Because the activation rate of Army units in late 1942 was proceeding faster than the expected induction rate of new soldiers and there was an urgent need for personnel to participate in the Operation Torch landings in North Africa planned for November 1942, the reorganization of the 97th was deferred until early 1943 and three partially-trained divisions were stripped to less than 50 percent strength. 97th Infantry Division In 1942 a typical infantry regiment consisted of a headquarters and band, a headquarters company, a service company, an anti-tank company, a cannon company, and three infantry battalions. [4], The division left Le Havre on 16 June 1945 aboard the SSBrazil, arriving at Camp Shanks on 24 June. There was a building marked by a red cross which the 97th assumed was a hospital and therefore, did not attack it. In the complicated design of the 97ths shoulder patch, the three prongs of the trident represent the states from which the personnel of the outfit were originally drawnMaine, Vermont, and New Hampshire. We recommend that you search the U.S. Army Center of Military History, 97th Infantry Division - Order of Battle of the United States Army - WWII - ETO, website for the order of battle during World War II. >> World War II. p)\ Trident's Prongs Stab Dusseldorf Oz\Tx* Army Unit Rosters and Unit Photos. g>~.PxE!Dl^=?Xc@=qQ M_l{(qfg8.epW(O.qq\\'(pr}@Tex%,Li-_Vo?X#2UI:qtR-8}U|H,UQ-?8~yO+}?_[@g5O./oW7f@n}CN{V~ y1q27\K $h. z' z')z)z: [15], Pushing on toward Dsseldorf through difficult terrain and heavy resistance in densely wooded areas, the division captured Solingen on 17 April. December 1945. [5] The strength of the division upon deployment in Europe was 600 officers and 14,000 men.[4]. The division left for Le Havre, 16 June 1945, for redeployment to the Pacific, arriving at Cebu, Philippine Islands, 16 September, and then sailed to Japan for occupation duty, arriving at Yokohama on 23 September 1945. Flossenbrg memorial archive. The 97th Infantry Division landed at Le Havre, France, 2 March 1945, and moved to Camp Lucky Strike. In 1996, as part of the overall force reduction following the end of the Cold War, the 97th Army Reserve Command was inactivated and its units were absorbed into the 99th Regional Readiness Command. After V-E Day, the Division was moved back into Germany, and then prepared to sail back to the United States for redeployment to the Pacific. He was captured on Nov. 12, 1944 during the Battle of the Huertgen Forest, Germany. ACPL Call Number D107.2:In 3/97th div. [citation needed], 97th Infantry Division shoulder sleeve insignia, Army Battle Casualties and Nonbattle Deaths, Final Report (Statistical and Accounting Branch, Office of the Adjutant General, 1 June 1953), Susan Hobson, "New Creative Writers: 17 Novelists Whose First Work Appears This Season,". Casualty figures for the 90th Infantry Division, European theater of operations: Total battle casualties: 19,200; Total deaths in battle: 3,951 The 97th Inf. 28 April 1945: First Army, 12th Army Group. [8] According to his citation: He received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his actions. The 97th entered the battle of the Ruhr pocket, [17] Members of the Counter Intelligence Corps, which included Robie Macauley,[18] Ib Melchior[19] and Anthony Hecht,[20] interviewed former prisoners and gathered evidence for trials of former camp officers and guards. The 97th Infantry Division landed at Le Havre, France, 2 March 1945, and moved to Camp Lucky Strike. The insignia is a. Please see the linked website for more information. NPRC continues working to restore their pre-pandemic response times of under ten days for these requests. We recommend that you search the U.S. Army Center of Military History 97th Infantry Division - Order of Battle of the United States Army - WWII - ETO website for the order of battle during World War II. Docs). During the final mopping-up operations in the pocket, the 97th took thousands of prisoners. The Story of the 97th Infantry Division [15][22][23], On 25 April the division entered Czechoslovakia, moving to protect the left flank of the Third Army on its southern drive. This website is only in its very early stages, aiming to give a full spectrum of data on World War II fighting units, including details on organization, commanders, and literature. The 393rd, 394th & 395th were the Infantry Regiments of the 99th Infantry Division. [14] Pfc John Hedrick seized an abandoned assault boat while under heavy enemy fire and used the craft to help ferry troops across the river. Returned to U. S.: 26 June 1945, from the ETO. The exact time frame is unknown. Overseas: 19 February 1945, for the ETO; 28 August 1945, for the Pacific Theater. Headquarters Company, 97th Infantry Division. Malnutrition and disease were rampant, and corpses lay unburied. First Strike Against the Fatherland. 1 April 1945: First Army, 12th Army Group. duty, arriving at Yokohama 23 September 1945. A military police patrol from the 303rd Infantry Regiment may have been the first U.S. Army unit to reach the camp, although the 2nd Cavalry Group, Mechanized[16] and a colonel from the 90th Infantry Division later took credit for liberating the camp. 90th Infantry Casualty Figures. |_W+ the border and trident represents the snow that covers these states' picturesque Good luck with your quest. Ff After Siegburg, they captured Cologne (Koeln) Germany. The "Blue and Gray" was coined as the nickname of the 29th Infantry Division by the division's commander during World War I. "Anthony Hecht: Poet who expressed the horrors of the 20th century in verse of formal rigour and cultured gravity. Richard V. Horrell. It is reproduced here with only those limited modifications required to adapt to the World Wide Web; spelling, punctuation, and slang usage have not been altered from the original. Log in or Sign up to interact with the community. Overseas: 16 September 1945, to the Philippine Islands. Maj. Gen. Louis A. Craig (4 February 1943-19 January 1944) Overseas: 19 February 1945, for the ETO; 28 August 1945, for the Pacific Theater. Dusseldorf fell on the next day and the Ruhr pocket was eliminated. Then the Division began to move back toward Dsseldorf again, to close the pocket from the south. The 97th Division was one of the divisions planned to be activated in late 1918 and deployed to France in 1919 to reinforce the American Expeditionary Force. bank of the Rhine River opposite Dusseldorf, engaging in patrolling. I'm hoping to find out what company-level records there are for this unit during World War II. It had advanced to Konstantinovy Please complete a. and mail it to NARA's National Personnel Records Center, (Military Personnel Records), 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, MO 63138-1002. ABMC Headquarters 2300 Clarendon Blvd, Suite 500 Arlington, VA 22201 Phone: 703-584-1501 Undoubtedly there are men who served with the division who are not listed in this document. 1-May 9, 1945) of the 303rd Infantry Regiment, 97th Infantry Division during WWII. Where modern explanatory notes were required, they have been inserted as italicized text in square brackets.] Welcome to WWII Forums! Lazne, Czechoslovakia, when it received the cease-fire order on 7 May. It included the 193rd and 194th Infantry Brigades, and the 172nd Field Artillery Brigade. Flossenbrg memorial archive. he was called to active duty in April 1943, serving as a combat infantryman with Co. B, 110th Infantry, 28th Division, ETO. Initial instruction at Camp Cody went relatively well, but the 172nd Brigade's training at Camp Jackson was delayed by a lack of personnel. John Hedrick, who took control of an abandoned boat and made sure the survivors crossed the river safely. 97th Infantry Division World War II Missing in Action. The 97th called in an artillery attack on the wooded area and approximately 50 Germans surrendered. regiment (303d) served with the 76th Division. [1], In July 1944 the division relocated to Camp San Luis Obispo, California. It crossed that river, 7 April, against light resistance and fought a street-to-street engagement in Siegburg on the 10th. The New York Times, Letters to the Editor, 8 August 1976. 28 March 1945: XXII Corps. The Division left for Le Havre, 16 June 1945, for redeployment to the Pacific, arriving at Cebu, Philippine Islands, 16 September, and then sailed to Japan for occupation duty, arriving at Yokohama 23 September 1945. 563 . Thanks. Muster Rolls and Rosters, 11/1/1912 - 12/31/1943. On 28 March, the Division crossed the German border west of Aachen and took up a defensive position along the west On the March When the Bell Rang. Gen. Milton B. Halsey (Jan 44 - Sep 45). See, for instructions. 2010-2023 ACPL Genealogy Center.All RightsReserved. (Govt. Stories" booklets were not published for all the divisions which served in the ETO in WWII. Under the supervision of the Navy and Marine Corps, the division began amphibious training and exercises at Camp Callan, Coronado Strand, San Clemente Island, San Nicolas Island and Camp Pendleton. [2], The division was intended to be composed of National Army draftees mainly from Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, but in October, over 5,000 draftees, mainly from Oklahoma and Minnesota, were sent to the division at Camp Cody. Private First Class LeVert W. Bell 387th Infantry Regiment 04/02/1945 Staff Sergeant Charles C. Miller 387th Infantry Regiment 04/03/1946 Neptune's trident was originally adopted to represent the coastal Gen. Milton B. Halsey (20 January 1944-24 September 1945) Then it was transferred to the Third Army, was shifted to General Patton s front, and was committed to action again near the town of Hof. [15] Members of the 97th Division treated sick and dying prisoners and buried the several hundred corpses discovered in the camp. endstream endobj 1110 0 obj <>stream The 97th landed in France at Le Havre, and was first as-signed to the Fifteenth Army. WW 2 Connections, Aug 6, 2010. [30], Confiscating and disposing of Japanese military property proved to be the Division's prime task. Milton Ponitz and First Lt. Robert McCaffrey. After assembly and training at Camp Cooke in California, the 97th Infantry Division was transported by train to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. On 25 October, Brigadier General James R. Lindsay became division commander as Martin became its chief of staff. Please complete a GSA Standard Form 180 and mail it to NARA's National Personnel Records Center, (Military Personnel Records), 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, MO 63138-1002. For more information, please see, Access to Morning Reports and Unit Rosters | National Archives, If you have not already done so, we suggest that you request a copy of his, . are the only elements now with the division that boast battle streamers from World War I. ~Charles F. Browne, If you are ashamed to stand by your colors, you had better seek another flag. ' He received the Silver Star for his valiant efforts. [4] Dsseldorf fell without much fighting the next day, after the German Resistance launched Aktion Rheinland, and the Ruhr pocket was eliminated by 21 April. The 86th and 97th Infantry Divisions, allocated for service in the Pacific, were ordered to the European Theater of Operations (ETO) instead for the final assault on Germany. Please email stlarr.archives@nara.gov for further assistance prior to making an appointment.
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