• Ordered into active military service: 15 August 1942 at Camp Atterbury, Indiana • Overseas: 6 April 1944 • Campaigns:
Normandy,
Northern France,
Rhineland,
Ardennes-Alsace,
Central Europe • Days of combat: 244 • Distinguished Unit Citations: 7 • Awards:
Medal of Honor-
1;
Distinguished Service Cross-7;
Distinguished Service Medal-1;
Silver Star-710;
Legion of Merit-11;
Soldier's Medal-25;
Bronze Star-6,294;
Air Medal-110 • Commanders: Maj. Gen.
Frank W. Milburn (August 1942 – December 1943), Maj. Gen.
Robert C. Macon (January 1944 – 31 January 1946) • Assistant Division Commanders: Brig. Gen.
William C. McMahon (August 1942 - December 1942), Brig. Gen.
Claude B. Ferenbaugh (January 1944 - May 1945) • Commanding Officers Artillery: Brig. Gen.
Robert M. Montague (August 1942 - February 1946) • Returned to U.S.: 26 March 1946 • Inactivated: 5 April 1946, Camp Kilmer, New Jersey
Order of battle • Headquarters, 83rd Infantry Division •
329th Infantry Regiment • 330th Infantry Regiment • 331st Infantry Regiment • Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 83rd Infantry Division Artillery • 322nd Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm) • 323rd Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm) • 324th Field Artillery Battalion (155 mm) • 908th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm) • 308th Engineer Combat Battalion • 308th Medical Battalion • 83rd Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized) • Headquarters, Special Troops, 83rd Infantry Division • Headquarters Company, 83rd Infantry Division • 783rd Ordnance Light Maintenance Company • 83rd Quartermaster Company • 83rd Signal Company • Military Police Platoon • Band • 83rd
Counterintelligence Corps Detachment Before Organized Reserve infantry divisions were ordered into active military service, they were reorganized on paper as "triangular" divisions under the 1940
Tables Of Organization (TOE). The headquarters companies of the two infantry brigades were consolidated into the division's cavalry reconnaissance troop, and one infantry regiment was removed by inactivation. The field artillery brigade headquarters and headquarters battery became the headquarters and headquarters battery of the division artillery. Its three field artillery regiments were reorganized into four battalions; one battalion was taken from each of the two 75 mm gun regiments to form two 105 mm howitzer battalions, the brigade's ammunition train was reorganized as the third 105 mm howitzer battalion, and the 155 mm howitzer battalion was formed from the 155 mm howitzer regiment. The engineer, medical, and quartermaster regiments were reorganized into battalions. In 1942, divisional quartermaster battalions were split into ordnance light maintenance companies and quartermaster companies, and the division's headquarters and military police company, which had previously been a combined unit, was split.
Combat chronicle The 83rd Infantry Division was ordered into active military service on 15 August 1942 at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. The original officer cadre was a small group of Regular Army officers plus more officers from various National Guard units, while the original enlisted cadre was from the
3rd Cavalry Regiment. The rest of the original officer personnel were chiefly officer candidate school graduates, with a few
Reserve officers and transfers from other units, while the bulk of the enlisted personnel were
draftees. The division, commanded by
Major General Robert C. Macon, arrived in
England on 16 April 1944 with its first divisional headquarters at Keele Hall in Staffordshire. After training in
Wales, the division, taking part in the
Allied invasion of Normandy, landed at
Omaha Beach, 18 June 1944, and entered the
hedgerow struggle south of
Carentan, 27 June. Taking the offensive, the 83rd reached the St. Lo-Periers Road, 25 July, and advanced against strong opposition as the
Normandy Campaign ended. After a period of training, elements of the division took
Châteauneuf-d'Ille-et-Vilaine, 5 August, and
Dinard, 15 August, and approached the heavily fortified area protecting
St. Malo. Intense fighting during the
Battle of Saint-Malo reduced enemy strong points and a combined attack against the Citadel Fortress of
St. Servan caused its surrender, 17 August. While elements moved south to protect the north bank of the
Loire River, the main body of the division concentrated south of
Rennes for patrolling and reconnaissance activities. Elements reduced the garrison at
Ile de Cézembre, which surrendered, 2 September. On 16 September 1944: in the only surrender of a German Major General to U.S. troops,
Botho Henning Elster surrendered with 18,850 men and 754 officers at the
Loire bridge of
Beaugency. The movement into
Luxembourg was completed on 25 September. Taking
Remich on the 28th and patrolling defensively along the
Moselle, the 83d resisted counterattacks and advanced to the
Siegfried Line defenses across the
Sauer after capturing
Grevenmacher and
Echternach, 7 October. As the initial movement in operation "Unicorn," the division took Le Stromberg Hill in the vicinity of Basse Konz against strong opposition, 5 November, and beat off counterattacks. Moving to the
Hurtgen Forest, the 83rd Division thrust forward from Gressenich to the west bank of the
Roer. It entered the
Battle of the Bulge, 27 December, striking at
Rochefort and reducing the enemy salient in a bitter struggle. The division moved back to Belgium and the Netherlands for rehabilitation and training, 22 January 1945. On 1 March, the 83rd Division advanced toward the
Rhine in
Operation Grenade, and captured
Neuss. The west bank of the Rhine from north of
Oberkassel to the Erft Canal was cleared and defensive positions established by 2 March and the division renewed its training. The 83rd Division crossed the Rhine south of
Wesel, 29 March, and advanced across the Munster Plain to the
Weser, crossing it at
Bodenwerder. The division crossed the
Leine, 8 April, and attacked to the east, pushing over the
Harz Mountain region and advancing to the
Elbe at
Barby. That city was taken on 13 April. The 83rd Division established a bridgehead over the river. On 11 April 1945 the 83rd Division encountered
Langenstein-Zwieberge, a subcamp of the
Buchenwald concentration camp. At the camp, the troops found approximately 1,100 inmates who were malnourished and in extremely poor physical condition. The 83rd Division reported the death rate at the camp had been 500 per month. The prisoners had been forced to work 16-hour days in nearby mines, and were shot if they became too weak to work. After liberation, the death rate continued at approximately 25–50 people per day, due to the severe physical debilitation of the prisoners. To slow the spread of sickness and death, the 83rd Division ordered the local German mayor to supply the camp with food and water, and medical supplies were requisitioned from the U.S. Army's 20th Field Hospital. In addition, the 83rd Division recovered documents for use by war crimes investigators.
The Rag-Tag Circus During the rush to the Elbe river, wartime correspondents nicknamed the 83rd "The Rag-Tag Circus" due to its resourceful commander, Major General Robert C. Macon, ordering the supplementing of the division's transport with anything that moved, "no questions asked". The 83rd moved as fast as an armored task force in an assortment of hurriedly repainted captured German vehicles: Wehrmacht
kubelwagens, staff cars, ammunition trucks, Panzers, motor bikes, buses, a concrete mixer, and two fire engines. Every enemy unit or town that surrendered or was captured subscribed its quota of rolling stock for the division, usually at gunpoint. These newly acquired vehicles were quickly painted olive-green and fitted with a U.S. star before joining the 83rd. The division even seized and flew a German
Bf 109. •
Killed in action: 3,161 •
Wounded in action: 11,807 •
Missing in action: 279 •
Prisoner of war: 663
Assignments in ETO • 8 April 1944:
VIII Corps,
Third Army • 25 June 1944: Third Army, but attached to the VIII Corps of
First Army • 1 July 1944:
VII Corps • 15 July 1944: VIII Corps • 1 August 1944: XV Corps, Third Army,
12th Army Group • 3 August 1944: VIII Corps • 5 September 1944: VIII Corps,
Ninth Army, 12th Army Group • 10 September 1944: Ninth Army, 12th Army Group • 21 September 1944: Third Army, 12th Army Group • 11 October 1944: VIII Corps, Ninth Army, 12th Army Group • 22 October 1944: VIII Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group • 8 November 1944: Third Army, 12th Army Group • 11 November 1944: VIII Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group • 7 December 1944: VII Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group • 20 December 1944: Attached, with the entire First Army, to the
21st Army Group • 22 December 1944:
XIX Corps, Ninth Army (attached to the British 21st Army Group) • 26 December 1944: VII Corps, First Army (attached to British 21st Army Group), 12th Army Group • 16 February 1945: XIX Corps, Ninth Army, 12th Army Group • 8 May 1945: XIII Corps == 83rd Army Reserve Command ==