(Image: Debra Kelly)
The 3rd Infantry Division was born from war. Constituted on November 12, 1917, and already set for service in World War One, the division’s first members saw combat eight months after the formation of their unit. Within a year of their establishment, they had cemented their reputation, earned their nickname, and been at the head of what would long be remembered as one of the most crucial battles in US military history. Turning the tide of a war, the men of the 3rd Infantry Division have paid a high price for freedom, suffering more than 50,000 wartime casualties. They’ve also had more Medal of Honor winners than any other division. This article looks into the history of one of America’s top military units.
The Rock of the Marne
Above all else, the 3rd Infantry Division is known as the Rock of the Marne – for good reason. The Second Battle of the Marne, fought from July to August of 1918, was Germany’s last major Spring Offensive of the war, during which the tide of battle was changed and the beginning of the end had arrived.
(Image: USMC Archives)
As part of the Aisne-Marne Offensive, the 3rd Infantry Division was among those units tasked with setting up on the Marne River and protecting Paris against the advancing German army. On midnight of July 14, 1918, units flanking the division retreated, but unit commander Maj. Gen. Joseph Dickman reassured French soldiers with words still remembered today.
“Nous resterons la.”
“We shall remain here.”
The next day, 23 German divisions advanced, 23 German divisions were repelled, and the joint American and French troops held the Marne.
(Image: Jane Jones)
Later, General John J. Pershing would issue a statement that says it all, along with a testimony to a single regiment of the 3rd Division, who Pershing credited as having written “one of the most brilliant pages in our military annals.” The report of the commanding general Third Division stated:
“Although the rush of the German troops overwhelmed some of the front-line positions, causing the infantry and machine-gun companies to suffer, in some cases a 50 per cent loss, no German soldier crossed the road from Fossoy to Crezancy, except as a prisoner of war, and by noon the following day, there were no Germans in the foreground of the 3rd Division sector except the dead.”
Audie Murphy
He was rejected by the Marines because he was too short. He was refused entry to the paratroopers, too. Audie Murphy, one of 10 children from a sharecropper’s farm, orphaned at 16, lied about his age to get into the military after seeing his siblings separated and shipped off to orphanages, relations or foster care.
(Image: US Army)
Finally, he enlisted in the infantry, and the 3rd Infantry Division took him – the man who would become America’s most decorated soldier of World War Two. His introduction to combat came when the unit was stationed in North Africa, preparing to take Italy. After securing Rome, he was given his first medal, for gallantry.
When Murphy – and his unit – were sent to France, he single-handedly took on a German advance. As 250 men and six Panzer tanks advanced on the division near Holtzwihr, he ordered his men back, yet remained – with a single machine gun – to lay down cover. He did, even though he had been wounded, and the time he bought his men allowed them to regroup and drive the German army from the city. It was his first Medal of Honor.
(Images: NBC Television; Tim1965)
By the time he was 19, he would have a Distinguished Service Cross and two Silver Stars. By the end of the conflict, he had been awarded 28 medals and was not yet 21-years-old.
After the war, Murphy went on to a film career, starring in To Hell and Back (based on his own life), and the adaptation of Red Badge of Courage. His off-screen life was less happy, though, and, plagued by nightmares, he often said he wasn’t able to sleep without a loaded gun under his pillow. Murphy died in 1971 in a plane crash, aged 46. He’s buried in Arlington Cemetery, beneath a stone too small to list his honors.
In Nuremberg for Hitler’s Birthday
By March 30, 1945, the 3rd Infantry Division was well into Germany and heading deeper. Town after town fell or surrendered, and on April 11, there was a new goal – Nuremberg.
(Image: US Army)
After taking hundreds upon hundreds of prisoners, they were warned of what to expect in the heart of Nazi Germany. Other divisions reported heavy fire and shelling, and those trying to take the city were faced with the formidable opposition they had been warned about – from sniper fire to Panzer tanks.
After three days of fighting, Nuremberg fell – on Hitler’s birthday. When the Allied forces moved in, they found not only the relic that Hitler claimed was the Spear of Destiny, the object that he’d once seen and that had – allegedly -given him a mystical vision, but also a document that outlined the proper procedure for celebrating Hitler’s birthday. There were details for dignified ceremonies, for songs, for readings of Hitler’s works and writing, and it was all supposed to end with those in attendance swearing fealty and allegiance to Hitler until their deaths.
(Image: National Archives)
It didn’t really happen that way on that day in 1945, though. The 3rd Infantry Division held a formation in the main plaza, where the officers and the fighting men were addressed by Maj. Gen. John W. O’Daniel. After thanking the men for their service, he ordered the demolition of the massive concrete swastika that adorned Zeppelin Stadium.
And then, they blew it up.
Rocky the Marne Bulldog
Those serving in the United States infantry have long been called ‘Dog Faces‘ or ‘Dog Face Soldiers’, and the 3rd Infantry Division wholeheartedly embraced the name with their song and mascot.
(Image: Army.mil)
It wasn’t until 1965 that the official Rocky the Marne Bulldog was born. Created by Walt Disney himself, the commission to design the cartoon bulldog came with a couple of requests from then-division commander Maj. Gen. Albert O. Conner. Disney was asked to create a mascot that embodied everything that the division stood for. He was to be quick-witted and wise, confident and dignified, heroic yet humble, gentle yet fierce. Disney came through, and sold Rocky to the division for $1. The single dollar bill, signed by the Maj. Gen., was framed with a letter of thanks.
The idea of the bulldog as the division’s mascot came in part from the slang term, and in part from the song that was born of it. During World War Two, two infantrymen penned the Dog Face Soldier song as a sort of protest against all the commercially produced war songs circulating at the time. It was real and it was from the heart, and those that wrote it reportedly soon forgot about it. The song, though, was remembered by those who had heard it. They carried it across the world – and it stuck.
Operation Torch
In 1942, the 3rd Infantry Division played a crucial role in an operation designed to give the Allies a foothold in French North Africa. There were three targets – Casablanca, Oran and Algiers.
(Image: National Archives)
But there was something a bit different about this battle. The division wouldn’t just be going up against their sworn enemies, but against former allies. The landing areas designated for the operation were held by French troops – troops that had once fought alongside the American and the British forces, but switched sides with the fall of France.
There was also the problem of getting there. The seaside environs called for an amphibious landing, but that also presented the problem of finding a departure point. With a distinct lack of places to assemble and leave from, transport ships were boarded in America and the invasion began with the longest sea voyage ever undertaken to begin such a landing.
(Image: Nathan Harig)
The 3rd Infantry Division and their supporting forces stormed the beaches at Casablanca. Although they took the beaches quickly, a three-day battle ensued between American and French forces before a ceasefire was called, and the French troops rejoined their allies. Casablanca – and the Allied foothold – was secure.
The World War Two Medal of Honor Winners
Between July 11, 1943 and April 18, 1945, the men of the 3rd Infantry Division were awarded 36 Medals of Honor. The honour was established on July 12, 1862, and was given “to such noncommissioned officers and privates as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other soldierlike qualities”.
(Image: Kumioko)
While it’s not possible to tell the stories of all the selfless actions and sacrifices made on the battlefield by the Medal of Honor winners of the 3rd Infantry Division, we will tell one man’s story – Pvt. Joseph Merrell.
Merrell earned his medal on April 18, 1945, the last of the 36 men. When American troops were pinned down by German forces occupying a hill near Lohe in Germany, Merrell grabbed his rifle and headed for the German machine gun. After 100 yards, a sniper took the rifle out of his hands, but 200 yards later, he was at the machine gun nest. After throwing a grenade, he grabbed a Luger and killed the machine gun operators who had survived the explosions. He then crawled to the second and discharged his remaining grenade, killing four soldiers hidden in foxholes, and wounded himself in the process.
Merrell stormed the last machine gun nest, but just as he discharged the last German soldier there, he was killed by fire from a machine gun pistol. Aged just 18, he had saved countless lives within his own unit by sacrificing his own.
The Nazi Gold Train
Unfortunately, no one’s history is without its shadows, and for the division, that came with the discovery of Nazi gold.
(Image: National Archives)
On May 16, 1945, Lieutenant Joseph Mercer’s A Company of the 15th Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, entered the Tauern Tunnel just south of Salzburg. They found what must have been an incredible sight – among the garbage was a half-hidden train, loaded with valuables from gold and diamonds to jewelry, cash, coins, china, and even stamp collections. The treasure trove had an estimated value at the time of $206 million. Adjusted for inflation, that’s the equivalent of about $2.67 billion today.
The train cars were moved to, and ultimately unloaded in, a more secure location, which ended up being warehouses in Salzburg. Control was transferred to joint American and French forces, and that’s where things get a little shady. The treasure trove was declared to be the property of an enemy government, and that made it fair game for high-ranking military officials.
(Image: US Army; Nazi plunder)
The treasure was looted – names mentioned in association with it include Maj. Gen. Harry Collins of the 42nd Division, who outfitted his home and office with luxuries such as silver candlesticks, china, and even bath towels. Other pieces were taken by others and sent home as trophies of war.
By 1948, France had returned their portion of the treasure, but American pieces were auctioned off in the States for the war effort. Items – including 1,181 paintings – disappeared. In 2001, a class action lawsuit was brought against the government on behalf of Hungarian Jews, to whom the property, seized by the Nazis, had belonged. Four years later, $25.5 million was awarded to those whose property had been discovered on a hidden train by the 3rd Infantry Division.
Peacekeepers and First Line of Defense
(Images: Debra Kelly)
After making a name for itself in World Wars One and Two, the 3rd Infantry Division remained on the front lines of a different sort of war. From April of 1958 to April of 1996, the Rock of the Marne was stationed in West Germany not far from the border of Czechoslovakia. Dispatched to towns like Kitzingen, Aschaffenburg, Wurzburg and Schweinfurt, the division was tasked to the NATO defense network.
(Image: Cliff1066)
With the building of the Berlin Wall, tensions only increased as US troops stationed in the area were further tasked with securing the right of passage, travel, security and safety of West German residents and the Americans living there.
(Image: Debra Kelly)
In addition to being the watchers at the wall, they were also understood to be the base of operations for an elite fighting force that could, at any moment, be deployed to fight in an escalating conflict. Among their orders were instructions to hold the border between East and West Germany against encroaching forces from the USSR; they could have been scrambled at any time. The unit acted partly as a deterrent, and their reputation left no doubt that they would hold out.
(Image: US Army Institute of Heraldry)
Those stationed there saw some incredible things, watching, waiting and ready to step up should the need arise. They witnessed the Berlin Wall as well as the building of it. They were there when checkpoints were turned into museums, as monuments and borders crumbled.
(Images: Debra Kelly)
Today, the 3rd Infantry Division remains on the front lines of conflicts across the Middle East, stationed throughout Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. The Marne Standard remains the same.
Related – D-Day: In the Words of Those Who Were There
The post Past Lives: The US Army’s 3rd Infantry Division Throughout History appeared first on Urban Ghosts.