1st Infantry Division (United States)


The 1st Infantry Division is a combined arms division of the United States Army, and is the oldest continuously serving division in the Regular Army. It has seen continuous service since its organization in 1917 during World War I. It was officially nicknamed "The Big Red One" after its shoulder patch and is also nicknamed "The Fighting First". The division has also received troop monikers of "The Big Dead One" and "The Bloody First" as puns on the respective officially sanctioned nicknames. It is currently based at Fort Riley, Kansas.
The 1st Infantry Division was first deployed to fight in France in World War I, fought extensively in Africa, Italy, France, and Germany during World War II, and participated extensively during United States' campaigns in the Vietnam War. The 1st Infantry was stationed in what became West Germany from 1945 to 1955, and its units rotated to West Germany throughout the remainder of the Cold War. It subsequently deployed to fight in the Gulf War, the Iraq War, and the War in Afghanistan. 37 members of the "Big Red One" have been awarded the Medal of Honor, making the 1st Infantry one of the U.S. Army's most honored divisions .

World War I

A few weeks after the American entry into World War I, the First Expeditionary Division, later designated as the 1st Infantry Division, was constituted on 24 May 1917, in the Regular Army, and was organized on 8 June 1917, at Fort Jay, on Governors Island in New York harbor under the command of Brigadier General William L. Sibert, from Army units then in service on the Mexico–United States border and at various Army posts throughout the United States. The original table of organization and equipment included two organic infantry brigades of two infantry regiments each, one engineer battalion; one signal battalion; one trench mortar battery; one field artillery brigade of three field artillery regiments; one air squadron; and a full division train. The total authorized strength of this TO&E was 18,919 officers and enlisted men. George S. Patton, who served as the first headquarters commandant for the American Expeditionary Forces, oversaw much of the arrangements for the movement of the 1st Division to France, and their organization in-country. Frank W. Coe, who later served as Chief of Coast Artillery, was the division's first chief of staff.
The first units sailed from New York City and Hoboken, New Jersey, on 14 June 1917. Throughout the remainder of the year, the rest of the division had followed, landing at St. Nazaire, France, and Liverpool, England. After a brief stay in rest camps, the troops in England proceeded to France, landing at Le Havre. The last unit arrived in St. Nazaire 22 December. Upon arrival in France, the division, less its artillery, was assembled in the First training area, and the artillery was at Le Valdahon.
File:111-SC-8986 - Red cross nurses serve coffee to the 16th Infantry in Paris. - NARA - 55178330 .jpg|thumb|left|Red Cross nurses serving bread and coffee to doughboys of the 16th Infantry, 1st Division, upon their arrival in Paris, July 4, 1917.
On 4 July, the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry, paraded through the streets of Paris to bolster the sagging French spirits. An apocryphal story holds that at Lafayette's tomb, to the delight of the attending Parisians, Colonel Charles E. Stanton of the division's 16th Infantry Regiment stepped forward and declared, "Lafayette, nous sommes ici! " Two days later, on 6 July, Headquarters, First Expeditionary Division was redesignated as Headquarters, First Division, American Expeditionary Forces.
File:111-SC-22902 - NARA - 55205507 .jpg|thumb|right|General John J. Pershing, Commander'in-Chief of the AEF, and Major General Charles P. Summerall, commander of the 1st Division, inspecting doughboys of the 16th Infantry, 1st Brigade, 1st Division, in France, September 7, 1918.
On 8 August 1917, the 1st Division adopted the "square" Table of Organization and Equipment, which specified two organic infantry brigades of two infantry regiments each; one engineer regiment; one signal battalion; one machine gun battalion; one field artillery brigade of three field artillery regiments, and a complete division train. The total authorized strength of this new TO&E was 27,120 officers and enlisted men.
On the morning of 23 October, the first American shell of the war was fired towards German lines by a First Division artillery unit. Two days later, the 2nd Battalion of the 16th Infantry had suffered the first American casualties of the war.
By April 1918, the German Army had pushed to within of Paris. In reaction to this thrust, the division moved into the Picardy Sector to bolster the exhausted French First Army. To the division's front lay the small village of Cantigny, situated on the high ground overlooking a forested countryside. The 28th Infantry Regiment attacked the town, and within 45 minutes captured it along with 250 German soldiers. It was the first American victory of the war. The 28th was thereafter named the "Black Lions of Cantigny."
Soissons was taken by the 1st Division in July 1918. The Soisson's victory was costly – 700 men were killed or wounded.. The 1st Division took part in the first offensive by an American army in the war, and helped to clear the Saint-Mihiel salient by fighting continuously from 11 to 13 September 1918. The last major World War I battle was fought in the Meuse-Argonne Forest. The division advanced a total of seven kilometers and defeated, in whole or part, eight German divisions. This victory was mainly due to the efforts of Colonel George C. Marshall, who began the war as the division's deputy chief of staff before being elevated to G-3 for the entire AEF in July 1918. Combat operations ended with the implementation of the terms of the Armistice on 11 November 1918. At the time the division was at Sedan, the farthest American penetration of the war, and was the first to cross the Rhine into occupied Germany.
By the end of the war, the division had reported it had suffered 4,964 killed in action, 17,201 wounded in action, and 1,056 missing or died of wounds. Five division soldiers received Medals of Honor.
The division's dog mascot was a mixed-breed terrier known as Rags. Rags was adopted by the division in 1918 and remained its mascot until his death in 1936. Rags achieved notoriety and celebrity as a war dog, after saving many lives in the crucial Argonne Campaign by delivering a vital message despite being bombed and gassed.

Order of battle

Assigned units

En route to France and in 1st (Gondrecourt) Training Area
  • 5th Regiment USMC
    Ménil-la-Tour Area 28 February – 3 April 1918
  • 1st Battalion, 2nd Engineers
    Cantigny Sector, at times from 27 April to 7 July 1918
  • French 228th Field Artillery Regiment
  • French 253d Field Artillery Regiment
  • 1st and 2nd Battalions of the French 258th Field Artillery Regiment
  • 4th Battalion, Fr 301st Artillery Regiment
  • One battery, French 3rd Cl Artillery Regiment
  • 3rd and 4th Battalions, French 284th Artillery Regiment
  • 2nd Battalion, French 289th Artillery Regiment
  • One battery, Fr 3d Cl Artillery Regiment
  • 6th Battalion, Fr 289th Artillery Regiment
  • Two batteries Fr TM
  • One battery Fr TM
  • One battery Fr TM
  • Fr 5th Tank Battalion
    Aisne-Marne Operation
  • Fr 42d Aero Sq
  • Fr 83d Bln Company
  • Fr 253d FA-Portée
  • Fr 11th and 12th Groups of Tanks
    Saizerais Sector
  • Fr 258th Aero Sq
  • 6th and 7th Bln Companies
  • 3 batteries Fr 247th FA- Portée
  • Preceding and during the Saint-Mihiel Operation, at times from 8–14 September 1918
  • 8th Observation Sq
  • 9th Bln Company
  • 58th Field Artillery Brigade and 108th Am Tn
  • 76th Field Artillery
  • Two batteries, 44th CA
  • Troops D, F, and H, 2nd Cavalry
  • Two platoons, Company A, 1st Gas Regiment
  • Two infantry battalions
  • 6th Infantry Brigade
  • * Two companies, 51st Pioneer Infantry
  • * 7th MG Battalion
  • * 49 tanks of 1st Tank Brigade
    Meuse-Argonne Operation
  • 60th Field Artillery Brigade
  • 110th Am Tn
  • 1st Aero Squadron
  • 2d Bln Company
  • Fr 219th Field Artillery
  • Fr 247th Field Artillery
  • Fr 5th Battalion 282d Artillery
  • Provisional Squadron, 2d Cavalry
  • Company C, 1st Gas Regiment
  • Company C, 344th Tank Battalion, 1st Tank Brigade
  • Companies B and C, 345th Tank Battalion, 1st Tank Brigade
  • 362d Infantry
  • 181st Infantry Brigade
    Coblenz Bridgehead
  • 14th Bln Company
  • MG elements, Fr 2d Cavalry Division
  • 4th MG Battalion 18–29 June 1919
  • 7th MG Battalion 20–30 June 1919

    Detached service

  • At Le Valdahon 22 August – 18 October 1917 with 15th Division during the Second Battle of the Aisne, 24 July 1918 with U.S. 90th Division
  • * 1st Field Artillery Brigade
  • * 1st Am Tn
  • With the 15th Division during Aisne-Marne Operation 24 July 1918 in Saizerais Sector 24–28 August 1918;
with 42nd Division in Meuse-Argonne Operation 13–31 October 1918;
with 2nd Division in Meuse-Argonne Operation 1–4 November 1918.
  • * 1st Sn Tn
  • With III Corps 28 September – 2 October 1918
  • * 1st Engineers
  • With American forces in Germany after 9 August 1919.
  • * 2d, 6th Field Artillery
  • * Company A, 1st Engineers
  • * Companies A, B, C, D, 1st Sup Tn
  • * F Hosp 13