1914-1818 – 2nd Division
To make this short story of the 2nd Infantry Division in the European Theater complete, its record in World War One must be touched upon briefly. The Division, equipped and trained by the French Army, participated in five major engagements of 1918. Assigned to a quiet subsector near Ranzières, it remained in that defensive position for four months. Then it was hurriedly pulled out of that sector and thrust into the front against the Germans, to halt a major breakthrough in the French positions near Chateau-Thierry. Rushed forward into the strategic Paris–Metz Road sector, the Division counterattacked a full-scale German drive toward Paris in that area. Pushed into line astride the road into Paris, after four months of intensive training for trench warfare, the division found itself engaged in open fighting, against an advancing enemy. The division halted the ruthless drive of elite German troops, then consolidated its positions while the 4th Marine Brigade advanced to drive the enemy from the terribly bloody Belleau Wood. It suffered heavy losses, but its great defensive steadied the entire Allied line from Switzerland to the sea.
On July 18, Maréchal Foch hurled his best divisions, among which he included the American 2nd Division, against the west side of the German positions at Soissons. Moving on to this sector, the division did not even halt its march at the line of departure for the attack. It continued marching and fighting in a spectacular forward sweep until it obtained its objectives, sending the enemy reeling back along the line. For Soissons, the division in its entirety was decorated with the Croix de Guerre by the French Ministry of War for its conspicuous part in this operation and its bravery in action. Now, in two great battles, fighting with the French, the Division had proved it’s worth and had taken its place with great American fighting units of all times.
From Soissons, the Indian Head Division went on to become a part of the American 1-A and to see its first action fighting under American Command, this was at Saint-Mihiel Salient. The significance of the salient lay not in its depth, for that, was not great, but in its strength. The enemy had remained entrenched here for four long years. Repeated assaults and continued storming had failed to drive him out.
The division took in a day objectives that had resisted months of bitter siege. Fighting as a shock troop unit, the division took in a single blow, objectives that had been assigned for much later, and captured vast quantities of material and supplies.
In October, the French 4-A requested the services of the 2nd Division for operations against an objective of formidable proportions, the Mont Blanc. Attacking from both sides, in flanking operations by the two brigades, the Division assailed the heights of this stronghold in a terrific onslaught, taking it quickly and opening the way toward the Argonne Forest. In this action, the Division won its second Croix de Guerre. Reverting to American command, the Division now took part in the Meuse Argonne offensive, the last great forward drive of World War One, which began the German rout that was completed with the signing of the Armistice.
The 2nd Division took one-fourth of all the prisoners captured by the American Expeditionary Force and one-fourth of the total number of guns and weapons seized. It suffered one-tenth of the casualties in the American armies, more than any other one division, and received the largest quota of Distinguished Service Crosses.
By virtue of its two citations in the French Orders of the Army, the Division wears the Fourragère in the colors of the Croix de Guerre awarded for conspicuous action. Only one other American division in France, the 1st Division, received that honor. In World War II, the 3rd Infantry Division received that distinction. Officers and men who fought with a division in the actions for which it received that honor are privileged to wear the decoration of the looped braid and pencil after being transferred to other units. According to military tradition, the Fourragère originated when an ancient Prussian leader gave each member of a failing unit a loop of hangman’s rope and a nail on the eve of battle, presumably for hanging if he failed again. So gallantly did the men fight in subsequent battles, the story goes, that the rope and nail became a badge of military honor, symbolized in the present braid and pencil.
The Division completed its tour of occupation in the Rhineland in July 1919, and as the units returned to the United States they were sent to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, where the Division remained in garrison during 23 years of peace until a new German war machine once more went on a rampage and trampled human decency from the face of Europe.
In October 1940, as a result of its own tests conducted in the years of peace, during which it pioneered many changes in military technique and equipment, the division became the first triangular division to take form. In 1939, the 38-IR had been added to take part in tests to determine the feasibility of streamlining the old square division. The final tests were completed during maneuvers in Louisiana and in October of that year, utilizing the results of these tests, the organization was completed essentially as it fought through World War II.
The division engaged in maneuvers in Texas and Louisiana in 1941, and elements participated in airborne operations for experimental purposes. Elements likewise demonstrated field artillery problems in 1941 and 1942. During the high point of the Nazi submarine warfare, when U-boats were known to penetrate coastal waters, the Division furnished protection in Gulf Coast areas of strategic industrial importance.
The Division conducted tests and pioneered developments in the use of liaison planes for field artillery observation, and furnished cadres for the 85th Infantry Division and the 102nd Infantry Division, in 1942.
After the VIII Corps maneuvers in Louisiana in late summer, the 2-ID undertook tests to develop a technique for the transport by air of an entire infantry division, concluding this operation in October. On Oct 16, orders were received for a permanent change of station. The 2-ID, commanded by Gen Walter M. Robertson, was to be transferred in its entirety to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. So, in Nov 1942, the 2-ID moved by rail to Camp McCoy, leaving Fort Sam Houston for a permanent change of station for the first time since 1919. A four-month program of intensive training for winter warfare followed. The 2-ID tested new equipment for fighting under conditions of extremely cold weather, and the men became proficient in the use of skis and snowshoes. At the end of February, this training program culminated in a period of winter maneuvers in Michigan, the first undertaken on a divisional scale.
Returning to Camp McCoy at the end of these maneuvers, the men entered upon an intensive program of training and battle indoctrination. Individuals and units were put through specific types of battle training designed to equip them for the kinds of fighting they might be expected to encounter overseas. In the early summer, elements of one regiment were sent to Detroit to restore order after race riots in that city threatened an explosive situation. As the summer drew to a close, the men began preparations for overseas movement, drawing new clothing and essential equipment, packing and marking, and in general making plans for leaving Camp McCoy.
During the last days of September, the final order came and the Division began its move by rail to a staging area at Camp Shanks, New York, near the NY Port of Embarkation. It closed there on Oct 2 and was immediately alerted for overseas movement. Oct 7, was the official sailing date as the large convoy moved out of New York Harbor, with battleships, destroyers, and air protection.
The voyage across was made without undue incident, and on Oct 17, the 2-ID began arriving in the Irish Sea off Belfast. Disembarking at the port of Belfast, the units moved by rail to points in County Armagh and County Down, North Ireland. They then marched to the billets they would occupy, in hutments, castles, manor houses, and factories, throughout the scattered Irish towns and hamlets. The 2-ID Headquarters was set up in Armagh, the county seat of County Armagh, reputed burial place of Good St Patrick.
Mastering the idiosyncrasies of the Irish language which proved to be a pure, clear English and not at all the brogue of Irish comedians on the American stage, the men fell in quickly with the customs of the country. They made friends readily with their amiable Irish neighbors and soon learned to tell a crown from a bob and stout from ale. One of the great surprises was the Irish weather. It was generally wet and overcast with long slow rains and heavy swirling fogs. There hovered constantly a blanket of mist which kept the countryside a dazzling green. Once the men got used to murky skies and boggy ground, other aspects of life in garrison became more pleasing.
The units, well trained upon arriving in the UK, were, even more, better trained before they left Ireland; this was true especially in fast-moving operations over large areas. During this staging period, every effort was made to increase their combat efficiency to the fullest despite the limited terrain in the densely populated and cultivated isle. Training ground, especially for units larger than battalion strength, was necessarily curtailed by a large number of troops in this already crowded spot, and by the food shortage which precluded the use of cultivatable land to any extent.
The limitation of space and the unfavorable weather and ground conditions caused the emphasis to be placed on training in small or individual units. Some training was clone indoors, in battlemented castles or deserted factories. Maneuvers of corps or army strength in Texas and Louisiana prior to departure from the United States made up somewhat for the limit on large areas in the United Kingdom.
This realistic training contributed immeasurably to the readiness of the troops, their fitness for battle, and their eagerness to get the job started so that they could get it done as soon as possible. In addition, the men were fully equipped and ready for embarkation when the rime arrived.
But life was not all given over to training by any means. There were dances for the American boys, who taught the Irish jitterbugging and took part with gusto in the Irish country dances. Doughboys were amazed at the spectacle of local gallants turned out in white tie and rails for neighborhood social functions. Then there were cheerful Irish pubs and fish-and-chip shops; there were many hearty Irish families eager to invite the Americans to their homes; there were pretty Irish girls to dance with, and many a lasting romance was begun.
Food was not too scarce for civilians in Ireland, although it showed a distressing preponderance of such national standbys as cabbage, sprouts, and turnips, vegetables almost invariably despised by the boys from Texas and New Mexico. Bread, made of the national flour in wartime measure, brown inside as well as out, caused groans of consternation at first. When the diet got too monotonous, the men took powdered milk and powdered eggs and froze their own ice cream. Cigarettes, candy, and soap were available in the quantities allowed by British wartime rations. Beds of planks with straw-stuffed ticks and scratchy British wartime blankets seemed primitive at first. The sanitary arrangements, taking care of on contract by British civilians, never ceased to seem primitive.
Passes were liberal. Many GIs roamed the great, gray Irish port city of Belfast and outlying North Irish towns. Local passes were available to visit the villages and Irish countryside. Late winter brought a quota of passes to London and other points in the British Isles. Red Cross and United Service Organization (USO) shows began to arrive to break the routine of garrison life. Spring brought more days of rare and shimmering sunshine, but it also brought more time for outdoor training and rehearsal for the events to come.
An intensification of the training program for small and individual units was put into effect, and more emphasis was placed on night training. A drivers’ school gave instruction in such matters as the left-hand drive. The men became accustomed to using such terms as petrol and lorry, bonnet, and windscreen. Many bought bicycles when they discovered that this was the primary nationwide means of getting about.
The railway carriages proved to be of diverting interest – not only the first-class carriages with their private compartments and closed corridors – but also the third rate carriages where the compartments were entered from the outside. The quickening of the tempo as spring went by was felt by everyone. On April 1, Gen George S. Patton addressed the assembled troops in the Mall at Armagh and told them something about the things they had to face. Then in mid-April came a departure from Ireland. The men bade goodbyes to County Armagh and County Down as they moved by rail to Belfast, and there embarked for the short sea voyage to marshaling areas in South Wales.
The move to South Wales was the last stage in the marshaling of the troops for the invasion of Fortress Europe. The journey by rail and troopship found the men in excellent spirits and high morale. They disembarked in South Wales and scattered to their various marshaling areas in small Welsh seaside and inland towns. Division Headquarters was set up at Tenby, a famed Welsh seacoast resort noted for its high and crashing tides, and its rows of pleasant Victorian hotels along the beach. Garrison life was resumed under virtually the same conditions as in Ireland. The men were once more quartered in hutments about deserted manor houses or public buildings. Division Artillery had a unique headquarters located at St Donat’s Castle, a grim historic pile with lavish landscaping restored to former grandeur by William Randolph Hearst. A waterproofing and de-waterproofing school was held. Finally, all vehicles and equipment were waterproofed for the Invasion crossing. The weather was warm and pleasant in Wales, with drifting clouds and balmy air, but all thoughts were firmly fixed on the crossing of the Channel.
The 2-ID had been selected to take part in the coming Invasion of Europe as part of Gen Leonard T. Gerow V Corps. The 1-ID and the 29-ID were to make the assault landing on Omaha Beach. The 2-ID would follow these two ashore. Landing at St Laurent Sur Mer, the Division would reinforce the 1-ID and 29-ID in the attack inland from the beaches and the securing of a beachhead. Although not destined to take part in the initial assault landings as a whole, the Division was represented in the first wave of American troops ashore by personnel chosen from the 2-ECB and from the infantry, to form part of a special engineer assault force. This force was to open gaps in the interlaced steel and concrete beach obstacles erected by the Nazis and to make the initial breakthrough the beach defenses and clear the way for the assaulting infantry.
In the closing days of May, surrounded by the strictest security measures, the Division moved into its final staging areas in Bristol Channel ports. The Pre-Loaded Bristol Channel Build-Up Force was the name given this set up in Allied Headquarters.
In early June, just prior to D-Day, the units of the Division began the long-awaited move to active war fronts. Each phase of loading and of movement was accomplished by carefully worked-out plans, covering all contingencies clown to the last detail. Then, a couple of days later, on June 6, the LSTs and other types of transport crafts loaded with the troops of the 2-ID, were steaming down the Bristol Channel, around Land’s End, out into the English Channel, and across that body of water toward the invasion beaches of France. On the morning of June 6, while heavy naval units and aircraft poured their tons of thundering explosives onto the beaches fast and west of Port en Bessin and north of Isigny where the Cotentin Peninsula juts cut to the north, and while the first wave of assault troops and engineers attacked the beach obstacles and mines, and while the first infantry units poured onto the beaches in their assault boats, the 2nd Infantry Division was moving up for the landing on D-Day plus 1. Victory in Europe depended on the success of this operation, aimed at the heart of Germany and the disruption of her armed forces. If it failed, the Invasion of Europe might well be a failure. Therefore the men had waited with anxiety as higher headquarters and naval units pondered the navigational hazards and extreme tidal variations of this section of the French Coast. But the efficiency of the build-up and the excellent job of transportation done, the eager spirit and fitness of the well-trained and well-equipped men who went ashore raid off at once.
WWII ROUTE
Fort Sam Houston, Texas, 1940
Christine, Texas, 3-27 January 1940
Horton, Texas, 26 April – 28 May 1940
Cravens, Louisiana, 16-23 August 1940
Comanche, Texas, 1-14 June 1941
Mansfield, Louisiana, 11 August – 2 October 1941
Fort Sam Houston, Texas
Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, 27 November 1942
Camp Shanks, New York, POE, 3 October 1943
Atlantic move to Europa, 8 October 1943
England, 18 October 1943
France, 7 June 1944
Belgium, 29 September 1944
Germany, 3 October 1944
Czechoslovakia, 4 May 1945
New York, POE, 20 July 1945
Camp Swift, Texas, 22 July 1945
Camp Stoneman, California, 28 March 1946
Fort Lewis, Washington, 15 April 1946
Campaigns
Normandy; Northern France; Belgium; Germany; Ardennes; Germany; Central Europe
Casualties
KIA: 3031; WIA: 12.785; DOW: 457
Route to Victory
France: Omaha Beach, Trévières, Colleville sur Mer, St Lo, Vire, Tinchebray, Sourdeval, Mortain, Fougères, Rennes, Merdrignac, Gouarec, Carhaix, Brennilis, Guipavas, Brest, Morlaix, Guingamp, St Brieuc, Alençon, Dreux, Versailles, Paris, Senlis, Compiègne, Noyon, St Quentin.
Belgium: Chimay, Philipville, Dinant, Marche en Famenne, La Roche en Ardennes, St Vith, Waimes, Elsenborn, Krinkelt, Rocherath.
Germany: Monschau, Schleiden, Gemund, Blankenheim, Andernacht, Montabaur, Limburg, Giessen, Siegen, Kassel, Warburg, Gottingen, Sonderhausen, Merseburg, Leipzig, Grimma, Hof, Bayreuth, Armberg.
Czechoslovakia : Pilzen, Domazlice.
Additional Photos:
Collection of my friend Raphael Carroue, France
International Militaria Helmets: WW-1 www.ima-usa.com
Invaluable Auctions: Helmet WW-1 Helmet 5-USMC (2-ID) WW-1
2-ID WW-1 Insignia US Militaria Forum
Camp Travis, San Antonio, Texas Camp Travis, Texas
Fourragère aux couleurs de la Croix de guerre Collection Davris
National Museum US Army: Helmet US Army Museum
Griffin Militaria: Helmet US WW-1 Medic Helmet 2-ID
German Tank Destroyed: The Image Work
Historical Photos Restored in Colors (Belgium)