| Unit Name: | 30th Infantry Division |
| Dates: | 1917–1919 1926–1945 1947–1974 |
| Country: |  United States |
| Type: | Infantry |
| Size: | Division |
| Nickname: | "Old Hickory" |
| Battles: | World War I
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| Notable Commanders: | William Hood Simpson Leland Hobbs |
The 30th Infantry Division was a United States Army unit of the National Guard that served in World War I and World War II. It was nicknamed the "Old Hickory" division, in honor of President Andrew Jackson. The Germans nicknamed this division "Roosevelt's SS".[1] The 30th Infantry Division, involved in 282 days of intense combat over a period from June 1944 through April 1945, was regarded by a team of historians led by S.L.A. Marshall as the American infantry division that had "performed the most efficient and consistent battle services" in the European Theater of Operations (ETO).[2] In the present day, the division's lineage continues as 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team, part of the North Carolina National Guard. The unit's most recent combat deployment was in 2019.
The division was originally activated as the 9th Division (drawing units from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee) under a 1917 force plan, but changed designation to the 30th Division after the American entry into World War I in April 1917.[3] From August 28, 1917 to May 1. 1918, the 30th Division trained at Camp Sevier in Taylors, South Carolina.[4] [5] It was formally activated under its new title in October 1917, as an Army National Guard division from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee.
In May 1918, the division was sent to Europe and arrived in England, where it departed for the Western Front soon after. The division, along with the 27th Division, was assigned to the U.S. II Corps but did not serve with the main American Expeditionary Force (AEF) and was instead attached to the Second Army of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), trading American equipment for British equipment.
The major operations the 30th Division took part in were the Ypres-Lys, and the Somme offensive, in which it was one of the two American divisions assigned to the Fourth British Army that broke the Hindenburg Line on September 29, 1918. The Thirtieth Division broke through on its entire front, taking Bellicourt and part of Nauroy by noon of the 29th. The Australian 5th Division, coming up at this time, continued the attack with elements of the 30th division. [6] The division had, in three months, from July until October 1918, sustained 1,237 officers and men killed in action (KIA), with a further 7,178 wounded in action (WIA) or missing in action (MIA).
The 30th Division headquarters arrived at the port of Charleston, South Carolina, aboard the USS Madawaska on 2 April 1919 after 11 months of overseas service and was demobilized on 7 May 1919 at Camp Jackson, South Carolina. In accordance with the National Defense Act of 1920, the division was allotted to the states of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, and assigned to the IV Corps. The division headquarters was reorganized and federally recognized 24 August 1926 at 121 Capitol Square, Atlanta, Georgia. The division headquarters was relocated on 20 September 1932 to Macon, Georgia. The designated mobilization training center for the “Old Hickory” Division was Camp Jackson, where much of the division’s training activities occurred between the wars. For most years, the division’s subordinate units held separate summer camps at locations usually within their respective states: Tybee Island or St. Simons Island for Georgia units; Camp Glenn near Morehead City for North Carolina units; Camp Jackson for South Carolina units; Camp Peay near Tullahoma or Camp John Sevier near Greenville, South Carolina for Tennessee units. The division staff, composed of personnel from all four states, came together to conduct joint training for several summers before World War II. The division staff usually assembled at Camp Jackson most summers, but conducted their training at Tybee Island for at least one camp. The division also participated in several corps area and army-level command post exercises.
The first opportunity that the division’s units had to operate together came in 1928 when the entire “Old Hickory” Division was assembled at Camp Jackson from 8–22 July under a War Department experimental program designed to bring together multistate National Guard divisions for joint training. The experiment was declared a success, but due to budget constraints, the program was never fully implemented. The division was assembled again for the 1932 camp, but units were staggered over a 6-week period, so no large- scale training was conducted. The next opportunity came in August 1938 when the division was assembled at the DeSoto National Forest in Mississippi for the Fourth Corps Area concentration of the Third Army maneuvers. In that maneuver, the “Old Hickory” Division operated as part of the provisional IV Corps. The division’s final training event before induction came in August 1940 when the 30th Division participated in the Third Army maneuvers in the Kisatchie National Forest near Alexandria, Louisiana. For that maneuver, the division again operated as part of the IV Corps against the provisional VIII Corps. The division was inducted into active federal service at home stations on 16 September 1940, assigned to the IV Corps, and ordered to move to Camp Jackson, where it arrived about 20 September 1940. After the division’s initial train-up period, the division participated in the VII Corps Tennessee Maneuvers in May–June 1941, and in the Carolina Maneuvers as part of the I Corps near Cheraw-Chesterfield, South Carolina, in November 1941[7]
After being ordered into federal service, the 30th Division was initially assigned to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, on 16 September, where it was located until October 1942. The 30th was moved to Camp Blanding, Florida, where it stayed from October 1942 to May 1943, then to Camp Forrest, Tennessee, between May 1943 to 9 November 1943, and finally Camp Atterbury, Indiana, from 10 November 1943 to 26 January 1944.[8]
After training in the United States for just over two years, the 30th Infantry Division, under the command of Major General Leland Hobbs, arrived in England, 22 February 1944, and trained for the Allied invasion of Normandy until June.
It landed at Omaha Beach, Normandy, on 11 June 1944, five days after the initial D-Day landings of 6 June 1944, secured the Vire-et-Taute Canal, crossed the Vire River on 7 July. Beginning on 25 July, the 30th Division spearheaded the Saint-Lô break-through of Operation Cobra, which was intended to break out of the Normandy beachhead, thus ending the stalemate that had occurred.
During the operation, on both 24 and 25 July, the 30th Division encountered a devastating friendly fire incident. As part of the effort to break out of the Normandy hedgerows, US Army Air Forces (USAAF) bombers from England were sent to carpet bomb a one-by-three-mile corridor of the German defenses opposite the American line. However, USAAF planners, in complete disregard or lack of understanding of their role in supporting the ground attack, loaded the heavy B-24 Liberator and B-17 Flying Fortress bombers with 500-pound bombs, destroying roads and bridges and complicating movement through the corridor, instead of lighter 100-pound bombs intended as antipersonnel devices against German defenders. Air planners switched the approach of attack by 90 degrees without informing ground commanders, thus a landmark road to guide the bombers to the bombing zone was miscommunicated as the point to begin the bombing run. Start point confusion was further compounded by red smoke signals that suddenly blew in the wrong direction, and bombs began falling on the heads of the American soldiers. There were over 100 friendly fire casualties over the two days, including Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair, commander of Army Ground Forces under Malisau.
The division relieved the veteran 1st Infantry Division near Mortain on 6 August.[9] The German drive to Avranches began shortly after. The 30th Division clashed with the elite 1st SS Panzer Division, and fierce fighting in place with all available personnel broke out. The division frustrated enemy plans and broke the spearhead of the enemy assault in a violent struggle from 7–12 August. After the liberation of Paris, the division drove east through Belgium, crossing the Meuse River at Visé and Liège on 10 September. Elements of the division entered the Netherlands on 12 September, and Maastricht fell the next day. Moving into Germany and taking up positions along the Wurm River, the 30th Division launched its attack on the heavily defended city of Aachen on 2 October 1944, and succeeded in contacting the 1st Division on 16 October, resulting in the encirclement and takeover of Aachen.
After a rest period, the 30th Division eliminated an enemy salient northeast of Aachen on 16 November, pushed through Alsdorf to the Inde River on 28 November, and then moved to rest areas. On 17 December the division rushed south to the Malmedy-Stavelot area to help block the powerful enemy drive in the Battle of the Bulge—the Germans's last attempt to win a decisive victory over the Western Allies. Again the division met the 1st SS Division, and again broke the spearhead of their assault. The 30th Division launched a counterattack on 13 January 1945 and reached a point 2 miles south of St. Vith, Belgium on 26 January, before leaving the battle and moving to an assembly area near Lierneux on 27 January, and to another near Aachen to prepare for attack deeper into the western edge of Germany at the Roer River. The Roer was crossed on 23 February 1945, near Jülich.
The 30th moved back for training and rehabilitation on 3 March, and on 24 March made its assault crossing of the Rhine. It pursued the enemy across Germany, mopping up enemy pockets of resistance, took Hamelin on 7 April, Braunschweig on 12 April, and helped to reduce Magdeburg on 17 April. As the 30th was capturing Braunschweig, elements of the Division also liberated Weferlingen, a sub-camp of Buchenwald. Approximately 2,500 prisoners were freed through the efforts of the 30th.[10] The Russians were contacted at Grunewald on the Elbe River. The end of World War II in Europe came soon afterwards and, after a short occupation period, the 30th Division began its return to the United States, arriving on 19 August 1945. The surrender of Japan followed soon, which brought the war to an end, and the division was subsequently deactivated on 25 November 1945. By its disbandment, It had spent a cumulative 282 days in combat and had participated in the campaigns and battles of Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace and Central Europe.
Following the war, the 30th Division was once again reactivated as a National Guard formation in 1947, split between three states.[12] It included the 119th, 120th, and 121st Infantry Regiments.[13]
| 30th Infantry Division (Pentomic organization) | |
| Date: | 1959 |
| Subordinate: |
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| 30th Infantry Division (ROAD organization) | |
| Date: | 1964 |
| Subordinate: |
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In 1954, the division became an entirely North Carolina Army National Guard manned formation, as Tennessee's portion became the 30th Armored Division, which was maintained with the Alabama Army National Guard. In 1968 the division was designated as the 30th Infantry Division (Mechanized). On 4 January 1974 the division was again inactivated, and the brigade in North Carolina become the 30th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized) (Separate). The 2nd Brigade, 30th Infantry Division, became the 218th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized) (Separate).[14]
Italics indicates the state of headquarters allocation of an inactive unit.
See all attached units: 30thInfantry.org
Description: The letters "O H" blue upon a red background, the "O" forming the elliptical outline of the device long axis to be NaNinches and short axis NaNinches. The letter "H" within the "O". The letters "XXX" on the bar of the "H". The insignia to be worn with long axis vertical.[16]
Symbolism: The letters "O H" are the initials of "Old Hickory" and the "XXX" is the Roman notation for the number of the organization.
Background: The shoulder sleeve insignia was originally approved on 23 October 1918 for the 30th Division. It was redesignated for the 30th Infantry Brigade on 20 February 1974. The insignia was redesignated effective 1 September 2004, with description updated, for the 30th Brigade Combat Team, North Carolina Army National Guard.
The 2014 World War II film Fury depicted the main characters' tank, of the 66th Armored Regiment, 2nd Armored Division, operating in support of soldiers of the 30th Infantry Division.