041 75th Infantry Division

Nickname: None recorded. . Shoulder Patch: A rectangular khaki-bordered patch, lower corners rounded, on which are three fields of color placed diagonally across the patch, the top being blue, the middle white and the bottom color red. The 7 is blue, the 5 red. . Training: The 75th Division was activated at Port Leonard Wood, Missouri, in April, 1943 assigned to XI Corps, Second Army; later to IV and XX Corps, same station from Feb. 9 to Apr. 3, 1944, the Division took part in Third Army maneuvers in Louisiana, afterward returning to Ft. Leonard Wood and late in April, 1944 moving to Camp Breckenridge, Ky. Overseas: Nov., 1944 (ETO). . Commanding Generals: Maj. Gen. Willard S. Paul, Apr.-Aug., 1943; Maj. Gen. Pay B. Prickett, Aug., 1943, to Jan., 1945; Maj. Gen. Ray E. Porter, Jan.-June, 1945; Maj. Gen. Arthur A. White, June. 1945, to present. . Component Units: (As of Nov., 1944): 289th, 290th and 291st Infantry Regiments; 897th, 896th, 899th (L) and 730th (M) FA Battalions. Higher Commands: First, Seventh, Ninth and French First Armies. . Combat Highlights: The 75th Division numbers among its accomplishments capture of 21,000 enemy prisoners and 98 days of its first 126 spent on the continent actually in contact with the enemy. The division troops were young, averaging 21 years old upon the day of activation. Entering the line on Christmas Eve, 1944 the 75th first job was to help stop the winter offensive of von Rundstedt. The desperate 33 days of fighting in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium was no apprentice work. With commendable craftsmanship, the Division played a major part in ending German drive. By late January, the 75th was helping to drive the Nazis out of Alsace-Lorraine. It eliminated a pocket of resistance between the Rhine river and the city of Colmar, helped liberate the latter. Transferring quickly into Holland, the Division took over from the British a 24-mile front along the Maas river. During most of March, the 75th continued in defensive positions along the Maas, toward the end of the month transferring to positions near Byrell, Germany. On March 24, the first elements began to cross the Rhine. The northern end of the Ruhr river was reached April 3; then Haltern, Dattelan, Eckern and Luetten in succession fell to the 75th. A brief period of military government duties in Westphalia provided an interval of rest from combat. May found the 75th in Arnsberg, 30 miles SE of Dortmund, and on V-E Day, the Division had headquarters at Luetgen, Germany. Early in June, 1945, the Division staffed the newly-organized redeployment center as processing troops.