| Garrison/HQ | North Greenbush, New York |
| Nickname | Rainbow Division |
| Battles/wars | World War I World War II Iraq War |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
Paul C. Genereux, Jr. |
The 42d Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army in World War I and World War II, and is the division of the New York National Guard.
During World War I, because it contained National Guard units drawn nationally from throughout the United States, it became known as the "Rainbow Division," based on a comment made by Douglas MacArthur (then its chief of staff and later its division commander), who said "The 42nd Division stretches like a rainbow from one end of America to the other." The 42nd Infantry Division adopted a shoulder patch acknowledging the nickname.
The division now has units in nine different states, including New York, Vermont, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Delaware, Florida, Michigan and Illinois.[1]
Contents |
[edit] World War I
- Activated: August 1917 (National Guard Division, the components of which were drawn from 26 States and the District of Columbia).
- Overseas: November 1917.
- Major operations: Champagne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne.
- Days of combat: 264.
- Casualties: Total 14,683 (KIA-2,058; WIA-12,625).
- Commanders: Maj. Gen. W. A. Mann (5 September 1917), Maj. Gen. Charles T. Menoher (19 December 1917), Brig. Gen. Douglas MacArthur (10 November 1918), Maj. Gen. C. A. F. Flagler (22 November 1918).
The 42d Division was not organized as a National Guard division after World War I.
[edit] World War II
- Activated: 14 July 1943
- Overseas: November 1944.
- Campaigns: Rhineland, Central Europe.
- Days of combat: 106.
- Distinguished Unit Citations: 1.
- Awards: MH-1 ; DSC-4 ; DSM-1 ; SS-622; LM-9; SM-32; ; BSM-5,325 ; AM-104.
- Commanders: Maj. Gen. Harry J. Collins commanded the Division during its entire period of Federal service in World War II.
- Inactivated: 29 June 1946 in Europe.
[edit] Combat Chronicle
When formed for World War II, the 42nd was a unique unit, for it was a reconstitution of the World War I Rainbow Division. Except for the division headquarters, none of its earlier elements had reformed in the interwar period, so the Army Ground Forces filled its new units with personnel from every state. To emphasize the division's tie to its World War I predecessor, Maj. Gen. Harry J. Collins activated the unit on 14 July, the eve of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Champagne-Marne campaign in France.[1]
Following training and the journey to Europe, the three regiments and a detachment of the Division Headquarters arrived in France at Marseilles, 8-9 December 1944, and were formed into Task Force Linden, under the Assistant Division Commander. Assigned to VI Corps, Seventh Army, the Task Force entered combat in the vicinity of Strasbourg, relieving elements of the 36th Infantry Division, 24 December 1944. Defending a 31-mile sector along the Rhine, north and south of Strasbourg, the Task Force repulsed a number of enemy counterattacks, at Hatten and elsewhere. After throwing back an enemy attack, 24-26 January 1945, Task Force Linden returned to Seventh Army Reserve and trained with the remainder of the Division which had arrived meanwhile.
On 14 February 1945, the Division entered combat as a whole, taking up defensive positions near Haguenau in the Hardt Mountains. After a month of extensive patrolling and active defense, the 42d went on the offensive, attacking through the Hardt Mountains, broke through the Siegfried Line, 15-21 March, cleared Dahn and Busenberg, and mopped up in that general area, while the Third Army created and expanded bridgeheads across the Rhine. Moving across the Rhine, 31 March, the 42d captured Wertheim am Main, 1 April, and Würzburg, 2-6 April, after a fierce battle. Schweinfurt fell next after hand-to-hand engagements, 9-12 April. Fürth, near Nürnberg, put up fanatical resistance, but was taken, 18-19 April, by the Division. In 1976, the remains of about 200 men from the I Battalion, 38th SS Regiment were found and positively identified, apparently shot by troops from the U.S. 42nd Infantry Division and buried in a mass grave by Nuremberg. Most had been shot at very close range, suggesting that a massacre had taken place.
On the 25th, the 42nd captured Donauwörth on the Danube, and on the 29th liberated some 30,000 inmates at Dachau, a Nazi concentration camp. Consequently, they took part in the Dachau Massacre, a war crime where 1 SS officer and 41 men were murdered. Passing through Munich, 30 April, it cut across the Austrian border north of Salzburg, 5 May, as the war in Europe ended.
[edit] Assignments in the ETO
- 10 December 1944: Seventh Army, 6th Army Group.
- 15 December 1944: Third Army, 12th Army Group.
- 24 December 1944: VI Corps, Seventh Army, 6th Army Group.
- 25 March 1945: XXI Corps.
- 19 April 1945: XV Corps.
[edit] Post War and War in Iraq
The Division absorbed the units of the 26th Infantry Division and the 50th Armored Division in post Cold War restructuring. The New Jersey brigade that transferred from the disbanding 50th Division in 1988-9 was initially an armored brigade, but transitioned to an infantry brigade in the very first years of the 21st Century
The division has been the first National Guard division to be sent to the frontline under its own command since the Korean War. Serving as the headquarters of Task Force Liberty and responsible for security operations in four provinces of north central Iraq (Diyala, Salah ad Din, Kirkuk, As Sulaymaniyah), the 42nd Infantry Division directed the operations of 1st Brigade,US 3rd Infantry Division, 3rd Brigade,US 3rd Infantry Division, the 278th Regimental Combat Team, and the 116th Brigade Combat Team.
[edit] Order of Battle
42nd Infantry Division (UEx), (NY NG)
- 42nd Special Troops Battalion
- 242nd Military Intelligence Battalion
- 27th IBCT, (NY NG)
- 1-69th Infantry
- 2-108th Infantry
- 2-101st Cavalry (RSTA)
- 1-258th FA
- 342nd Support
- 27th BCT STB
- 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mtn.) (VT NG)
- 3-172nd Infantry (Mtn.)
- 1-102nd Infantry, (CT NG)
- 1-172nd Cavalry (Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition) (RSTA)
- 1-86th FA
- 186th Support
- 86th BCT STB
- 50th IBCT (NJ NG)
- 1-113th Infantry
- 1-114th Infantry
- 1-102nd Cavalry (RSTA)
- 3-112th FA
- 250th Support
- 50th BCT STB
- 26th IBCT (MA NG)
- 1-181st Infantry
- 1-200th Infantry (NM NG)
- 1-182nd Cavalry (RSTA)
- 1-101st FA
- 26th Support
- 26th BCT STB
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- The Army Almanac: A Book of Facts Concerning the Army of the United States U.S. Government Printing Office, 1950 reproduced at CMH.
