327th Infantry Regiment

The 327th Infantry Regiment (Bastogne Bulldogs) is an infantry regiment of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) of the United States Army. During World War II, the 327th was a glider-borne regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. It fought during World War I as part of the 82nd Division. It has also been deployed in the Vietnam War, Gulf War, and most recently to Iraq and Afghanistan. The song "Glider Rider" describes (humorously) some of the slights that glider-borne troops felt they received from the Army during World War II; though the regiment's public fame rose with the 1949 movie ''Battleground'' about the Siege of Bastogne in late 1944.

World War I

In WWI the 327th Infantry Regiment served as part of the 164th Infantry Brigade in the 82nd Infantry Division. The 327th Infantry was organized on 15 September 1917 at Camp Gordon, Georgia. After training, the regiment embarked to northern France, arriving in early spring 1918. Elements of the 327th Infantry moved up to the front lines at the end of that summer. On 9 June 1918, Cpt Jewett Williams became the first man in the regiment killed in combat.

The 82nd Infantry Division's first exposure to combat, as a division, occurred on 25 June when it was assigned to the Lagney sector. While this was earmarked as a quiet sector, the 327th actively patrolled and executed raids for several weeks.

Saint-Mihiel

The 82nd Division was occupying the Marbache sector in the Moselle Valley with orders to protect the flank of attacking U.S. forces. But as the Germans were reinforcing this sector in anticipation of a coming Allied offensive, the Division ordered a series of raids to mislead the Germans on the exact location of attacking units. The 327th Infantry, conducted a raid on a German strongpoint known as the Bel Air Farm on 13 September with 2 companies, E and K, as the assault force. After initial success the assault group was pushed back to the original U.S. lines. E & K companies suffered 6 dead, 11 severely wounded, 69 wounded and 10 missing. The 82nd continued operations in Saint-Mihiel until, on 17 September, it was relieved by troops of the 90th Infantry Division just west of the Moselle River. The 82nd Division went into reserve to prepare for the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, but the 327th was attached to the 28th Division and remained on the front until early October.

Meuse-Argonne

The 82nd Division was given a new axis of advance early in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive to attack and fill a gap to the left flank of the 28th Infantry Division which was advancing to capture Hill 223 as part of operations to rescue the 77th Infantry Division's Lost Battalion. On the night of 6/7 October 1918, the regiment relieved troops on the left of the 28th Division on the Aire River. On 7 October, it attacked toward the Argonne Forest, making some progress toward Cornay. On 8 October rescuers reached the Lost Battalion. The next day the 327th continued to attack towards the high ground northwest of Châtel-Chéhéry. The 327th then continued to fight in the Ardennes region, capturing Cornay and Hill 180. On 4 November the regiment was pulled from the line and moved into training area; it was there when it learned of the 11 November Armistice.

The 327th Infantry suffered 331 killed in action, 73 died of wounds and 1959 wounded in the First World War. Members of the 327th were awarded 7 Distinguished Services Crosses (DSC), including one for the 2-327th Commander-Lt Col Harold W. Blanchard.

Interwar period

The 327th Infantry arrived at the port of New York on 19 May 1919 on the USS Walter A. Luckenbach and was demobilized on 26 May 1919 at Camp Upton, New York. It was reconstituted in the Organized Reserve on 24 June 1921, assigned to the 82nd Division, and allotted to the Fourth Corps Area. The regiment was initiated on 7 December 1921 with headquarters at Greenville, South Carolina. Subordinate battalion headquarters were concurrently organized as follows: 1st Battalion at Columbia, South Carolina; 2nd Battalion at Spartanburg, South Carolina; and the 3rd Battalion at Florence, South Carolina. The regimental band was organized in 1926 at Greenville under the leadership of Warrant Officer A.J. Garing, who had spent sixteen years in the United States Marine Band under John Philip Sousa. The regiment conducted summer training most years with the 22nd Infantry Regiment at Fort McPherson, Georgia, and some years with the 8th Infantry Regiment at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, or Fort Screven, Georgia. The regiment also conducted infantry Citizens Military Training Camps some years at Fort Moultrie or Fort Screven as an alternate form of summer training. The primary ROTC "feeder" schools for new Reserve lieutenants for the regiment were Clemson Agricultural College in Clemsom and The Citadel Military College of South Carolina in Charleston.

World War II

Initial training

The 82nd Infantry Division was ordered into active military service on 25 March 1942 at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. On 15 August 1942, the 82nd Infantry Division was reorganized and redesignated as the 82nd Airborne Division, one of the U.S. Army's first two airborne divisions. The 82nd Airborne Division provided the cadre for the 101st Airborne Division, which was activated on the same day, and the 327th Infantry Regiment was reassigned to the 101st and reorganized as a glider infantry regiment. All equipment and personnel assigned to the regiment were designed to be carried in the Waco CG-4A glider.

Normandy

Although a glider infantry regiment, the majority of the 327th landed by sea on Utah Beach in the afternoon of 7 June 1944, because of a shortage of planes to tow its gliders. Some elements did reach shore on D-Day, 6 June, but because of rough seas, beach traffic, and the fact that the paratroopers of the 101st had already achieved many of their objectives, the landing was delayed. The 327th suffered a few casualties going ashore from enemy fire and were strafed by enemy aircraft. Near Saint-Côme-du-Mont

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