U.S. 42nd Infantry Division
The 42nd Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army in World War I and World War II, andis the division of the New York National Guard.
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World War I
- Activated: August 1917 (National Guard Divisions, the personnel of which were drawn from 26 States and the District of Columbia).
- Overseas: November 1917.
- Major operations: Champagne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne.
- Days of combat: 264.
- Casualties: Total 14,683 (KIA-2,058; WIA-12,625).
- Commanders: Maj. Gen. W. A. Mann (5 September 1917), Maj. Gen. Charles T. Menoher (19 December 1917), Brig. Gen. Douglas MacArthur (10 November 1918), Maj. Gen. C. A. F. Flagler (22 November 1918).
The 42nd Division was not organized as a National Guard division after World War I.
World War II
- Activated: 14 July 1943
- Overseas: November 1944.
- Campaigns: Rhineland, Central Europe.
- Days of combat: 106.
- Distinguished Unit Citations: 1.
- Awards: MH-1 ; DSC-4 ; DSM-1 ; SS-622; LM-9; SM-32; ; BSM-5,325 ; AM-104.
- Commanders: Maj. Gen. Henry J. Collins commanded the Division during its entire period of Federal service in World War II.
- Inactivated: 29 June 1946 in Europe.
Combat Chronicle
The three regiments and a detachment of the Division Headquarters arrived in France at Marseilles, 8-9 December 1944, and were formed into a Task Force Linden, under the Assistant Division Commander. Assigned to VI Corps, Seventh Army, the Task Force entered combat in the vicinity of Strasbourg, relieving elements of the 36th Infantry Division, 24 December 1944. Defending a 31-mile sector along the Rhine, north and south of Strasbourg, the Task Force repulsed a number of enemy counterattacks, at Hatten and elsewhere. After throwing back an enemy attack, 24-26 January 1945, Task Force Linden returned to Seventh Army Reserve and trained with the remainder of the Division which had arrived meanwhile.
On 14 February 1945, the Division entered combat as a whole, taking up defensive positions near Haguenau in the Hardt Mountains. After a month of extensive patrolling and active defense, the 42d went on the offensive, attacking through the Hardt Mountains, broke through the Siegfried Line, 15-21 March, cleared Dahn and Busenberg, and mopped up in that general area, while the Third Army created and expanded bridgeheads across the Rhine. Moving across the Rhine, 31 March, the 42d captured Wertheim, 1 April, and Wurzburg, 2-6 April, after a fierce battle. Schweinfurt fell next after hand-to-hand engagements, 9-12 April. Furth, near Nurnberg, put up fanatical resistance, but was taken, 18-19 April, by the Division.
On the 25th, the 42d captured Donauworth on the Danube, and on the 29th liberated some 30,000 inmates at Dachau, most notorious of the Nazi concentration camps. Passing through Munich, 30 April, it cut across the Austrian border north of Salzburg, 5 May, as the war in Europe ended.
Assignments in the ETO
- 10 December 1944: Seventh Army, 6th Army Group.
- 15 December 1944: Third Army, 12th Army Group.
- 24 December 1944: VI Corps, Seventh Army, 6th Army Group.
- 25 March 1945: XXI Corps.
- 19 April 1945: XV Corps.
War in Iraq
The division has been the first National Guard division to be sent to the frontline under its own commandment since World War II, in the Sunni Area, north of Bagdad.
General
- Nickname: Rainbow Division
- Shoulder patch: A rainbow.
References
- The Army Almanac: A Book of Facts Concerning the Army of the United States U.S. Government Printing Office, 1950 reproduced at CMH.