U.S. Army Europe, WWII
Corporal, 1st Infantry Division, Barracks Uniform:
Note: The use of the 1st Infantry Division (DUI) on the lapels, and cap, is quite unusual I think, as DUIs applied to the uniform in such a way are restricted to Regimental size units. So this would be (I think non-regulation), but it looks cool and may have been applied to the uniform when not assigned a particular Regiment. Perhaps post-war, or for parades, and at some point, his ruptured duck patch has been removed, I am not certain of, one I had to show it somewhere.
“New” Corporal., 1st Inf. Artillery. Rgt. WWII Ike Jacket:
Sergeant, 3rd Army, Base Uniform:
This is a soldier serving in the 3rd Army Division. The uniform is old and has moth damage and whatnot, the uniform we can only guess at the man who wore it, but he was just doing what his country asked him to do...and he stepped up to the plate.
They were different times than these. But were the people different? They were extreme circumstances, to say the least. They were different times than these. But were the people different? They were extreme circumstances, to say the least.
This very well has been the come home coat-the collar brass I've never seen before, maybe an end of the war, or post-war in Country thing, don't know. But the 'Infantry' Blue ring is applied to the brass, not the later plastic backing piece.
I don't know the whole story, but the 3rd Army did serve under the command of George S. Patton for some time, and at the end of the war, fought a mighty battle with the Germans at the Battle of the Bulge, when he came to support came to the Troops already fighting there, the saw the WWII version of the cavalry charge.
It's a decent, jacket, been on a hanger for some time...but shows a likely soldier getting ready to go home after the war, and perhaps on occupational duty.
This is another one of the uniforms with khaki and blue stripes...officially I would think it was olive and blue, but one used what one could get more often than not then, and Higher Sergeants, many having been threw the war would maybe let trivial things like this slide.
His Sergeant stripes and Presidential Unit Citation. And in addition, the other set of sergeant stripes. There is the American Campaign Bar, European-African, Middle-Eastern Campaign Ribbon, and this says-post war, the WWII Victory Ribbon. I don't think this was worn during the war.
Once again, it's the same old story, of the cap that was never warned, or so it seems, they were issued to the troops at some point- prior to, or after coming home, and generally used in a photo or two, and nave came out again, likely the case here, it was probably a going home uniform.
There are many uniforms in the collection, and I think they will all fill all the gaps, and help to tell a story, like this one...There was a time a big problem of having so much in reserve, in men and equipment they couldn't even get off the beaches to get to where they were supposed to be, The U.S. had geared up in a big way, and mass production the like of which they would have never known...of numbers of men, material supplies, food stock, fuel, and bullets.
Note: In the early stages of WWII Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges had gotten control of the 3rd Army, and remained so threw 1943. They were deployed from the United States to the UK in December 1943, and they shipped overseas knowing this was just the beginning of the inevitable invasion of Europe.
Uniform ribbons show the uniform in a post-war time as the WWII Victory Ribbon came out sometime after the war, to all who served in in in the US. Armed Forces, and served at any point in the war. At the time ribbon pins were rare, and generally added in the post-war, as the Europe-African-Middle Eastern Campaign could be filled with small stars or none, it could mean 1 campaign (Europe say) or a bunch of campaigns. The first ribbon is the America Campaign Ribbon.
4th ID. Infantryman’s (E/M) Blouse:
Prior to the US “Official” entrance to WWII, the 4th Division was reactivated at the beginning of June 1940 at Fort Benning, in Georgia. Then in August, they formed one of the new motorized divisions. Soon they were attached to the 2nd Armored Division to form the 1st Armored Corps. Becoming the 4th Motorized Division effective 11 July 1941. Their training as so, began in Louisiana, in swampy large-scale maneuvers in mid-1941 and Carolina Maneuvers in October 1941, then came back to Fort Benning. The division continued training and in large-scale maneuvers till 1942.
The division, having been under the command of Major-General Walter Prosser, now came under the command of Major-General Raymond Barton. On 12 April 1943, they moved to Fort Dix in New Jersey, only to be completely reformed again as the 4 Infantry Division, on 4th August 1943. Then went into more training, and went on maneuvers in Florida for fall training, then moved to Camp Jackson in South Carolina on, the 1st of December 1943.
Finally considering all their training, it was time to get involved in the War. So in early January of 1944, they transferred over to Camp Kilmer located in New Jersey. Then the division moved all its elements to the docks of the Port of Embarkation, on 18th January 1944, where they started the battle history of the “4th ID” when they arrived in England on 26th, January 1944, and soon found their temporary lodging and fine-tuning their equipment and more training.
E/M, 4th Infantry Division, Medic, WWII:
France
The 4th Infantry Division was among the first landing in Normandy, at Utah Beach on 6 June 1944. Rodeyvooing with the 82nd Airborne who had taken the Sainte Mere Eglise would hold the town, move out threw the Contitin Peninsulam and help then take the town of Cherbourg on 25 June, the port would help to bring more supplies in, to support the drive across France. The next major battle was near Periers on the 6–12 July, then made contact with the Wehrmacht’s 7th Army Division, piercing their flank, helping the battle to stop the move on the town of Avranches.
In August, They made it to Paris but let the rebuilt French forces, which became under the command of Chares De Gaulle, with orders from SHEAF they would liberate the old Capitol.
Then moved on to Belgium fighting through Houffalize and breaking through the Seigfried Line, fighting their way through the Hurtgen Forrest, to fight through Luxembourg, and running into the German’s last major offensive in the Ardennes Forrest, while involved in continuous heavy fighting, they held their positions at Dickweiler and at Osweiler.
By January 1945 they had crossed the Sauer River, and taken the enemy positions in Fouhren and Vianden.
At the Prum River, where they ran into very heavy enemy resistance, they came to a halt, but not-giving-, crossing the river on 28 February. Moving through Olzheim and drove on at high speed to Kyll. They earned a break from the fighting then but it was short-lived short rest, soon they pushed across the Rhine River near Worms. Then they took Wurzburg and had a bridgehead made at Ochsenfurt. Then drove on to Miesbach, on the 2nd of May 1945, then they went on occupation duty.
“New” Private, 9th Inf. WWII, Green Dress":
Staff Sergeant, 28th Infantry Division, Khaki Woolen Blouse:
The 28th Infantry Division "Keystone" was formed from units of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard; Pennsylvania is the "Keystone State" but known to the troops as the “Bucket of Blood” or Bloody Bucket, as the Germans called the Patch.
It is a unit of the Army National Guard and is the oldest division in the Armed Forces of the United States Army. Officially established in 1879 and was later in 1917, given the 28th Division, after the entry of America into the First World War. The 28th is also one of the most decorated infantry divisions in the United States Army.
The division was activated on 17 February 1941 at Camp Livingston, Louisiana. February 1942 the division was reorganized, the brigades were disbanded, and the 111th Infantry Regiment was detached and reorganized as a separate regimental combat team, initially used to guard important Eastern Seaboard industrial facilities. The division trained in the Carolinas, Virginia, Louisiana, Texas, and Florida.
Went overseas on 8 October 1943, arriving in South Wales. On 22 July 1944, the division landed at Normandy Beach. They too-part in the Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central European campaigns. It fought in 196 days of combat.
As with a number of the uniforms in the collection, I have more than one uniform of the division, so the story will continue with the following jacket.
Private, 28th INF. DIV. (Bucket of Blood) Battle Jacket:
The 28th pushed east towards Paris through the Bocage Country, All along the way passing burned and destroyed vehicles and men. In little more than a month, they came to Paris and were given the honor of marching down the Champes-Elyseeon on August 29, 1944, for the parade in the Liberation of Paris.
After a short stand down, the 28th Infantry headed to Adolph Hitler's West-Wall Defense, a small night patrol of the 109th Infantry Regiment, advanced on the Siegfried Line that started with concrete “Anti-Tank” Dragons Teeth, then the mines, and bunkers trenches, etc., Of the West-Wall Defenses.
The patrol crossed the Our River Bridge from Weiswampach, Luxembourg into Sevenig and into Germany, making it the first of the Allied armies to reach German soil.
The 28th suffered excessive casualties in the very costly blunder, in the Hurtgen Forest. Officially, Divisional History conceded "the division accomplished little” The campaign was the longest continuous battle of World War II and received far less coverage than the Battle of the Bulge.
Finally, a line along the Our and Sauer Rivers roads was halted late in November, Stopped by two Panzer divisions, 3 infantry divisions, and 1 parachute division (including 352nd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) and the 5th Parachute Division (Germany)on 16 December.
The Ardennes Offensive was launched along the entire divisional front by the Fifth Panzer Army led by General der Panzertruppe Hasso von Manteuffel.
The 28th, which had sustained heavy casualties in the First Army drive to the Roer, fought doggedly in place using all available personnel and threw off the enemy timetable before withdrawing to Neufchâteau, on 22 December for reorganization, as its units had been badly mauled.
At the end of November 1944, a German "pocket" of resistance formed in the French Alsace region, centered on the city of Colmar. The Colmar Pocket consisted of the strength of eight German divisions and a brigade of Panzer tanks. Combined forces of French and American armies were initially unsuccessful in closing this pocket.
General Dwight David Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, called the Colmar Pocket "a sore" on the 6th Army Group's Commander Jacob L. Devers's western front.
French First Army Commanding General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny and Devers met on 11 January 1945 and agreed that it was a long-since time to drive the Germans back out of France. Two days later, de Lattre and Devers made a request to Eisenhower for reinforcements so their armies could make an offensive on the Colmar Pocket.
Eisenhower's aide Major General Walter Bedell Smith subsequently, told Devers that the 10th Armored Division (United States) and the 28th were being placed under his command. Smith also warned Devers that, after three months of intense fighting on the Siegfried Line as well as fighting off the initial thrust of the Ardennes Offensive, the 28th -put back into action in a defensive position along the Meuse River from Givet to Verdun on 2 January 1945- was "capable of only limited offensive action.
Battle plans were soon made and, on 19 January, the 28th went into action on the northwestern section of the pocket in the Kaysersberg Valley supporting the beleaguered 3rd Infantry Division, which had been holding there since late November 1944. Despite the bitterly cold conditions, the battle broke the Allies' way.
German intelligence knew nothing about the 10th and 28th until they were deployed. The 28th kept advancing its line westward and pressing in steadily toward the city of Colmar.
In less than 10 days the pocket was diminished by half and no less than the German Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler gave the order in the early morning of 29 January for a partial retreat of his troops in the northern sector of the pocket.
By 2 February, the 28th had cleared Colmar's surrounding areas and the 5th Armored Division (France) led the way into the town. On 9 February, the final organized German troops in Alsace were pushed by the 109th Infantry Regiment.
Corporal, 104th Infantry Division (Howling Wolf:)
Activated in 1921 and deployed during World War II, the division saw almost 200 days of fighting in northwestern Europe as it fought through France, Netherlands, Belgium as well as western Germany, constantly fighting and advancing. Throughout the theater in 1944 and 1945. This was however the only combat duty that the 104th Infantry Division has served during its history.
As the war in Europe came to an end, on 7 May 1945 VE Day on the horizon, this division was sitting directly opposite soldiers of the Soviet Union, our Allies.
In the post-war, the division was reorganized, and largely as a training unit for Reserve forces. As of late, the 104th Infantry Division is used for Leader Training and is based at Fort Luis Mcchord, in Washington State, training the ground forces of the U.S. Ary Reserve.
