NAME:
Third Infantry Division / 3rd Division
NICKNAME:
"The Marne Division" and "The Rock of the Marne"
BATTLE HONORS:
World War I
Aisne
Champagne-Marne
Aisne-Marne
St. Mihiel
Meuse-Argonne
Champagne 1918
World War II
Algeria-French
Morocco (with arrowhead)
Tunisia
Sicily (with arrowhead)
Naples-Foggia
Anzio (with arrowhead)
Rome-Arno
Southern France (with arrowhead)
Rhineland
Ardennes-Alsace
Central Europe
Korean War
CCF Intervention
First UN Counteroffensive
CCF Spring Offensive
UN Summer-Fall Offensive
Second Korean Winter
Korea, Summer-Fall 1952
Third Korean Winter
Korea, Summer 1953
ACTIVATED:
Nov. 12, 1917
DEACTIVATED:
N/A
DECORATIONS:
Presidential Unit Citation (Army) for COLMAR
French Croix de Guerre with Palm, World War II for COLMAR
French Croix de Guerre, World War II, Fourragere
Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation for UIJONGBU CORRIDOR
Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation for IRON TRIANGLE
Chryssoun Aristion Andrias (Bravery Gold Medal of Greece) for KOREA
Presidential Unit Citation (Army) for OIF I
LINAGE:
Constituted 12 November 1917 in the Regular Army as Headquarters, 3d Division
Organized 21 November 1917 at Camp Greene, North Carolina
Redesignated 1 August 1942 as Headquarters, 3d Infantry Division
Reorganized and redesignated 1 April 1960 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Infantry Division
HISTORY:
"World War I
Activated in November 1917 during World War I at Camp Greene, North Carolina. It went into combat for the first time eight months later in France. At midnight on July 14, 1918, the Division earned lasting distinction. Engaged in the Aisne-Marne Offensive as a member of the American Expeditionary Force to Europe, the Division was protecting Paris with a position on the banks of the Marne River, surrounding units retreated, the 3rd Infantry Division remained rock solid and earned its reputation as the "Rock of the Marne". Although the stand was highly successful, a steep price was paid. General "Black Jack" Pershing said the Division's performance one of the most brilliant of the United States' military history. During the war two members of the division were awarded the Medal of Honor.
World War II
Commanders
MG Charles F. Thompson (July 1940-August 1941)
BG Charles P. Hall (August 1941-September 1941)
MG John P. Lucas (September 1941-March 1942)
MG Jonathan W. Anderson (March 1942-March 1943)
MG Lucian K. Truscott, Jr. (March 1943-February 1944)
MG John W. O'Daniel (February 1944-December 1945)
MG William R. Schmidt (July 1945-August 1946),
Order Of Battle
1941
HQ, 3rd Division
Headquarters & Military Police Company
7th Infantry Regiment
15th Infantry Regiment
30th Infantry Regiment
10th Engineer Battalion
3rd Medical Battalion
3rd Quartermaster Battalion
3rd Reconnaissance Troop
3rd Signal Company
HHB, 3rd Division Artillery
9th Field Artillery Battalion (155 mm)
10th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
39th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
41st Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
3rd Antitank Battalion (Provisional)
1944/45
Headquarters Special Troops
Headquarters Company, 3rd Infantry Division
7th Infantry Regiment
15th Infantry Regiment
30th Infantry Regiment
10th Engineer Battalion (Combat)
3rd Medical Battalion
3rd Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment
3rd Quartermaster Company
703rd Ordnance Company (Light Maint)
3rd Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized)
3rd Signal Company
3rd Military Police Platoon
HHB, 3rd Division Artillery
9th Field Artillery Battalion (155 mm)
10th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
39th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
41st Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
Attachments
441st AntiAircraft Artillery Battalion (Auto Weapons) (1944-07-13-1945-06-29)
601st Tank Destroyer Battalion (1944-07-13-1945-07-01)
756th Tank Battalion (1944-07-13-1945-07-01)
War Assignments
US Western Task Force 1942-11-08
US I Armored Corps 1943-02-01
US Provisional Corps, US Seventh Army 1943-07-15
US II Corps 1943-07-31
US VI Corps 1943-08-13
US II Corps 1943-11-18
US VI Corps 1943-12-27
US II Corps 1944-05-29
US Fifth Army 1944-06-05
AFHQ, but attached to US Seventh Army and SOS, NATOUSA for supply 1944-07-01
AFHQ, but attached to the US VI Corps, US Seventh Army 1944-07-13
US VI Corps 1944-07-15
US VI Corps, US Seventh Army, 6th Army Group 1944-09-15
US Seventh Army, 6th Army Group but attached to the French II Corps of the French First Army 1944-12-15
US XXI Corps, US Seventh Army, 6th Army Group, but attached to French First Army 1945-01-28
US Seventh Army, 6th Army Group, but attached to the French II Corps of the French First Army 1945-02-15
US Seventh Army, 6th Army Group, but attached to the French II Corps 1945-02-18
US XV Corps, US Seventh Army, 6th Army Group 1945-03-12
US XXI Corps, US Seventh Army, 6th Army Group 1945-04-23
US XV Corps 1945-04-28
US Seventh Army, 6th Army Group 1945-04-31
US Seventh Army, 6th Army Group 1945-05-06
US XV Corps, US Seventh Army, 6th Army Group 1945-05-08
The 3rd Division is the only American Division which fought the Axis on all European fronts.
The Division first saw action in the North African invasion, landing at Fedala, November 8, 1942, and capturing half of French Morocco.
On July 10, 1943, the Division made an assault landing on Sicily, fought its way into Palermo before the armor could get there, and raced on to capture Messina, thus ending the Sicilian campaign.
Nine days after the Italian invasion, September 18, 1943, the 3d landed at Salerno and in intensive action drove to and across the Volturno and to Cassino. After a brief rest, the Division was ordered to hit the beaches at Anzio, January 22, 1944, where for four months it maintained its toe-hold against furious German counterattacks. On February 29, 1944, the 3d fought off an attack by three German Divisions. In May the Division broke out of the beachhead and drove on to Rome, and then went into training for the invasion of Southern France.
On August 15, 1944, another D-day, the Division landed at St. Tropez, advanced up the Rhone Valley, through the Vosges Mountains, and reached the Rhine at Strasbourg, November 26 – November 27, 1944. After maintaining defensive positions it took part in clearing the Colmar Pocket, 23 January 18 February 1945, and on 15 March struck against Siegfried Line positions south of Zweibrucken. The Division smashed through the defenses and crossed the Rhine, March 26, 1945 ; then drove on to take Nurnberg in a fierce battle, capturing the city in block-by-block fighting, 17-20 April. The 3d pushed on to take Augsburg and Munich, 27-30 April, and was in the vicinity of Salzburg when the war in Europe ended.
Korean War
During the Korean War, the Division, was known as the "Fire Brigade" for its rapid response to crisis. It received ten Battle Stars. Eleven more MOH recipients were added to the division's list of heroes during the Korean War.
1958 through 2000
From April 1958 to April 1996, the Marne Division was stationed in Germany. In November 1990, soldiers of the 3d Infantry Division were once again called into action. Following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, more than 6,000 Marne men and women deployed with the 1st Armored Division on Operation Desert Storm as part of the Allied Coalition. Later nearly 1,000 soldiers deployed to southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq to provide comfort to Kurdish refugees. Another group of nearly 1,000 were part of Task Force Victory rebuilding Kuwait.
As part of the Army's reduction to a ten-division force, the 24th Infantry Division was inactivated on 15 February 1996, and reflagged to become the 3rd Infantry Division.
In 1996 the division was restationed at Fort Stewart, Fort Benning, and Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia. The division repeatedly demonstrated its deployability since then by maintaining a battalion, and later a brigade task force presence in Kuwait. It has also moved sizeable forces to Egypt, Bosnia and Kosovo in partnership training and peacekeeping missions.
In 1996-97, the 3d Infantry Division Detachment, Rear Tactical Operations Center (RTOC), which is a unit manned by the Georgia Army National Guard was mobilized and served in Operation Joint Endeavor. During this time, the 3d ID RTOC served under the 1st Infantry Division and later the 1st Armored Division. Respectively serving in Bosnia, at Camps Dallas and Angela, near Tuzla under the 1ID, and then in Croatia at Slavonski Brod, under the 1AD, serving the Assistant Division Commander for Support, then BG George Casey.
Global War on Terror
Commanders
MG Buford "Buff" Blount
MG William Grant Webster
MG Rick Lynch
Since September 11, 2001 units have been sent to Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Middle Eastern countries to support the designated "War on Terrorism".
Early in 2003 the deployability and fighting capability of the Marne Division was highly visible worldwide when the entire division deployed in weeks to Kuwait. It was called on subsequently to spearhead Coalition forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom, fighting its way to Baghdad in early April, leading to the end of the Saddam Hussein government. The unit also deployed its Second Brigade to Fallujah, Iraq. The division returned to the United States in August, 2003.
Beginning in 2004, the 3rd began re-organizing. The division shifted from three maneuver brigades to four "units of action," which are essentially smaller brigade formations. Each of these units of action engaged in several mock battles at the National Training Center (NTC) and Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC), and preparation for a second deployment to Iraq.
In January 2005, the Third Infantry Division became the first Army Division to serve a second tour in Iraq. The division headquarters took control of the Multi-National Division Baghdad, MND-B, headquartered at Camp Liberty and with responsibility for the greater Baghdad area. First and Third Brigades of the Third Infantry Division were placed under control of the 42nd Infantry Division, and later under the 101st Airborne Division, in MND-North.
The Division redeployed to Fort Stewart and Fort Benning in January 2006. "
Divisional history from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._3rd_Infantry_Division
