U.S. 42nd Infantry Division

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{{Infobox Military Unit |unit_name=42nd Infantry Division |image=Image:42nd Infantry Division.patch.gif |caption=42nd ID Shoulder Sleeve Insignia |dates= |country=USA |allegiance=New York and New Jersey |branch=Army National Guard |type=Division |role=Composite Infantry |size= |command_structure= |current_commander= |garrison=New York, New York |ceremonial_chief= |colonel_of_the_regiment= |nickname=Rainbow Division |patron= |motto= |colors= |march= |mascot= |battles= |notable_commanders= |anniversaries= }}

The 42d Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army in World War I and World War II, and is the division of the New York National Guard. The division now has units in nine different states, including New York, Vermont, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Delaware, Florida, Michigan and Illinois.[1]

1 World War I
2 World War II
- 2.1 Combat Chronicle
- 2.2 Assignments in the ETO
3 War in Iraq
4 General
5 References
6 External links

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World War I

Activated: August 1917 (National Guard Divisions, the personnel of which were drawn from 26 States and the District of Columbia).
Overseas: November 1917.
Major operations: Champagne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne.
Days of combat: 264.
Casualties: Total 14,683 (KIA-2,058; WIA-12,625).
Commanders: Maj. Gen. W. A. Mann (5 September 1917), Maj. Gen. Charles T. Menoher (19 December 1917), Brig. Gen. Douglas MacArthur (10 November 1918), Maj. Gen. C. A. F. Flagler (22 November 1918).

The 42d Division was not organized as a National Guard division after World War I.

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World War II

Activated: 14 July 1943
Overseas: November 1944.
Campaigns: Rhineland, Central Europe.
Days of combat: 106.
Distinguished Unit Citations: 1.
Awards: MH-1 ; DSC-4 ; DSM-1 ; SS-622; LM-9; SM-32; ; BSM-5,325 ; AM-104.
Commanders: Maj. Gen. Henry J. Collins commanded the Division during its entire period of Federal service in World War II.
Inactivated: 29 June 1946 in Europe.

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Combat Chronicle

The three regiments and a detachment of the Division Headquarters arrived in France at Marseilles, 8-9 December 1944, and were formed into a Task Force Linden, under the Assistant Division Commander. Assigned to VI Corps, Seventh Army, the Task Force entered combat in the vicinity of Strasbourg, relieving elements of the 36th Infantry Division, 24 December 1944. Defending a 31-mile sector along the Rhine, north and south of Strasbourg, the Task Force repulsed a number of enemy counterattacks, at Hatten and elsewhere. After throwing back an enemy attack, 24-26 January 1945, Task Force Linden returned to Seventh Army Reserve and trained with the remainder of the Division which had arrived meanwhile.

On 14 February 1945, the Division entered combat as a whole, taking up defensive positions near Haguenau in the Hardt Mountains. After a month of extensive patrolling and active defense, the 42d went on the offensive, attacking through the Hardt Mountains, broke through the Siegfried Line, 15-21 March, cleared Dahn and Busenberg, and mopped up in that general area, while the Third Army created and expanded bridgeheads across the Rhine. Moving across the Rhine, 31 March, the 42d captured Wertheim am Main, 1 April, and Würzburg, 2-6 April, after a fierce battle. Schweinfurt fell next after hand-to-hand engagements, 9-12 April. Furth, near Nürnberg, put up fanatical resistance, but was taken, 18-19 April, by the Division.

On the 25th, the 42d captured Donauworth on the Danube, and on the 29th liberated some 30,000 inmates at Dachau one of the most notorious of the Nazi concentration camps. Passing through Munich, 30 April, it cut across the Austrian border north of Salzburg, 5 May, as the war in Europe ended.

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Assignments in the ETO

10 December 1944: Seventh Army, 6th Army Group.
15 December 1944: Third Army, 12th Army Group.
24 December 1944: VI Corps, Seventh Army, 6th Army Group.
25 March 1945: XXI Corps.
19 April 1945: XV Corps.

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War in Iraq

The division has been the first National Guard division to be sent to the frontline under its own command since World War II. Serving as the headquarters of Task Force Liberty and responsible for security operations in four provinces of north central Iraq (Diyala, Salah ad Din, Kirkuk, As Sulaymaniyah), US 42nd Infantry Division directed the operations of 1st Brigade,US 3rd Infantry Division, 3rd Brigade,US 3rd Infantry Division, the 278th Regimental Combat Team, and the 116th Brigade Combat Team.

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