The 102nd Infantry Division ("Ozark") was a

unit Unit may refer to: General measurement * Unit of measurement, a definite magnitude of a physical quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law **International System of Units (SI), modern form of the metric system **English units, histo ...

of the

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. The unit is currently active as the 102nd Training Division (Maneuver Support).

Interwar period

The division was constituted in the Organized Reserve on 24 June 1921, allotted to the Seventh Corps Area, and assigned to the XVII Corps, with Arkansas and Missouri as its home area. The headquarters was organized on 2 September 1921 at 3rd and Olive Streets in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

, and relocated in 1923 to the Old Customhouse. The headquarters remained there until activated for World War II. To encourage esprit de corps, the division adopted the nickname “ Ozark” after the mountainous region that ran through both states, and the division staff published a newsletter titled “Ozark.” The division formed rapidly and by November 1922, it had 95 percent of the officers as required by its peacetime tables of organization. The designated mobilization and training station for the division was

Fort Riley, Kansas Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in Ge ...

. The headquarters and staff usually trained at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The subordinate infantry regiments of the division held their summer training primarily with the 17th Infantry Regiment at Fort Leavenworth. Other units, such as the special troops, artillery, engineers, aviation, medical, and quartermaster, trained at various posts in the Sixth and Seventh Corps Areas, often with the active units of the 7th Division. For example, the division’s artillery trained at Fort Riley; the 327th Engineer Regiment also trained at Fort Riley with Troop A, 9th Engineer Squadron; the 327th Medical Regiment trained at the Medical Corps training camp at Fort Snelling,

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; and the 327th Observation Squadron trained with the 16th Observation Squadron at Marshall Army Airfield, Kansas. In addition to the unit training camps, the infantry regiments of the division rotated responsibility to conduct the Citizens Military Training Camps held at Fort Leavenworth each year. On a number of occasions, the division participated in Seventh Corps Area and Fourth Army command post exercises in conjunction with other Regular Army, National Guard, and Organized Reserve units. Unlike the Regular and Guard units in the Seventh Corps Area, the 102nd Division did not participate in the various Seventh Corps Area maneuvers and the Fourth Army maneuvers of 1937, 1940, and 1941 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. In the 1920s and 1930s

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

, a lieutenant colonel in the Officers' Reserve Corps, commanded the division's 1st Battalion, 379th Field Artillery Regiment. After promotion to

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

, Truman advanced to command of the 379th Field Artillery Regiment.

World War II

*Ordered into active military service: 15 September 1942 at

Camp Maxey Camp Maxey is a Texas Military Department training facility that was originally built as a U.S. Army infantry-training camp during World War II. It was occupied from July 1942 to early 1946, and located near the community of Powderly, Texas, in ...

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*Overseas: 12 September 1944 *Campaigns:

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*Days of combat: 173 *Distinguished Unit Citations: 4 *Awards:

DSC DSC or Dsc may refer to: Education * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dyal Sin ...

-8; DSM-1; SS-686; LM-15; SM-39; BSM-5,498; AM-91. *Commanders: Major General John B. Anderson (September 1942 – December 1943), Major General Frank A. Keating (8 January 1944 – February 1946), Brigadier General Charles M. Busbee (February 1946 to inactivation). *Assistant Division Commanders (partial list): Lloyd D. Brown (May 1942 – February 1943), Alonzo Patrick Fox (April 1943 – May 1945) *Returned to U.S.: 11 March 1946. *Inactivated: 23 March 1946.

Order of battle

Before Organized Reserve infantry divisions were ordered into active military service, they were reorganized on paper as "triangular" divisions under the 1940 tables of organization. The headquarters companies of the two infantry brigades were consolidated into the division's cavalry reconnaissance troop, and one infantry regiment was removed by inactivation. The field artillery brigade headquarters and headquarters battery became the headquarters and headquarters battery of the division artillery. Its three field artillery regiments were reorganized into four battalions; one battalion was taken from each of the two 75 mm gun regiments to form two 105 mm howitzer battalions, the brigade's ammunition train was reorganized as the third 105 mm howitzer battalion, and the 155 mm howitzer battalion was formed from the 155 mm howitzer regiment. The engineer, medical, and quartermaster regiments were reorganized into battalions. In 1942, divisional quartermaster battalions were split into ordnance light maintenance companies and quartermaster companies, and the division's headquarters and military police company, which had previously been a combined unit, was split. The 408th Infantry Regiment was inactivated by relief of remaining Reserve personnel on 6 January 1942, and disbanded on 11 November 1944. * Headquarters, 102nd Infantry Division * 405th Infantry Regiment * 406th Infantry Regiment * 407th Infantry Regiment * Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 102nd Infantry Division Artillery ** 379th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm) ** 380th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm) ** 381st Field Artillery Battalion (155 mm) ** 927th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm) *327th Engineer Combat Battalion *327th Medical Battalion *102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized) *Headquarters, Special Troops, 102nd Infantry Division **Headquarters Company, 102nd Infantry Division **802nd Ordnance Light Maintenance Company **102nd Quartermaster Company **102nd Signal Company **Military Police Platoon **Band * 102nd Counterintelligence Corps Detachment

Combat chronicle

The 102nd Infantry Division, under the command of Major General Frank A. Keating, arrived on the Western Front in the

European Theater of Operations The European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA) was a Theater (warfare), theater of Operations responsible for directing United States Army operations throughout the European theatre of World War II, from 1942 to 1945. It command ...

(ETO) at

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, 23 September 1944, and, after a short period of training near Valognes, moved to the German-

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

border. On 26 October, elements attached to other divisions entered combat and on 3 November the division assumed responsibility for the sector from the Wurm to Waurichen. A realignment of sectors and the return of elements placed the 102nd in full control of its units for the first time, 24 November 1944, as it prepared for an attack to the

Roer The Roer (, ) or Rur (; ) is a major river that flows through portions of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. It is a right (eastern) tributary to the Meuse (). About 90 percent of the river's course is in Germany. It is not to be conf ...

. The attack jumped off, 29 November, and carried the division to the river through Welz, Flossdorf, and Linnich. After a period of aggressive patrolling along the Roer, 4–19 December, the division took over the XIII Corps sector from the Wurm River, north of the village of Wurm, to

Barmen Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form the city of Wuppertal. Barmen, together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the first electric ...

on the south, and trained for river crossing. On 23 February 1945, the 102d attacked across the Roer (

Operation Grenade During World War II, Operation Grenade was the crossing of the Roer river between Roermond and Düren by the U.S. Ninth Army, commanded by Lieutenant General William Hood Simpson, in February 1945, which marked the beginning of the Allied inv ...

), advanced toward Lövenich and Erkelenz, bypassed

Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Netherlands, Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, th ...

, took

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its c ...

, 3 March, and reached the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

. During March the division was on the defensive along the Rhine, its sector extending from Homburg south to

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

. Crossing the river on 9 April on pontoon bridge, the division attacked in the Wesergebirge, meeting stiff opposition. After 3 days and nights of terrific enemy resistance Wilsede and

Hessisch-Oldendorf Hessisch Oldendorf () is a town in the Hamelin-Pyrmont district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Weser, approximately northwest of Hamelin. The adjective "Hessisch" () has been used since 1905 to distinguish it from other to ...

fell, 12 April 1945, and the 102d pushed on to the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

, meeting little resistance. Breitenfeld fell, 15 April, and the division outposted the Elbe River, 48 miles from Berlin, its advance halted on orders. Storkau experienced fighting on the 16th, EHRA on the 21st along with

Fallersleben Fallersleben is a part (''Ortsteil'') of the City of Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany, with a population of 11,269 (as of 2010). The village of Fallersleben was first mentioned in 942 under the name of ''Valareslebo''. Fallersleben became a city ...

. On 3 May 1945 the 102nd shook hands with the Russian 156th Division just outside Berlin. OzarkmeetingSoviets

On 15 April the division discovered a war crime in

Gardelegen Gardelegen (; ) is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Milde (river), Milde, 20 m. W. from Stendal, on the main line of railway Berlin-Hanover. History Gardelegen has a Roman Catholic and three Evangelical c ...

: the Isenschnibbe Barn Atrocity. About 1,200 prisoners from the

Mittelbau-Dora Mittelbau-Dora (also Dora-Mittelbau and Nordhausen-Dora) was a Nazi concentration camp located near Nordhausen in Thuringia, Germany. It was established in late summer 1943 as a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp, supplying slave labour f ...

and Hannover-Stöcken concentration camps were forced from a train into an empty barn measuring approximately a hundred by fifty feet on the outskirts of the town. The barn was then set afire, killing those inside. About 1,016 people were killed. However, two men survived, buried under a shield of dead bodies, protecting them from the gunfire and flames. When the first soldiers arrived at the barn, the two came crawling out from under the dead and burning bodies. Major General Keating ordered that the nearby civilian population be forced to view the site and to disinter and rebury the victims in a new cemetery. After digging the graves and burying the bodies, they erected a cross or a Star of David over each grave and enclosed the site with a white fence. Today both the former crime scene and the Cemetery of Honour are parts of the Isenschnibbe Barn Memorial Gardelegen. The division patrolled and maintained defensive positions until the end of hostilities in Europe, then moved to

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

for occupation duty.

Casualties

*Total battle casualties: 4,922Army Battle Casualties and Nonbattle Deaths in World War II, Final Report (Statistical and Accounting Branch Office of the Adjutant General, 1 June 1953) *Killed in action: 932 *Wounded in action: 3,668 *Missing in action: 185 *Prisoners of war: 137

Assignments in the European Theater of Operations

*28 August 1944: Ninth Army, 12th Army Group. *5 September 1944: III Corps. *10 October 1944: XVI Corps. *3 November 1944: XIX Corps. *7 November 1944: XIII Corps. *20 December 1944: XIII Corps, Ninth Army (attached to the British 21st Army Group), 12th Army Group. *1 April 1945: XIII Corps (for administration), Ninth Army, but attached for operations to the Fifteenth Army. *4 April 1945: XIII Corps, Ninth Army, 12th Army Group.

Post-war History (1946–1965)

* Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 102nd Infantry Division ** Inactivated 12 March 1946 at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. ** Assigned 22 October 1946 to the Fifth Army. ** Activated 19 May 1947 at St. Louis, Missouri. ** Inactivated 31 December 1965 at St. Louis, Missouri. On 1 June 1959, the division was reorganized as a

Pentomic Pentomic (cf. ''Greek pent(e)-'' +'' -tome'' "of five parts") was a structure for infantry and airborne divisions adopted by the US Army between 1957 and 1963 in response to the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons on future battlefields. I ...

Division. The division's three infantry regiments were inactivated and their elements reorganized into five infantry battle groups. On 1 April 1963, the division was reorganized as a Reorganization Objective Army Division (ROAD). Three Brigade Headquarters were activated and Infantry units were reorganized into battalions: * 405th Infantry Regiment ** Inactivated 1 June 1946 at Bayreuth, Germany. ** Activated 31 October 1946 with headquarters at Minneapolis, Minnesota. ** Inactivated 3 January 1947 at Minneapolis. ** Activated 24 January 1947 with headquarters at St. Louis, Missouri. ** Headquarters relocated to Danville, Illinois 15 March 1948, to Anna, Illinois 1 February 1950, to Marion, Illinois 2 January 1956, and to East St. Louis, Illinois 24 November 1956. ** Inactivated 31 May 1959 at East St. Louis, concurrently, Headquarters and Headquarters Company consolidated with Headquarters and Headquarters Company Headquarters, 3d Battle Group, 9th Infantry. ** The Battle Group was activated 1 June 1959 with headquarters at Quincy, Illinois. Reorganized and redesignated as the 3d Battalion, 9th Infantry on 1 April 1963, and inactivated at Quincy on 31 December 1965. * 406th Infantry Regiment ** Inactivated 16 March 1946 at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. ** Activated 3 January 1947 with headquarters at Kansas City, Missouri. ** Inactivated 11 May 1959 at Kansas City, concurrently, Headquarters and Headquarters Company consolidated with Headquarters and Headquarters Company Headquarters, 3d Battle Group, 14th Infantry. ** The Battle Group was activated 1 June 1959 with headquarters at Kansas City, Missouri. Reorganized and redesignated as the 3d Battalion, 14th Infantry on 1 April 1963, and inactivated at Kansas City on 31 December 1965. * 407th Infantry Regiment ** Inactivated 16 March 1946 at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. ** Activated 15 March 1948 with headquarters at St. Louis, Missouri. ** Inactivated 31 May 1959 at St. Louis, concurrently, Headquarters and Headquarters Company consolidated with Headquarters and Headquarters Company Headquarters, 4th Battle Group, 6th Infantry. ** The Battle Group was activated 1 June 1959 with headquarters at St. Louis, Missouri. Reorganized and redesignated as the 4th Battalion, 6th Infantry on 1 April 1963, and inactivated at St. Louis on 31 December 1965. Two additional Battle Groups were also formed: * The 3d Battle Group, 7th Infantry was activated 1 June 1959 with headquarters in Danville, Illinois and inactivated there on 1 April 1963. * The 3d Battle Group, 4th Infantry was activated 1 June 1959 with headquarters at Fairfield, Illinois. Reorganized and redesignated as the 3d Battalion, 4th Infantry on 1 April 1963, and inactivated at Fairfield on 31 December 1965. The division and subordinate elements were inactivated on 31 December 1965. Later, when the 102d Army Reserve Command was formed as a regional headquarters for Army Reserve units within the same general area where the 102d Infantry Division had been located, the shoulder sleeve insignia was authorized for wear by units of the 102d ARCOM, such as the military police unit stationed at Richards Gebaur AFB near

Belton, Missouri Belton is a city in northwestern Cass County, Missouri, Cass County, Missouri, United States. The population was 23,953 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. History Belton was platted ...

. The lineage of the 102d Division is perpetuated by the 102d Training Division.

Subordinate units

The division was reactivated on September 16, 2008 as the 102nd Training Division; with headquarters concurrently activated at Fort Snelling,

. The division's location was changed on April 1, 2017 to

Fort Leonard Wood Fort Leonard Wood is a United States Army, U.S. Army training installation located in the Missouri The Ozarks, Ozarks. The main gate is located on the southern boundary of the city of St. Robert, Missouri, St. Robert. The post was created in De ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, As of 2017 the following units are subordinated to the division: * 1st Brigade (Engineer) - Fort Leonard Wood, MO ** 1-80th Battalion (Engineer) - Kingwood, WV ** 1-95th Battalion (Engineer) - Fort Leonard Wood, MO ** 1-100th Battalion (Engineer) - Knoxville, TN ** 12-104th Battalion (Engineer) - Sioux Falls, SD ** 1-108th Battalion (Engineer) - Fort Jackson, SC * 2nd Brigade (Military Police) - Fort Leonard Wood, MO ** 2-80th Battalion (Military Police) - Owings Mills, MD ** 2-95th Battalion (Military Police) - Baton Rouge, LA ** 2-100th Battalion (Military Police) - Nashville, TN ** 1-104th Battalion (Military Police) - Aurora, CO ** 2-108th Battalion (Military Police) - Fort Jackson, SC * 3rd Brigade (Chemical) - Fort Leonard Wood, MO ** 4-80th Battalion (Chemical) - Farrell, PA ** 4-95th Battalion (Chemical) - North Little Rock, AR ** 4-100th Battalion (Chemical) - Homewood, IL ** 3-104th Battalion (Chemical) - Joint Base Lewis - McChord, WA ** 4-108th Battalion (Chemical) - Huntsville, AL * 4th Brigade (Military Intelligence) - Fort Huachuca, AZ ** 6-95th Battalion (Military Intelligence) - San Antonio, TX ** 6-98th Battalion (Military Intelligence) - Devens RFTA, MA ** 11-100th Battalion (Military Intelligence) - Sparta, WI ** 5-104th Battalion (Military Intelligence) - Fort Huachuca, AZ ** 6-108th Battalion (Military Intelligence) - Fort Bragg, NC * 5th Brigade (Signal) - Fort Eisenhower, GA **3-80th Battalion (Signal) - Scranton, PA **3-95th Battalion (Signal) - Kirtland AFB, NM **3-100th Battalion (Signal) - Indianapolis, IN **2-104th Battalion (Signal) - Sacramento, CA **3-108th Battalion (Signal) - Augusta, GA ** High Tech Regional Training Site-Maintenance (Sacramento) ** High Tech Regional Training Site-Maintenance (Tobyhanna) ** Signal School Detachment (D113) - Fort Gordon, GA * 6th Brigade (CA/PO) - Fort Totten, NY **5-98th Battalion (CA/PO) - Edison, NJ **5-95th Battalion (CA/PO) - Lubbock, TX **12-100th Battalion (CA/PO) - Twinsburg, OH **4-104th Battalion (CA/PO) - Mountain View, CA **5-108th Battalion (CA/PO) - Fort Bragg, NC * TASS Training Centers (TTC) **TTC Fort Leonard - Wood Fort Leonard Wood, MO **TTC Fort Dix - Fort Dix, NJ **TTC Fort Hunter - Liggett Fort Hunter Liggett, CA

References

External links

With the 102d Infantry Division through Germany
{{Army Divisions (United States) 102d Infantry Division, U.S. Infantry Division, U.S. 102d Military units and formations established in 1921 1942 establishments in Texas 1946 disestablishments in New Jersey Infantry divisions of the United States Army in World War II Training divisions of the United States Army