The 66th Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army in World War II. It was activated 15 April 1943 at Camp Blanding, Florida. Later it transferred to Camp Robinson, Arkansas where it continued to receive troops and conducted field training. The division's final training post for shipping overseas to Europe Theater of Operations (ETO) was Camp Rucker, Alabama.
Combat chronicle
The three regiments of the 66th Infantry Division arrived in England on 26 November 1944 and the remainder of the division on 12 December 1944, training until 24 December 1944 when the Division crossed the English Channel to Cherbourg on two Belgian steamships, the Chesire and the Leopoldville. A Germantorpedo ripped into the transportLeopoldville just five miles from its destination of Cherbourg, and 14 officers and 748 enlisted men were lost.
Attached to the 12th Army Group and designated the 12th Army Group Coastal Sector, with operational control of all French forces in the area, the 66th relieved the 94th Infantry Division in the Brittany-Loire area on 29 December 1944. Its mission of containing the enemy in the St. Nazaire and Lorient pockets was carried out by daily reconnaissance patrols, limited objective attacks, and the maintenance of harassing and interdictory fires on enemy installations. A heavy German attack near La Croix was repulsed on 16 April 1945 and several strongly emplaced enemy positions were taken from 19 to 29 April 1945. Enemy troops in the Lorient and St. Nazaire pockets surrendered to the division upon the end of hostilities in Europe on 8 May 1945. The 66th moved to Germany on occupation duty in the Koblenz subarea on 20 May 1945 and left for Marseille on 26 May 1945 in preparation for redeployment to the Pacific. It sailed for home 27 October 1945.
The division was created shortly after the outbreak of the First World War at the end of August 1914, as the 2nd East Lancashire Division, a second-line formation of the East Lancashire Division, composed primarily of soldiers from eastern Lancashire and the industrial towns around Manchester. After training and home service, it deployed to the Western Front in early 1917; its first major combat came in October of that year, at the Battle of Poelcappelle. In March 1918, it suffered extremely heavy losses during the German Army's Spring Offensive and was withdrawn from the line and reduced to a cadre in order to rebuild. It returned to the front in time for the Battle of Cambrai, part of the Hundred Days Offensive and the Battle of the Selle. Following the Armistice of 11 November 1918, it was stationed in Belgium, where it was demobilised in March 1919.
A division is a large military unit or formation, usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades; in turn, several divisions typically make up a corps. In most modern militaries, a division tends to be the smallest combined arms unit capable of independent operations; this is due to its self-sustaining role as a unit with a range of combat troops and suitable combat support forces, which can be arranged into various organic combinations.
While the focus of this article is on army divisions, in naval usage division has a completely different meaning, referring either to an administrative/functional sub-unit of a department (e.g., fire control division of the weapons department) aboard naval and coast guard ships, shore commands, and in naval aviation units (including navy, marine corps, and coast guard aviation), to a sub-unit of several ships within a flotilla or squadron, or to two or three sections of aircraft operating under a designated division leader.
27 Volhynian Infantry Division (Polish:27 Wołyńska Dywizja Piechoty) was a World War II PolishArmia Krajowa unit fighting in the Volhynia region in 1944. It was created on January 15, 1944 from smaller partisan self-defence units during the Volhynia massacre and was patterned after the prewar Polish 27th Infantry Division.
History
The unit was mobilized from secondary units from the Kowel, Łuck and RówneHome Army inspectorates as well as from former Polish policemen who had deserted German service. After mobilization in March 1944, the division became one of the largest partisan units in Central Europe with 7300 soldiers, officers and NCOs.
The division initially aided local self-defence units during the massacres of Poles in Volhynia and fought against the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. It also fought German anti-partisan units and regular Wehrmacht troops. Despite orders by the Polish government not to harm civilians, Home Army partisans retaliated against the massacre of Poles by burning down Ukrainian villages and killing ethnic Ukrainians whom they encountered on Volhynian roads. In 1944 the division fought several major battles near Włodzimierz Wołyński (February 23), Hołoby (March 9) and Zasmyki (March 17). During the latter two battles the division cooperated with local Soviet partisan groups and the advancing Red Army. After reaching the frontline and contacting the Soviets, Colonel Jan Kiwerski "Oliwa" was asked to combine the unit with the Red Army as a regular unit of the Soviet-backed Polish army. He declined and returned to partisan fighting. The division was surrounded by the Germans near Kowel on April 2.
In 1943 he was in the 36th InfantryDivision in north Africa and participated in the invasion of Italy... His choice was the Army’s air force, but he found he was susceptible to air sickness and ended up in the 66th Infantry Division.
The 66thInfantryDivision did their initial training at Camp Blanding in northeastern Florida... The Army ordered the 66th Infantry Division soldiers to conceal details about the sinking of the SS ...
on April 16, over 170 forces, together with the 15th Infantry Battalion, 55th Infantry Battalion, and 80th Infantry Battalion under the 66thDivision of the Military Council, initiated a military ...
The Daily Independent - Ashland
16 Nov 2024
The Daily Independent - Ashland
16 Nov 2024
