36th Infantry Division (United States)


The 36th Infantry Division also known as the "Panther Division", the "Lone Star Division", "The Texas Army", and the "T-patchers", is an infantry division of the U.S. Army and part of the Texas Army National Guard. The 36th Infantry Division was first organized during World War I from units of the Texas and Oklahoma National Guards. After the war, the division was reformed as an all-Texas unit, and was called to service for World War II on 25 November 1940, was deployed to the European Theater of Operations in April 1943, and returned to the Texas National Guard in December 1945.
In late 1941, a unit of the 36th Infantry, the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, was detached and deployed to the Pacific Theatre of Operations against the Japanese forces. In the course of the fighting, the Japanese Imperial Army captured some soldiers from the 2/131 FA and enslaved them to perform forced labor. Their fate as a unit was unknown for most of World War II, which resulted in the 2/131 FA Bn. being nicknamed the "Lost Battalion" of the PTO.
After World War II, the division was reactivated in 1946, and continued in service until 1968 when it was reorganized as a brigade. In 2004, the 36th Infantry Division was reconstituted as part of the inactivation of the 49th Armored Division.

History

World War I

The 36th Division was originally constituted by the Militia Bureau in early 1917 as the 15th Division, made up of troops from Texas and Oklahoma. In July 1917, three months after the American entry into World War I, the designation was changed to the 36th Division when the War Department directed the organization of the unit at Camp Bowie, Texas, near Fort Worth, under the command of Major General Edwin St. John Greble.
After conducting training for the next few months, the 36th was sent to the Western Front in July 1918 and conducted major operations in the Meuse–Argonne offensive. On 9–10 October, the unit participated in heavy combat near the village of St. Etienne. Following this victory, which included the capture of several hundred men and officers of the German Army, as well as artillery, the unit launched an assault near an area known as "Forest Farm." The eventual victory brought World War I to an end. In the relatively brief period of time the 36th Division spent in action during the war, the division suffered 2,584 casualties, 466 of them killed in action and an additional 2,118 wounded or missing.

Order of battle

Source:
The 36th Division headquarters arrived at the port of New York aboard the USS Patricia on 4 June 1919 after 11 months of overseas service and was demobilized on 18 June 1919 at Camp Bowie. In accordance with the National Defense Act of 1920, the division was allotted to the state of Texas and assigned to the VIII Corps in 1921. The designated mobilization training center for the “Texas Division” was Camp Hulen on Matagorda Bay near Palacios, Texas, where much of the division’s training activities occurred between the wars. The division headquarters was reorganized and federally recognized on 2 May 1923 at Houston, Texas. The division headquarters was relocated on 20 September 1930 to Fort Worth, and on 22 September 1936 to San Antonio, Texas. The division, less the 61st Field Artillery Brigade, conducted its summer camp at Camp Mabry, in Austin, Texas, from 1922–23, Fort Crockett, Texas, on Galveston Bay, in 1924, back to Camp Mabry in 1925, and at Camp Hulen from 1926-1939. The 61st Field Artillery Brigade conducted its training every other year at Camp Bullis, near San Antonio, so that its subordinate batteries could conduct live-fire training at the artillery ranges located there. For at least three years the division’s subordinate units trained over 170 company-grade Organized Reserve officers of the 90th Division at Camp Hulen and Camp Bullis.
Like the 26th, 27th, 28th, 33rd, 37th, and 38th Divisions, the 36th Division was located all in one state, and therefore could maximize opportunities to train as a complete unit. From 1922-35, the 36th Division gradually increased its level of proficiency as its units became more skilled. The training was conducted at individual level initially, and up to regimental level for the later camps. In 1936, the division and brigade staffs participated in the Third Army command post exercise at Camp Bullis. The CPX was designed to prepare the staffs for the large-scale maneuvers to be held in 1938. The division participated in the Eighth Corps Area concentration of the Third Army maneuvers at Camp Bullis in August 1938. During that maneuver, the 36th Division operated as part of the provisional Blue Corps against the 2nd and 45th Divisions of the Brown Corps. In January 1940, the 36th Division's commanding general and his staff participated in the 2nd Division's maneuver near Christine, Texas. For the final phase of the exercise, the division commander and staff assumed control of the simulated combat actions of the 2nd Division. In August 1940, the “Texas Division” again participated in the Third Army maneuvers, this time near the Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana as part of the provisional VIII Corps.

World War II

The 36th Division was called up again for active federal service on 25 November 1940, during World War II, departing for its mobilization station at Camp Bowie on 14 December 1940. The division commanded by Major General Claude V. Birkhead, moved to Brownwood, Texas, on 1 June 1941, where it participated in the VIII Corps Brownwood Maneuvers until 13 June 1941. The division then returned to Camp Bowie.
The division then moved to Mansfield, Louisiana, and took part in both the August and September 1941 Louisiana Maneuvers. The division, now commanded by Brigadier General Fred L. Walker, a Regular Army officer from Ohio and a distinguished veteran of World War I, then returned to Camp Bowie on 2 October 1941, where it was reorganized from a square division into a triangular division on 1 February 1942 and redesignated the 36th Infantry Division, just weeks after the American entry into World War II, as a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, which was followed four days later by the German declaration of war against the United States. As a result of this reorganization, the 144th Infantry, plus numerous supporting units, were transferred out of the division.
The division then moved to Camp Blanding, Florida, on 19 February 1942, and participated in the Carolina Maneuvers between 9 July 1942, and 15 August 1942. The division then was staged at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, on 17 August 1942, for its port call to the European Theater Of Operations. During its time at Camp Edwards, the division conducted mock assaults of Martha's Vineyard Island in preparation for future amphibious operations.
The division departed the New York Port of Embarkation on 2 April 1943, for service in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. At the time, approximately eighty percent of the personnel in the division were from Texas.

Organizations

Pre-2 February 1942 square organization
  • Headquarters, 36th Division
  • Headquarters, Special Troops, 36th Division
  • * Headquarters Company, 36th Division
  • * 36th Military Police Company
  • * 36th Signal Company
  • * 111th Ordnance Company
  • 71st Infantry Brigade
  • * 141st Infantry Regiment
  • * 142nd Infantry Regiment
  • 72nd Infantry Brigade
  • * 143rd Infantry Regiment
  • * 144th Infantry Regiment
  • 61st Field Artillery Brigade
  • * 131st Field Artillery Regiment
  • * 132nd Field Artillery Regiment
  • * 133rd Field Artillery Regiment
  • 111th Engineer Regiment
  • 111th Medical Regiment
  • 111th Quartermaster Regiment
    Post-2 February 1942 triangular reorganization
  • Headquarters, 36th Infantry Division
  • 141st Infantry Regiment
  • 142nd Infantry Regiment
  • 143rd Infantry Regiment
  • Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 36th Infantry Division Artillery
  • * 131st Field Artillery Battalion
  • * 132nd Field Artillery Battalion
  • * 133rd Field Artillery Battalion
  • * 155th Field Artillery Battalion
  • 111th Engineer Combat Battalion
  • 111th Medical Battalion
  • 36th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop
  • Headquarters, Special Troops, 36th Infantry Division
  • * Headquarters Company, 36th Infantry Division
  • * 736th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company
  • * 36th Quartermaster Company
  • * 36th Signal Company
  • * Military Police Platoon
  • * Band
  • 36th Counterintelligence Corps Detachment
    1944–45 augmentations
  • 191st Tank Battalion
  • 753rd Tank Battalion ; ;
  • 636th Tank Destroyer Battalion
  • 822nd Tank Destroyer Battalion
  • 443rd Anti Aircraft Artillery Battalion
  • 442nd Regimental Combat Team

    Combat operations

North Africa and Italy 1943−1944
The 36th Division landed in French North Africa on 13 April 1943, and trained at Arzew and Rabat. However, the training was hampered by the need to supply guards for some 25,000 Axis prisoners of war who had surrendered at the conclusion of the Tunisian campaign in May. It was assigned to Major General Ernest J. Dawley's VI Corps, part of the Fifth Army, but attached to the Services of Supply, North African Theater of Operations, United States Army, for supply. The 36th Division was originally intended to take part in the Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, but Lieutenant General George S. Patton the Seventh Army commander, preferred to use experienced troops instead and the 36th Division remained in North Africa. The Fifth Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, who knew the 36th Division well from his time as chief of staff to Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair, commander of Army Ground Forces, and specifically chose the 36th Division, rather than the more experienced 34th Infantry Division, together with the British 46th and 56th Infantry Divisions, to spearhead the Allied assault landings at Salerno, Italy, which was given the codename of Operation Avalanche.
File:LST-1-1.jpg|thumb|right|A U.S. Navy Landing Ship, Tank landing American Army troops possibly from the 36th Division on an Italian beach, via a causeway
Having missed out on the fighting in Sicily, the division first saw action in the Italian campaign, landing at Salerno on 9 September 1943. It was the first U.S. combat unit to fight on the European continent when it landed by sea at Paestum and fought in the Battle of Salerno against intense German opposition. The Germans launched numerous fierce counterattacks on 12–14 September, but the 36th, which at one stage during the battle was holding a 35-mile sector of the front, repulsed them with the aid of air support and naval gunfire, and, with the help of paratroopers of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, advanced slowly, securing the area from Agropoli to Altavilla. After sustaining over 4,000 casualties in its first major action, the division spent the next few weeks behind the lines, where it remained in the Fifth Army reserve, absorbing replacements and training for future combat operations. Despite the heavy losses, the 36th Division was considered to have fought well, and four men were awarded the Medal of Honor.
The 36th Division returned to combat in mid-November, after six weeks of rest, now under Major General Geoffrey Keyes' II Corps command. It captured Mount Maggiore, Mount Lungo, and the village of San Pietro despite strong enemy positions and severe winter weather. This grueling campaign against the Bernhardt Line was marked by futile attempts to establish a secure bridgehead across the Gari River, erroneously identified as the Rapido on 1 January 1944, to 8 February. The division attacked across the Gari River on 20 January but was harshly repulsed by the 15th Panzergrenadier Division. The 141st and 143rd Infantry Regiments were virtually destroyed, and the attack was stopped on 22 January. In 48 hours, the 36th Division had sustained 1,681 casualties, 143 of them killed, 663 wounded, and 875 missing, out of almost 6,000 men who took part. Many of the casualties consisted of newly-arrived replacements who were poorly integrated into their units. German losses were minimal, with only 64 killed and a further 179 wounded. A company commander in the 143rd Infantry said, "I had 184 men. Forty-eight hours later, I had 17. If that's not mass murder, I don't know what is." 36th Division losses until the end of January 1944 were 2,255 battle casualties and 2,009 non-battle casualties, with the combat effectiveness of the 141st and 143rd Infantry Regiments severely diminished.
File:Pounding German positions in Rapido River Area, Italy! Infantryman loading 81MM. mortar shooting at enemy emplacements while other members of crew hold shells for loading. 28 January, 1944. .jpg|thumb|left|G.I.'s of the 141st Infantry, 36th Infantry Division, firing an 81-mm. mortar in support of the Rapido river crossing, January 1944.
Strong controversy flared among the officers of the division. Lieutenant General Clark, the Fifth Army commander, was severely criticized for having ordered a difficult frontal attack, and was accused of having caused the disaster. After the war Congress, urged on by veterans of the division, conducted an investigation into the causes and responsibility for the defeat on the Gari River. Clark was absolved of blame and he personally believed the attack to be necessary, in order to attract German reserves from northern Italy to prevent their use at Anzio, where an amphibious assault, codenamed Operation Shingle, was being launched by Anglo-American forces in an attempt to outflank the Winter Line, capture the Italian capital of Rome, and potentially force a German withdrawal away from their formidable Winter Line defenses. However, the German reserves identified in northern Italy had already been drawn forward onto the front of the British X Corps during the First Battle of Monte Cassino a few days before, thus making the 36th Division's assault unnecessary, although this was unknown to Clark at the time.
After assisting the 34th Infantry Division in the attack on Cassino and fighting defensively along the Gari River, the severely depleted 36th withdrew from the line on 12 March, for rest and recreation. The division arrived by sea at the Anzio beachhead on 22 May, under the command of Major General Lucian Truscott's VI Corps, to take part in Operation Diadem, with the breakout from the beachhead commencing the following day. It drove north to capture Velletri on 1 June, and entered Rome on 5 June 1944, the day before the Normandy landings. Pushing up from Rome, the 36th encountered sharp resistance at Magliano, but reached Piombino on 26 June, before moving back to Paestum for rest and recreation. In July Major General Walker, who had commanded the 36th Division since September 1941, was replaced by Major General John E. Dahlquist.