103rd Infantry Division (United States)

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103rd Infantry Division
Special Designation)[1]
EngagementsWorld War II
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Anthony McAuliffe

The 103rd Infantry Division ("Cactus Division"

unit of the United States Army that served in the U.S. Seventh Army of the 6th Army Group during World War II
.

It was variously assigned to the

Vipiteno, Italy, joining the Italian and Western European fronts on 4 May 1945.[2]

Interwar period

The 103rd Division was constituted in the

Citizens Military Training Camps
(CMTC).

The large geographical area of the division made it difficult to bring subordinate units of the division together for virtually any training events except for those units in Denver. The division headquarters, special troops, 206th Infantry Brigade (less one regiment), 176th Field Artillery Brigade (less one regiment), and a few other assorted units were located in Denver. Inactive training period activities of the division were generally conducted at the local level near concentrations of division personnel. One event that turned out large numbers of the Denver members of the division was the Memorial Day parade held in that city each year. The subordinate infantry regiments of the division held their summer training with the

Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and later at Fort Logan; the 320th Medical Regiment trained at Fort Sam Houston with the 2nd Medical Regiment; and the 328th Observation Squadron trained at Brooks Field
and some years at Fort Bliss.

On a number of occasions, the division participated in Eighth Corps Area and Third Army command post exercises (CPXs) in conjunction with other Regular Army, National Guard, and Organized Reserve units. These training events gave division staff officers’ opportunities to practice the roles they would be expected to perform in the event the division was mobilized. Unlike the Regular and Guard units in the Eighth Corps Area, the 103rd Division did not participate in the various Eighth Corps Area Maneuvers and the Third Army maneuvers of 1938, 1940, and 1941 as an organized unit due to lack of enlisted personnel and equipment. Instead, the officers and a few enlisted reservists were assigned to Regular and Guard units to fill vacant slots and bring the units up to war strength for the exercises. Additionally, some officers were assigned duties as umpires or as support personnel. However, for each maneuver, the division maximized the number of participants. For example, for the 1938 maneuvers at Fort Francis E. Warren, Fort Bliss, and Fort Huachuca, the 103rd Division provided 228 officers to Regular Army units and 53 to units of the National Guard's 45th Division. Similar numbers participated in the two succeeding Army maneuvers.[3]

World War II

Plaque honoring the US 103rd Infantry Division in WW II.
Plaque listing the units comprising the US 103rd Infantry Division in WW II.
Statue of soldier in combat from US Army's 103rd Division

Combat chronicle

The 103rd Infantry Division was ordered into active military service on 15 November 1942 at

Fort Jackson, South Carolina
, 218).

During 1944, the division lost 2,550 enlisted men from transfers to other divisions or to overseas replacement depots, and replenished its ranks with men transferred from antiaircraft artillery, coast artillery, and tank destroyer units, and aviation cadets and

Selestat
on 4 December.

The division crossed the Zintzel river at

Muehlhausen
against sharp opposition, the division moved over the Lauter river and penetrated the defenses of the Siegfried Line.

As German resistance disintegrated, the 103rd reached the

Vipiteno, Italy, near the Austrian border, on 4 May 1945, joining the Italian and Western European fronts.[2]

After Victory in Europe Day, the division received occupational duties until it left for home and inactivation. It returned to the continental U.S. on 10 September 1945, and was inactivated on 22 September 1945 at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey.

Casualties

  • Total battle casualties: 4,558[6]
  • Killed in action: 834[6]
  • Wounded in action: 3,329[6]
  • Missing in action: 88[6]
  • Prisoner of war: 421[6]


Order of battle

Components of the 103rd Infantry Division included:[7]

  • Headquarters, 103rd Infantry Division
  • 409th Infantry Regiment
  • 410th Infantry Regiment
  • 411th Infantry Regiment
  • Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 103rd Infantry Division Artillery
    • 382nd Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
    • 383rd Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
    • 384th Field Artillery Battalion (155 mm)
    • 928th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
  • 328th Engineer Combat Battalion
  • 328th Medical Battalion
  • 103rd Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized)
  • Headquarters, Special Troops, 103rd Infantry Division
    • Headquarters Company, 103rd Infantry Division
    • 803rd Ordnance Light Maintenance Company
    • 103rd Quartermaster Company
    • 103rd Signal Company
    • Military Police Platoon
    • Band
  • 103rd Counterintelligence Corps Detachment

Assignments in the European Theater of Operations

  • 1 November 1944:
    6th Army Group
  • 6 November 1944: VI Corps, Seventh Army
  • 22 December 1944: XV Corps, Seventh Army
  • 9 January 1945: XXI Corps, Seventh Army
  • 16 January 1945: VI Corps, Seventh Army
  • 29 March 1945: Seventh Army, 6th Army Group
  • 19 April 1945: VI Corps, Seventh Army

Attached units

The following units, or their constituents, were attached for a time to the 103rd Infantry Division during its career:

Antiaircraft Artillery

  • 353d Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion
  • 354th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion

Armored

Field Artillery

  • 69th Armored Field Artillery Battalion
  • 242nd Field Artillery Battalion

Tank Destroyer

Post war

The 103rd was activated as an

Organized Reserve Corps division on 7 May 1947 in Des Moines, Iowa. Its combat elements were reorganized and redesignated as the 205th Infantry Brigade
and the 103rd Operational Headquarters in February 1963. The 103rd Operational Headquarters was redesignated as the 103rd Command Headquarters (Divisional) in June 1963. In December 1965, the unit was reorganized as the 103rd Support Brigade.

In September 1977, the unit was redesignated and reorganized as the 103rd Corps Support Command (COSCOM), the first Corps Support Command in the United States Army Reserve. On 15 September 1993, the 103rd COSCOM inactivated, followed by the creation of two new reserve units: 19th Theater Army Area Command (CONUS) and 3d COSCOM (CONUS). On 14 February 2006, the 103rd was redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 103rd Sustainment Command. The 103rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command was activated as a reserve command, effective 16 September 2006. The division shoulder patch is worn by the United States Army Reserve 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary).[8]

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from The Army Almanac: A Book of Facts Concerning the Army of the United States U.S. Government Printing Office, 1950. United States Army Center of Military History.

  1. ^ a b "Special Unit Designations". United States Army Center of Military History. 21 April 2010. Archived from the original on 9 July 2010. Retrieved 9 July 2010.
  2. ^ a b Fifth Army History • Race to the Alps, Chapter VI : Conclusion [1] Archived 13 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine "4 May; the Reconnaissance Troop, 349th Infantry [88th Division], met troops from [103rd Infantry Division] VI Corps of Seventh Army at 1051 at Vipiteno, 9 miles south of Brenner."
  3. ^ Clay, Steven E. (2010). U.S. Army Order of Battle 1919–1941 Volume 1, The Arms: Major Commands and Infantry Organizations 1919–1941 (PDF). Combat Studies Institute Press. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 October 2012.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. ^ Report After Action: The Story of the 103d Infantry Division, Ralph Mueller and Jerry Turk; 1945, Wagner'sche Universitats-Buchdruckerie, Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria; distributor, The Infantry Journal, Washington 6, D. C., pp. 131–135
  5. ^ "Excerpt on Web from Report After Action, ibid". nuspel.org. Archived from the original on 2 June 2008. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
  6. ^ a b c d e Army Battle Casualties and Nonbattle Deaths in World War II, Final Report (Statistical and Accounting Branch Office of the Adjutant General, 1 June 1953)
  7. ^ Sources: 1. The Army Almanac: A Book of Facts Concerning the Army of the United States, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1950. 2. Order of Battle of the United States Army, World War II, European Theater of Operations, Office of the Theater Historian, Paris, France, December 1945.[2]
  8. ^ "103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)". United States Army Reserve. Archived from the original on 24 September 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2011.

External links

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