34th Infantry Division (United States)


The 34th Infantry Division is an infantry division of the United States Army, part of the National Guard, that participated in World War I, World War II and multiple current conflicts. It was the first American division deployed to Europe in World War II, where it fought with great distinction in the Italian Campaign.
The division was inactivated in 1945, and the 47th "Viking" Infantry Division was later created in the division's former area. In 1991 the 47th Division was "reflagged" as the 34th Division. Since 2001, division soldiers have served on homeland security duties in the continental United States, in Afghanistan, and in Iraq. The 34th has also been deployed to support peacekeeping efforts in the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere.
The division continues to serve today, with most of the division part of the Minnesota and Iowa National Guard. In 2011, it was staffed by roughly 6,500 soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard, 2,900 from the Iowa National Guard, about 300 from the Nebraska National Guard, and about 100 from other states.

World War I

The division was established as the 34th Division of the National Guard on 18 July 1917, consisting of units from Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Camp Cody, New Mexico, was selected as its training site on 3 August. On 5 August, the National Guards of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and the Dakotas were drafted into federal service, and the units to comprise the division began concentrating at Camp Cody on 19 August. On 25 August 1917, the division was placed under the command of Major General Augustus P. Blocksom, who was succeeded by Brigadier General Frank G. Mauldin briefly on 18 September 1917, but was back in command by 10 December 1917.
A controversy arose when Brigadier General Frederick Emil Resche, the commander of the division's 68th Infantry Brigade and a native of Germany who had long resided in Duluth, Minnesota, was accused of anti-American sentiments. No evidence was forthcoming, but Resche was still relieved of command in April 1918, supposedly for inefficiency.
Brigadier General Frank G. Mauldin took command. Systematic training began on 29 October 1917, and during October and November, 5,000 draftees arrived from Camp Dodge, Iowa, and Camp Funston, Kansas, while personnel losses up to and including 10 May 1918 aggregated about 4,000 men. In June 1918, nearly all of the division's trained personnel were sent overseas to meet the requirements of the AEF automatic replacement system. Replacements arrived in August, the majority drawn from Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The 34th Division arrived in France in October 1918, but it was too late for the division to be sent to the front, as the end of hostilities was near. Most personnel were sent through the AEF replacement system to other units to support their final operations. The Armistice with Germany was signed the following month.
Brigadier General John Alexander Johnston took command 26 October 1918. Charles Dudley Rhodes took command in December and led the division until its departure for the United States in January 1919. The 34th was disbanded on 18 February 1919 at Camp Grant, Illinois.
The division takes its name from the shoulder sleeve insignia designed for a 1917 training camp contest by American regionalist artist Marvin Cone, who was then a soldier enlisted in the unit. Cone's design evoked the desert training grounds of Camp Cody by superimposing a red steer skull over a black Mexican water jug called an "olla," while the unit was called the "Sandstorm Division." German troops in World War II called the 34th Infantry Division's soldiers "Red Devils" and "Red Bulls," and the division later officially adopted the divisional nickname Red Bulls.

World War I order of battle

Units of the 34th Division during World War I included:
In accordance with the National Defense Act of 1920, the division was allotted to Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota, and assigned to the VII Corps in 1921. On 17 January 1921, the Observation Squadron, Minnesota National Guard, was the first National Guard observation squadron to receive federal recognition. Per War Department naming conventions, the squadron was re-designated the 109th Observation Squadron on 25 January 1923. By 1924, a sufficient number of subordinate units had been organized to meet the federal standards for organization of a division headquarters and staff, and the division headquarters was reorganized and federally recognized on 14 July 1924 at Council Bluffs, Iowa, under the command of Major General Mathew A. Tinley; when Major General George E. Leach of Minnesota took command, the headquarters was relocated on 14 July 1940 to Camp Ripley, near Little Falls, Minnesota. The designated mobilization training center for the “Red Bull” Division was Camp Dodge, Iowa, near Des Moines, 1921–30, and Camp Ripley, 1931–40. For most years from 1921 to 1940, the division's subordinate units held separate summer camps at locations within their respective states: Camp Dodge for Iowa units; Camp Lake View on Lake Pepin near Lake City, until 1931, and from 1931 on, Camp Ripley for Minnesota units; Camp Gilbert C. Grafton near Devils Lake for North Dakota units; and Camp Rapid near Rapid City for South Dakota units. For at least one year, in 1938, the division's subordinate units also trained over eighty company-grade Reserve officers of the 88th Division at their various training camps in the division's home area. The division staff, composed of personnel form all four states, came together to conduct joint training for several summers before World War II. The staff generally alternated years between Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and Camp Dodge and participated in several corps area and army-level command post exercises.
On 16 May 1934, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters initiated a strike, which quickly degenerated into open violence in the streets of Minneapolis. Minnesota governor Floyd B. Olson activated 4,000 National Guardsmen to suppress the chaos. Utilizing roving patrols, curfews, and security details, the 34th quickly restored order, thus enabling a negotiated settlement of the labor dispute. The first opportunity for the entire division to operate together came in August 1937 during that portion of the Fourth Army maneuvers held at Camp Ripley. On 18 June 1939, a tornado hit Anoka, Minnesota, and Governor Harold Stassen called on the Guard again. 300 Guardsmen patrolled the streets and imposed quasi-martial law while the community was stabilized. The next opportunity for the division to operate as a unit came in August 1940 when the division again assembled at Camp Ripley for the Seventh Corps Area concentration of the Fourth Army maneuvers. In that maneuver, the “Red Bull” Division operated as part of the "Red Army" against the 35th Division and the "Blue Army."

Commanders

  • Major General Mathew A. Tinley
  • Major General Lloyd D. Ross
  • Major General George E. Leach
  • Major General Ellard A. Walsh

    Order of battle, 1939

In 1929, the 185th Field Artillery Regiment was reassigned from the VII Corps Artillery to the 34th Division when the Army returned 155 mm howitzer regiments to infantry divisions. The 109th Ammunition Train was never authorized for organization, and was disbanded in an inactive status on 1 July 1940.
The 109th Medical Regiment was originally allotted to Minnesota and North Dakota. In 1927, the regiment was relieved from assignment to the 34th Division, assigned to the VII Corps, and the North Dakota elements were concurrently withdrawn and allotted to Minnesota. No units of the regiment were ever organized before it was withdrawn from allotment to the National Guard in September 1927 and demobilized. Concurrently, the 136th Medical Regiment, allotted to Iowa and South Dakota, was reassigned from the VII Corps to the 34th Division with all South Dakota elements withdrawn and allotted to Iowa. The regiment, less two companies active since 1922 and 1926, respectively, began organization in April 1939.
Italics indicates state of headquarters allocation; headquarters not organized or inactive.
  • Headquarters, 34th Division
  • * Headquarters Detachment, 34th Division
  • Headquarters, Special Troops
  • * Headquarters Detachment, Special Troops
  • * Medical Detachment, Special Troops
  • * Headquarters Company, 34th Division
  • * 34th Military Police Company
  • * 34th Signal Company
  • * 109th Ordnance Company
  • * 34th Tank Company
  • Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 67th Infantry Brigade
  • * 133rd Infantry Regiment
  • * 168th Infantry Regiment
  • Headquarters, 68th Infantry Brigade
  • * Headquarters Company, 68th Infantry Brigade
  • * 135th Infantry Regiment
  • * 164th Infantry Regiment
  • Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 59th Field Artillery Brigade
  • * 125th Field Artillery Regiment
  • * 151st Field Artillery Regiment
  • * 185th Field Artillery Regiment
  • * 109th Ammunition Train
  • 109th Engineer Regiment
  • 136th Medical Regiment
  • 109th Quartermaster Regiment