85th Infantry Division (United States)

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85th Division
85th Infantry Division (85th "Custer" Army Reserve Support Command (West))
85th Infantry Division shoulder sleeve insignia
Active1917 – 1919
1921 – 1945
1946 – 2007
2008-present
Country United States
Branch United States Army
TypeInfantry
SizeDivision
Nickname(s)Custer (special designation)[1]
EngagementsWorld War I

Russian Civil War
World War II

Commanders
Notable
commanders		MG Joseph T. Dickman
MG James Parker
MG Chase Wilmot Kennedy
MG Wade Haislip
MG John B. Coulter
MG Angelo M. Juarez
MG Wilbur J. Bunting
MG George M. Woywod
MG William Cockerham
MG George Hillard
MG William Allen
MG Michael Corrigan[2]
Insignia
Distinctive unit insignia

The 85th Infantry Division also known as "Custer Division"[1] (named after the cavalry commander George Armstrong Custer) was an infantry division of the United States Army in World War I and World War II. It currently exists as the 85th Support Command.

World War I

[3] The division was first activated 25 August 1917 at

Camp Custer, Michigan, and comprised the 169th and 170th Infantry brigades and the 160th Field Artillery Brigade. After a year of training the division left the United States for England.[4]

Square Division example: 1940 US Infantry Division. On the far left can be seen two Brigades of two Regiments each

The Division was composed of the following units:[2]

  • Headquarters, 85th Division
  • 169th Infantry Brigade
  • 170th Infantry Brigade
  • 160th Field Artillery Brigade
    • 328th Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm)
    • 329th Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm)
    • 330th Field Artillery Regiment (155 mm)
    • 310th Trench Mortar Battery
  • 328th Machine Gun Battalion
  • 310th Engineer Regiment
  • 310th Field Signal Battalion
  • Headquarters Troop, 85th Division
  • 310th Train Headquarters and Military Police
    • 310th Ammunition Train
    • 310th Supply Train
    • 310th Engineer Train
    • 310th Sanitary Train
      • 337th, 338th, 339th, and 340th Ambulance Companies and Field Hospitals

From England the

Polar Bear Expedition. Accompanying the 339th were the 1st Battalion, 310th Engineers, the 337th Ambulance Company, and the 337th Field Hospital.[2]
After arrival in
Meuse-Argonne on the Western Front
. After the war the division remained on occupation duty in Germany and by August 1919, the last elements of the division returned to the United States.[5]

Interwar period

The 85th Division headquarters arrived at the port of

Citizens Military Training Camps
(CMTC).

The designated mobilization and training station for the division was Camp Custer, the location where much of the division's training occurred in the interwar years. The division headquarters was called to active duty for training there as a unit on a number of occasions, the first time being in April 1926. Oddly, the division headquarters was ordered to active auty for a second time (5–19 July) that same summer. The headquarters attended summer training as a unit, other than for corps area and army-level

14th Field Artillery at Camp Custer; the special troops trained with the special troops of the 32nd Division at Camp Grayling, Michigan, or Camp Sparta (later McCoy), Wisconsin; the 310th Medical Regiment trained at Fort Snelling, Minnesota; and the 310th Observation Squadron trained with the 15th Observation Squadron at Chanute Field
, Illinois. In addition to the unit training camps, the infantry regiments of the division rotated responsibility to conduct the CMTC training held at Camp Custer each year.

On a number of occasions, the division participated in Sixth Corps Area or Second Army CPXs in conjunction with other Regular Army, National Guard, and Organized Reserve units. Unlike the Regular and Guard units in the Sixth Corps Area, the 85th Division did not participate in the various Sixth Corps Area maneuvers and the Second Army maneuvers of 1935, 1939, and 1940 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 were assigned duties as umpires or support personnel.[6]

World War II

Triangular Division example: 1942 U.S. infantry division. The brigades of the Square division have been removed, and there are three regiments directly under divisional control.

Beginning in 1939, divisions in the U.S. Army were "triangularized" with three combat regiments instead of the four regiment structure "square division" used during World War I and the interwar period. Before the Organized Reserve infantry divisions were ordered to active duty, they were reorganized on paper as triangular divisions; on 30 January 1942, the 340th Infantry Regiment was relieved from the division and allotted to the Army of the United States as an inactive unit.

On 15 May 1942, five months after the United States entered World War II, the 85th Infantry Division was ordered to active duty at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, under the command of Major General Wade H. Haislip, a veteran of World War I. The division was organized around a cadre of officers and men from the 2nd Infantry Division, and training began in June 1942 at Camp Shelby. In April 1943, it participated in large-scale army training in the Louisiana Maneuvers near Leesville, Louisiana. In August, the division was moved to Camp Coxcomb, California for desert warfare training. In October, the division was transferred to Fort Dix, New Jersey, for final preparations before shipment overseas. Major General John B. Coulter succeeded Haislip as the 85th's commander and retained this position throughout the war. The Assistant Division Commander (ADC) throughout the war was Brigadier General Lee S. Gerow, the younger brother of General Leonard T. Gerow.[7] [8] [9][10]

  • Headquarters, 85th Infantry Division
  • 337th Infantry Regiment
  • 338th Infantry Regiment
  • 339th Infantry Regiment
  • Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 85th Infantry Division Artillery
    • 328th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
    • 329th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
    • 403rd Field Artillery Battalion (155 mm)
    • 910th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
  • 310th Engineer Combat Battalion
  • 310th Medical Battalion
  • 85th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized)
  • Headquarters, Special Troops, 85th Infantry Division
    • Headquarters Company, 85th Infantry Division
    • 785th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company
    • 85th Quartermaster Company
    • 85th Signal Company
    • Military Police Platoon
    • Band
  • 85th Counterintelligence Corps Detachment

The 85th Infantry Division left the United States on 24 December 1943 and arrived in

Italian Campaign. Arriving in Italy on 14 March, the 339th RCT was attached to the 88th Infantry Division and became the first regiment of the 85th to see combat during World War II on the Minturno-Castelforte front north of Naples, 28 March. The 85th Division, under II Corps of the U.S. Fifth Army under Mark W. Clark, was committed to action as a unit, 10 April 1944, north of the Garigliano River, facing the Gustav Line
, and held defensive positions for a month.

Troops of the 338th Infantry Regiment, 85th Division, marching toward newly-won position in the Gothic Line. 19 September, 1944.

On 11 May, it launched its attack, taking

Gaeta Peninsula. Terracina was taken and the road to the Anzio beachhead was opened. The division pursued the enemy to the hills near Sezze until pinched out by friendly forces from Anzio. The Gustav Line had been smashed and the 85th started for a rest area on 29 May, but was ordered to the Lariano sector which the division cleared by the 31st. Driving on Rome, the 85th pushed through Monte Compatri and Frascati, entered the Italian capital of Rome on 5 June 1944, and advanced to Viterbo
before being relieved on 10 June.

After rehabilitation and training, the 85th took over the defense of the

Arno River line from 15 to 26 August. The division attacked the mountain defenses of the Gothic Line on 13 September, and broke through, taking Firenzuola on the 21st. The 85th advanced slowly through mud and rain against heavy resistance taking La Martina and gaining the Idice River Valley road on 2 October, and reaching Mount Mezzano on the 24th overlooking the Po River Valley
. From 27 October to 22 November 1944, defense areas near Pizzano were held. On the 23d, the division was relieved for rest and rehabilitation.

The 85th Division relieved the

Panaro River was crossed on the 23rd and the Po the next day. The division mopped up fleeing Germans until their mass surrender on 2 May 1945, in the Belluno-Agordo area. The end of World War II in Europe came six days later. Three soldiers from the 85th Infantry Division earned the Medal of Honor
.

Casualties

Cold War

The division returned to the United States and was disbanded at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia on 26 August 1945. It was then reconstituted and reactivated at Chicago, Illinois on 19 February 1947 in the U.S. Army Reserve. On 1 June 1959, the division's mission was changed to training and it was named the 85th Division (Training).[12]

Standard organization chart for a training division

Organization

Upon reactivation in the Army Reserve, the division was organized with a division headquarters, three training brigades and a training group, with division headquarters located in Chicago, Illinois. In 1983, the Division Headquarters was moved to Arlington Heights, Illinois, with subordinate brigade headquarters located in Waukegan, Illinois (1st Brigade); St. Louis, Missouri (2nd Brigade); Rockford, Illinois (3rd Brigade); Fort Sheridan, Illinois (4th Brigade); and Aurora, Illinois (Training Group).

In 1992, the division was reorganized into the 85th Division (Exercise) with the mission of conducting lanes training for combat, combat support, and combat service support units and combat simulation, computer supported exercises for company/battalion and higher units for Army Reserve and Army National Guard units in the First Army area. Additionally, the division was tasked to assist First Army units at mobilization to validate their readiness for deployment. The division was reorganized as follows:

  • 85th Division (Exercise) HQ, Arlington Heights, Illinois
  • 85th Division (Exercise) Band, Fort Sheridan, Illinois
  • 1st Brigade (Battle Command Staff Training), Fort Sheridan, Illinois
  • 2nd Brigade (Field Exercise), Fort McCoy, Wisconsin
  • 3rd Brigade (Field Exercise), Selfridge ANGB, Michigan
  • 4th Brigade (Field Exercise), Fort Sheridan, Illinois
  • 5th Brigade (Field Exercise), Fort Snelling, Minnesota
  • 6th Brigade (Field Exercise), Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana

In 1999 the division was further reorganized as the 85th Division (Training Support). Its four brigades were headquartered as follows:

  • 1st Brigade (Training Support (TS)): 1st Simulations Exercise (SIMEX) Group; 2nd SIMEX Group; and 3rd Battalion (TS), 335th Regiment at Fort Sheridan, Illinois
  • 2nd Brigade (TS): 3rd Battalion (TS), 335th Regiment, 1st Battalion (TS),
    Fort McCoy, Wisconsin
  • 3rd Brigade (TS): 1st Battalion (TS) and 2nd Battalion (TS), 335th Regiment; 2nd Battalion (TS), 338th Regiment; 3rd Battalion, 411th Regiment (Logistics Support) at Indianapolis, IN
  • 4th Brigade (TS): 1st Battalion (TS) and 3rd Battalion (TS), 337th Regiment; 1st Battalion (TS), 409th Regiment; 1st Battalion (TS), 2nd Battalion (TS), and 3rd Battalion (TS) 410th Regiment; 1st Battalion, 411th Regiment (Logistics Support) at Fort Knox, KY.

Distinguished Leaders

Commanders within the division who became U.S. Army general officers include:

  • MG Emile Bataille who commanded the 2nd Simulation Group, 1st Brigade, and then as an Army National Guard Brigadier General was the Assistant Adjutant General of Illinois and then served as the J6, United States Strategic Command
  • MG Steve Best, who commanded the 1st Simulation Group, 1st Brigade and then commanded the 1st Brigade, and later commanded the 75th Division in Houston, TX
  • MG William D. Razz Waff, who commanded the 2nd Simulation Group, 1st Brigade, and then served as the Chief of Staff, 88th Regional Readiness Command, Ft Snelling, MN, the Deputy Commanding General, 99th Regional Readiness Command, Pittsburgh, PA, was the Deputy Commanding General, US Army Human Resources Command, Alexandria, VA, the Commanding General, 99th Regional Support Command, Ft Dix, NJ and then as the Deputy G-1, Headquarters, US Army, The Pengagon
  • BG Ward Arnston, commander, 1st Simulation Group, then as the CG, 1st Brigade, 85th Division, then as the Deputy Commanding General, 75th Division, Houston, TX;
  • BG John Hanley, commander, 1st Simulation Group, 1st Brigade, then as the Deputy Commanding General, 88th Regional Support Command, Ft McCoy, WI;
  • BG Ronald S. Mangum, who commanded the 1st and 4th Brigades, the Battle Projection Group, and the 1st Battalion, 340th Infantry (INST).

Unit inactivation and reactivation

In September 2007, the 85th Division (Training Support) was formally inactivated and its remaining assets folded into the

First Army.[13]

Heraldry
Shoulder Sleeve Insignia
authorized for the 85th Infantry Division. World War I, World War II, 1970–1986, Present
  • Distinctive Unit Insignia: General George Custer is represented by the colors scarlet and blue used on his personal flag, and by the scarlet cravat bearing the device of the Michigan Cavalry Brigade, which often formed a part of his uniform. His distinguished service in the Cavalry is recalled by the crossed sabres, and laurel wreath refers to his many victories and achievements in the service of his country. The blue scroll with two stars on either refer to the rank of major general which Custer attained during the Civil War, becoming the Army's youngest general.[14]

Campaign streamers

Conflict Streamer Year(s)
World War I
No Inscription
World War II

Rome-Arno[7] 1944
North Apennines[8] 1944-1945
Po Valley[9] 1945

Decorations

Ribbon Award Year Orders
Army Superior Unit Award
 2008-2011
Permanent Orders 332-07 announcing award of the Army Superior Unit award

[15]

Bibliography

  • Army Publication: "Minturno to the Apennines", booklet published by MTOUSA and issued to troops in 1945.
  • House, John M. Wolfhounds and Polar Bears: The American Expeditionary Force in Siberia, 1918-1920. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2016.
    OCLC 927241483
  • Nelson, James Carl. The Polar Bear Expedition: The Heroes of America's Forgotten Invasion of Russia, 1918-1919. First ed. New York, NY: William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, 2019.
    OCLC 1041763187
  • Unit History: Schultz, Paul; History of the 85th Infantry Division in World War II. Battery Press, 1979.
    OCLC 5003605

References

  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 c http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/023/23-2/CMH_Pub_23-2.pdf Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine Order of Battle in the Great War P373
  3. ^ http://www.history.army.mil//html/books/077/77-3/cmhPub_077-3.pdf Joining the Great War
  4. ^ "Infantry organization and History" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  5. ^ "Maneuver and Firepower: The Evolution of Divisions and Separate Brigades | U.S. Army Center of Military History". history.army.mil.
  6. ^ Clay, Steven E. (2010). U.S. Army Order of Battle, 1919-1941, Volume 1. The Arms: Major Commands and Infantry Organizations, 1919-41. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press. p. 257-258.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  7. ^ a b http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/072/72-20/index.html Rome Arno Commemorative Publication
  8. ^ a b http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/072/72-34/index.html North Apennines Commemorative Publication
  9. ^ a b http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/072/72-33/index.html Po Valley Commemorative Publication
  10. ^ Stanton, Shelby L. (1984). World War II Order of Battle. New York, New York: Galahad Books.
  11. ^ a b c d e Army Battle Casualties and Nonbattle Deaths, Final Report (Statistical and Accounting Branch, Office of the Adjutant General, 1 June 1953)
  12. ^ "Headquarters 85th Division (Training Support)".
  13. ^ "U.S. Army Reserve > Commands". www.usar.army.mil.
  14. ^ a b "85th U.S. ARMY RESERVE SUPPORT COMMAND". The Institute of Heraldry. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  15. ^ "Permanent Order 332-07" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015.

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