NAME:
One Hundred Second Infantry Division / 102nd Division
NICKNAME:
"Ozark Division"
NICKNAME AND PATCH HISTORY:
The division insignia combines a golden "O", "Z", and an arc on a circular blue background to spell out the nickname of the division, "Ozark". In 1921, the division became part of the Organized Reserve and was allocated to the states of Arkansas and Missouri, the Ozark region, and therefore adopted the design. When the French settled in this area, they found it inhabited by Indians who were very proficient with the bow and arrow, and they therefore called the entire region "Terre aux arcs" or "Bow Country". "Ozark" is an Americanization of "aux arcs", and the arc in the insignia actually represents an Indian bow and signifies marksmanship. Gold and blue are the colors which tradition has always associated with valor and distinction.
From: http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/documents/eto-ob/102ID-ETO.htm
BATTLE HONORS:
World War II
Rhineland
Central Europe
ACTIVATED:
1921
Sept 15, 1942
DEACTIVATED:
Sept 14, 1942
March 23, 1946
HISTORY:
Pre-World War II
In 1921, the division became part of the Organized Reserve and was allocated to the states of Arkansas and Missouri, the Ozark region.
World War II
Activated: 15 September 1942
Overseas: 12 September 1944
Campaigns: Rhineland, Central Europe
Days of combat: 173
Distinguished Unit Citations: 4
Awards: DSC-8 ; DSM-1 ; SS-686; LM-15; SM-39 ; BSM-5,498 ; AM-91.
Commanders: Maj. Gen. John B. Anderson (September 1942-4 January 1944), Maj. Gen. Frank A. Keating (8 January 1944-February 1946), Brig. Gen. Charles M. Busbee (February 1946 to inactivation).
Returned to U.S.: 11 March 1946.
Inactivated: 23 March 1946.
Combat Chronicle
The 102d Infantry Division arrived at Cherbourg, France, 23 September 1944, and, after a short period of training near Valognes, moved to the German-Netherlands border. On 26 October, elements attached to other divisions entered combat and on 3 November the Division assumed responsibility for the sector from the Wurm to Waurichen. A realignment of sectors and the return of elements placed the 102d in full control of its units for the first time, 24 November 1944, as it prepared for an attack to the Roer. The attack jumped off, 29 November, and carried the Division to the river through Welz, Flossdorf, and Linnich.
After a period of aggressive patrolling along the Roer, 4-19 December, the Division took over the XIII Corps sector from the Wurm River, north of the village of Wurm, to Barmen on the south, and trained for river crossing. On 23 February 1945, the 102d attacked across the Roer, advanced toward Lövenich and Erkelenz, bypassed München-Gladbach, took Krefeld, 3 March, and reached the Rhine. During March the Division was on the defensive along the Rhine, its sector extending from Homburg south to Düsseldorf. Crossing the river in April, the Division attacked in the Wesergebirge, meeting stiff opposition. Wilsede and Hessisch-Oldendorf fell, 12 April 1945, and the 102d pushed on to the Elbe, meeting little resistance. Breitenfeld fell, 15 April, and the Division outposted the Elbe River, 48 miles from Berlin, its advance halted on orders.
On 15 April the division discovered a war crime in Gardelegen.
It patrolled and maintained defensive positions until the end of hostilities in Europe, then moved to Gotha for occupational duty.
Assignments in the European Theater of Operations
28 August 1944: Ninth Army, 12th Army Group.
5 September 1944: III Corps.
10 October 1944: XVI Corps.
3 November 1944: XIX Corps.
7 November 1944: XIII Corps.
20 December 1944: XIII Corps, Ninth Army (attached to the British 21st Army Group), 12th Army Group.
1 April 1945: XIII Corps (for administration), Ninth Army, but attached for operations to the Fifteenth Army.
4 April 1945: XIII Corps, Ninth Army, 12th Army Group.
Divisional history from:
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/documents/eto-ob/102ID-ETO.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_102nd_Infantry_Division