[39] The division captured Munich during the next two days, occupying the city until V-E Day and the surrender of Germany. Please turn JavaScript back on and reload this page. [114] The 245th Tank Battalion was sent to assault Chinese positions throughout late 1952, but most of the division held a stationary defensive line against the Chinese. [49] The 45th moved north to the Sarreguemines area and smashed through the Siegfried Line, on 17 March taking Homburg on the 21st and crossing the Rhine between Worms and Hamm on the 26th. [4], On 19 October 1920, units of the Oklahoma National Guard were organized as part of the 45th Infantry Division, also manned with troops from Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. By 12 September, the Seventh Army linked up with Lieutenant General George S. Patton's U.S. Third Army, advancing from Normandy, joining the two forces at Dijon. [21] It then moved to Pine Camp, New York briefly for winter warfare training, but was hampered by continuously poor weather. Slowly advancing through Italy, they fought in Anzio and the Beachhead breakout to the capture of Rome. One possible method of researching his assignments is to start with the morning resorts for the last unit to which he was assigned, which would be the HQ & HQ Company 290 Infantry Regiment. He also claimed to have been at Dachau and talked about it to some detail when I was younger. [80] Instead of comprising units from several states, the post-war 45th was an all-Oklahoma organization. These offensives were conducted largely in order to secure a better position during the ongoing truce negotiations. [21][23] By the time the 45th Division landed in North Africa on 22 June 1943, the Allies had largely secured the African theater. If there is any information requested by the form that you do not know, you may omit it or provide estimates (such as for dates), but the more information you provide, the easier it will be to locate the correct file if it survived the fire. [39] It sent half of its artillery to support the 70th Infantry Division. [122][123], The 45th Infantry Division was awarded eight campaign streamers and one foreign unit award in World War II and four campaign streamers and one foreign unit award in the Korean War, for a total of twelve campaign streamers and two foreign unit decorations in its operational history. AAA Group, 31.08.1944-10.11.1944 & 23.11.1944 &18.02.1945 Headquartered for most of its history in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the guardsmen fought in both World War II and the Korean War. These prisoners had apparently crawled out of the cars and had died on the ground. 103rd Infantry Division, 15.08.1944-30.09.1944 & 06.10.1944-26.10.1944 [1], On 16 September 1940, the 45th Infantry Division, under Major General William S. Key, was federalized from state control. I have been trying to find out more about my grandfathers service and think he might have been a part of the 45th and was hoping you might see this and be able to check for me. The first evidence of the horror to come was a string of about forty railway cars on a siding near the camp entrance. A row of small cement structures near the prison entrance contained a coal-fired crematorium, a gas chamber, and rooms piled high with naked and emaciated human corpses. Divisional troops Assignments [2] Also activated from division assets were the 45th Field Artillery Group, later redesignated the 45th Fires Brigade, and the 90th Troop Command. The 45th moved north to the Sarreguemines area and smashed through the Siegfried Line. These units were assigned to the 40th Division, and deployed to France where the division was used as a "depot" unit to process and provide replacements for front-line units. Confessed murderer Frank Sheeran later recalled his war service as the time when he first developed a callousness to the taking of human life. Detachments The division remained on the front lines in such engagements as Old Baldy Hill and Hill Eerie until the end of the war, returning to the U.S. in 1954. [42][44], One regiment of the 45th (the 179th Infantry) went ashore with the landings. I've always guessed that was possibly for convenience of shipping home. I came on this site hoping to find a clue to Dad's whereabouts in Germany after crossing the Rhine, but I have to say I don't appreciate him being dismissed as every Tom, Dick, and Harry. [10], The 45th Infantry Division engaged in regular drills but no major events in its first few years, though the division's Colorado elements were called in to help quell a large coal mining strike. The following month, the division landed in Sicily, where it engaged Axis troops in combat. Calculated attempts to dehumanize and degrade German POWs. Keywords: Korean War, 45th Infantry Division, Thunderbirds. The muster rolls often indicate which unit a soldier is transferring from when he is first noted on the muster rolls as transferring to the unit. [15] Its men immediately began basic combat training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. [104], The division remained as a unit of the Oklahoma National Guard, and participated in no major actions throughout the rest of the 1950s save regular weekend and summer training exercises. They took part in intense fighting during the invasion of Sicily and the attack on Salerno in the 1943 Italian Campaign. View the list of all donors. [39] The Fifth Army was battered and pushed back by German forces until 20 September, when Allied forces were finally able to break out and establish a more secure beachhead. If there is any information requested by the form that you do not know, you may omit it or provide estimates (such as for dates), but the more information you provide, the easier it will be to locate the correct file if it survived the fire. 1st Cavalry Medical Squadron. I'm trying to find information on my great grandfather's service in WWII. [86], At the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, the U.S. Army looked to expand its force again to prepare for major conflict. His photos seem to point to him potentially being in the 45th Infantry.We know he entered as a private and within 6 months was a Master Seargent. The division was organized in 1923, and Oklahoma members camped together for the first time at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1924. [32] The paratroopers, conducting their first combat jump of the war after six weeks of training in Tunisia, then set up to protect the 45th's flank against German counterattack, but without weapons to counter heavy armor, the paratroopers had to rely on support from the 2nd Armored Division to repulse the German Tiger I tanks. Your relative might have been told at the time that his unit was liberating a Dachu camp and it just stuck that it was "the" Dachu camp instead of one of its many sub camps. Anzio - Operation Shingle, 22 January- 24 May, 1944: The 45th began landing at Anzio on 22 January, 1944, with the 179th Regiment seeing the Division's first action of the campaign at Aprilia, also known as "the factory" on 27 January. His photos included a lot of concentration camp images. Division (105mm Howitzer), 01.12.1944-03.12.1944 & 20.01.1945-07.02.1945, 12.03.1945-20.03.1945 & 30.03.1945-01.04.1945, 06.11.1944-09.11.1944 & 28.11.1944-05.12.1944, 313th Infantry Regiment, 79th Infantry Several units were activated to replace the division and carry on its lineage. [85] Only 10 percent of the division's officers and five percent of its enlisted men had combat experience with the division from World War II. [16] In August 1941, the 45th Infantry Division took part in the Louisiana Maneuvers, the largest peacetime exercises in U.S. military history. The 36th Infantry Division is a possible candidate for your father. They trace their lineage from frontier militias that operated in the Southwestern United States throughout the late 1800s. [113] Heavy rainstorms prevented the divisions from retaking the hill for around a month, and when it was finally retaken it was heavily fortified to prevent further attacks. The 45th Infantry Division was formed in 1924 from National Guard units in the southwestern United States. [36] The 45th Division spent a few days in that city, but on 1 August, the division was withdrawn from the front line for rest and rear-guard patrol duty,[26] after which the division was assigned to Major General Ernest J. Dawley's VI Corps, part of the U.S. Fifth Army, under Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, in preparation for the invasion of mainland Italy. On April 20, it captured the city of Nuremberg and on April 30, Munich. Campaigns of the 45th Infantry Division: Rome-Arno. [55] The 45th Infantry Division, now commanded by Major General Robert T. Frederick, who had previously commanded the 1st Special Service Force, was reassigned to VI Corps on New Year's Day. Does anyone in the family have his discharge papers that confirm he was a member. On April 28, the day before liberation, a train bearing about 40 or so railway cars arrived at the camp. If you provide your dad's name, I can check it. Immediately after Dachau's liberation, US Army authorities and other Allied representatives began treating the sick prisoners, implementing health and sanitary measures to curb the typhus epidemic, and bringing in tons of food to feed the starving prisoners. Our History Department collects Veteran information for this website and the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. By the time the 45th Infantry Division made it into Germany, the German army was in bad shape. If you havent already done so, we suggest that you request a copy of his, . NPRC expects to eliminate this portion of the backlog by fall 2022, and restore their pre-pandemic response times of under ten days for these requests later this fall. One possible method of researching his assignments is to start with the morning resorts for the last unit to which he was assigned, which would be the HQ & HQ Company 290 Infantry Regiment. Headquarters & Headquarters Battery, 105th [93] After its basic training was complete, the division was sent to Japan in April 1951 for advanced training and to act as a reserve force for the Eighth United States Army, then fighting in Korea. [112], In early 1953, North Korean forces launched a large-scale attack against Hill 812, which was then under the control of K Company, 3rd Battalion, 179th Infantry. The division remained a National Guard formation until its downsizing in 1968. [120] In its place, the independent 45th Infantry Brigade (Separate) was established. I have two rosters of the 45th Division plus several Excel worksheets of men who served in the division. & 1st Platoon, Recon Company). Each car was loaded with emaciated human corpses . Screen shot attached. 1912 - 1946 for Army units that may include morning reports of the component units of the 45th Infantry Division and the 3rd Infantry Division, as well as the 290 Infantry Regiment. the 45th infantry division, oklahoma, colorado, arizona and new mexico national guards, the thunderbirds, were a group of citizen soldiers who fought long and hard during world war ii (sicily, naples-foggia, anzio, rome-arno, southern france, rhineland, ardennes-alsace, and central europe campaigns), and still do today, as a seperate infantry [105] In the spring, the division launched Operation Counter, which was an effort to establish 11 patrol bases around Old Baldy Hill. Mortar Battalion, 2nd Battalion, 36th Engineer Combat In addition to burying the dead, the Allied forces attempted to help and comfort the survivors with food, clothing and medical assistance. Dad's photo or name is not in the book. When the three units arrived at Dachau, they discovered more than 30,000 prisoners in the overcrowded camp. [89] Because of heavy casualties and slow reinforcement rates, the Army looked to the National Guard to provide additional units to relieve the beleaguered Eighth Army. [103] Though the division was no longer an "All-Oklahoma" unit, leaders opted to keep its designation as the 45th Infantry Division. Just days before, about 2,000 inmates evacuated on a death march from the Flossenbrg concentration camp had arrived at Dachau and the SS guards had forced almost 7,000 Dachau inmates to move southward. [49] From 2 January 1945, the division fought defensively along the German border, withdrawing to the Moder River. We have every reason to believe him, because he was not the kind to tell stories just to make himself look good. To access these records for the 1940s, you will need to either make an appointment to visit the National Archives at St. Louis or hire a researcher. 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