80th Training Command


The 80th Training Command is a formation of the United States Army Reserve.
The unit was first organized in August 1917 and activated the following September during World War I as the 80th Division. During World War II, the Division was redesignated on 1 August 1942, as the 80th Infantry Division. Nicknamed the "Blue Ridge Division", it was initially composed of draftees from the mid-Atlantic states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. The Division was redesignated the 80th Airborne Division from December 1946 to May 1952. In May 1952 and March 1959, the unit was redesignated as a reserve infantry division and then a reserve training division. In 1994, it became the 80th Division. On 1 October 2008, the division was reorganised as the 80th Training Command.

World War I

  • Activated: September 1917
  • Overseas: June 1918
  • Major operations: Battle of the Somme, Meuse-Argonne, Battle of Saint-Mihiel.
  • Casualties: Total-6,029..
  • Commanders: Brig. Gen. Herman Hall, Maj. Gen. Adelbert Cronkhite, Brig. Gen. Loyd M. Brett, Brig. Gen. Wilds P. Richardson, Brig. Gen. Charles S. Farnsworth, Brig. Gen. Loyd M. Brett, Maj. Gen. Adelbert Cronkhite, Maj. Gen. Samuel D. Sturgis, Maj. Gen. Adelbert Cronkhite
  • Inactivated: May 1919.

    History

On 5 August 1917, the War Department directed the organization of the 80th Division at Camp Lee, Virginia. The division's units were intended to be made up of draftees from Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.
There is still a standing memorial representing the men and women who put their lives on the line for their country in the battles throughout France in the Meuse-Argonne. The Pennsylvania Memorial which is located At Place du Grand Four in Nantillois, France pays tribute to the members who did everything they could to end the Germans push during WW1.
The 80th Division at full numbers reached 23,000 trained soldiers who sailed to France. They landed and stationed in France on June 8th, 1918. The 80th Division was utilized in the training of the British Third Army and joined forces on the front line close to the Artois sector, experiencing heavy action in the Somme Offensive of 1918 and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. The 80th Division showed success in their results in frontline action, and proved to be a reliable Division in the eyes of British and French soldiers.

Order of battle

  • Headquarters, 80th Division
  • 159th Infantry Brigade
  • * 317th Infantry Regiment
  • * 318th Infantry Regiment
  • * 313th Machine Gun Battalion
  • 160th Infantry Brigade
  • * 319th Infantry Regiment
  • * 320th Infantry Regiment
  • * 315th Machine Gun Battalion
  • 155th Field Artillery Brigade
  • * 313th Field Artillery Regiment
  • * 314th Field Artillery Regiment
  • * 315th Field Artillery Regiment
  • * 305th Trench Mortar Battery
  • 314th Machine Gun Battalion
  • 305th Engineer Regiment
  • 305th Field Signal Battalion
  • Headquarters Troop, 80th Division
  • 305th Train Headquarters and Military Police
  • * 305th Ammunition Train
  • * 305th Supply Train
  • * 305th Engineer Train
  • * 305th Sanitary Train
  • ** 317th, 318th, 319th, and 320th Ambulance Companies and Field Hospitals
The 317th Infantry included men from central and western Virginia; the 318th Infantry was made up mostly of men from the Shenandoah Valley and Tidewater areas; the 313th Machine Gun Battalion mostly had men from the Erie, Pennsylvania, area. These units comprised the 159th Infantry Brigade. The 318th Infantry were nicknamed the "squirrels" while training with the British in the Artois/Picardy section of France; the 1st Battalion was the "red squirrels," the 2nd Battalion was the "gray squirrels," and the 3rd Battalion was the "flying squirrels."
The 319th Infantry included men from the Allegheny County and Erie areas, and a few from eastern Ohio. The 320th Infantry had men from Pittsburgh; the 315th Machine Gun Battalion had men from Pittsburgh and Erie. These units combined to create the 160th Infantry Brigade.
Each infantry regiment in the 80th Division used a unique helmet marking; the 317th used a diamond, the 318th a square, the 319th a circle, and the 320th Infantry Regiment a bowl shape. The headquarters of each regiment divided their shape using three vertical stripes of red, white, and blue; the 1st battalion of each regiment used solid red, the 2nd battalion white, and the 3rd battalion blue. Each company painted their respective letter inside the shape. The machine gun company of each regiment divided their shape vertically in half in red and blue; the supply company divided their shape in red and white.
The 313th, 314th and 315th Field Artillery Regiments were composed of men almost exclusively from the state of West Virginia, and formed the 155th Field Artillery Brigade.
Serving with the division were the 314th Machine Gun Battalion as well as the 305th Engineer Regiment ; the 305th Trains were men from western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia. The engineers were more often than not sent out ahead. During the rest period from 14 October through the Armistice, they finally were outfitted with U.S. Springfield and Browning automatic rifles. They had two weeks to train before the third and final push began in the Meuse-Argonne. It was also during this period that an attack formation was reorganized to allow for more maneuverability.

Meuse-Argonne

The 155th Field Artillery Regiment was in combat from the start of the Meuse Argonne, continuously with the 80th Division, but served also with the 90th Division into Germany, until after the Armistice. Altogether, the 155th served with five different divisions.
During the Meuse Argonne campaign, the 80th Division was the only one that saw action during each phase of the offensive. And they first earned their motto, "The 80th Division Moves only Forward!". The artillery of the division boasted more days of continuous combat firing than the batteries of any other American division. The 80th captured two Germans and one machine gun for every man wounded and one piece of artillery with gun crew for every 10 men wounded. Men of the 80th Division received 619 awards and decorations.

Helmet insignias

"Previously announced, the distinctive symbols of the various units of the Division were declared official on 30 April 1918. For the four Infantry Regiments, in their order beginning with the 317th Infantry, they were a diamond, square, circle, and semi circle. The symbol of each unit's Headquarters Company was colored red, white and blue; that of the Supply Company red and white; that of the Machine Gun Company red and blue. The battalion symbols were colored in red, white, blue in numerical order. The three Machine Gun battalions were identified with a shield – blue and white, red and white, red and blue, in order, beginning with the 313th M.G.Bn. Other Units of the Command were assigned equally distinctive symbols, thereby enabling property and individuals immediately identified by the markings required on the packing cases, wagons, helmets and other property articles".
All artillery units wear the "Gun Sight" on their helmets. It referenced the 313th F.A. and 314th F.A. with two blocks at approximately 45 degrees and 270 degrees. The 315th F.A. was 155mm and their "Gun Sight" emblem was a variation of this emblem. It contained the infantry colors in the four quadrants. In the center, there was a star and the battery letter was in the center of the star. The engineer units were identified by spades on their helmets. White and red for the headquarters company, red for the 1st Battalion, white for the 2nd Battalion.

Interwar period

The 80th Division headquarters arrived at the port of Newport News, Virginia, aboard the USS Zeppelin on 28 May 1919 after 12 months of overseas service and was demobilized on 5 June 1919 at Camp Lee, Virginia. It was reconstituted in the Organized Reserve on 24 June 1921, allotted to the Third Corps Area, and assigned to the XIII Corps. The division was further allotted to the states of Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. The division headquarters was organized on 1 September 1921 at 1014 East Main Street in Richmond, Virginia. It was relocated in 1926 to the Post Office Building, moved in 1933 to the Broad-Grace Arcade Building at Third and Grace Streets, and finally to the Parcel Post Building in 1935. The headquarters remained there until activated for World War II.
The designated mobilization and training station for the division was Camp George G. Meade, Maryland, the location where much of the 80th's training activities occurred in the interwar years. The division headquarters usually conducted its summer training there, and on a number of occasions, participated in command post exercises. The 80th Division headquarters occasionally trained with the staff of the 8th Division's 16th Infantry Brigade. The subordinate infantry regiments of the division held their summer training primarily with the units of the 16th Infantry Brigade. Other units, such as the special troops, artillery, engineers, aviation, medical, and quartermaster, trained at various posts in the Second and Third Corps Areas usually with units of the 1st Division or the active elements of the 8th Division. For example, the division's artillery trained with the 16th Field Artillery Regiment at Camp Meade; the 305th Engineer Regiment usually trained with the 1st Engineer Regiment at Fort DuPont, Delaware, or the 13th Engineers at Camp Humphreys, Virginia; the 305th Medical Regiment trained with the 1st Medical Regiment at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania; and the 305th Observation Squadron trained with the 99th Observation Squadron at Bolling Field, Washington, D.C. In addition to the unit training camps, the infantry regiments of the division rotated responsibility to conduct the Citizens Military Training Camps held at Camp Meade each year.
On a number of occasions, the division participated in Third Corps Area or First Army command post exercises in conjunction with other Regular Army, National Guard, and Organized Reserve units. Unlike the Regular and Guard units in the Third Corps Area, the 80th Division did not participate in the Third Corps Area maneuvers and the First Army maneuvers of 1935, 1939, and 1940 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 support personnel.