U.S. 100th Division

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100th Division
Shoulder Sleeve Insignia of the 100th Division
Active	June 1918 - November 1919 June 1921 - present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army United States Army Reserve
Type	Division
Role	training
Nickname	Century Division
Motto	"Success in Battle"
Battles/wars	Ardennes-Alsace Rhineland Central Europe
Commanders
Notable commanders	Withers A. Burress

The 100th Division was a formation of the United States Army. Throughout its long history, the division has been known by various names. In World War I and World War II, the division was constituted the 100th Infantry Division. From 1946 to 1952, the division was a part of the United States Army Reserve as the 100th Airborne Division. In 1952, the division was once more redesignated the 100th Infantry Division, but was changed again only three years later, in 1955, as 100th Division (Replacement Training). In 1959, it was once more reorganized and redesignated, this time to its current designation as 100th Division (Institutional Training). Today the division is headquartered at Fort Knox, Kentucky, with eight reservist brigades—including an ROTC brigade—spread across four states—Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama.

1 History
2 General

[edit] History

[edit] World War I & the Interwar Years

Activated: June 1918.
Inactivated: 11 November 1918.

The 100th Infantry Division was constituted and activated at Camp Bowie, Texas, in June of 1918 in preparation for deployment to Europe. Before the division could deploy, though, the war had ended, and on 11 November 1918, Armistice Day, the formation was inactivated. It would remain on the U.S. Army's roll until November 1919, when it was completely demobilized. Only two years later, in June of 1921, the division was reconstituted with its headquarters in Wheeling, West Virginia.

[edit] World War II

Activated: 15 November 1942.
Overseas: 6 October 1944.
Campaigns: Ardennes-Alsace, Rhineland, Central Europe.
Days of combat: 163.
Distinguished Unit Citations: 7
Awards: MH-3; DSC-9; DSM-1; SS-560; LM-24; DFC-1; SM-23; BSM-5,208; AM-90.
Commanders: MG Withers A. Burress (November 1942-September 1945), BG Andrew C. Tychsen (September 1945-January 1946).
Returned to U. S.: 10 January 1946.
Inactivated: 26 January 1946.

[edit] Preparations for Combat

The 100th Infantry Division was reactivated on 15 November 1942 at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Enlisted personnel were drawn primarily from the 76th Infantry Division, while officers came from throughout the Army. The commander of the 100th was Major General Withers A. Burress, one of only eleven generals who commanded their divisions for the entire war.

From late 1943 to early 1944, the division trained in the mountains of Tennessee and was subsequently sent to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, for further training. While at Bragg, Technical Sergeant Walter L. Bull [399th Infantry Regiment] earned the first Expert Infantryman's Badge.

The division was made part of the U.S. Seventh Army's VI Corps and deployed to France in the fall of 1944.

[edit] Combat Chronicle

The 100th Infantry Division landed at Marseille, France, 20 October 1944, and sent its first elements into combat at St. Remy in the Vosges Mountains on 1 November 1944. The division as a whole began the relief of the 45th at Baccarat on 5 November, and assumed control of the sector on 9 November. The attack jumped off on 12 November, and the division drove against the German Winter Line in the Vosges Mountains. The 100th took Bertrichamps and Clairupt, pierced the German line, and seized Raon-l'Étape and Saint-Blaise—16-26 November. Later in November, elements assisted in holding the Saverne Gap bridgehead while the bulk of the division went into reserve.

In December, the division went on the offensive in the vicinity of Bitche. Wingen and Lemberg were occupied in fierce fighting from 6-10 December, and Reyersweiler fell from 11-13 December. Fort Schiesseck capitulated after a heavy assault—20 December. With the outbreak of the Von Rundstedt offensive, the division was ordered to halt the attack and to hold defensive positions south of Bitche as part of the Seventh Army's mission during the Battle of the Bulge. The German counterattacks of 1 and 8-10 January 1945 were repulsed; thereafter the sector was generally quiet and the division prepared to resume the offensive.

On 15 March 1945, the attack jumped off and on 16 March, Bitche fell to the 100th. Taking Neustadt and Ludwigshafen, the division reached the Rhine on 24 March. 31 March, the Century Division crossed the Rhine and moved south in the wake of the 10th Armored Division and then east across the Neckar River, establishing and enlarging a bridgehead—4-11 April. Heilbronn fell in house-to-house fighting on 12 April and the division resumed its rapid pursuit of the enemy, reaching Stuttgart by 21 April. The 100th was mopping up along the Neckar, southeast of Stuttgart on 23 April when it was pinched out of VI Corps, and confined its action to patrolling the sector east of Stuttgart. Shifting to Göppingen, 30 April, the Division engaged in occupational duties as the war in Europe came to an end.

[edit] Assignments in the European Theater of Operations

1 November 1944: U.S. VI Corps, U.S. Seventh Army, U.S. 6th Army Group.
27 November 1944: U.S. XV Corps.
22 March 1945: U.S. XXI Corps.
25 March 1945: U.S. VI Corps.
25 April 1945: U.S. Seventh Army, U.S. 6th Army Group.

[edit] Cold War to the present

Shoulder Sleeve Insignia of the 100th Airborne Division (1946-1952).

Upon its return from Europe, the division was inactivated from active duty in January of 1946 at Fort Patrick Henry, Virginia, and reactivated that fall within the U.S. Army Reserve as the 100th Airborne Division . It's distinction as one of the few airborne divisions within the Army was short-lived as in 1952 the division was once more redesignated the 100th Infantry Division. It would change names again in 1955, this time to 100th Division (Replacement Training). It would once again be reorganized only four years later to its present designation as 100th Division (Institutional Training). Its mission became to teach basic, advanced, and common training skills to soldiers from the Army's active, reserve, and National Guard components.

In 1961, some 1,500 soldiers from the 100th were activated and sent to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, in order to provide support during the Berlin Crisis. During their time on active duty, the 100th successfully trained some 32,000 soldiers after thoroughly rebuilding and fixing the old Army base. The unit was returned to reserve status again in August 1962. In 1978, the 100th became the first Army Reserve formation to be equipped with its own squadrons of M1 Abrams tanks. With the arrival of the M3 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, the division's mission profile changed from individual combat training to armor and armor reconnaissance training. By 1986, it was the reserve unit within the state of Kentucky, commanding fifty-eight percent of instate reservists.

At the outreak of Operation Desert Storm, the 100th was assigned to armor training at Fort Knox, Kentucky. In 1996, the 100th took responsibility of local United States Army Reserve Forces Schools. During 1997, the division was tasked with partial responsibility for Operation Future Challenge at Fort Knox, a six-week JROTC summer camp. By 2000, the 100th has assumed full responsibility for running the camp. Later that same year, the 100th began deactivating many of its M1A1 Abrams tanks as part of a reduction in military expenditures. By 2006, the division had moved its headquarters from Louisville to Fort Knox, easing distance strains in administration and training.

[edit] General

Nicknames: Century Division, and for taking Bitche: "Sons of Bitche"
Slogan: Success in Battle.
Shoulder patch: Blue shield on which are superimposed the Arabic numerals "100", the upper half of the number in white and the lower half in gold.