NAME:
Sixty-Sixth Infantry Division / 66th Division
NICKNAME:
"Black Panther Division"
BATTLE HONORS:
Northern France
ACTIVATED:
April 15, 1943
DEACTIVATED:
Nov 8, 1945
PATCH HISTORY:
The original design of the 66th Division patch, which was approved 13 April 1943, consisted of a running panther with a lightning bold below him, signifying speed and ferocity. However, when the heads of the division saw the patch, they feared the panther might appear cowardly.
The division's second insignia is a black panther's head on a circular orange background within a red border. The black panther was chosen to symbolize the attributes of a good infantryman: ability to kill, to be aggressive, alert, stealthy, cunning, agile, and strong.
From: http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/lineage/cc/066id.htm
HISTORY:
World War II
Activated: 15 April 1943
Overseas: 1 December 1944
Campaigns: Northern France
Days of combat: 91
Awards: DSM-1 ; SS-78; LM-9; SM-28 ; BSM-127 ; AM-58
Commanders: Maj. Gen. Herman F. Kramer (April 1943-18 August 1945), Maj. Gen. Walter F. Lauer (18 August 1945 to inactivation)
Returned to U.S.: 6 November 1945
Inactivated: 8 November 1945
Combat Chronicle
The three regiments of the 66th Infantry Division arrived in England, 26 November 1944, and the remainder of the Division, 12 December 1944, training until 24 December 1944 when the Division crossed the English Channel to Cherbourg on two Belgian steamships, the Chesire and the Leopoldville. A German torpedo ripped into the transport Leopoldville just 5 miles from its destination of Cherbourg, and 14 officers and 748 enlisted men were lost.
Attached to the 12th Army Group and designated the 12th Army Group Coastal Sector, with operational control of all French forces in the area, the 66th relieved the 94th Division in the Brittany-Loire area, 29 December 1944. Its mission of containing the enemy in the St. Nazaire and Lorient pockets was carried out by daily reconnaissance patrols, limited objective attacks, and the maintenance of harassing and interdictory fires on enemy installations. A heavy German attack near La Croix was repulsed, 16 April 1945, and several strongly emplaced enemy positions were taken, 19-29 April 1945. Enemy troops in the Lorient and St. Nazaire pockets surrendered to the Division upon the end of hostilities in Europe, 8 May 1945. The 66th moved to Germany on occupation duty, in the Koblenz subarea, 20 May 1945, and left for Marseille, 26 May 1945. It sailed for home 27 October 1945.
Assignments in the European Theater of Operations
27 December 1944: 12th Army Group.
31 March 1944: Fifteenth Army, 12th Army Group.
Divisional history from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_66th_Infantry_Division