| 103rd Infantry Division | |
|---|---|
 103rd Infantry Division shoulder sleeve insignia. | |
| Active | 1921 – 1945 |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| Type | Infantry |
| Size | Division |
| Nickname | "Cactus Division" (Special Designation)[1] |
| Engagements | World War II |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Anthony McAuliffe Hanford MacNider George H. Olmsted |
The103rd Infantry Division ("Cactus Division"[1]) was aunit of theUnited States Army that served in theU.S. Seventh Army of the6th Army Group duringWorld War II.
It was variously assigned to theVI Corps,XV Corps, andXXI Corps. By war's end it was part of VI Corps' dash across Bavaria into the Alps, reachingInnsbruck, Austria, taking theBrenner Pass, and earning the honor of linking up with theUnited States Fifth Army coming north fromVipiteno, Italy, joining the Italian and Western European fronts on 4 May 1945.[2]
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The 103rd Division was constituted in theOrganized Reserve on 24 June 1921, allotted to theEighth Corps Area, and assigned to theXVIII Corps. The division was further allotted to the states ofArizona,Colorado, andNew Mexico as its home area. The division headquarters was organized on 31 August 1921, at theState Capitol inDenver. The headquarters was moved on 29 March 1922 to the Kittredge Building at 16th Street and Glenarm Place in Denver and remained there until activated for World War II. To encourage esprit de corps, in 1922 the division’s officers adopted the nickname “Rocky Mountain Division” after the majestic mountain range that defined much of the division’s home area. However, this nickname soon gave way to the moniker “Cactus Division” after the unit’s shoulder patch. To maintain communications with the officers of the division, the division staff published a newsletter appropriately titled “The Cactus.” The newsletter informed the division’s members of such things as when and where the inactive training sessions were to be held, what the division’s summer training quotas were, where the camps were to be held, and which units would be assigned to help conduct theCitizens Military Training Camps (CMTC).
The large geographical area of the division made it difficult to bring subordinate units of the division together for virtually any training events except for those units in Denver; the division headquarters, special troops, 206th Infantry Brigade (less one regiment), 176th Field Artillery Brigade (less one regiment), and a few other assorted units were located in that city. Inactive training period activities of the division were generally conducted at the local level near concentrations of division personnel. One event that turned out large numbers of the Denver members of the division was the Memorial Day parade held in that city each year. The subordinate infantry regiments of the division held their summer training with the25th Infantry Regiment atFort Huachuca and Camp Stephen D. Little, Arizona, and with the 1st Battalion,38th Infantry Regiment. atFort Logan, Colorado. Other units, such as the special troops, artillery, engineers, aviation, medical, and quartermaster, trained at various posts in the Eighth Corps Area. For example, the division’s artillery regiments trained atFort Bliss,Texas, with the82nd Field Artillery, or atFort Francis E. Warren,Wyoming, with the 2nd Battalion,76th Field Artillery; the 328th Engineer Regiment trained with the 2nd Engineers atFort Sam Houston, Texas, and later at Fort Logan; the 320th Medical Regiment trained at Fort Sam Houston with the 2nd Medical Regiment; and the 328th Observation Squadron trained atBrooks Field and some years at Fort Bliss.
On a number of occasions, the division participated in Eighth Corps Area and Third Armycommand post exercises (CPXs) in conjunction with other Regular Army, National Guard, and Organized Reserve units. These training events gave division staff officers’ opportunities to practice the roles they would be expected to perform in the event the division was mobilized. Unlike the Regular and Guard units in the Eighth Corps Area, however, the 103rd Division did not participate in the various Eighth Corps Area Maneuvers and theThird Army maneuvers of 1938, 1940, and 1941 as an organized unit due to lack of enlisted personnel and equipment. Instead, the officers and a few enlisted reservists were assigned to Regular and Guard units to fill vacant slots and bring the units up to war strength for the exercises. Additionally, some officers were assigned duties as umpires or as support personnel. However, for each maneuver, the division maximized the number of participants. For example, for the 1938 maneuvers at Fort Francis E. Warren, Fort Bliss, and Fort Huachuca, the 103rd Division provided 228 officers to Regular Army units and 53 to units of the National Guard's45th Division. Similar numbers participated in the two succeeding Army maneuvers.[3]
Before Organized Reserve infantry divisions were ordered into active military service, they were reorganized on paper as "triangular" divisions under the 1940 tables of organization. The headquarters companies of the two infantry brigades were consolidated into the division's cavalry reconnaissance troop, and one infantry regiment was removed by inactivation. The field artillery brigade headquarters and headquarters battery became the headquarters and headquarters battery of the division artillery. Its three field artillery regiments were reorganized into four battalions; one battalion was taken from each of the two 75 mm gun regiments to form two 105 mm howitzer battalions, the brigade's ammunition train was reorganized as the third 105 mm howitzer battalion, and the 155 mm howitzer battalion was formed from the 155 mm howitzer regiment. The engineer, medical, and quartermaster regiments were reorganized into battalions. In 1942, divisional quartermaster battalions were split into ordnance light maintenance companies and quartermaster companies, and the division's headquarters and military police company, which had previously been a combined unit, was split.[4]
The 103rd Infantry Division was ordered into active military service on 15 November 1942 atCamp Claiborne, Louisiana. The officer and enlisted cadre came from the85th Infantry Division atCamp Shelby, Mississippi, and the enlisted fillers arrived from reception centers located in the 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Service Commands (Camp Grant,Illinois, 4,060;Fort Custer,Michigan, 3,845;Fort Leavenworth,Kansas, 1,307;Camp Dodge,Iowa, 1,036;Fort Snelling,Minnesota, 990; Eighth and Ninth Service Command reception centers, 921;Fort Bragg,North Carolina, 600;Fort Oglethorpe,Georgia, 600;Fort McPherson, Georgia, 537;Jefferson Barracks,Missouri, 526;Fort Jackson,South Carolina, 218).
During 1944, the division lost 2,550 enlisted men from transfers to other divisions or to overseas replacement depots, and replenished its ranks with men transferred from antiaircraft artillery, coast artillery, and tank destroyer units, and aviation cadets andArmy Specialized Training Program students reassigned to other duties. After nearly two years of training, the 103rd departed the United States for Europe on 5 October 1944. The division arrived atMarseille, France, 20 October 1944. It relieved the3d Division atChevry on 8 November, arrived atDocelles (Vosges) on 9 November, and attacked west ofSt. Dié, 16 November, in its drive through theVosges. Meeting heavy resistance all the way, it crossed theMeurthe River, tookSt. Dié on 23 November and capturedDiefenbach on 29 November andSelestat on 4 December.
The division crossed the Zintzel river atGriesbach, 10 December 1944. Pushing throughClimbach, the 103rd crossed theLauter River into Germany, 15 December, and assaulted the outer defenses of theSiegfried Line. On 22 December, the division moved west to theSarreguemines area where an active defense was maintained. The enemy offensive did not develop in its sector and the 103rd moved toReichshofen, 14 January 1945, to take up positions along theSauer River. On 15 January,General Anthony "Nuts" McAuliffe was redeployed from theBattle of the Bulge and given command, which he retained until July 1945. Defensive patrols were active and a limited attack onSoufflenheim on 19 January was repulsed by the enemy. On 20 January, the division withdrew to the Moder and repulsed German advances nearMuehlhausen, 23–25 January. The 103rd's offensive began on 15 March 1945. Crossing the Moder and Zintzel rivers and takingMuehlhausen against sharp opposition, the division moved over the Lauter river and penetrated the defenses of the Siegfried Line.
As German resistance disintegrated, the 103rd reached theUpper Rhine Valley, 23 March, and engaged in mopping up operations in the plain west of the River Rhine. In April 1945, it received occupational duties until 20 April when it resumed the offensive, pursuing a fleeing enemy throughStuttgart and takingMünsingen on 24 April. On 27 April, elements of the division enteredLandsberg, whereKaufering concentration camp, a subcamp ofDachau, was liberated.[5][6] The men of the division crossed theDanube River nearUlm on 26 April. On 3 May 1945, members of its 409th Infantry Regiment captured Innsbruck, Austria with little to no fighting. The 411th Infantry Regiment continued on to take theBrenner Pass and earn the honor of linking up with the88th Infantry Division of theFifth Army, which had been fighting its way north up the Italian peninsula. Troops met atVipiteno, Italy, near the Austrian border, on 4 May 1945, joining the Italian and Western European fronts.[2]
AfterVictory in Europe Day, the division received occupational duties until it left for home and inactivation. It returned to the continental U.S. on 10 September 1945, and was inactivated on 22 September 1945 atCamp Kilmer, New Jersey.
Components of the 103rd Infantry Division included:[8]
The following units, or their constituents, were attached for a time to the 103rd Infantry Division during its career:
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The 103rd was activated as anOrganized Reserve Corps division on 7 May 1947 inDes Moines, Iowa. Its combat elements were reorganized and redesignated as the205th Infantry Brigade and the 103rd Operational Headquarters in February 1963. The 103rd Operational Headquarters was redesignated as the 103rd Command Headquarters (Divisional) in June 1963. In December 1965, the unit was reorganized as the 103rd Support Brigade.
In September 1977, the unit was redesignated and reorganized as the 103rd Corps Support Command (COSCOM), the first Corps Support Command in theUnited States Army Reserve. On 15 September 1993, the 103rd COSCOM inactivated, followed by the creation of two new reserve units: 19th Theater Army Area Command (CONUS) and3d COSCOM (CONUS). On 14 February 2006, the 103rd was redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 103rd Sustainment Command. The 103rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command was activated as a reserve command, effective 16 September 2006. The division shoulder patch is worn by the United States Army Reserve103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary).[9]
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromThe Army Almanac: A Book of Facts Concerning the Army of the United StatesU.S. Government Printing Office, 1950.United States Army Center of Military History.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.