3rd Algerian Infantry Division

3e Division d'Infanterie Algérienne
Active 1 May 1943 - 15 April 1946
Country France
Allegiance French Army
Type Infantry Division
Engagements Italian Campaign
Southern France
Vosges Mountains
Gambsheim Bridgehead
Bienwald
Baden
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 Joseph de Goislard de Monsabert
Augustin Guillaume

The 3rd Algerian Infantry Division (French: 3e Division d'Infanterie Algérienne, 3e DIA) was an infantry division of the French Army during the second half of the Second World War. The 3e DIA had one of the most successful combat records of any French Army division during the Second World War. It paid a high price for this distinction, suffering more than 3,000 soldiers killed in action between 1942 and 1945. It was considered by Marshal Juin and General de Monsabert as the "worthy heir" of the Legio III Augusta.[1]

History

The division was formed in Algeria on May 1, 1943 from elements of the Constantine Division and the division was structured and equipped in a manner similar to, although not identical to, U.S. infantry divisions of the period. The primary combat units of the division as initially organized were the 3rd and 7th Algerian Tirailleur Regiments, and the 4th Tunisian Tirailleur Regiment.[2] In March 1945, the 7th Algerian Tirailleurs returned to north Africa and its place was taken by the 49th Infantry Regiment.[3]

The 3e DIA fought within the French Expeditionary Corps in the Italian Campaign, the campaign in Southern France, the Vosges Mountains, and Alsace during 1943 - 1944 before spearheading the advance of the French II Corps into Germany and entering Stuttgart on April 22, 1945.

Part of the French occupation army in Germany, the 3e DIA was inactivated and used to form a mixed infantry and armor division in April 1946.[4] The division's honors and traditions were carried on first by the 3rd Armored Division and then the 3rd Mechanised Brigade.

Commanders

Structure

The 3rd Algerian Infantry Division was made up of about 16,500 men including 60% Maghrebis (mostly Algerians) and 40% French (mostly Pieds-Noirs).[5]

Division Combat Casualties

Killed in Action[6]FrenchMaghrebis Total
Tunisia Campaign (1942–43)5072122
Italian Campaign (1943–44) 587 1,3071,894
Campaign in Southern France (1944–45)292 599891
German campaign (1945)52 119171
Total (1942–1945)981 (32%)2,097 (68%)3,078

Decorations

In France, citations made during World War I, World War II or colonial conflicts were accompanied with awards of a Croix de guerre (Cross of War) with attachments on the ribbon depending on the degree of citation: the lowest being represented by a bronze star (for those who had been cited at the regiment or brigade level) while the highest degree is represented by a bronze palm (for those who had been cited at the army level). A unit can be mentioned in Despatches. Its flag is then decorated with the corresponding Croix. After two citations in Army Orders, the men of the unit concerned are all entitled to wear a fourragère.

The 3rd Algerian Infantry Division was awarded four citations in Army Orders and all its regiments were awarded a Fourragère (at least two citations in Army Orders).[7]

Fourragère of the regiments

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Alphonse Juin, Mémoires, Fayard, 1959, v1, p. 264
  2. ↑ GUF, Vol. 4, p. 741
  3. ↑ GUF, Vol. 5, Part 1, p. 17
  4. ↑ Réarmement, p. 117
  5. ↑ Paul Gaujac, Le Corps expéditionnaire français en Italie, Histoire et collections, 2003, p. 31
  6. ↑ Anthony Clayton, France, Soldiers, and Africa, Brassey's Defence Publishers, 1988
  7. ↑ Livre d'or de la 3e Division d'Infanterie Algérienne, Imprimerie Nationale, 1948

Article Sources

See also

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