What division of the United States Army, nicknamed "The Big Red One" landed on Normandy on D-Day?
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741st Tank Battalion (United States) The 741st Tank Battalion was an independent tank battalion that participated in the European Theater of Operations with the United States Army in World War II. The battalion participated in combat operations throughout northern Europe until V-E Day. It was one of five tank battalions (all independent) that landed in Normandy on D-Day (6 June 1944). It landed on Omaha Beach supporting the 1st Infantry Division, but was attached to 2d Infantry Division on 15 June 1944, which it supported for most of the reminder of the war. The battalion played a key role in blunting the northern flank of the German attack during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. The 741st Tank Battalion advanced as far as Plzeň, Czechoslovakia by the end of the war.
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1st Infantry Division (United States) The 1st Infantry Division is a combined arms division of the United States Army, and is the oldest continuously serving in the Regular Army. It has seen continuous service since its organization in 1917 during World War I. It was officially nicknamed "The Big Red One" (abbreviated "BRO") after its shoulder patch and is also nicknamed "The Fighting First". However, the division has also received troop monikers of "The Big Dead One" and "The Bloody First" as puns on the respective officially-sanctioned nicknames. It is currently based at Fort Riley, Kansas.
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818th Tank Destroyer Battalion The 818th Tank Destroyer Battalion was a tank destroyer battalion of the United States Army active during World War II. It first saw combat in July 1944, when it deployed into the Normandy beachhead in preparation for the breakout into France by Lieutenant General George Patton's Third Army. Working closely with the 5th Infantry Division, it moved through northern France up to the Moselle region, where it was involved in the Battle for Metz through September, October and November. In December, it disengaged from defensive positions along the German border and was moved north to fight in the Battle of the Bulge with the 26th Infantry Division. After securing the Allied flanks and mopping up the Bulge, it refitted for two months before fighting south along the Siegfried Line and crossing the Rhine in March. In April and early May, it rushed through southern Germany into Austria and Czechoslovakia, where it ended the war. After a brief spell of occupation duties, it was returned to the United States and disbanded in November. During the European campaign, the battalion lost a total twenty-six men and eight tank destroyers in combat.
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654th Tank Destroyer Battalion The 654th Tank Destroyer Battalion codename: Highroad was a tank destroyer battalion of the United States Army active during the Second World War. They landed at Omaha Beach on July 11, 1944. The Battalion was activated on 15 December 1941 at Fort Benning, Georgia.
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Heinrich Severloh Heinrich Severloh (23 June 1923 – 14 January 2006) was a soldier in the German 352nd Infantry Division stationed in Normandy in 1944. He became infamous for a memoir" WN 62 – Erinnerungen an Omaha Beach Normandie, 6. Juni 1944," published in 2000. This book is noted for the authors’ claim that as a machine gunner, Severloh inflicted over 2,000 casualties to American soldiers landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day, Subsequent to the book being published, some have referred to Severloh as “The Beast of Omaha.” However, Severloh’s claim is not viewed as credible by either US or German historians. Total US casualties (Killed, Wounded, Missing) from all sources at Omaha Beach on D-Day is estimated at 3,686.
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7th Armored Division (United States) The 7th Armored Division ("Lucky Seventh") was an armored division of the United States Army that saw distinguished service on the Western Front, from August 1944 until May 1945, during World War II.
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4th Infantry Division (United States) The 4th Infantry Division is a division of the United States Army based at Fort Carson, Colorado. It is composed of a Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, three brigade combat teams (1st Stryker BCT, 2nd Infantry BCT, and 3rd Armored BCT), a Combat Aviation Brigade, the 4th Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade, and a Division Artillery.
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The Longest Day (book) The Longest Day is a book by Cornelius Ryan published in 1959, telling the story of D-Day, the first day of the World War II invasion of Normandy. It includes details of Operation Deadstick, the "coup de main" operation by gliderborne troops to capture both Pegasus Bridge and Horsa Bridge before the main assault on the Normandy beaches. It sold tens of millions of copies in eighteen different languages.
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11th Armored Division (United States) The 11th Armored Division (11 AD) was a division of the United States Army in World War II. It was activated on 15 August 1942 at Camp Polk, Louisiana and moved on 24 June 1943 for the Louisiana Maneuvers. Transferred then to Camp Barkeley, Texas on 5 September 1943, the division participated, beginning 29 October 1943, in the California Maneuvers and arrived at Camp Cooke California on 11 February 1944. The division staged at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey from 16 to 29 September 1944 until departing New York Port of Embarkation on 29 September 1944, arriving in England on 11 October 1944.
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339th Rifle Division (Soviet Union) The 339th Rifle Division was first formed in late August, 1941, as a standard Red Army rifle division, at Rostov-on-Don. As it was formed in part from reservists and cadre that included members of the Communist Party from that city, it carried the honorific title "Rostov" for the duration. In late November it was part of the force that counterattacked the German 1st Panzer Army in the Battle of Rostov and forced its retreat from the city, one of the first major setbacks for the invaders. During 1942 the division was forced to retreat into the Caucasus, where it fought to defend the passes leading to the Black Sea ports. In 1943 it fought to liberate the Taman Peninsula, and then in early 1944 to also liberate Crimea. In the following months the division was reassigned to the 1st Belorussian Front, with which it took part in the Battle of Berlin in 1945. Following a distinguished career, the division was disbanded in the summer of that year.
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Battle of Bréville The Battle of Bréville was fought by the British 6th Airborne Division and the German 346th Infantry Division, between 8 and 13 June 1944, during the early phases of the invasion of Normandy in the Second World War.
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3rd Parachute Division (Germany) The 3rd Parachute Division was an elite military unit of Nazi Germany's "Luftwaffe" that was active during World War II. Its formation began in October 1943 in France near Reims. From February 1944 near Brest. In March 1944 division was reinforced by soldiers from the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Parachute Regiment.
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10th Armored Division (United States) The 10th Armored Division (nicknamed "Tiger Division") was an armored division of the United States Army in World War II. In the European Theater of Operations the 10th Armored Division was part of both the Twelfth United States Army Group and Sixth United States Army Group. Originally assigned to the Third United States Army under General George S. Patton, it saw action with the Seventh United States Army under General Alexander Patch near the conclusion of the war.
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Leonard Lomell Leonard G. “Bud” Lomell (January 22, 1920 – March 1, 2011) was a highly decorated former United States Army Ranger who served in World War II. He is best known for his actions in the first hours of D-Day at Pointe du Hoc on the coast of Normandy, France. Pointe du Hoc was the site of the German Army’s largest coastal weapons, five 155-millimeter German guns with a 25-kilometer range that endangered the tens of thousands of troops landing on Omaha Beach and Utah Beach, and thousands of watercraft in the English Channel supporting the Normandy invasion. Unbeknownst to the Allied intelligence, the Germans had concealed the guns in an orchard, but left them operational and ready to fire. Through skill, courage and “pure luck,” Lomell found and quickly disabled all five guns. Lomell was recognized by historian Stephen Ambrose as the single individual — other than Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower — most responsible for the success of D-Day. Six months later, in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, he would again distinguish himself, earning a Silver Star for his heroism and leadership as the 2nd Ranger Battalion captured and held Hill 400. After the war he returned to Ocean County, New Jersey, becoming an attorney in Toms River.
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326th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) The 326th Infantry Division ("326. Infanterie-Division") was the only Eastern Front (Ost Front) veteran division to have fought in the battles of Normandy. It was formed on November 9, 1942, shortly after its return from Southern Russia to serve as an occupation force in France. On May 5, 1943, the division was transformed into a static division. The 326th Infantry Division was destroyed during the Battle of Normandy. A new 326th Volksgrenadier Division ("326. Volksgrenadier-Division") was formed on September 4, 1944, in Galanta by redesignation of the new 579th Volksgrenadier Division of the 32nd mobilisation wave. In 1945 the division, separated into two groups, entered U.S. captivity in the Ruhr Pocket and Harz respectively.
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Eugene M. Landrum Major General Eugene M. Landrum (February 6, 1891 – July 24, 1967) was a senior United States Army officer. He is known primarily for defeating the Japanese in the Aleutian Islands Campaign at the start of World War II, being relieved as commander of the 90th Infantry Division shortly after the D-Day landings, and organizing the Pusan Perimeter to blunt the North Korean offensive during the Korean War.
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82nd Airborne Division The 82nd Airborne Division is an elite airborne infantry division of the United States Army, specializing in parachute assault operations into denied areas. Based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the 82nd Airborne Division is part of the XVIII Airborne Corps. The 82nd Airborne Division is the U.S. Army's most strategically mobile division. Some sources consider the 82nd Airborne Division the most highly trained light infantry division in the world. Recently the 82nd Airborne has been conducting operations in Iraq. The 82nd Airborne has been assigned to advise and assist Iraqi Security Forces.
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Charles Pelot Summerall General Charles Pelot Summerall (March 4, 1867 – May 14, 1955) was a senior United States Army officer. He served in World War I, as one of the first commanders of the 1st Infantry Division ("The Big Red One"), and was Army Chief of Staff from 1926 and 1930. He was also the President of The Citadel between 1931 and 1953.
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24th Airborne Division (France) The 24th Airborne Division, (French: "24 Division Aéroportée, 24 D.A.P" ) was a unit of the French Army, infantry dominated, specialized in airborne combats and air assaults. Constituted on July 1945, the Division existed ephemerally and during the dissolution in October of the same year, a significant amount of the Division's constitution would be seen transferred to the 25th Airborne Division in lieu recently of being constituted.
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Louis Gonzaga Mendez, Jr. Colonel Louis Gonzaga Mendez, Jr. (July 14, 1915 – September 19, 2001) was a highly decorated United States Army officer of the 82nd Airborne Division who in June 1944, as commander of the 3rd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment during World War II, parachuted behind enemy lines into Normandy and was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for leading an attack that captured the French town of Prétot-Sainte-Suzanne, in the Manche (Basse-Normandie) department. On June 6, 2002, the people of the village honored his memory by renaming Prétot's main square "La Place du Colonel Mendez".
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6th Marine Division (United States) The 6th Marine Division was a United States Marine Corps World War II infantry division formed in September 1944. During the invasion of Okinawa it saw combat at Yae-Take and Sugar Loaf Hill and was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation. The 6th Division had also prepared for the invasion of Japan before the war ended. After the war it served in Tsingtao, China where the division was disbanded on April 1, 1946, being the only Marine division to be formed and disbanded overseas and never set foot in the United States.
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193rd Glider Infantry Regiment (United States) The 193rd Glider Infantry Regiment was an airborne infantry regiment of the United States Army during World War II. It was part of the 17th Airborne Division and fought during the Battle of the Bulge.