8th Infantry Division — “Lightning Division”

 

Shoulder Patch: Khaki-bordered red semicircle with white bolt of lightning — inspired by the French who likened the 78th’s ferocity in WWI to a bolt of lightning leaving the field red with blood.

 

Motto: Audaciter — Boldness

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Overview Activated August 27, 1917 at Camp Dix, New Jersey. Reactivated August 15, 1942 and trained at Camp Butner, North Carolina and Camp Pickett, Virginia before deploying to the European Theater in October 1944.

 

Component Units (as of October 1944) 309th, 310th and 311th Infantry Regiments — 307th, 308th, 309th (M) and 903rd (L) FA Battalions Higher Commands: First, Ninth and Seventh Armies

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Combat History The 78th Division’s most celebrated achievement was the capture of the Schwammenauel Dam on the Roer River — a strategic prize that freed the Allied armies from the threat of a 22-billion-gallon flood. Fighting through bitter Nazi resistance at Kesternich, Simmerath, Bickerath and Witzerath, the division crossed the Rhine at Remagen bridge and stormed north into Honnef, expanding the bridgehead to 100 square miles by March 17, 1945. The 310th Infantry Regiment raced to the Rhine capturing Euskirchen, Rheinbach and Bad Neuenahr along the way. At war’s end the division was near Marburg, Germany having taken 47,581 Nazi prisoners in the Ruhr Pocket alone.

 

Awards Distinguished Unit Citation to 2nd Battalion, 311th Infantry Regiment for action at Kesternich, January 30 to February 7, 1945 and to 3rd Battalion, 310th Infantry Regiment for action in Germany, March 1-15, 1945.