What were the US Army divisions that fought in 1944 in Europe?

Answer 1

General George C. Marshall became Chief of Staff of the US Army on September 3, 1939, two days after Nazi tanks rolled into Poland. Marshall immediately began to try to modernize the US Army and prepare for the probable US involvement in the war. This was going to require the creation of a much larger force than the US had ever fielded. No one knew what such a force should look like nor how it should be structured. Marshall called on Colonel Leslie McNair to produce, within days, the plan which became the blueprint for the US Army in WWII. McNair's initial plan called for 200 divisions, but this was later pared back to ninety. As it turned out this "ninety division gamble" was barely enough to wage a world war. For the war, the US fielded about 65 infantry divisions, 16 armored divisions, 6 airborne divisions, two cavalry divisions, and one mountain division.

About fifteen US Army divisions fought in the Pacific, as well as all six divisions of US Marines.

In 1944 the US 5th Army was in Italy. It included the US II Corps and IV Corps. Divisions assigned included the 34th, 85th (arrived April 1945), 88th, and 91st and 92nd Infantry Divisions, the 10th Mountain Division (arrived February 1945) , and the 1st Armored Division.

The VI Corps was withdrawn from the 5th US Army after Rome was captured and became the nucleus of the US 7th Army, which made the Operation Dragoon, "second D-Day" landings on the Mediterranean French coast August 15, 1944. Divisions assigned included the 3rd, 36th and 45th Infantry Divisions.

The US 1st Army made the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944 with the V and VII Corps. Divisions in the initial landings were the 1st, 4th and 29th infantry divisions. About two months later the 3rd Army was activated, and the 9th Army sometime after that. The 15th US Army was eventually activated in Europe as hostilities were coming to a close. From north to south the US armies in line were the 9th, 1st, 3rd and 7th. Corps were sometimes changed from army to army, and divisions from corps to corps. Corps HQs which operated in France, in addition to the V, VI, and VII, included III, VIII, XII, XIII, XV, XVI, XVIII Airborne, XIX, XX and XXI. The average strength in a Corps was three infantry divisions and one armored division, plus additional "independent battalions" (see below).

In addition to the three infantry divisions of the Overlord landings and the three of the Dragoon landings, the following infantry divisions also operated in France: 2nd, 5th, 8th, 9th, 11th, 26th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 35th, 42nd, 44th, 63rd, 65th, 66th, 70th, 71st, 75th, 76th, 78th, 79th, 80th, 83rd, 84th, 86th, 87th, 89th, 90th, 94th, 95th, 97th, 99th, 100th, 102nd, 103rd, 104th, and 106th. Some of these did not arrive in theater until 1945.

Airborne divisions serving in France included the 13th, 17th, 82nd and 101st.

Armored divisions in France included the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 16th and 20th.

Additionally, the Army created a large number of "independent" battalions - sometimes called "bastard battalions" (no parent unit), which were independent because they were not an official part of any larger formation. These troops were assigned to a corps or army HQ to be shifted around as needed, so they were sometimes also called "corps troops" or "army troops". These battalions were artillery (of various caliber), tank, tank destroyer, engineer, signals, at least one parachute, and others. In practice many tank battalions were more or less permanently "attached" to an infantry division.