The 9th Infantry Division (nicknamed "Old Reliables") is an inactive infantry division of the United States Army. It was formed as the 9th Division during World War I, but never deployed overseas. In later years it was an important unit of the U.S. Army during World War II and the Vietnam War. It was also activated as a peacetime readiness unit from 1947 to 1962 at Fort Dix, New Jersey, as a Training Division, West Germany, and Fort Carson, Colorado, as a Full Combat Status Division, and from 1972 to 1991 as an active-duty infantry division at Fort Lewis, Washington. The division was inactivated in December 1991.
World War I The 9th Division was part of a group of six divisions (9th-14th) that the War Department directed to be formed in mid-1918 from Regular Army troops augmented by draftees. It was anticipated that the divisions' training would take four months, to be completed by the end of November 1918.
The 9th Division was organized from July to September 1918 at Camp Sheridan, near Montgomery, Alabama. At the end of July, the strength of the division was approximately 8,000 officers and men, while during August, draftees sent from Camp Hancock, Georgia, Camp Meade, Maryland, Camp Zachary Taylor and Fort Thomas, Kentucky, Camp Upton and Fort Slocum, New York, Camp Travis, Texas, and other stations brought the strength to about 22,000. Peak strength was reached during September, with 25,000 officers and men. Systematic training began during August. On 28 October 1918, the division's advance detachment moved to Camp Mills, New York, preparatory to movement overseas. After the signing of the Armistice of 11 November 1918, all training was suspended and the advance detachment returned to Camp Sheridan. Demobilization of all emergency period personnel and units except the 45th and 46th infantry regiments was ordered on 17 January 1919. Demobilization was completed on 15 February 1919.
Order of battle
Headquarters, 9th Division 17th Infantry Brigade (organized December 1917 at Camp Taylor) 45th Infantry Regiment (organized May 1917 at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, with cadre from the 10th Infantry) 67th Infantry Regiment (organized July 1918 at Camp Sheridan with cadre from the 45th Infantry) 26th Machine Gun Battalion (organized December 1917 as 23rd Machine Gun Battalion at Camp Taylor with cadres from 45th and 46th Infantry; designation changed same month) 18th Infantry Brigade (organized July 1918 at Camp Sheridan) 46th Infantry Regiment (organized June 1917 at Fort Benjamin Harrison with cadre from 10th Infantry as part of 17th Brigade; transferred to 18th Brigade July 1918) 68th Infantry Regiment (organized July 1918 at Camp Sheridan with cadre from 46th Infantry) 27th Machine Gun Battalion (organized July 1918 at Camp Sheridan with cadre from 26th Machine Gun Battalion) 9th Field Artillery Brigade (organized August 1918 at Camp McClellan, Alabama) 25th Field Artillery (75 mm gun) 26th Field Artillery (75 mm gun) 27th Field Artillery (155 mm howitzer) 9th Trench Mortar Battery 25th Machine Gun Battalion (organized August 1918 at Camp Sheridan) 209th Engineer Regiment (organized August 1918 at Camp Forrest, Georgia) 209th Field Signal Battalion (organized July 1918 at Camp Sheridan) Headquarters Troop, 9th Division (organized July 1918 at Camp Sheridan) 9th Train Headquarters and Military Police (organized July 1918 at Camp Sheridan) 9th Ammunition Train (organized August 1918 at Camp McClellan) 9th Engineer Train (organized August 1918 at Camp McClellan) 9th Supply Train (organized September 1918 at Camp Sheridan) 9th Sanitary Train (organized August 1918 at Camp McClellan) 233rd-236th Ambulance Companies and Field Hospitals
Interwar period
The 9th Division was reconstituted on 24 March 1923, allotted to the First Corps Area for mobilization responsibility, and assigned to the I Corps. Camp Devens, Massachusetts, was designated as the mobilization and training station for the division upon reactivation. The 18th Infantry Brigade and additional active and inactive elements were assigned to the division on 24 March 1923. The division's inactive units were assigned to active associate units for mobilization purposes. During the period 1923–39, the 9th Division was represented in the active Army by the 18th Infantry Brigade and other assorted divisional elements that formed the base force from which the remainder of the division would be reactivated in the event of war. The division headquarters was organized on 28 July 1926 as a Regular Army Inactive (RAI) unit with Organized Reserve personnel at the Army Base, Boston, Massachusetts. In 1926-27, the active associate concept was abandoned and many of the division's inactive elements were organized as RAI units by mid-1927 in the First and Second Corps Areas. The active elements of the division maintained habitual training relationships with divisional RAI units, as well as those of the I Corps, XI Corps, and the 76th, 94th, and 97th Divisions. The RAI and Reserve units often trained with the active elements of the division during summer training camps usually conducted at Camp Devens and Fort McKinley, Maine.
The 18th Infantry Brigade's 5th and 13th Infantry Regiments additionally supported the Reserve units' conduct of the Citizens Military Training Camps also held at Camp Devens and Fort McKinley. When funds were available, the 18th Infantry Brigade and the division's other active elements, which included the 9th Tank Company, 9th Ordnance Company, 9th Quartermaster Regiment, and 25th Field Artillery Regiment, held maneuvers and command post exercises at Camp Devens, during which the division headquarters was occasionally formed in a provisional status. The division headquarters was also provisionally formed in 1939 for the First Army maneuvers in upstate New York. Under the new "triangular" tables of organization, the 9th Division was reactivated, less Reserve personnel, on 1 August 1940 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and assigned to the I Corps. Between August and November, the division was increased to a strength of 6,000, and to 8,000 men by January 1941. During January, around 4,500 selectees also arrived, chiefly coming from Camp Upton and Fort Dix. Over the next three months, a further 2,000 were assigned, chiefly from Fort Devens and Fort Dix, allowing the division to reach its war strength of 14,000. The division participated in the Carolina Maneuvers from September–November 1941.
Order of battle, 1939
One asterisk following the unit name indicates it was partially active and the headquarters location shown was the mobilization post. Two asterisks following the unit name indicates it was organized with Reserve personnel as an RAI unit. Three asterisks following the unit name indicates it was wholly inactive or not organized and the headquarters location shown was the mobilization post.
Headquarters** (Army Base, Boston, MA) Headquarters, Special Troops** (Boston, MA) Headquarters and Military Police Company** (Boston, MA) 9th Signal Company** (Concord, NH) 5th Ordnance Company (Medium)*** (Fort Devens, MA) 9th Tank Company (Light)** (Fort Devens, MA) 17th Infantry Brigade** (Syracuse, NY) 36th Infantry Regiment** (New York City, NY) 37th Infantry Regiment** (Brunswick, NJ) 18th Infantry Brigade (Army Base, Boston, MA) 5th Infantry Regiment (Fort Williams, ME) 13th Infantry Regiment (Fort Devens, MA) 9th Field Artillery Brigade** (Lawrence, MA) 25th Field Artillery Regiment* (Madison Barracks, NY) 26th Field Artillery Regiment** (Lawrence, MA) 34th Field Artillery Regiment** (Providence, RI) 9th Ammunition Train** (Pittsfield, MA) 15th Engineer Regiment** (Fort Devens, MA) 9th Medical Regiment** (Ithaca, NY) 9th Quartermaster Regiment** (Providence, RI)
World War II Activated: 1 August 1940 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Overseas: 11 December 1942 (Three organic combat teams participated in North African landings 8 November 1942) Campaigns: Algeria-French Morocco, Tunisia, Sicily, Normandy, North France, Rhineland Campaign, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe Days of combat: 304 Distinguished Unit Citations: 24 Awards: Medal of Honor – 5; Distinguished Service Cross – 104; Distinguished Service Medal – 3; Silver Star – 2,282; Legion of Merit – 19; DFC – 2; Soldier's Medal – 100; Bronze Star –6,593; Air Medal – 129
Combat chronicle The 9th Infantry Division was among the first U.S. combat units to engage in offensive ground operations during World War II. (The others were the 32nd and the 41st in the Pacific on New Guinea, Carlson's Raiders on Makin Island, the 1st Marine, and the Americal on Guadalcanal, and, alongside the 9th in North Africa, were the 1st Infantry, 3rd Infantry, 34th Infantry and the 2nd Armored Divisions.) The 9th saw its first combat on 8 November 1942, when its elements landed at Algiers, Safi, and Port Lyautey, with the taking of Safi by the 3rd Battalion of the 47th Infantry Regiment standing as the first liberation of a city from Axis control in World War II.
With the collapse of French resistance on 11 November 1942, the division patrolled the Spanish Moroccan border. The 9th returned to Tunisia in February and engaged in small defensive actions and patrol activity. On 28 March 1943 it launched an attack in southern Tunisia and fought its way north into Bizerte, 7 May. In August, the 9th landed at Palermo, Sicily, and took part in the capture of Randazzo and Messina.
Sent to England for further training, the division landed on Utah Beach on 10 June 1944 (D-day plus 4), cut off the Cotentin Peninsula, drove on to Cherbourg Harbour and penetrated the port's heavy defenses.
Following a brief rest in July, the division took part in the St. Lo break-through and in August helped close the Falaise Gap. Turning east, the 9th crossed the Marne, 28 August, swept through Saarlautern, and in November and December held defensive positions from Monschau to Losheim.
Moving north to Bergrath, Germany, it launched an attack toward the Roer river, 10 December, taking Echtz and Schlich. From mid-December through January 1945, the division held defensive positions from Kalterherberg to Elsenborn. On 30 January the division jumped off from Monschau in a drive across the Roer and to the Rhine, crossing at Remagen, 7 March.
After breaking out of the Remagen bridgehead, the 9th assisted in the sealing and clearing of the Ruhr Pocket, then moved 150 miles (240 km) east to Nordhausen, where it assisted in the liberation of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, and attacked in the Harz Mountains, 14–20 April. On 21 April the Division relieved the 3d Armored Division along the Mulde River, near Dessau, and held that line until VE-day.
After the war, the Division moved south to Ingolstadt. The Division assumed control of the Dachau Concentration Camp in early July.
Mediterranean theater of operations previous: II Corps May 1943: I Armored Corps
European theater of operations 20 November 1943: First Army 25 November 1943: VII Corps 1 August 1944: VII Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group 26 October 1944: V Corps 6 December 1944: VII Corps 18 December 1944: V Corps 20 December 1944: Attached, with the entire First Army, to the British 21st Army Group 18 January 1945: V Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group 17 February 1945: III Corps 31 March 1945: VII Corps 4 April 1945: III Corps 14 April 1945: VII Corps
Order of battle Headquarters, 9th Infantry Division 39th Infantry Regiment 47th Infantry Regiment 60th Infantry Regiment Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 9th Infantry Division Artillery 26th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm) 34th Field Artillery Battalion (155 mm) 60th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm) 84th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm) 15th Engineer Combat Battalion 9th Medical Battalion 9th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized) Headquarters, Special Troops, 9th Infantry Division Headquarters Company, 9th Infantry Division