4th ID History

The 4th Infantry Division came into being 10 December, 1917 at Camp Greene, NC. The Division nickname, the “Ivy” division, was a play on the roman numerals “IV”. The shoulder patch has four ivy leaves which symbolize tenacity and fidelity and the Division motto is “Steadfast and Loyal”. In WWI, the division took part in the St Mihiel Offensive as part of the 1^st American Army under Gen. Pershing. Later, the 4^th fought in the Meuse-Argonne and served occupation duties in Germany until July, 1919. The Division was inactivated at Camp Lewis, Washington on 21 September, 1921.

The 4^th Infantry Division was reactivated on 1 June, 1940 at Fort Benning, Georgia and was reorganized as a Motorized Infantry Division and was initially part of the 1^st Armored Corps.

Training took place at Fort Benning, Georgia from June 1940 to late 1943. The Division was used as an experimental division, testing new equipment and tactics, but was reclassified as an infantry division before moving to England in January of 1944 for the invasion of

France

The Division’s baptism of fire came on Utah Beach on 6 June, 1944. The 8^th Infantry Regiment was the first surface borne Allied unit to come ashore that morning. After landing at the wrong section of the beach, Assistant Division Commander Theodore Roosevelt Jr., who landed with the first waves, and his officers discussed whether to move inland or down the beach to the planned landing area. Roosevelt is quoted as saying “We’ll start the war from right here.” Following this decision, the 4^th ID moved quickly (at least compared to the forces at Omaha Beach) inland and began meeting up with the airborne forces which had landed in the very early morning hours of 6 June. Once the leading waves were ashore, the 8^th Infantry moved inland while the 12^th Infantry moved north along coast, destroying the remaining beach defenses. The 22^ndInfantry landed and filled the gap between the two regiments. On June 7^th the 8^th Infantry arrived at Ste. Mere Eglise.

In the following days the 4^th ID, along with the 9^th and 79^th Infantry Divisions, turned northwestward and took Cherbourg on 25 June. Turning south from Cherbourg, the Division experienced hedgerow fighting before taking positions west of St. Lo for the breakout. Following the heavy bombing of German positions that began the breakout, the 4^th pushed through the stunned German defenders. In the next days they took Marigny before heading for Avranches and Mortain. The Germans, attempting to break up the Allied advances, attacked toward Avranches where the 4^th and 30^th Divisions held them off. Failing to break the Allied advance, the remaining enemy forces retreated toward their only escape route through the Falaise Gap where many men were killed or captured and much equipment was destroyed. The Ivy Division then turned east and eventually assisted the French Forces in the liberation of Paris on 25 August.

Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe, September, 1944 – May, 1945:

In September, 1944, the 4^th moved into Belgium through towns whose names would become famous in late 1944: St Hubert, La Roche, Houffalize, Bastogne, and St Vith. The Division first entered Germany on 11 September and on 14 September attacked the Siegfried Line at the Schnee Eifel. By late October, the days of quick advances were over for the time being as the German forces reorganized and began offering increasingly stiff and determined resistance.

On 6 November, the division entered into one of the bloodiest and most costly battles of the war, the Huertgen Forest. This battle chewed up 5 US Infantry Divisions and Combat Command R of the 5^th Armored Division before 16 December, when Hitler’s Ardennes Offensive began, effectively ending the battle for the forest. The 4^th ID relieved the battered 28^th Infantry Division and fought through the nearly impenetrable forest until relieved in early December

The Division moved to Luxembourg to regroup, where it became involved in the Battle of the Bulge on 16 December, 1944. The 4^th held the German offensive at Dickweiler and Osweiler before resuming the offensive in January, 1945. After being held for a while at the Prum River, in late February, the division again advanced into Germany and crossed the Rhine at Worms on 29 March, 1945. The Ivy Division moved into Bavaria and reached Meisbach on 2 May where it halted for the end of the war.

The 4^th served in occupation duty until returning home in July, 1945, when it was stationed at Camp Butner, NC for preparations for the invasion of

Japan

. After the surrender of Japan, the Division was inactivated on 5 March, 1946.

The Division was reactivated in 1947 and was designated as a combat division, training at Fort Benning in 1950. In 1951, the Ivy Division was deployed to

Germany

as the first of four divisions committed to NATO during the cold war.

The 4^th ID served in Vietnam between September, 1966 and December, 1970, operating in the Central Highlands/II Corps Zone and in Tay Ninh Province.

In 2003, the Division took part in Operation Iraqi Freedom where it was deployed in the Sunni Triangle. In December 2003, the 1^st Brigade of the 4^th ID captured Saddam Hussein. The Division redeployed to Iraq in 2005 for its second tour in country and in 2007 began its third deployment.

Blakely, H.W. Famous Fourth: The Story of the 4^th Infantry Division. Kessinger Publishing, 2007.

MacDonald, Charles B. The Battle of the Huertgen Forest. J.B. Lippincott Company, 1963.

4^th Infantry Division (United States) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Infantry_Division_(United_States)