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| 8th Infantry Division | |
|---|---|
 8th Infantry Division shoulder sleeve insignia | |
| Active | 1918–1919 1940–1945 1950–1992 |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| Type | Infantry |
| Size | Division |
| Nicknames | Golden Arrow Division Pathfinder[1] |
| Motto | "These are my credentials." |
| Engagements | |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Thomas L. Harrold Andrew Goodpaster Carl E. Vuono William S. Graves |
| Insignia | |
| Distinctive Unit Insignia |  |
| US Infantry Divisions | ||||
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The8th Infantry Division, ("Pathfinder"[1]) was an infantry division of the United States Army during the 20th century. The division served inWorld War I,World War II, andOperation Desert Storm. Initially activated in January 1918, the unit did not see combat during World War I and returned to the United States. Some units would serve in theAmerican Expeditionary Force to Siberia. Activated again on 1 July 1940 as part of the build-up of military forces before the US entered World War II, the division saw extensive action in theEuropean Theatre of Operations. Following World War II, the division was moved toWest Germany, where it remained stationed at the Rose Barracks inBad Kreuznach until it was inactivated on 17 January 1992.[2]
On 17 December 1917, theWar Department directed the organization of the 8th Division atCamp Fremont,California, from Regular Army units.
In August 1918, Major General Graves, along with his staff, 5,000 men, and 100 officers, was transferred toSiberia to occupyVladivostok in Russia as part of theintervention in the Russian Civil War. Major General Eli A. Helmick succeeded Graves in command of the division. The overseas movement of the division to Europe commenced on October 30, 1918.
The 8th Field Artillery Brigade, 8th Infantry Brigade, 16th Infantry Brigade headquarters, and the 319th Engineer Regiment were the only divisional units to go to France. The 13th and 62nd Infantry Regiments were at sea when recalled after theArmistice. The 12th Infantry did not leave its pre-embarkation point atCamp Mills,New York, because it was quarantined forSpanish influenza. The troops who did reach France became the garrison ofBrest and assisted in building huge camps for troops about to embark for return to the United States. The 8th Infantry Regiment became part of the American occupation forces in Germany until August 1919 and the remainder returned to the United States in January 1919, after which the division disbanded.
The 8th Division officially demobilized atCamp Lee,Virginia, in September 1919. The division was partially reconstituted on 24 March 1923, allotted to the ThirdCorps Area for mobilization purposes, and assigned to theIII Corps.Camp George G. Meade, Maryland, was its designated mobilization station for reactivation. The 16th Infantry Brigade (12th and 34th Infantry Regiments), the 1st Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, the 15th Ordnance Company, and the 8th Tank Company (Light) were assigned to the division in June 1923 as Regular Army active units, and formed the force from which the remainder of the division would be reactivated in the event of war. The commanding general of the brigade was considered the division commander for planning purposes. The 16th Infantry Brigade was stationed atFort Howard, Maryland, from 1922 to 1928;Fort Hunt, Virginia, from 1928 to 1931; inWashington, D.C., from 1931 to 1936; and at Fort Meade from 1936 to the activation of the division.
The division headquarters was organized in April 1926 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as a "Regular Army Inactive" (RAI) unit using personnel of theOrganized Reserve, and by mid-1927, most of the division's other inactive elements were also organized as such. The active units of the division conducted annual training with the III andXIII Corps and the79th,80th, and99th Divisions. Summer training camps were usually conducted at Camp Meade.[3]
The 16th Infantry Brigade's 12th and 34th Infantry Regiments, reinforced by the3d Cavalry and theDistrict of Columbia National Guard's 260th Coast Artillery, were called out on 28 July 1932 to quell potential trouble from theBonus Army inWashington, D.C. The 12th Infantry was ordered to clear theUnited States Capitol and the camps on theAnacostia Flats of the veterans that afternoon.[3] From June 1936 to August 1937, the 16th Brigade was commanded byLorenzo D. Gasser, who went on to serve as the Army's assistant chief of staff for personnel (G-1) andDeputy Chief of Staff of the United States Army.[4]
The division was also provisionally organized in 1939 for theFirst Army Maneuvers atManassas, Virginia, with the 16th Brigade reinforced by the66th Infantry (Light Tanks). In preparation for becoming a "triangular" division, the 8th Infantry Division was reactivated on 1 July 1940 atFort Jackson,South Carolina, less Reserve personnel, and assigned to theI Corps.[3]
Major General William C. McMahon was relieved shortly after the division arrived inNormandy. His replacement, Major General Donald A. Stroh was temporarily relieved during the Hurtgen fighting; the death of his son Harry, a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces who was shot down over Brittany, had made a deep psychological impact. After a rest, Stroh went on to command the106th Infantry Division.
During World War II, the 8th Infantry Division was sent to Europe to fight against the Axis. After training in Northern Ireland, the division would begin its training for its eventual role in theNormandy Campaign. The 8th Infantry Division landed onUtah Beach,Normandy, 4 July 1944, and entered combat on 7 July. The Division would go into action in support of actions in theBattle of La Haye-du-Puits, with the Division relieving the82nd Airborne Division and moving south east of La Haye Du Puits towards the village of Lessary. Fighting in brutal hedgerow fighting the 8th would suffer heavy losses. The division acting as the far left flank ofOperation Cobra would cross the Ay River on July 26 and move southward down the Norman coast before eventually crossing into Brittany after the4th Armored Division secured a crossing over the Selune River at Avranches. Shortly after crossing into Brittany, the division captured the French cities of Rennes[5] and Brest.[6] pushed throughRennes, 8 August, and attackedBrest, France in September. When U.S. Brigadier GeneralCharles Canham, who was at the time the deputy commander of the 8th Infantry Division, arrived to accept the surrender of German troops in Brest, the commander of the Brest garrison, GeneralHermann-Bernhard Ramcke asked the lower-ranking man to show his credentials. Canham pointed to his nearby troops and said "These are my credentials". That phrase has since become the 8th Infantry Division's motto.
Following these actions, the 8th turned eastward toward the German border, taking part in the heavy fighting in the Hürtgen Forest in November 1944. The Crozon Peninsula was cleared on 19 September, and the division drove across France toLuxembourg, moved to theHürtgen Forest, 20 November, cleared Hürtgen on the 28th and Brandenberg, 3 December, and pushed on to theRoer.[6]
That river was crossed on 23 February 1945,Düren taken on the 25th and the Erft Canal crossed on the 28th. The 8th reached theRhine nearRodenkirchen, 7 March, and maintained positions along the river nearKoeln.[7] In early March 1945, the 8th had advanced into the Rhineland. It fought its way into the Ruhr region the following month.
On 6 April the division attacked northwest to aid in the destruction of enemy forces in theRuhr Pocket, and by the 17th had completed its mission. After security duty, the division, under operational control of theBritish Second Army, drove across theElbe, 1 May, and penetrated toSchwerin when the war in Europe ended.
On 2 May 1945, as it advanced into northern Germany, the 8th Infantry Division encountered theNeuengamme concentration campWöbbelin subcamp, near the city ofLudwigslust.[6] The SS had established Wöbbelin in early February 1945 to house concentration camp prisoners who had been evacuated from other Nazi camps to prevent their liberation by the Allies. Wöbbelin held some 5,000 inmates, many of whom suffered from starvation and disease. The sanitary conditions at the camp when the 8th Infantry Division and the82nd Airborne Division arrived were deplorable. There was little food or water, and some prisoners had resorted to cannibalism. In the first week after liberation, more than 200 inmates died. In the aftermath, the United States Army ordered the townspeople in Ludwigslust to visit the camp and bury the dead.[6]
The 8th Infantry Division was recognized as a liberating unit by theU.S. Army's Center of Military History and theUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1988.[6]
Streamer without inscription
Three soldiers of the 8th Division were awarded theMedal of Honor in World War II.
The 8th Infantry Division was reactivated in 1950 as atraining division atFort Jackson, South Carolina and in 1954 became a regular infantry division.[9] In 1956-57 it was sent toWest Germany, initially on a temporary basis inOperation Gyroscope, but remained in West Germany for decades.[10] The Division's First Brigade (with subordinate units) was stationed inMainz, the Second Brigade (with subordinate units) was stationed inBaumholder, and the Third Brigade (with subordinate units) was stationed inMannheim (Sullivan andColeman Barracks). In 1974, an amendment by SenatorSam Nunn of Georgia led to two more brigades being organized for European service.[11] The4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division ("Brigade-76") was dispatched to Europe in the fall of 1976. It was stationed inWiesbaden, attached to the 8th Infantry Division, and for eight years, made it unique - the 8th ID became the Army's only four-brigade division. In 1984, the 4th Brigade was inactivated and the division's size fell to the standard three brigades.[12] From December 1957, until it was inactivated in January 1992, the 8th Infantry Division was headquartered atBad Kreuznach.
From the late 1950s until the early 1960s, the 8th Infantry Division was organized as a partially Airborne Pentomic division, with two of its five battle groups (the1st Airborne Battle Group, 504th Infantry,[13] and1st Airborne Battle Group, 505th Infantry)[14] on jump status. In 1963 the division was reorganized into a brigade structure with the 1st Brigade on jump status, and 1-504th was reorganized and reflagged as the1st Battalion (Abn), 509th Infantry[15] and 1-505th as the 2d Battalion (Abn), 509th Infantry. Supporting units throughout the division (for example, one field artillery battalion, one company of the engineer battalion, one platoon of the MP company, etc.) were also on jump status. The 8th Infantry Division operated its ownjump school atWiesbaden Air Base to support its 1st Brigade as well as other elements of theUnited States Army, Europe.[16] In 1973 elements of the 1st Brigade were transferred to Vicenza, Italy, to establish a separate Airborne battalion combat team (1-509th INF) and the two Airborne infantry battalions were reorganized and reflagged as the2d Battalion, 28th Infantry and the2d Battalion, 87th Infantry. The reorganized 1st Brigade included a tank unit, the 4th Battalion,69th Armor.
Four battalions deployed toOperation Desert Storm.[17]
The 8th Infantry Division inactivated on 17 January 1992,[2] with some elements being "reflagged" as part the1st Armored Division, which had been stationed in southeastern West Germany.[18]
2010 movieA-Team, General Morrison (portrayed by actorGerald McRaney) wears the UCP version of the 8th I.D. patch.Soldiers in the camp are seen wearing the same patch in UCP.
In the 1962 movieThe Longest Day, a soldier of the 12th Engineer Battalion can be seen on Omaha Beach. This is recognizable by the 8th Infantry Division Patch on his left shoulder.
In the 2002 WW2 Hallmark movie, "Silent Night", the US soldiers wear the 8th Infantry Division Patch.
The 2022 real-time strategy video gameWarno features the 8th Infantry Division as a playable battlegroup based on its order of battle in 1989 in the Fulda Gap.
This article incorporatespublic domain material from8th Infantry Division.United States Army Center of Military History.
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