The 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) (nicknamed Rock of the Marne) is a combined arms division of the United States Army based at Fort Stewart, Georgia. It is a subordinate unit of the XVIII Airborne Corps under U.S. Army Forces Command. Its current organization includes a division headquarters and headquarters battalion, two armored brigade combat teams, one aviation brigade, a division artillery, a sustainment brigade and a combat sustainment support battalion along with a maneuver enhancement brigade. The division has a distinguished history, having seen active service in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and in the Iraq War (US phase 2003–2011), and in the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021). The Medal of Honor has been awarded to 61 members of the 3rd Infantry Division, making the division the most honored in the Army.
The division fought in France in World War I. In World War II, it landed with General Patton's task force in a contested amphibious landing on the coast of Morocco, North Africa, overwhelming Vichy French defenders in November 1942. In 1943, the division invaded Sicily in July, and invaded Italy at Salerno in September, before fighting in France and finally Germany. Medal of Honor recipient Audie Murphy, featured in the Hollywood movie To Hell and Back, was a member. The division also served in the Korean War. From 1957 until 1996, the division was a major part of the United States Army's presence in West Germany as part of the NATO alliance.
History World War I
The War Department directed the organization of the 3rd Division on 12 November 1917 at Camp Greene, North Carolina, seven months after the American entry into World War I. Organization began on 21 November 1917, around a nucleus of Regular Army units that had been stationed at Camp Greene, Camp Forrest, Georgia, Camp Shelby, Mississippi, Camps Stanley and Travis, Texas, Camp Stuart, Virginia, Forts Bliss and Clark, Texas, Fort Douglas, Utah, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and Washington Barracks. Training began in late November 1917, and in December 1917 and January 1918, 10,000 draftees predominantly from the northeastern United States (sent from Camp Devens, Massachusetts, Camp Dix, New Jersey, Camp Lee, Virginia, Camp Meade, Maryland, and Camp Upton, New York) completed the division. Advance elements of the division (the 6th Engineers and Train, the advance detachment, and 5th Field Signal Battalion) sailed for France from December 1917 through February 1918, followed by the remainder of the division from March to May 1918.
Order of battle Headquarters, 3rd Division 5th Infantry Brigade 4th Infantry Regiment 7th Infantry Regiment 8th Machine Gun Battalion 6th Infantry Brigade 30th Infantry Regiment 38th Infantry Regiment (formed with a cadre from the 30th Infantry) 9th Machine Gun Battalion 3rd Field Artillery Brigade 10th Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm) (formed with a cadre from the 6th Field Artillery) 18th Field Artillery Regiment (155 mm) (formed with a cadre from the 5th Field Artillery) 76th Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm) (formed from the 20th Cavalry) 3rd Trench Mortar Battery 6th Engineer Regiment 7th Machine Gun Battalion 5th Field Signal Battalion Headquarters Troop, 3rd Division 3rd Train Headquarters and Military Police 3rd Ammunition Train 3rd Supply Train 3rd Engineer Train 3rd Sanitary Train 5th, 7th, 26th, and 27th Ambulance Companies and Field Hospitals
Combat chronicle
At midnight on 14 July 1918, the division earned a lasting distinction. Engaged in the Aisne-Marne Offensive as a member of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) to Europe, the division was protecting the French capital of Paris with a position on the banks of the Marne River. The 8th Machine Gun Battalion of the 3rd Division rushed to Château-Thierry amid retreating French troops and held the Germans back at the Marne River. While surrounding units retreated, the 3rd Division, including the 4th, 30th, and 38th Infantry Regiments, remained steadfast throughout the Second Battle of the Marne, and Colonel Ulysses G. McAlexander's dogged defense earned the 38th Infantry Regiment its nickname as the "Rock of the Marne". During the massive attack, the 3rd Infantry Division's commanding officer, Major General Joseph T. Dickman, famously cried out "Nous Resterons La" (We Shall Remain Here). Their Blue and White insignia also earned them the nickname The Blue and White Devils." The rest of the division was absorbed under French command until brought back together under the command of Major General Dickman, and by 15 July 1918 they took the brunt of what was to be the last German offensive of the war. General John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing, Commander-in-chief of the AEF on the Western Front, called this stand "one of the most brilliant pages in the annals of military history". During the war, two members of the division were awarded the Medal of Honor.
Casualties during the war were 3,177 killed in action with 12,940 wounded.
Interwar years
The 3rd Division arrived at Camp Merritt, Hoboken, New Jersey, between 23 and 28 August 1919, after completing nine months of occupation duty near and in Mayen, Germany. At Camp Merritt, all emergency period personnel were discharged from the service. The division proceeded to Camp Pike, Arkansas, where the headquarters arrived on 31 August 1919. The division remained at Camp Pike until 1921, when it was allotted to the Ninth Corps Area as the IX Corps' Regular Army infantry division, and was transferred on a permanent change of station to Camp Lewis (later redesignated Fort Lewis), Washington, where it arrived in September of that year. The division's units were ordered to posts throughout the western United States and Alaska in fall 1921 and early 1922. The division headquarters and special troops remained at Camp Lewis.
The 5th Infantry Brigade moved its headquarters to Vancouver Barracks, Washington, and its subordinate units to posts in Washington, North Dakota, and Alaska. The 6th Infantry Brigade was headquartered at Fort Douglas, Utah, as was the 38th Infantry Regiment, while the 30th Infantry Regiment was stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco, California. The 3rd Field Artillery Brigade's units were located at Camp Lewis with the exception of the 76th Field Artillery Regiment, which was split between Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming, and the Presidio of Monterey, California. The division's units usually conducted the training of Organized Reserve units, Citizens Military Training Camp participants, and ROTC cadets at various posts throughout the Ninth Corps Area during the summer months. The officers of the IX Corps, XIX Corps, and the 91st, 96th, and 104th Divisions were habitually trained at the Organized Reserve camps. By the mid-1920s, the division headquarters had nearly ceased to exist, with only the division commander and a few staff officers remaining to carry out essential functions; they did not exercise a true command function over their units. By 1926, the War Department and the Ninth Corps Area realized the unsustainability of the situation and repopulated the 3rd Division headquarters.
Training of divisional units took place for the most part in the late summer and early fall after they assisted the training of the Reserve components. The largest concentration of division units since 1921 occurred in April 1927 when all units, except the 6th Infantry Brigade, were assembled at Camp Lewis for division maneuvers. The next major training event for the division came in August 1931 when much of the "Marne" Division (not including the 5th Infantry Brigade and parts of the 3rd Field Artillery Brigade), was assembled at the Gigling Military Reservation in California to maneuver against the 11th Cavalry Regiment. The first opportunity to assemble the entire division came in April 1937 when all elements, except one battalion in Alaska, converged on Fort Lewis for division maneuvers. Oddly, three months later the division did not participate in the Fourth Army maneuvers as a complete unit, but was split between Fort Lewis and Camp Ord, California. The 3rd Division reorganized into the "triangular" configuration in October 1939, with the 4th and 38th Infantry Regiments relieved, the 15th Infantry Regiment assigned, and the field artillery, engineer, medical, and quartermaster regiments subsequently reorganized into battalions.
Beginning in December 1939, the division participated in numerous training exercises to better prepare it for impending war. That month, the entire "Marne" Division deployed to California for amphibious operations at Monterey and maneuver training at Camp Ord to test the new triangular organization. After the exercises in California, the division returned to Fort Lewis to participate in the Fourth Army maneuvers near Fort Lewis and Centralia, Washington, in August 1940. In April 1941, the "Marne" Division participated in the IX Corps maneuver at Fort Lewis, operating against the National Guard 41st Division. The following month, the division moved to Hunter Liggett Military Reservation, California, to participate in the Fourth Army maneuver there, which pitted the IX Corps against the III Corps. The 3rd Division returned to Fort Lewis in July and there participated in another Fourth Army maneuver, again in the vicinity of Fort Lewis-Centralia, in August–September 1941.
World War II Order of battle Headquarters, 3rd Infantry Division 7th Infantry Regiment 15th Infantry Regiment 30th Infantry Regiment Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 3rd Infantry Division Artillery 9th Field Artillery Battalion (155 mm) 10th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm) 39th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm) 41st Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm) 10th Engineer Combat Battalion 3rd Medical Battalion 3rd Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop, Mechanized Headquarters, Special Troops, 3rd Infantry Division Headquarters Company, 3rd Infantry Division 703rd Ordnance Light Maintenance Company 3rd Quartermaster Company 3rd Signal Company Military Police Platoon Band 3rd Counterintelligence Corps Detachment
Chips The 3rd Infantry Division also had a German Shepherd, Border Collie and Siberian Husky-mix war dog named "Chips" from Pleasantville, New York, given to them by the Dogs for Defense program. He was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division from October 1942 until he was discharged in December 1945, serving in several campaigns, including the Algerian-Moroccan, Tunisian, Sicilian, Rhineland and Central Europe Campaigns.
Combat chronicle
The 3rd Division is the only division of the U.S. Army during World War II that fought the Axis on all European fronts, and was among the first American combat units to engage in offensive ground combat operations. Audie Murphy, the most highly decorated American soldier of the war, served with the 3rd Division. The 3rd Infantry Division saw combat in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, Germany and Austria for 531 consecutive days. During the war, the 3rd Infantry Division consisted of the 7th, 15th and 30th Infantry Regiments, together with supporting units.