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US Army National Guard formation From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 34th Infantry Division is an infantry division of the United States Army, part of the National Guard, that participated in World War I, World War II and multiple current conflicts. It was the first American division deployed to Europe in World War II, where it fought with great distinction in the Italian Campaign.[3]
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| 34th Infantry Division | |
|---|---|
 34th Infantry Division's shoulder sleeve insignia | |
| Active | 1917–1919 1924–1963 1991–present |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| Type | Infantry |
| Size | Division |
| Garrison/HQ | Arden Hills, Minnesota |
| Nickname(s) | "Red Bull" "The Sandstorm Division" |
| Motto(s) | "Attack, Attack, Attack!" |
| March | "March of the Red Bull Legions" |
| Engagements | |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander | Major General Charles Kemper[1][2] |
| Notable commanders | Charles W. Ryder Charles L. Bolte Michael Wickman |
| Insignia | |
| Distinctive unit insignia |  |
The division was deactivated in 1945, and the 47th "Viking" Infantry Division was later created in the division's former area. In 1991 the 47th Division was redesignated the 34th. Since 2001, division soldiers have served on homeland security duties in the continental United States, in Afghanistan, and in Iraq. The 34th has also been deployed to support peacekeeping efforts in the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere.[4]
The division continues to serve today, with most of the division part of the Minnesota and Iowa National Guard. In 2011, it was staffed by roughly 6,500 soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard,[5] 2,900 from the Iowa National Guard, about 300 from the Nebraska National Guard, and about 100 from other states.[6]
The division was established as the 34th Division of the National Guard on 18 July 1917, consisting of units from Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Camp Cody, New Mexico, was selected as its training site on 3 August. On 5 August, the National Guards of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and the Dakotas were drafted into federal service, and the units to comprise the division began concentrating at Camp Cody on 19 August.[7] On 25 August 1917, the division was placed under the command of Major General Augustus P. Blocksom,[8] who was succeeded by Brigadier General Frank G. Mauldin briefly on 18 September 1917, but was back in command by 10 December 1917.[9]
A controversy arose when Brigadier General Frederick Emil Resche, the commander of the division's 68th Infantry Brigade and a native of Germany who had long resided in Duluth, Minnesota, was accused of anti-American sentiments.[10][11][12] No evidence was forthcoming, but Resche was still relieved of command in April 1918, supposedly for inefficiency.[10][11][12]
Brigadier General Frank G. Mauldin took command.[13] Systematic training began on 29 October 1917, and during October and November, 5,000 draftees arrived from Camp Dodge, Iowa, and Camp Funston, Kansas, while personnel losses up to and including 10 May 1918 aggregated about 4,000 men. In June 1918, nearly all of the division’s trained personnel were sent overseas to meet the requirements of the AEF automatic replacement system. Replacements arrived in August, the majority drawn from Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.[7] The 34th Division arrived in France in October 1918, but it was too late for the division to be sent to the front, as the end of hostilities was near. Most personnel were sent through the AEF replacement system to other units to support their final operations. The Armistice with Germany was signed the following month.
Brigadier General John Alexander Johnston took command 26 October 1918. Charles Dudley Rhodes took command in December and led the division until its departure for the United States in January 1919.[14] The 34th was disbanded on 18 February 1919 at Camp Grant, Illinois.[15]
The division takes its name from the shoulder sleeve insignia designed for a 1917 training camp contest by American regionalist artist Marvin Cone, who was then a soldier enlisted in the unit.[16] Cone's design evoked the desert training grounds of Camp Cody by superimposing a red steer skull over a black Mexican water jug called an "olla," while the unit was called the "Sandstorm Division." German troops in World War II called the 34th Infantry Division’s soldiers "Red Devils" and "Red Bulls," and the division later officially adopted the divisional nickname Red Bulls.[17]
Units of the 34th Division during World War I included:[18]
In accordance with the National Defense Act of 1920, the division was allotted to Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota, and assigned to the VII Corps in 1921. On 17 January 1921, the Observation Squadron, Minnesota National Guard, was the first National Guard observation squadron to receive federal recognition. Per War Department naming conventions, the squadron was re-designated the 109th Observation Squadron on 25 January 1923.[19] By 1924, a sufficient number of subordinate units had been organized to meet the federal standards for organization of a division headquarters and staff, and the division headquarters was reorganized and federally recognized on 14 July 1924 at Council Bluffs, Iowa, under the command of Major General Mathew A. Tinley; when Major General George E. Leach of Minnesota took command, the headquarters was relocated on 14 July 1940 to Camp Ripley, near Little Falls, Minnesota. The designated mobilization training center for the “Red Bull” Division was Camp Dodge, Iowa, near Des Moines, 1921–30, and Camp Ripley, 1931–40. For most years from 1921-1940, the division’s subordinate units held separate summer camps at locations within their respective states: Camp Dodge for Iowa units; Camp Lake View on Lake Pepin near Lake City, until 1931, and from 1931 on, Camp Ripley for Minnesota units; Camp Gilbert C. Grafton near Devils Lake for North Dakota units; and Camp Rapid near Rapid City for South Dakota units. For at least one year, in 1938, the division’s subordinate units also trained over eighty company-grade Reserve officers of the 88th Division at their various training camps in the division’s home area. The division staff, composed of personnel form all four states, came together to conduct joint training for several summers before World War II. The staff generally alternated years between Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and Camp Dodge and participated in several corps area and army-level command post exercises.[20]
On 16 May 1934, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters initiated a strike (Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934), which quickly degenerated into open violence in the streets of Minneapolis. Minnesota governor Floyd B. Olson activated 4,000 National Guardsmen to suppress the chaos. Utilizing roving patrols, curfews, and security details, the 34th quickly restored order, thus enabling a negotiated settlement of the labor dispute.[21] The first opportunity for the entire division to operate together came in August 1937 during that portion of the Fourth Army maneuvers held at Camp Ripley. On 18 June 1939, a tornado hit Anoka, Minnesota, and Governor Harold Stassen called on the Guard again. 300 Guardsmen patrolled the streets and imposed quasi-martial law while the community was stabilized.[22] The next opportunity for the division to operate as a unit came in August 1940 when the division again assembled at Camp Ripley for the Seventh Corps Area concentration of the Fourth Army maneuvers. In that maneuver, the “Red Bull” Division operated as part of the "Red Army" against the 35th Division and the "Blue Army."
The 109th Ammunition Train was never authorized for organization, and was disbanded in an inactive status on 1 July 1940.[23]
The 109th Medical Regiment was originally allotted to Minnesota and North Dakota. In 1927, the regiment was relieved from assignment to the 34th Division, assigned to the VII Corps, and the North Dakota elements were concurrently withdrawn and allotted to Minnesota. No units of the regiment were ever organized before it was withdrawn from allotment to the National Guard in September 1927 and demobilized. Concurrently, the 136th Medical Regiment, allotted to Iowa and South Dakota, was reassigned from the VII Corps to the 34th Division with all South Dakota elements withdrawn and allotted to Iowa. The regiment, less two companies active since 1922 and 1926, respectively, began organization in April 1939.[24]
Italics indicates state of headquarters allocation; headquarters not organized or inactive.
The expanding war in Europe threatened to draw a reluctant United States into the conflict. As the potential of U.S. involvement in World War II became more evident, initial steps were taken to prepare troops for what lay ahead through "precautionary training."[21] The division was deemed one of the most service-ready units, and Ellard A. Walsh was promoted to major general in June 1940, and then succeeded to division commander in August. The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 was signed into law 16 September, and the first conscription in U.S. history during peacetime commenced.[25]
The 34th was subsequently federalized on 10 February 1941, and was transported by rail and truck convoys to the newly constructed Camp Claiborne in Rapides Parish, Louisiana near Alexandria.[26] On 7 April 1941, the soldiers started rigorous training. The climate during the summer was especially harsh. The division then participated in what became known as the Louisiana Maneuvers, and became a well-disciplined, high-spirited, and well-prepared unit.[26] During the early phase of the maneuvers, General Walsh became too ill to continue in command because of chronic stomach ulcers. After an interim tenure by Iowan Brigadier General Gordon C. Hollar of the 67th Infantry Brigade, the senior brigadier general of the division, Walsh was replaced by Regular Army Major General Russell P. Hartle on 5 August 1941.[26]
In common with other U.S. Army divisions during World War II the 34th was reorganized from a square to a triangular division before seeing combat. The division's three infantry regiments became the 133rd, 135th, and 168th Infantry Regiments, together with supporting units.
On 8 January 1942, the 34th Division was transported by train to Fort Dix, New Jersey to quickly prepare for overseas movement. The first contingent embarked at Brooklyn on 14 January 1942 and sailed from New York the next day. The initial group of 4,508 men stepped ashore at 12:15 hrs on 26 January 1942 at Dufferin Quay, Belfast, Northern Ireland. They were met by a delegation including the Governor (Duke of Abercorn), the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (J. M. Andrews), the Commander of British Troops Northern Ireland (Lieutenant General Sir Harold Franklyn), and the Secretary of State for Air (Sir Archibald Sinclair).[27] Private First Class Milburn H. Henke, Company B, 133rd Infantry Regiment, of Hutchinson, Minnesota, was honorarily selected as the "first" American soldier to set foot in the United Kingdom during the Second World War.[28] The remainder of the division embarked for Northern Ireland in late April 1942, arriving in early May.
While in Northern Ireland, Hartle was tasked with organizing an American version of the British Commandos, a group of small "hit and run" forces, and promoted his aide-de-camp, Captain William Orlando Darby to lead the new unit.[27] Darby assembled volunteers, and of the first 500 U.S. Army Rangers, 281 came from the 34th Infantry Division. On 20 May 1942, Hartle was designated commanding general of V Corps and Major General Charles Ryder, a distinguished veteran of World War I, took command of the 34th Division. In September 1942, the 2nd Battalion, 133rd Infantry, was attached to Allied Force Headquarters for guard and police duties, later traveling to North Africa with the headquarters. The division boarded ships to travel to North Africa for Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa, in November 1942.
The 34th, under command of Major General Ryder, saw its first combat in French Algeria on 8 November 1942. As a member of the Eastern Task Force, which included two brigades of the British 78th Infantry Division, and two British Commando units, they landed at Algiers and seized the port and outlying airfields. Elements of the 34th Division took part in numerous subsequent engagements in Tunisia during the Allied build-up, notably at Sened Station,[29] Sidi Bou Zid and Faid Pass, Sbeitla, and Fondouk Gap.[30] In April 1943 the division assaulted Hill 609, capturing it on 1 May 1943, and then drove through Chouigui Pass to Tebourba and Ferryville.[31] The Battle of Tunisia was won, and the Axis forces surrendered.
The division skipped the Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) due to heavy casualties suffered in North Africa especially at Faid Pass where the 168th Infantry Regiment lost half of its strength with its men killed or captured and was in need of replacements and refitting, and instead trained intensively for the invasion of the Italian mainland, with the main landings being at Salerno (Operation Avalanche) on 9 September 1943, D-Day, to be undertaken by elements of the U.S. Fifth Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Mark Clark. The 151st Field Artillery Battalion went in on D-Day, 9 September, landing at Salerno, while the rest of the division followed on 25 September.
The segregated Japanese-American 100th Infantry Battalion was attached to the 133rd Infantry at the end of the North African campaign to replace the 2nd Battalion, later traveling with them to Italy.[32]
Engaging the enemy at the Calore River, 28 September, the 34th, as part of the VI Corps under Major General John Lucas, relentlessly drove north to take Benevento, crossed the winding Volturno three times in October and November, assaulted Monte Patano, and took one of its four peaks before being relieved on 8 December.[33]
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In January 1944, the division was back on the front line battering the Bernhardt Line defenses. Persevering through bitter fighting along the Mignano Gap, the 34th used goat herds to clear the minefields.[34] The 34th took Monte Trocchio without resistance as the German defenders withdrew to the main prepared defenses of the Gustav Line. On 24 January 1944, during the First Battle of Monte Cassino they pushed across the Gari River into the hills behind and attacked Monastery Hill which dominated the town of Monte Cassino. While they nearly captured the objective, in the end their attacks on the monastery and the town failed. The performance of the 34th Infantry Division in the mountains has been called one of the finest feats of arms carried out by any soldiers during the war.[35] The unit sustained severe losses. In the 133rd Infantry, the attached 100th Battalion, had only 7 officers and 78 men remaining in its rifle companies. In the 135th Infantry, there was an average of only 30 men in each rifle company. In the 168th Infantry, the 1st Battalion had only 154 combat effective men, the 2nd Battalion had 393, and the 3rd Battalion had 246.[36] They were relieved from their positions 11–13 February 1944. Eventually, it took the combined force of five Allied infantry divisions to finish what the 34th nearly accomplished on its own.[dubious – discuss][citation needed]
After rest and rehabilitation, during which the 133rd Infantry's 2nd Battalion rejoined its parent regiment, the 34th Division landed at the Anzio beachhead 25 March 1944. The division maintained defensive positions until the offensive of 23 May, when it broke out of the beachhead, took Cisterna, and raced to Civitavecchia and the Italian capital of Rome. After a short rest, the division, now commanded by Major General Charles Bolte, drove across the Cecina River to liberate Livorno, 19 July 1944, and continued on to take Monte Belmonte in October during the fighting on the Gothic Line. Digging in south of Bologna for the winter, the 34th manned the line opposite the German 65th Infantry Division.[37] The Red Bull Division jumped off as part of the Spring 1945 offensive in Italy, 15 April 1945, and captured Bologna on 21 April after hard fighting against the 65th. Pursuit of the routed enemy to the French border was halted on 2 May upon the German surrender in Italy and the end of World War II in Europe.[15]
On 27 June 1944 the 16th SS-Panzer Grenadiers command post in San Vincenzo, Italy was overrun by the 1st Battalion of the 133rd Infantry Regiment. The command post was a town center apartment which had been commandeered, when the owners returned to their apartment they found a signed large leather-bound Stieler's Hand Atlas which had been left behind.[38]
The division participated in six major Army campaigns in North Africa and Italy. The division is credited with amassing 517 days of front-line combat,[39] second only to the 654 days of fighting by the 32nd Infantry Division.[40] One or more 34th Division units were engaged in actual combat for 611 days.[citation needed]
The 34th was inactivated on 3 November 1945, and was reformed within the Iowa and Nebraska National Guards in 1946–7. The 47th Infantry Division was activated in 1946 as a National Guard division for Minnesota and North Dakota, part of the 34th Infantry Division's former area.
In 1960, under the Pentomic organization, the 34th Infantry Division's units comprised the 1st and 2nd Battle Groups, 133rd Infantry, the 1st and 2nd Battle Groups, 134th Infantry, the 1st Battle Group, 168th Infantry, the 1st and 2nd Battalions, 168th Field Artillery, the 1st-4th Battalions, 185th Field Artillery, the 1st Battalion, 133rd Armor, the 2nd Squadron, 133rd Armor (Cavalry), the 734th Ordnance Battalion, the 128th Engineer Battalion, the 109th Medical Battalion, the 234th Signal Battalion, the 234th Transportation Battalion, the 34th Quartermaster Company, the 34th Aviation Company, the 34th Administration Company, and the 34th Aircraft Maintenance Detachment.[42]
The 34th Division was disbanded again in 1963, being replaced in part by the Nebraska-based 67th Separate Infantry Brigade. However, the former division headquarters was retained as a "command headquarters" to supervise training of combat and support units in the former division area. On 1 January 1968, the 34th Command Headquarters (Divisional) was reorganized as the 34th Infantry Brigade, 47th Infantry Division.
The 34th Infantry Division was reactivated on 10 February 1991 (the fiftieth anniversary of its federal activation for World War II) as a National Guard division for Minnesota and Iowa by, in effect, redesignating the 47th Infantry Division as the 34th Infantry Division, a process known as "reflagging." However, for historical purposes, the Department of the Army's Center of Military History does not recognize any lineal continuity between the headquarters of the 47th Infantry Division and the second activation of the headquarters of the 34th Infantry Division. Instead, the lineage of the 34th Infantry Division's headquarters is perpetuated by the headquarters of the 34th Infantry Brigade. At that point, the division transitioned into a medium division, with a required strength of 18,062 soldiers.
Shortly after its rebirth in 1991, the division began a process of reorganization and change that has continued to the present. One of the most significant developments was transformation from its old brigade structure into brigade combat teams and the broadening of its base into eight different states. In Minnesota, the 34th ID includes the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 34th Combat Aviation Brigade, 84th Troop Command and the 347th Regional Support Group. The 34th Infantry Division is capable of deploying its Main Command Post, Tactical Command Post, and Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion to provide command and control for Army brigades.[43]
In 2000, the Minnesota Legislature renamed all of Interstate 35 in Minnesota the "34th Division (Red Bull) Highway," in honor of the division and its service in the World Wars.[44]
Outside Minnesota, the 34th Infantry Division provides training and operational guidance to the 1–112th Security & Support Battalion, ND National Guard; 1–183rd Aviation Battalion, Idaho National Guard; 1–189th Aviation Battalion, Mont. National Guard; 115th Fires Brigade, Wyo. National Guard; 116th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, Idaho National Guard; 141st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, ND National Guard; 157th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, Wis. National Guard; 196th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, SD National Guard; 2nd Brigade Combat Team, Iowa National Guard; and the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Wis. National Guard. Combined, the division represents 23,000 Citizen-Soldiers in units stationed across eight different states.
Since October 2001, division personnel served in Operation Joint Forge in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Operation Joint Guardian in Kosovo. Other deployments during the same time period have included Operation Vigilant Hammer in Europe, the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, and Egypt, and Joint Task Force Bravo – Honduras.[39]
The 34th Infantry Division has deployed approximately 11,000 soldiers on operations since October 2001. At home this has included troops deployed for Operation Noble Eagle; abroad, units and individual soldiers have deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.
34th Infantry Division exercises training and readiness oversight of the following elements, but they are not organic[49] and include a division headquarters battalion, one armored brigade combat team, two infantry brigade combat teams, a cavalry brigade combat team, a field artillery brigade, and several attached units—specifically a field artillery brigade, a maneuver enhancement brigade, and a regional support group—along with Companies A and B from the 2nd Battalion 123rd Armor Regiment in the Kentucky Army National Guard:
34th Infantry Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion1st Armored Brigade Combat Team (MN NG)[50]
1st Squadron, 94th Cavalry Regiment (Armored Reconnaissance)[51]
1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery Regiment
1st Battalion, 145th Armor Regiment (OH NG) [52][53]
1st Battalion, 194th Armor Regiment[54]
2nd Battalion, 136th Infantry Regiment
334th Brigade Engineer Battalion
134th Brigade Support Battalion[55]2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IA NG)
1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment, Reconnaissance Surveillance and Target Acquisition (IA NG)
1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment (IA NG)
1st Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment (IA NG)
2nd Battalion, 135th Infantry Regiment (MN NG)[56]
224th Brigade Engineer Battalion[57]
334th Brigade Support Battalion[58]
30th Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) (NC NG)[59]
1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment (WV NG)
1st Battalion, 252nd Armor Regiment (NC NG)
4th Battalion, 118th Infantry Regiment (SC NG)
1st Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment (NC NG)
230th Brigade Support Battalion (NC NG)
116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team (ID NG)
Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team (ID NG)
1st Squadron, 221st Cavalry Regiment (Armored Reconnaissance) (NV NG)[60]
1st Squadron, 163rd Cavalry Regiment (Combined Arms) (MT NG)
2nd Squadron, 116th Cavalry Regiment (Combined Arms) (ID NG) 3rd Squadron, 116th Cavalry Regiment (Combined Arms) (OR NG)
116th Brigade Engineer Battalion (ID NG)
145th Brigade Support Battalion (ID NG) 34th Division Artillery (MN NG)
1st Battalion, 113th Field Artillery Regiment (NC NG) 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery Regiment[62] (MN NG)
1st Battalion, 148th Field Artillery Regiment (ID NG)
1st Battalion, 194th Field Artillery Regiment (IA NG)
2nd Battalion, 222nd Field Artillery Regiment (UT NG)[63] Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade, 34th Infantry Division (MN NG)
1st Battalion, 112th Aviation Regiment (Security & Suppor) (ND NG)
1st Battalion, 130th Aviation Regiment (Attack Reconnaissance) (NC NG)
2nd Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment (Assault) (MN NG)
1st Battalion, 151st Aviation Regiment (Attack Reconnaissance) (SC NG)
1st Battalion, 183rd Aviation Regiment (Assault) (ID NG)
1st Battalion, 189th Aviation Regiment (General Support) (MT NG)
834th Aviation Support Battalion (MN NG) 34th Division Sustainment Brigade (IL NG)[65]
115th Field Artillery Brigade (WY NG)
157th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade (WI NG) 34th Infantry Division Band
Service Battery, 1st Battalion, 214th Field Artillery Regiment (Service Battery) (GA NG)
32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (WI NG)
1st Squadron, 105th Cavalry Regiment, Reconnaissance Surveillance And Target Acquisition
1st Battalion, 128th Infantry Regiment
2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry Regiment
3rd Battalion, 126th Infantry Regiment
1st Battalion, 120th Field Artillery Regiment
173rd Brigade Engineer Battalion
132nd Brigade Support Battalion[67]in the 1965 film version of James Clavell's 1962 novel King Rat, George Segal's character, U.S. Army Corporal King, wears the shoulder patch of the 34th Infantry Division. This is inaccurate, due to the Division having seen action in North Africa and Italy, not the Southwest Pacific or China-Burma-India Theater.
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