The 33rd Infantry Division was a formation of the U.S. Army National Guard between 1917 and 1968. Originally formed for service during World War I, the division fought along the Western Front during the Battle of Amiens, the Battle of Hamel, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, at the Second Battle of the Somme, and at the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. It was re-formed during the inter-war period, and then later activated for service during World War II, seeing action against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Pacific. In the post war era, the division was reconstituted as an all-Illinois National Guard division. In the late 1960s, the division was reduced to a brigade-sized formation, and its lineage is currently perpetuated by the 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

History World War I Activated: July 1917 (National Guard Division from Illinois) at Camp Logan, Illinois Overseas: May 1918. Major operations: Le Hamel (four companies), Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Somme offensive, and Saint-Mihiel Casualties: Total – 6,864 (KIA – 691, WIA − 6,173). Commanders: Brig. Gen. Henry D. Todd Jr. (19 September 1917), Maj. Gen. George Bell Jr. (7 December 1917). Returned to U.S. and inactivated: May 1919 at Camp Grant, Illinois Medal of Honor: Sergeant Willie Sandlin, Private Clayton K. Slack, Corporal Thomas A. Pope. Sergeant Sydney Gumpertzcite Medal of Honor recipients _World War1 author U.S. Army Center of military history Corporal Jake Allex First Sergeant Johannes S. Anderson Sergeant Ralyn M. Hill Corporal Berger Loman

Combat chronicle The 33rd Division served in World War I and beyond. The division was trained at Camp Logan in Houston, Texas as part of the National state guard in Illinois. The first unit went to France in 1918. The first unit to go into France was the 108th Engineers, under Colonel Henry A. Allen.

During World War I, the 33rd Division's officers included Second Lieutenant John Allan Wyeth, who has been called the only American poet of the Great War who can stand up to comparison with British war poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. Wyeth later immortalized his war experiences with the 33rd U.S. Division in the 1928 sonnet sequence This Man's Army: A War in Fifty-Odd Sonnets.

On 20 and 21 June the division went to the Amiens sector, where there was expected to be a major German attack. The division was trained by British Army and Commonwealth soldiers – in particular the Australian Corps – and was part of some of their operations.

The first major battle in which elements of the 33rd Division took part was the Battle of Hamel on 4 July. Individual platoons from four companies from the 131st Infantry and 132nd Infantry were distributed among Australian battalions, to gain combat experience. This, however, occurred without official approval as there was controversy regarding the battlefield command of US troops by junior officers from other countries. Thus, while Hamel was a relatively minor battle by the standards of World War I, it was historically significant as the first occasion on which US Army personnel had fought alongside British Empire forces, and demonstrated that the previously inexperienced American troops could play an effective role in the war. The battle was also historically significant for the use of innovative assault tactics, devised by the Australian General John Monash, were demonstrated.

The 33rd Division was in reserve behind the British Fourth Army at the opening of the August offensive for emergencies only. With the British III Corps attack stalling at Chipilly Ridge during the Battle of Amiens, the 131st Regiment of the 33rd Division was sent to assist on 9 August, which it did with distinction.Montgomery, p.55. The following day the Regiment was attached to the 4th Australian Division and remained there until 12 August. From 12 August until 20 August it was combined with the 13th Australian Brigade in what was called the Liaison Force commanded by Brigadier General E. A. Wisdom. This was designed to hold the front from the Somme to the Bray-Sur-Somme to Corbie road to relieve the 4th Australian Division from the operation.Montgomery, pp.60-65. After this it returned to the 33rd US Division.

On 23 August, the division was moved to the Toul sector. The 33rd Division fought in the Meuse-Argonne Campaign from 26 September 1918 to the end of the battle on 10 November 1918. The last mission in which the 33rd Division took part was on 27 December 1918.

In total, from the 33rd arriving in France to the German armistice on 11 November 1918, the division captured 13 units of heavy artillery and 87 pieces of light artillery. Also, they captured 460 machine guns and 430 light guns. In total, the entire division gained 40,300 meters of land in World War I. The 33rd Division was the only unit in the war to have machine gun barrage enemy nests while infantry turned the position. In total, the 33rd Division received 215 American decorations, 56 British decorations, and various others.

As result of its World War I service, the division remains the only US Army division that has fought as part of British Army and French Army corps.

Order of battle In 1918, the 33rd Division was organized as follows:

Headquarters, 33rd Division 65th Infantry Brigade 129th Infantry Regiment 130th Infantry Regiment 123rd Machine Gun Battalion 66th Infantry Brigade 131st Infantry Regiment 132nd Infantry Regiment 124th Machine Gun Battalion 58th Field Artillery Brigade 122nd Field Artillery Regiment (75mm) 123rd Field Artillery Regiment (155mm) 124th Field Artillery Regiment (75mm) 108th Trench Mortar Battery 122nd Machine Gun Battalion 108th Engineer Regiment 108th Field Signal Battalion Headquarters Troop, 33rd Division 108th Train Headquarters & Military Police 108th Ammunition Train 108th Supply Train 108th Engineer Train 108th Sanitary Train 129th, 130th, 131st, and 132nd Ambulance Companies and Field Hospitals

Interwar period The 33rd Division headquarters arrived at Hoboken, New Jersey, aboard the USS Mount Vernon on 17 May 1919 after 12 months of overseas service and was demobilized on 6 June 1919 at Camp Grant. In accordance with the National Defense Act of 1920, the division was allotted to the state of Illinois and assigned to the VI Corps in 1921. The division headquarters was reorganized and federally recognized on 13 December 1923 at 115 East Ontario Street, in Chicago. Most elements of the division were concentrated in the northern part of the state in and around Chicago. Each company of the 108th Engineer Regiment was sponsored by a major Illinois industrial or transportation concern: Company A by the Peoples Gas, Light, and Coke Company, Company B by Commonwealth Edison, Company C by the Elevated Railroad, Company D by the Illinois Central Railroad, Company E by the International Harvester Company, and Company F by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. Regular Army officers were detailed to act as instructors for the 33rd, supervising National Guard officers who conducted the usual training. One of these officers was Colonel George C. Marshall, who served as head instructor for the 33rd Division from 1933 to 1936.

The designated mobilization training center for the “Prairie Division” was initially Camp Grant, where much of the division’s training activities occurred between the wars. The mobilization training center for the division was changed to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, in the 1939 Protective Mobilization Plan. The division, less the 58th Field Artillery Brigade, conducted summer camp most years at Camp Grant from 1922 to 1939; the 58th Field Artillery Brigade conducted most of its camps in the 1920s at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, and Camp Knox, Kentucky, so that its subordinate battalions could conduct live-fire training at the ranges located there. For at least one year, in 1937, the division’s subordinate units trained over 170 company-grade officers of the 86th Division at Camp Grant and Camp McCoy. The division staff usually conducted command post exercises (CPXs) and staff training concurrent with the subordinate unit camps. However, in May 1932 the staff participated in the Sixth Corps Area CPX held at Camp Custer, Michigan, and in the corps area CPX held in Chicago in May 1936. Additionally, the division staff participated in the Second Army CPX in August 1938 held at Fort Knox. The division’s staff was generally acknowledged as one of the best in the National Guard and performed well in these CPXs. Much of the staff’s efficiency was attributed to George C. Marshall. For the 1936 camp, the division participated in the Sixth Corps Area phase of the Second Army maneuvers at Camp Custer. During that maneuver, the 33rd Division operated against the 32nd Division in a force-on-force exercise. The “Prairie Division” also participated in the Second Army maneuvers in 1940 held at Camp McCoy. The division was relieved from the VI Corps on 30 December 1940 and assigned to the VII Corps.

Commanders Major General Milton J. Foreman (13 December 1923 – 27 January 1927) Brigadier General Abel Davis (27 January–16 February 1927) (ad interim) Major General Roy D. Keehn (16 February 1927–May 1940) Major General Samuel T. Lawton (16 May 1940 – 30 April 1942)

World War II WWII division organization Square division On 5 March 1941, the 33rd Division was inducted into federal service at home stations and then assembled at Camp Forrest in Tennessee. At the time the division still retained its World War I square organization and consisted of the following units.

33rd Division, in Chicago (IL) 33rd Division Headquarters 65th Infantry Brigade, in Pontiac (IL) Headquarters and Headquarters Company, in Pontiac (IL) 129th Infantry Regiment, in Sycamore (IL) Headquarters and Headquarters Company 3× Infantry battalions each battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 3× Rifle companies, 1× Weapons Company Anti-Tank Company (M3 37mm Anti-Tank guns) Service Company 130th Infantry Regiment, in Delavan (IL) same organization as 129th Infantry Regiment 66th Infantry Brigade, in Chicago (IL) Headquarters and Headquarters Company, in Oak Park (IL) 131st Infantry Regiment, in Chicago (IL) same organization as 129th Infantry Regiment 132nd Infantry Regiment, in Chicago (IL) same organization as 129th Infantry Regiment 58th Field Artillery Brigade, in Chicago (IL) Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, in Chicago (IL) 122nd Field Artillery Regiment, in Chicago (IL) Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 2× Light Field Artillery battalions Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 3× Howitzer batteries (M1897 75mm field guns), replaced by M2 105mm towed howitzers in 1941) Service Battery 123rd Field Artillery Regiment, in Chicago (IL) Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 2× Medium Field Artillery battalions Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 3× Howitzer batteries (M1918 155mm towed howitzers, replaced by M1 155mm towed howitzers in 1941) Anti-Tank Battery (M1897 75mm anti-tank guns) Service Battery 124th Field Artillery Regiment, in Monmouth (IL) same organization as 122nd Field Artillery Regiment 108th Engineer Regiment, in Chicago (IL) Headquarters and Headquarters and Service Company 2× Engineer battalions each battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters, 3× Engineer companies 108th Medical Regiment, in Chicago (IL) Headquarters and Headquarters and Service Company Collecting Battalion battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters, 3× Collecting companies Ambulance Battalion battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters, 3× Ambulance companies Clearing Battalion battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters, 3× Clearing companies 108th Quartermaster Regiment, in Chicago (IL) Headquarters and Headquarters Company 2× Truck battalions each battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters, 2× Truck companies Light Maintenance and Car Battalion