97th Infantry Division (United States)

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97th Infantry Division
97th Infantry Division shoulder sleeve insignia
Active5 September – 20 November 1918
25 February 1943 – 31 March 1946
Country United States
Branch United States Army
TypeInfantry
SizeDivision
Nickname(s)Trident
EngagementsWorld War II

The 97th Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army in World War I and World War II. Nicknamed the "Trident division" because of its shoulder patch, a vertical trident in white on a blue background, it was originally trained in amphibious assaults as preparation for deployment in the Pacific Theater. It was deployed to Europe in 1944 when casualties from the Battle of the Bulge needed to be replaced.[1]

World War I

The 97th Division was one of the divisions planned to be activated in late 1918 and deployed to France in 1919 to reinforce the

Camp Jackson, South Carolina, and the 193rd was to be organized in France with the AEF. The division's cadre consisted of over 1,000 trained officers and enlisted men, and Colonel Carl A. Martin became its first commander on 26 September.[2]

The division was intended to be composed of

1918 flu pandemic, which sickened over 500 soldiers and killed more than 100. On 25 October, Brigadier General James R. Lindsay became division commander as Martin became its chief of staff. The war ended with the Armistice of 11 November, and the 97th was ordered to be demobilized on 20 November. At the time, it was only partially organized and consisted of 402 officers and 7,889 men. The demobilization was completed on 22 December/[3]

Neptune's trident was originally adopted as the division's symbol, to represent the coastal states of Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, from which the first recruits were drawn in 1918. The three prongs of the trident represent the three states, the blue symbolizes the states' numerous fresh water lakes, and the white of the border and trident represents the snow that covers these states' mountains.

Composition

  • Division Headquarters
  • 387th Infantry Regiment
  • 388th Infantry Regiment
  • 622nd Field Signal Battalion
  • 366th Machine Gun Battalion
  • 322nd Train Headquarters and Military Police
  • 322nd Sanitary Train

172nd Field Artillery Brigade

The brigade was organized at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, under the command of Brigadier General Dennis H. Currie.

  • 61st Field Artillery Regiment
  • 62nd Field Artillery Regiment
  • 63rd Field Artillery Regiment
  • 21st Trench Mortar Battery
  • 322nd Ammunition Train

Commanders

  • Colonel Carl A. Martin - 26 September 1918 to 19 October 1918;
  • Brigadier General James R. Lindsay - 19 October 1918 until demobilization on 20 November 1918.

Interwar period

The 97th Division was reconstituted in the

Corps Area, and assigned to the XI Corps. The division was further allotted to the states of New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont as its home area. The headquarters was organized in December 1921 initially at Augusta, Maine, then relocated in September 1922 to the Bell Building at 922 Elm Street in Manchester, New Hampshire. The headquarters was again relocated in August 1923 to the Federal Building in Manchester. In late 1937, the headquarters was transferred to the new Post Office Building in Portland, and remained there until activated for World War II. The 373rd-375th Infantry Regiments, part of the provisional 94th Division in World War I which was intended to be composed of Puerto Rican soldiers, were allotted to Puerto Rico's 211th Infantry Brigade as part of a hypothetical division which was never organized, and the unorganized 376th Infantry was assigned to the 94th Division, which was allotted to Massachusetts. To flesh out the rest of the 94th Division's infantry, the 301st and 302nd Infantry Regiments (part of the 76th Division in World War I) were assigned, along with the newly-constituted 419th Infantry. The 76th Division retained only its World War I-era 304th Infantry, taking the 385th Infantry from the 97th Division and adding the newly-constituted 417th and 418th Infantry Regiments, while the 97th Division took the 76th Division's 303rd Infantry and retained the 386th-388th Infantry Regiments.[4]

After its organization, the 97th Division rapidly built its strength. Although the division area had virtually no major population centers and possessed a poor highway network, the division was above 90 percent complete by November 1923. Due to the poor road network and because the division’s officers tended to be concentrated in the larger towns, the division’s personnel, less those in the infantry regiments, tended to hold their inactive training meetings as “group” meetings (i.e., without respect to unit assignment) rather than unit meetings. To maintain communications with the officers of the division, the division staff published a newsletter titled the “97th Division Bulletin.” The newsletter informed the division’s members of such things as when and where the inactive training sessions were to be held, what the division’s summer training quotas were, where the camps were to be held, and which units would be assigned to help conduct the

Citizens Military Training Camps
(CMTC).

The mobilization and training station for the division was

Poland Spring, Maine
.

The division’s subordinate units trained all over the First Corps Area. Divisional infantry regiments, for example, held their summer training primarily with the units of the 18th Infantry Brigade at Camp Devens; Fort Ethan Allen;

New York
. In addition to the unit training camps, the infantry regiments of the division rotated responsibility to conduct the CMTC held at Camp Devens, Fort McKinley, and Fort Ethan Allen each year.

On a number of occasions, the division participated in First Corps Area and First Army 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 First Corps Area, the 97th Division did not participate in the various First Corps Area maneuvers and the First 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 full peace strength for the exercises. Additionally, some officers were assigned duties as umpires or as support personnel.[5]

World War II

G.I.'s of the 97th Infantry Division in Cologne, Germany, March 18, 1945

The 97th Infantry Division was ordered into active military service during

Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, for additional training. During 1944, approximately 5,000 soldiers were stripped from the division and sent as replacements to other units in Europe. Division strength was eventually restored when the Army Specialized Training Program and aviation cadet training program were sharply reduced or terminated and many of their personnel were reassigned to Army Ground Forces for retraining as infantry.[1]

In July 1944 the division relocated to

Camp Cooke, California, for further amphibious training.[6]

In early January 1945, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of Allied forces on the Western Front, was alarmed over the swift progress the Germans had made during the waning Battle of the Bulge and was concerned that the Germans could move additional reinforcements to the west from the Eastern Front. He requested additional divisions over and above those already earmarked for the European theater. 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.[7] The strength of the division upon deployment in Europe was 600 officers and 14,000 men.[6]

Casualties

  • Total battle casualties: 979[9]
  • Killed in action: 188[9]
  • Wounded in action: 721[9]
  • Missing in action: 9[9]
  • Prisoner of war: 61[9]

Awards

Composition

  • Headquarters, 97th Infantry Division
  • 303rd Infantry Regiment
  • 386th Infantry Regiment
  • 387th Infantry Regiment[13][14]
  • Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 97th Infantry Division Artillery[15]
    • 303rd Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
    • 365th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
    • 922nd Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
    • 389th Field Artillery Battalion (155 mm)
  • 322nd Engineer Combat Battalion
  • 322nd Medical Battalion
  • 97th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized)
  • Headquarters, Special Troops, 97th Infantry Division
    • Headquarters Company, 97th Infantry Division
    • 797th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company
    • 97th Quartermaster Company
    • 597th Signal Company
    • 97th Military Police Platoon
    • 97th Infantry Division Band
  • 97th Counterintelligence Corps Detachment

Commanders

Combat chronicle

After assembly and training at

Hennef
.

Ruhr pocket

The division then entered the battle of the Ruhr pocket, crossing the Sieg River on 7 April, battling German Wehrmacht troops defending Schloss Allner.[13] According to the after action report:[13]

"Machine-gun fire was strafing the crossing area from castle near ALLNER where it had a clear field of fire and from a wooded spur at a bend in the river W of the crossing, firing upriver toward the boats. Artillery fire, TD's, heavy MG fire and mortars were all brought to bear on this castle but although it crumbled, the MG fire continued. Fire was also coming from the high ground N of the river."

In two days the 922nd Field Artillery Battalion fired over three thousand rounds at the area around the castle.[16] Pfc John Hedrick seized an abandoned assault boat while under heavy enemy fire and used the craft to help ferry troops across the river. He was awarded the Silver Star. After crossing the river, elements of the 387th Infantry Regiment assaulted the castle:

"The 2d Battalion hit very stiff resistance at the ALLNER Castle and on the ridge in the loop of the river. Anti-tank company and the TD's blasted the castle from the S bank of the SIEG River and G Company was able to clear it out."

Entering Siegburg on 10 April, troops again encountered heavy resistance at the Glockner works.[8]

On 12 April Pfc Joe R. Hastings of Company C, 386th Infantry Regiment, distinguished himself in action at Drabenderhöhe, Germany while attacking an enemy position.[10] According to his citation:

"[Hastings] rushed forward over 350 yards of open, rolling fields to reach a position from which he could fire on the enemy troops. From this vantage point he killed the crews of a
40mm and machine gun fire, he ran 150 yards with his gun to the leading elements of that unit, where he killed the crew of the 40mm gun...[He then] advanced, firing his gun held at hip height, disregarding the bullets that whipped past him, until the assault had carried 175 yards to the objective...He was killed 4 days later while again supporting the 3d Platoon."[10]

He received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his actions.

On 14 April, intelligence officers from the 97th Division liberated approximately 800

Much, Germany.[17]

Pushing on toward Düsseldorf through difficult terrain and heavy resistance in densely wooded areas, the division captured Solingen on 17 April.[6] Düsseldorf fell without much fighting the next day, after the German Resistance launched Aktion Rheinland, and the Ruhr pocket was eliminated by 21 April.[8]

Flossenbürg concentration camp

On 23 April elements of the 97th, together with members of the

Counter Intelligence Corps, which included Robie Macauley,[20] Ib Melchior[21] and Anthony Hecht,[22] interviewed former prisoners and gathered evidence for trials of former camp officers and guards.[1] The 97th also liberated Helmbrechts concentration camp, a sub-camp of Flossenbürg for female prisoners.[23]

The following day a unit of the 97th CIC Detachment led by Captain Oscar M. Grimes captured about two hundred Gestapo officers and men in hiding near Hof, Bavaria. They were in possession of American uniforms and equipment, but had evidently made the decision to surrender.[17][24][25]

Czechoslovakia

On 25 April the division entered Czechoslovakia, moving to protect the left flank of the

POW camp for the Germans.[26]

The 97th Infantry Division was credited with firing the last official shot in the

Pfc. Domenic Mozzetta (1925-2001) of Company B, 387th Infantry Regiment, 97th Infantry Division, at a German sniper near Klenovice, Czechoslovakia shortly before midnight, 7 May 1945.[6]

Assignments in the ETO

Command posts in the ETO

Post-war duties

The division left

Kumagaya.[30][31] By December the 97th had reached its maximum deployment through six prefectures: Saitama, Gunma, Nagano, Niigata, Fukushima, and Tochigi.[32]

Confiscating and disposing of Japanese military property proved to be the Division's prime task. The 97th returned 198,142,046 pounds of foodstuffs, 670,226 gallons of gasoline, 8,568,857 yards of cloth and 480,343 pairs of boots and shoes to the Japanese government for distribution to civilians.[32]

On 26 October counter-intelligence officers from the 97th Division located $2.5 million worth of stolen

Karuizawa.[34]

The division was inactivated on 31 March 1946 in Yokohama.[6][32]

Command posts in Japan

  • 25 Sep 45 - Mitsugahara Airfield in
    Kumagaya, Saitama
    , Japan
  • 7 Oct 45 - Ueda, Nagano, Japan[35]

Cold War to present

On 15 July 1962, the division's 97th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop was converted and redesignated, less the 3rd Platoon, as the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 193rd Infantry Brigade, and relieved from assignment to the 97th Infantry Division. Concurrently, it was withdrawn from the Army Reserve and allotted to the Regular Army.

The 3rd Platoon, 97th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop was concurrently converted and redesignated as the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 194th Infantry Brigade - hereafter separate lineage).[36] The unit was reactivated shortly thereafter on 8 August 1962 in the Panama Canal Zone.[37]

On 22 December 1967, the 97th Army Reserve Command was activated at Fort Meade, Maryland. While the 97th ARCOM was allowed to wear the shoulder sleeve insignia of the 97th Infantry Division and use its number, Department of the Army policy does not allow for the lineage of Table of Organization and Equipment (TOE) units, such as infantry divisions, to be perpetuated by Table of Distribution (TDA) units, such as ARCOMs.

Three medical units of the 97th were mobilized and deployed to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

In

Government of Panama.[38][39]

During operations

Desert Storm, more than 3,000 division troops deployed to missions in the Persian Gulf
.

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.[40]

Years later the lineage of the 97th Infantry Division was reactivated as the 97th Training Brigade, a subordinate unit of the 100th Training Division.[citation needed]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^
    doi:10.1111/j.1467-9736.2008.00410.x
    .
  2. ^ a b Hirshauer 1991, p. 7.
  3. ^ Hirshauer 1991, p. 8.
  4. ^ Clay, Steven E. (2010). U.S. Army Order of Battle, 1919-1941, Volume 1. The Arms: Major Commands and Infantry Organizations. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: Combat Studies Institute Press. pp. 242–243, 268–269, 272–273, 289–290, 348.
  5. ^ Clay, Steven E. (2010). U.S. Army Order of Battle, 1919-1941, Volume 1. The Arms: Major Commands and Infantry Organizations. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: Combat Studies Institute Press. pp. 272–273.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g The 97th Infantry Division During World War II
  7. ^ Ruppenthal, Roland G. (1959). U.S. Army in World War II, European Theater of Operations, Logistical Support of the Armies: September 1944-May 1945. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army. p. 286.
  8. ^ a b c The Story of the 97th Infantry Division, Orientation Branch. Information and Education Division, HQ, USFET. Also reproduced at Lonesentry.com. Original document with photos.
  9. ^ 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)
  10. ^ a b c "US Army Center of Military History, World War II, Medal of Honor Recipients G-L". Archived from the original on 27 December 2018. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  11. ^ "Veterans' Day Commemoration Honors Military Service in World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam," 30 October 2006
  12. ^ Susan Hobson, "New Creative Writers: 17 Novelists Whose First Work Appears This Season," Library Journal, 1 October 1952, p. 1642.
  13. ^ a b c "Elimination of the Ruhr Pocket; XVIII Airborne Corps (First U. S. Army) 387th Infantry Regt, 97th Infantry Division." Interview with Capt. Milton Ponitz and First Lt. Robert McCaffrey.
  14. ^ a b Captain Eugene A. Buckley Jr., "After Battle Report, Participation of the 387th Inf Regt in the Battle of Germany, 21 April - 8 May, 1945."
  15. ^ 97th Field Artillery Website
  16. ^ 'B' Battery, 922nd F.A., 97th Infantry Division, WWII History.
  17. ^
    ISBN 0-8232-2528-3
  18. ^ Flossenburg
  19. ^ "Robert W. Hacker, "Knocking the Lock Off the Gate at the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp; 23 April 1945," excerpted from Robert W. Hacker: Flossenbürg Concentration Camp, Phoenix 2000, unpublished manuscript. Flossenbürg memorial archive". Archived from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  20. ^ Macauley R. "Who Should Mourn?" The New York Times, Letters to the Editor, 8 August 1976.
  21. ISBN 0-595-00393-1
  22. ^ "Anthony Hecht: Poet who expressed the horrors of the 20th century in verse of formal rigour and cultured gravity."
  23. ^ Helmbrechts Concentration Camp
  24. ^ "Obituary: Oscar M. "Mel" Grimes Jr., 80, Catonsville Times, 14 May 2001". Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  25. ^ "Bemedaled Ex-Nazi Youth Home from Europe Wars," The Salt Lake Tribune, 16 July 1945, p. 6.
  26. ^ Bryan J. Dickerson, "The Liberation of Western Czechoslovakia 1945," Military History Online, 3 June 2006.
  27. ^ George Dyer, XII Corps: Spearhead of Patton's Third Army, XII Corps History Association, 1947; Chapter 16, section 4. Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  28. ^ 1,463 of the 97th Steam Up Hudson: First Units of Second Combat Division Land Four Miles from Camp Shanks," New York Times; 24 June 1945; p. 5.
  29. ^ "European Veterans Arrive: U.S. 97th Division Landing at Yokohama--43d Coming Home," The New York Times; 26 Sep 1945; p. 13.
  30. ^ Geoffrey Lindsay, "Anthony Hecht in Occupied Japan." Sewanee Review, 2011, 119 (4). pp. 641–655.
  31. ^ "Job in Japan Irks GIs, But It Could Be Worse," The Washington Post, 4 November 1945; pg. B2.
  32. ^ a b c "97th Division to be inactivated on March 31," Public Relations Office Press Release, 22 March 1946
  33. ^ Ralph Teatsworth, "Nazis Looted Czech Hospital of Radium, Stored It in Osaka," United Press International; printed in the Tonawanda Evening News, 26 Oct 1945, p. 1.
  34. ^ "Nazi Agents in Japan Rounded Up," The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848-1954), Thursday 1 November 1945, page 2
  35. ^ "Job in Japan Irks GIs, But It Could Be Worse," The Washington Post, 4 November 1945; p. B2.
  36. ^ "Headquarters 193d Infantry Brigade". www.history.army.mil. Archived from the original on 8 June 2010.
  37. ^ "The 193rd Infantry Brigade". Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  38. ^ "The Brigade: A History, Its Organization and Employment in the US Army" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 December 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  39. ISBN 0788135570
  40. ^ Ninety-Seventh Infantry Division, US Militaria Forum.

Bibliography

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