Brief History
When formed and activated for World War II, the 42nd Infantry Division was a unique unit, as it was a reconstitution of the Rainbow Division from World War I. Except for the division headquarters, none of its earlier elements had reformed in the interwar period, so the Army Ground Forces filled its new units with personnel from every state. From the division standup at Camp Gruber until the division stood down in Austria, at every formal assembly, the division displayed not only the National and Divisional Colors, but all 48 state colors (State Flags). To emphasize the 42nd’s lineage from the Rainbow Division of World War I, Maj. Gen. Harry J. Collins activated the unit on 14 July 1943, the eve of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Champagne-Marne campaign in France.
Following training at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma and the journey to Europe, the three infantry regiments (222nd, 232nd, & 242nd) and a detachment of the Division Headquarters arrived in France at Marseille, 8–9 December 1944, and were formed into Task Force (TF) Linden, under Brig. Gen. Henning Linden, the Assistant Division Commander (ADC). As part of the Seventh Army’s VI Corps, TF Linden entered combat in the vicinity of Strasbourg, relieving elements of the 36th Inf. Div. on 24 December 1944.
While defending a 31-mile sector along the Rhine north and south of Strasbourg in January 1945, TF Linden repulsed a number of enemy counterattacks at Hatten and other locations during the German “Operation Northwind” offensive. At the headquarters of 1st Battalion, 242nd Infantry, Private First Class Vito R. Bertoldo waged a 48-hour defense of the Command Post, for which he received the Congressional Medal of Honor. When the battalion CP was attacked by a German tank with its 88-mm. gun and machine gun fire, Bertoldo remained at his post and with his own machine gun killed the occupants of the tank when they tried to remove mines which were blocking their advance.
On 24 and 25 January 1945, in the Bois D’Ohlungen, and the vicinity of Schweighouse-sur-Moder and Neubourg, the 222nd Infantry Regiment held a position covering a front of 7,500 yards, three times the normal frontage for a regiment in defense. After a two-hour artillery bombardment, the 222nd Infantry Regiment was repeatedly attacked by elements of the German 7th Parachute, 47th Volksgrenadier Division, and the 25th Panzer Grenadier Division. During the ensuing struggle, one company of the 222nd Infantry was surrounded, but withdrew from their position and infiltrated back through the Germans to the regimental lines after exhausting all but 35 rounds of ammunition. For 24 hours, the battle raged, but the Germans were never able to break through the 222nd’slines. For this action the 222nd Infantry Regiment was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation (2001). After these enemy attacks, TF Linden returned to reserve of the 7th Army and trained with the remainder of the 42nd Inf. Div. (which had arrived in the meantime).
On 14 February 1945, the 42nd Inf. Div. as a whole entered combat, taking up defensive positions near Haguenau in the Hardt Forest. After a month of extensive patrolling and active defense, the 42nd Inf. Div. went on the offensive. On the night of February 27, Germans laid down a heavy concentration of artillery and mortar fire and under this the elements of the 6th Mountain Division were withdrawn and replaced by the 221st Volksgrenadier Regiment.
In the brief period this unit had been in the line, it had come to respect the Rainbow and fear its patrols and raids. “Is your division a part of Roosevelt’s SS?” asked one German when captured. The remark was passed along and men kidded each other about being in the Rainbow SS. The 42nd Inf. Div. attacked through the Hardt Forest, broke through the Siegfried Line, 15–21 March 1945, cleared Dahn and Busenberg, and mopped up in that general area, while the 3rd Army created and expanded bridgeheads across the Rhine. Moving across the Rhine, 31 March 1945, the Rainbow Division captured Wertheim am Main, 1 April 1945, and Würzburg, 2–6 April 1945, after a fierce battle. Schweinfurt fell next after hand-to-hand engagements on 9–12 April 1945. The German defenders of Fürth, near Nürnberg, put up fanatical resistance, but were overwhelmed by the 42nd on 18–19 April 1945.
On 25 April, the 42nd Inf. Div. captured Donauwörth on the Danube, and, on 29 April 1945, liberated some 30,000 inmates at Dachau, a Nazi concentration camp.
Casualties:
- Total battle casualties: 3,971[13]
- Killed in action: 553[13]
- Wounded in action: 2,212[13]
- Missing in action: 31[13]
- Prisoner of war: 1,175[13]
Assignments in ETO:
- 10 December 1944: Seventh Army, 6th Army Group
- 15 December 1944: Third Army, 12th Army Group
- 24 December 1944: VI Corps, Seventh Army, 6th Army Group
- 25 March 1945: XXI Corps, Seventh Army, 6th Army Group
- 19 April 1945: XV Corps, Seventh Army, 6th Army Group
The 42nd Infantry Division ended World War II on occupation duty in Austria and was inactivated by the end of January 1947.