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PRE WWII 45th DIVISION FELT ON FELT SHOULDER SLEEVE PATCH INSIGNIA WW2
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PRE WWII 45th DIVISION FELT ON FELT SHOULDER SLEEVE PATCH INSIGNIA WW2
Price: US $161.25
Pre WWII 45th Division shoulder sleeve patch on felt. Insignia does not react to Uv. light and is guaranteed to be made pre 1945. Please look at my other WWII patches listed on this week also.History
With the outbreak of World War I, troops of the National Guard were formed into the units which exist today, with the Colorado Guard forming the 157th Infantry Regiment, the Arizona Guard forming the 158th Infantry Regiment, and the New Mexico Guard forming the 120th Engineer Regiment. These units were attached to the 40th Infantry Division and deployed to France where they were used as \"depot\" forces to provide replacements for front-line units. They returned home at the end of the war. The Oklahoma Guard units that would later become the 179th Infantry Regiment and 180th Infantry Regiment were assigned to the 36th Infantry Division and would earn a combat participation credit during the Meuse-Argonne Campaign in France as the 142nd Infantry.
Inter-war years
1923–1940 \"Square\" Organization
HQ 45th Division
89th Infantry Brigade
157th Infantry Regiment
158th Infantry Regiment
90th Infantry Brigade
179th Infantry Regiment
180th Infantry Regiment
70th Field Artillery Brigade
158th Field Artillery Regiment
160th Field Artillery Regiment
189th Field Artillery Regiment
45th Military Police Company
45th Signal Company
120th Ordnance Company
120th Engineer (Combat) Regiment
120th Medical Regiment
120th Quartermaster Regiment
On 19 October 1920, the Oklahoma State militia was organized as the 45th Infantry Division of the Oklahoma Army National Guard, and manned with troops from Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. The division was formed and federally recognized as a National Guard unit on 3 August 1923 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was assigned the 89th Infantry Brigade of the Colorado and Arizona National Guards, and the 90th Infantry Brigade of the Oklahoma National Guard. As a consequence of these militia roots, when the division was properly organized, many of its members were marksmen and outdoorsmen from the remote frontier regions of the Southwestern United States. The division\'s first commander was Major General Baird H. Markham.
The 45th Infantry Division engaged in regular drills but no major events in its first few years, though the division\'s Colorado elements were called in to help quell a large coal mining strike. The onset of the Great Depression in the 1930s severely curtailed its funding for training and equipment. Major General Roy Hoffman took command in 1931, followed by Alexander M. Tuthill, Alexander E. McPherren in 1935, and William S. Key in 1936. In 1937, the division\'s troops were once again called up, this time to help manage a locust plague affecting Colorado.
Before the 1930s, the division\'s symbol was a red square with a yellow swastika, a tribute to the large Native American population in the southwestern United States.
The division\'s original shoulder sleeve insignia, approved in August 1924, featured a swastika, a common Native American symbol, as a tribute to the Southwestern United States region which had a large population of Native Americans. However, with the rise of the Party in Germany, with its infamous swastika symbol, the 45th Division stopped using the insignia. After a long process of reviewing design submissions, a design by Woody Big Bow, a Kiowa artist from Carnegie, Oklahoma, was chosen for the new shoulder sleeve insignia. The new insignia featured the Thunderbird, another Native American symbol, and was approved in 1939.
In August 1941, the 45th Infantry Division took part in the Louisiana Maneuvers, the largest peacetime exercises in U.S. military history. The division was assigned to VIII Corps with the 2nd Infantry Division and the 36th Infantry Division, camped near Pitkin, Louisiana. Still operating with outmoded equipment from World War I, the division did not perform well during these exercises. With poor weather and bad equipment, the undertrained 45th Infantry Division was criticized by officers who considered it \"feeble.\" In spite of these deficiencies, less than one month later, the men were recalled to the active duty force, much to their chagrin, because of concerns of an impending American entry into World War II.
World War II
A monument in Abilene, Texas commemorating the 45th Infantry Division\'s time in Texas as it trained at Camp Barkeley in 1940.Campaigns of the 45th Infantry Division: Naples-FoggiaCampaigns of the 45th Infantry Division: Rome-ArnoCampaigns of the 45th Infantry Division: SicilyCampaigns of the 45th Infantry Division: Central EuropeCampaigns of the 45th Infantry Division: Southern FranceCampaigns of the 45th Infantry Division: Rhineland
On 16 September 1940, the 45th Infantry Division, under Major General William S. Keys, was federalized from state control into the regular army force.[7] It was one of four National Guard divisions to be federalized, alongside the 30th, the 41st and 44th Infantry Divisions, originally for a one-year period. Its men immediately began basic combat training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Throughout 1942, it continued this training at Camp Barkeley, Texas, before moving to Fort Devens, Massachusetts, to undergo amphibious assault training in preparation for an invasion of Italy. It then moved to Pine Camp, New York briefly for winter warfare training, but was hampered by continuously poor weather. In January 1943 it moved to Fort Pickett, Virginia, for its final training. The division, now commanded by Major General Troy H. Middleton, a Regular Army soldier and highly distinguished World War I veteran, moved to the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation\'s Camp Patrick Henry to await combat loading on the transports.
The division\'s two combat commands, the 89th and 90th Infantry Brigades, were not activated, as the army favored smaller and more versatile regimental commands for the new conflict. The 45th Infantry Division was instead based around the 157th, 179th, and 180th Infantry Regiments. Also assigned to the division were the 158th, 160th, 171st, and 189th Field Artillery Battalions, the 45th Signal Company, the 700th Ordnance Company, the 45th Quartermaster Company, the 45th Reconnaissance Troop, the 120th Engineer Combat Battalion, and the 120th Medical Battalion.
Sicily
1942–1945 \"Triangular\" Organization
Headquarters, 45th Infantry Division
157th Infantry Regiment
179th Infantry Regiment
180th Infantry Regiment
Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 45th Infantry Division Artillery
158th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
160th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
171st Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
189th Field Artillery Battalion (155 mm)
120th Engineer Combat Battalion
120th Medical Battalion
45th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized)
Headquarters, Special Troops, 45th Infantry Division
Headquarters Company, 45th Infantry Division
700th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company
45th Quartermaster Company
45th Signal Company
Military Police Platoon
Band
45th Counterintelligence Corps Detachment
The 45th Division sailed from the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation for the Mediterranean region on 8 June 1943, combat loaded aboard thirteen attack transports and five cargo attack vessels as convoy UGF-9 headed by the communications ship USS Ancon. By the time the 45th Division landed in North Africa on 22 June 1943, the Allies had largely secured the African theater. As a result, the division was not sent into combat upon arrival and instead commenced training at Arzew, French Morocco, in preparation for the invasion of Sicily. Allied intelligence estimated that the island was defended by approximately 230,000 troops, the majority of which were drawn mostly from weak Italian formations and two German divisions which had been reconstituted after being destroyed earlier. Against this, the Allies planned to land 180,000 troops, including the 45th Infantry Division, which was assigned to Lieutenant General Omar Bradley\'s II Corps, part of the U.S. Seventh Army under Lieutenant General George S. Patton, for the operation.
The division was subsequently assigned a lead role in the amphibious assault on Sicily, coming ashore on 10 July. Landing near Scoglitti, the southernmost U.S. objective on the island, the division advanced north on the U.S. force\'s eastern flank. After initially encountering resistance from armor of the Herman Goering Division, the division advanced, supported by paratroopers of the 505th Parachute Regimental Combat Team, part of the 82nd Airborne Division, who landed inland on 11 July. The paratroopers, conducting their first combat jump of the war, then set up to protect the 45th\'s flank against German counterattack, but without weapons to counter heavy armor, the paratroopers had to rely on support from the 2nd Armored Division to repulse the German Tiger I tanks. As the division advanced towards its main objective to capture the airfields at Biscari, and Comiso, German forces pushed back. For most of the first two weeks while the division moved slowly north, it encountered only light resistance from Italian forces fighting delaying actions. Italian and German forces resisted fiercely at Motta Hill on 26 July, however, and for four days the 45th Division was held up there. After this, the division was allocated to drive towards Messina, being ordered by the Seventh Army commander to cover the distance as quickly as possible. The 45th Division spent a few days in that city, but on 1 August, the division was withdrawn from the front line for rest and rear-guard patrol duty, after which the division was assigned to Major General Ernest J. Dawley\'s VI Corps, part of the U.S. Fifth Army, under Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, in preparation for the invasion of mainland Italy.
Salerno
On 3 September 1943, Italy surrendered to the Allied powers. Hoping to occupy as much of the country as possible before the German Army could react, the U.S. Fifth Army prepared to attack Salerno. On 10 September, elements of the division conducted its second landing at Agropoli and Paestum with the 36th Infantry Division, on the southernmost beaches of the attack. Opposing them were elements of the German 29th Panzergrenadier Division and XVI Panzer Corps. Against stiff resistance, the 45th pushed to the Calore River after a week of heavy fighting. The Fifth Army was battered and pushed back by German forces until 20 September, when Allied forces were finally able to break out and establish a more secure beachhead.
On 3 November it crossed the Volturno River and took Venafro. The division had great difficulty moving across the rivers and through the mountainous terrain, and the advance was slow. After linking up with the British Eighth Army, which had advanced from the south, the combined force, under the 15th Army Group, commanded by British General Sir Harold Alexander, was stalled when it reached the Gustav Line. Until 9 January 1944, the division, now under Major General William W. Eagles (replacing Major General Middleton who, struck down with arthritis, was sent to England to command VIII Corps in the Normandy invasion), inched forward into the mountains reaching St. Elia, north of Monte Cassino, before moving to a rest area.
Anzio
Allied forces conducted a frontal assault on the Gustav Line stronghold at Monte Cassino, and VI Corps, under Major General John P. Lucas from 20 September, was assigned to Operation Shingle, detached from the 15th Army Group to land behind enemy lines at Anzio on 22 January 1944. For this mission, CCA (Combat Command A) of the 1st Armored Division was attached to the 45th Infantry Division. Landing on schedule, VI Corps surprised the Germans, but Major General Lucas\'s decision to consolidate the beachhead instead of attacking gave the Germans time to bring the LXXVI Panzer Corps forward to oppose the landings.
One regiment of the 45th (the 179th Infantry) went ashore with the landings. In company with the British 1st Infantry Division, they advanced north along the Anzio-Albano road and captured the Aprilia \"factory\", but encountered ingrained resistance from German armored units a few miles further on. Lucas then ordered the rest of the division ashore. The 45th Division was deployed on the southeastern side of the beachhead, along the lower Mussolini Canal
On 30 January 1944, when VI Corps advanced from the beaches, it encountered heavy resistance and took heavy casualties. VI Corps was stopped at the \"Pimlott Line\" (the perimeter of the beachhead), and the fight became a battle of attrition.
The first major German counterattack came in early February, was against the British 1st Division. Two regiments of the 45th (the 179th and 157th Infantry) were sent to the Aprilia sector to reinforce the British. The 179th Infantry and a tank battalion of CCA tried to recapture Aprilia but were repulsed. Lucas then moved the rest of the 45th Division to the left-center of the perimeter, at Aprilia and along the west branch of the Mussolini Canal. For the next few months the 45th Infantry Division was mostly stuck in place, holding its ground during repeated German counterattacks, and subjected to bombardment from aircraft and artillery.
On 16 February, a major German attack struck the 45th, and nearly broke through the 179th Infantry on 18 February. Lucas sent famed U.S. Army Ranger leader Colonel William Orlando Darby to assume command of the 157th Infantry, and the Germans were repulsed. The next three months were spent on the defensive, with the 45th engaged in trench warfare, alike to that in World War I.
On 23 May, VI Corps, now commanded by Major General Lucian Truscott, went on the offensive, breaking out of the beachhead to the northeast, with the 45th Division forming the left half of the attack. By 31 May, the German defenses were shattered, and the 45th Division turned northwest, toward the Alban Hills and Rome. On 4 June the 45th Division crossed the Tiber River below Rome, and entered the city along with other VI Corps troops. Men of the 45th Division were the first Allied troops to reach the Vatican.
On 16 June, the 45th Division withdrew for rest in preparation for other operations. At this time, VI Corps was attached to the Seventh Army, under Lieutenant General Alexander Patch, itself part of the 12th Army Group under Lieutenant General Jacob L. Devers. The 45th, 36th, and 3rd Infantry Divisions were pulled from the line in Italy in preparation for Operation Dragoon (formerly Anvil), the invasion of southern France. Dragoon was originally planned to coincide with the Normandy landings in the north, but was delayed until August because of a shortage of landing craft.France and Germany
The 45th Infantry Division participated in its fourth amphibious assault landing during Operation Dragoon on 15 August 1944, at St. Maxime, in Southern France. The 45th Infantry Division landed its 157th and 180th regimental combat teams and captured the heights of the Chaines de Mar before meeting with the 1st Special Service Force. The German Army, reeling from the Battle of Normandy, in which it had suffered a major defeat, pulled back after a short fight, part of an overall German withdrawal to the east following the landings. Soldiers of the 45th Infantry Division engaged the dispersed forces of German Army Group G, suffering very few casualties. The U.S. Seventh Army, along with Free French forces, were able to advance north quickly. By 12 September, the Seventh Army linked up with Lieutenant General George S. Patton\'s U.S. Third Army, advancing from Normandy, joining the two forces at Dijon. Against slight opposition, it spearheaded the drive for the Belfort Gap. The 45th Infantry Division took the strongly defended city of Epinal on 24 September. The division was then reassigned to V Corps, under the command of Major General Leonard T. Gerow, for its next advance. On 30 September the division crossed the Moselle River and entered the western foothills of the Vosges, taking Rambervillers. It would remain in the area for a month waiting for other units to catch up before crossing the Mortagne River on 23 October. The division remained on the line with the U.S. 6th Army Group the southernmost of three army groups advancing through France.
After the crossing was complete, the division was relieved from V Corps and assigned to Major General Wade H. Haislip\'s XV Corps. The division was allowed a one-month rest, resuming its advance on 25 November, attacking the forts north of Mutzig. These forts had been designed by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1893 to block access to the plain of Alsace. The 45th Division next crossed the Zintzel River before pushing through the Maginot Line defenses. During this time much of the division\'s artillery assets were attached to the 44th Infantry Division to provide additional support. The 45th Infantry Division, now commanded by Major General Robert T. Frederick, who had previously commanded the 1st Special Service Force, was reassigned to VI Corps on New Year\'s Day. From 2 January 1945, the division fought defensively along the German border, withdrawing to the Moder River. It sent half of its artillery to support the 70th Infantry Division. On 17 February the division was pulled off the line for rest and training. Once this rest period was complete, the division was assigned to XV Corps for the final push into German territory. The 45th moved north to the Sarreguemines area and smashed through the Siegfried Line, on 17 March taking Homburg on the 21st and crossing the Rhine between Worms and Hamm on the 26th. The advance continued, with Aschaffenburg falling on 3 April, and Nuremberg on the 20th. The division crossed the Danube River on 27 April, and liberated 32,000 captives of the Dachau concentration camp on 29 April 1945. The division captured Munich during the next two days, occupying the city until V-E Day and the surrender of Germany. During the next month, the division remained in Munich and set up collection points and camps for the massive numbers of surrendering troops of the German armies. The number of POWs taken by the 45th Division during its almost two years of fighting totalled 124,840 men. The division was then slated to move to the Pacific theater of operations to participate in the invasion of mainland Japan on the island of Honshu, but these plans were scrubbed before the division could depart after the surrender of Japan, on V-J Day.
Casualties
Total battle casualties: 20,993
Killed in action: 3,547
Wounded in action: 14,441
Missing in action: 478
Prisoner of war: 2,52
Criminal allegations
During and after the war, courts-martial were convened to investigate possible war crimes by members of the division. In the first two cases, dubbed the Biscari massacre, American troops from C Company, 180th Infantry Regiment, were alleged to have shot 74 Italian and two German prisoners in Acate in July 1943 following the capture of an airfield in the area. Lieutenant General George Patton, the Seventh Army commander, asked Major General Omar Bradley, commanding II Corps, to get the cases dismissed to prevent bad press, but Bradley refused. A non-commissioned officer later confessed to the crimes and was found guilty, but an officer who claimed he had only been following orders was acquitted.In a third incident, the Army considered court-martialling several officers of the 157th Infantry Regiment under Lieutenant Colonel Felix L. Sparks after servicemen were accused of massacring German soldiers who were surrendering at the Dachau concentration camp in 1945. Some of the German troops were camp guards; the others were sick and wounded troops from a nearby hospital. The soldiers of the 45th Division who liberated the camp were outraged at the malnourishment and maltreatment of the 32,000 prisoners they liberated, some barely alive, and all victims of the Holocaust. After entering the camp, the soldiers found boxcars filled with dead bodies of prisoners who had succumbed to starvation or last-minute executions, and in rooms adjacent to gas chambers they found naked bodies piled from the floor to the ceiling. The cremation ovens, which were still in operation when the soldiers arrived, contained bodies and skeletons as well. Some of the victims apparently had died only hours before the 45th Division entered the camp, while many others lay where they had died in states of decomposition that overwhelmed the soldiers\' senses. Accounts conflict over what happened and over how many German troops were killed. After investigating the incident, the Army considered court-martialling several officers involved, but Patton successfully intervened. Seventh Army was being disbanded and Patton had been appointed Military Governor of Bavaria, placing the matter in his hands. Some veterans of the 45th Infantry Division have said that only 30 to 50 German soldiers were killed and that very few were killed trying to surrender, while others have admitted to killing or refusing to treat wounded German guards.
After the war
Callsigns of the 45th Division
45TH DIV..............POWER
45TH DIV ARTY...PARASOL
189TH FA BN.......PARK
160TH FA BN.......PATIENCE
158TH FA BN.......POLISH
171ST FA BN.......POST
157TH INF RGT...POISON (WWII)
179TH INF RGT...PAGAN
180TH INF RGT...PASSPORT
279TH INF RGT...POISON (KOREA)
Battalions of the Infantry Regiments
1st INF BN............RED
2nd INF BN...........WHITE
3rd INF BN............BLUE
Regimental Tanks and Mortars
TANK CO.............GREEN
MORTAR CO........BROWN
During World War II, the 45th Division fought in 511 days of combat. Nine soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during their service with the 45th Infantry Division: Van T. Barfoot, Ernest Childers, Almond E. Fisher, William J. Johnston, Salvador J. Lara, Jack C. Montgomery, James D. Slaton, Jack Treadwell, and Edward G. Wilkin Soldiers of the division also received 61 Distinguished Service Crosses, three Distinguished Service Medals, 1,848 Silver Star Medals, 38 Legion of Merit medals, 59 Soldier\'s Medals, 5,744 Bronze Star Medals, and 52 Air Medals. The division received seven distinguished unit citations and eight campaign streamers during the conflict.
Most of the division returned to New York in September 1945, and from there went to Camp Bowie, Texas. On 7 December 1945, the division was deactivated from the active duty force and its members reassigned to other Army units. The following year, on 10 September 1946, the 45th Infantry Division was reconstituted as a National Guard unit. Instead of comprising units from several states, the post-war 45th was an all-Oklahoma organization. During this time the division was also reorganized and as a part of this process the 157th Infantry was removed from the division\'s order of battle and replaced with the 279th Infantry Regiment.
During this time, the U.S. Army underwent a drastic reduction in size. At the end of World War II, it contained 89 divisions, but by 1950, there were just 10 active divisions in the force, along with a few reserve divisions such as the 45th Infantry Division which were combat-ineffective. The division retained many of its best officers as senior commanders as the force downsized, and it enjoyed a good relationship with its community. The 45th in this time was regarded as one of the better-trained National Guard divisions. Regardless, by mid-1950 the division had only 8,413 troops, less than 45 percent of its full-strength authorization. Only 10 percent of the division\'s officers and five percent of its enlisted men had combat experience with the division from World War II.

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