History of the 94th ID
94TH INFANTRY DIVISION
World War II
Activated: 15 September 1942. Overseas: 6 August 1944. Campaigns: Northern France, Rhineland,
Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe. Days of combat: 209. Distinguished Unit Citations: 1. Awards: MH-1 ;
DSC-54 ; DSM-2 ; SS-510; LM-10; SM-12 ; BSM-2,792 ; AM-66. Commanders: Maj. Gen. Harry J. Malony (September 1942 May
1945), Brig. Gen. Louis J. Fortier (June-July 1945) Maj. Gen. Allison J. Barnett (1 August 1945 to inactivation). Returned
to U. S.: 6 February 1946. Inactivated: 9 February 1946.
Combat Chronicle
Following a brief stay in England, the 94th landed on Utah Beach on D plus 94, 8 September 1944, and moved
into Brittany to assume responsibility for containing some 60,000 German troops besieged in the Channel ports of Lorient and
St. Nazaire. The 94th inflicted over 2,700 casualties on the enemy and took 566 prisoners before being relieved on New Year's
Day 1945. Moving west, the Division took positions in the Saar-Moselle Triangle, facing the Siegfried Switch Line, 7 January
1945, and shifted to the offensive, 14 January, seizing Tettingen and Butzdorf that day. The following day, the NennigBerg-Wies
area was wrested from the enemy, but severe counterattacks followed, and Butzdorf, Berg, and most of Nennig changed hands
several times before being finally secured. On the 20th, an unsuccessful battalion attack against Orscholz, eastern terminus
of the switch position, resulted in loss of most of two companies. In early February the Division took Campholz woods and
seized Sinz. On 19 February 1945, the Division launched a full-scale attack, storming the heights of Munzigen Ridge, backbone
of the Saar-Moselle Triangle, and took all objectives. Moving forward, the 10th Armored and 94th secured the area from Orscholz
to the confluence of the Saar and Moselle Rivers by 21 February 1945. Then, launching an attack across the Saar, it established
and expanded a bridgehead. By 2 March 1945, the Division stretched over a 10-mile front, from Hocker Hill on the Saar through
Zerf, and Lampaden to Ollmuth. A heavy German attack near Lampaden achieved penetrations, but the line was shortly restored,
and on 13 March, spearheading the XX Corps, the 94th broke out of the bridgehead and drove to the Rhine, reaching that river,
21 March. Ludwigshafen was taken, 24 March, in conjunction with CCA of the 12th Armored Division. The Division then moved
by rail and motor to the vicinity of Krefeld, Germany, assuming responsibility, 3 April, for containing the west side of the
Ruhr pocket from positions along the Rhine. With the reduction of the pocket in mid-April, the Division was assigned military
government duties, first in the Krefeld and later in the Dusseldorf areas.
Assignments in the ETO*
27 July 1944: XIII Corps, Ninth Army. 28 August 1944: XIII Corps, Ninth Army, 12th Army Group.
23 September 1944: Ninth Army, 12th Army Group. 9 October 1944: 12th Army Group. 5 January 1945: 12th
Army Group, but attached to Oise Section, Communication Zone, for supply. 6 January 1945: XX Corps, Third Army, 12th
Army Group. 29 March 1945: XXII Corps, Fifteenth Army, 12th Army Group.
This combat narrative come from the 94th division website
A great deal of thanks is owed to all vets who fought to keep this nation safe.
|