Organization of Division - Units + Summary of Awards & Casualties -  CLICK TO GO
Glossary  - CLICK TO GO

Color Legend:
         Allied Units  (Only highlight units other than the 88th Division)
         German Units
         Bold (black)   Important dates, towns or leaders.
        {My comments}  in Blue Brackets.

Abbreviations:
          M.  - Monte or Mount.     M. Adone for Monte Adone.
          S.  - San or Saint.         S. Pietro for San Pietro.
Command and Organization:
  The 36th Infantry Divisoin was part of the 5th Army while it was in Italy.  The divisions within the 5th Army were orgnaized into Corps.  During various times, the 5th Army consisted of the II Corps, IV Corps and/or VI Corps.

Each Regiment consisted of three battalions that commanded four companies.  The 1st Battalion consisted of Companies A, B, C, & D; the 2nd Battalion of Companies E, F, G, & H; and the 3rd Battalion of Companies I, K, L, & M(heavy weapons).  The Cannon Company was a light artillery unit that reported to the regiment.   At the end is infomation about the organization of the division, followed by a glossary of military terms--- Organization of 36th.

   First Bn., 142nd Regt., holding the left bank in Selestat, withstood vicious assaults of two Russia-hardened enemy divisions, sent them reeling back and heavy casualties.   Five hundred Germans struck at the center of the line, infiltrated back as far as the 141st Regt.’s CP in Riquewihr. Cook, clerks, other rear echelon troops had to be called to help drive them out.

    An enemy assault battalion of officer candidates slashed in from the south, cut the supply lines of the 3rd Bn., 143rd Regt. Meanwhile, German engineers slipped through to artillery positions, blew up a howitzer, mined and blocked a road to the rear. The ring around the T-Patchers was sealed.

    Swiftly and efficiently the 36th fought back. At the division CP in Ribeauville, every available man guarded road blocks. Anti-tank obstacles were hastily manned. MP and engineer patrols lashed out to clear the road. The 143rd, cutting across a ridge to the rear of the infiltrating Germans, smashed strong reserves coming up for the kill.

    The 36th held, slowly pushed back the stubborn Kraut thrusts, finally broke the steel trap. On Dec, 19, its lines straightened, the 36th resumed its traditional role as attacker.

    The Germans hated and feared the 36th. They had met it before in the Vosges and the Riviera, at Cassino and Salerno, on the Marne in 1918. They had never been able to crush it; they never would. A proud division, the 36th boasted a history dating back to 1835 and the Alamo, to 1899 and the Rough Riders, to World War I.

    Originally composed of Texas National Guardsmen, the 36th was mobilized into the Army of the United States Nov. 25, 1940, at Camp Bowie, Tex., in the fiercest ice storm in Texas history.

    In the next three years, with replacements from every state, the division maneuvered in the Carolinas and Louisiana, “invaded” Martha’s Vineyard, trained at Massachusetts’ Camp Blanding. It reached fighting trim in Africa, at Arzew and Rabat.

 ROAD TO ROME VIA  SALERNO,  CASSINO

    Sept. 9, 1943; In the pre-dawn blackness, T-Patchers tumbled off the ropes into small landing craft bobbing on Salerno Bay. They were eager and ready for their first combat mission. The threat of invasion had forced Italy’s surrender, and the announcement, made just nine hours before the jump-off, had spread rapidly throughout the ships. Some men thought the invasion would be cancelled but the operation went ahead. Confident, tough, doughs hit the deck:

    “It’ll be a cinch,” the sergeant said. “Won’t last a month.” He  bunched his 
        pack higher on his shoulders and counted off his squad."

    Salerno was a fierce baptism of fire for the 36th. The small landing boats bucked the surf, grounded on the beach. Men charged ashore, cut paths through mine fields and barbed wire. An enemy outpost marked them with machine gun tracers. Krauts were waiting - waiting with 88s on the ridges, with tanks on the flats.

    The landing barely had been accomplished when the Germans launched their first armored attack. On the right flank, Nazis barreled through to the beaches, where 3rd Bn., 141st, in a bloody man-to-tank action, threw them back. For this action, the battalion received the first Presidential Citation awarded a 36th unit.

    On the left flank, two more armored spearheads slashed at  the lines. One assault nearly reached the division CP. A hastily-unlimbered 105, firing point-blank into the formation, destroyed five of 13 tanks. The others fled. A self-propelled 75 and a 37 stood off a second attack. Bazooka teams held the flanks. The original landings had withstood every counter-blow the enemy could muster.  {"75" - 75 mm cannon.  "37" - 37mm cannon.  The 37mm gun was assigned to the Heavy Weapons company of an infantry division.}

 Altavilla was taken, the forces in it trapped and scattered. But the Germans regrouped and punched their way back into the town. When an attack to retake the town by seizing vital Hill 424 failed, the division pulled back its defense along the rim of the landing area.

    Every man who could be spared from field ranges, typewriters and trucks was in the line Sept. 13. Striking hard far to the left, the Germans had breached the Sele-Calore corridor. U.S. paratroop units were dropped along the defense perimeter, rushed into position before the enemy could exploit his tactical advantage.

    Guts, firepowr and teamwork decided the battle of Salerno that day. T-Patchers sealed off the Nazis along little La Cosa creek and drove off the lumbering panzers. Covered by naval and land guns, doughs rolled the enemy back into the hills. Altavilla was retaken.

    Four 36th Div. men won the Congressional Medal of Honor at Salerno. T/Sgt. Charles E. “Commando” Kelly, Pittsburgh, held off the Germans alone by throwing mortar shells when there were no more grenades. On Hill 424, Pvt. William Crawford, Pueblo, Colo., grenaded several machine gun nests, captured another machine gun position and fought the enemy until he was captured. Lt. Arnold Bjorklund, Seattle, Wash., grabbed an enemy rifle, destroyed two German machine guns with it. T/Sgt. James Logan, Luling, Tex., single-handed wiped out machine gun nests which held up an entire battalion, advanced alone to rout snipers which covered his unit’s positions.

    The 36th pulled back to establish defensive positions and detached 3rd Bn., 143rd; Btry. A, 155th FA, and the 133rd FA to join Rangers in a sea-borne end-run that seized Naples and drove the Germans several miles beyond, freeing the main Fifth Army supply port.

    With large numbers of reinforcements, the 36th went back into the lines Nov. 15, in the lower Liri Valley just north of Venafro, to begin one of the most grueling and vicious campaigns in the history of modern warefare.

    Wrote Maj. Gen. Fred L. Walker, Division CG at the close of the campaign: 

       While subject to hardships that have never before been exceeded by any 
       troops anywhere, you drove the enemy from well-organized and stoutly-defended 
       positions in the hill masses of Camino and Sammucro, from Maggiore, Mount 
       Rotundo, and San Pietro. You punished him severely. 

    Hardships: knee-deep and wheel-deep mud, foxhole-engulfing mud; insufficient winter equipment; rain and snow, cold and sleet. Howitzer trails that couldn’t be dug in. One round fired and the guns buried themselves. Trucks that bogged down in soupy ground. Machine gun barrels that froze. Shoes that wore out in one day on sharp rocks jutting up through the snow.

     To understand that winter’s campaign, picture a wine bottle. The cork was a Cassino, and the lower Liri Valley was the long neck reaching up to the stopper. The 36th had to advance along the sides of the neck — the mountains and craggy masses.

    Mount Maggiore came first. It was named “Million Dollar Mountain” after the pulverizing barrage which devastated its slopes.

    In a masterly-coordinated night attack, the 142nd grabbed strategic Mount Longo.

    Massed artillery was turned on San Pietro, key to the German mountain-crest line. The first infantry assaults had been beaten back; tanks trying to bull their way up the narrow roads had been annihilated. San Pietro was nearly blown off the earth; it seemed that no German could survive the bombardment. Yet, Germans lived under the stunning blows, hid in the rubble, stood off the infantry that followed on the heels of the barrarage. Only after doughs had come downfrom Longo and Hill 1205 on the flanks were the Nazis finally eliminated.

    The Italian village of San Pietro — population 1400 — had been liberated. There was one American casualty for every freed Italian.   {Actual name of this town was San Pietro Infinite.  There were many towns and mountains with similar names. The story of this battle was recorded in a 30-minute documentary made by John Houston for the Army, entitled "The Battle of San Pietro".}

    The Rapido River, skirting Cassino, was the retaining band on the cork. Fifth Army elected to crack it by a frontal assault in an S-bend opposite Cassino. If ever the Germans were prepared to meet an attack, it was then and there. The 141st on the right and the 143rd on the left drove gallantly into the strongest defenses of the line, were thrown reeling back. Squads reformed from companies led by sergeants and launched another violent attack. Enemy mines were too thick; observation too good; machine guns firing almost from the rear, from the flanks and chopping down Yank assault elements. Attack after attack was ripped apart by the wicked cross-fire.

     S/Sgt. Thomas McCall, Viedersburgh, Ind., led one attempted crossing of the Rapido. The young squad leader got across, formed his small group to make a determined stand in an untenable position. Although taken prisoner, he later was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

    The 36th remained in the line for a month after the futile smashes into the Rapido River positions. The men dug into the cold, barren slopes of Mount Cairo, behind Cassino, and Castellone Ridge which fringed it.

    The freezing winter seemed an eternity. Doughs advanced a yard one day, five yards another, paying in blood for every gain. Mule trains were the sole source of supply in those hills, and where the mules wouldn’t go, frightened by the incessant nebelwerfer and artillery fire, the men had to carry rations, ammunition and wire, and packboard it through the mine fields themselves. 

          He was six feet four ; he carried four blankets, two bulging medical pouches and
     anything else he could sling on his back. He carried one end of a litter himself, and
     wore out three relays at the other end. Sgt. Joe Vedvarka, “The Terrible Czech,” 
     evacuated a wounded man off Cairo in three hours one night. It took the mule trains eight. 

    One by one, division units trickled off the lines for rest and retraining in late February through April.

    Brig. Gen. Walter W. Hess’ Div Arty went into action in early May on the Garigliano River, and on May 25, the entire Texas Division, reformed on the Anzio beachhead, kicked off on the northward drive to break the stalemate. The sustained drive carried all the way to Velletri, key bastion in the German line defending Rome, another cork in another bottle. The 36th pulled the cork.

    Both the 141st and the 143rd hurled themselves directly against Velletri. During the night, the 142nd took to the densely-wooded hills on the flank and infiltrated behind the town. Not a shot was fired as the 142nd crept around and over the top of Mount Artemisio, to trap the German garrison. The 143rd pulled out to follow it. In hard, close in-fighting, the 141st took Velletri.

  Eric Sevareid, commentator for the Columbia Broadcasting System, wrote: “This action... turned the key to the city of Rome and handed it to Gen. Mark Clark.”

    The 36th entered Rome.

    The division followed this major success by rampaging 240 miles up the Italian peninsula, slamming aside German defenders at Magliano and Grossetto in short, sharp, decisive battles. Through the heavy Italian dust, tank-riding doughs pressed forward, artillery close behind. The Germans threw out rear guards, mostly short, puzzled Mongolians.

    Magliano was different; first-rate enemy troops were encountered. S/Sgt. Homer Wise, Baton Rouge, La., earned the division’s sixth Congressional Medal of Honor at Magliano, smashing a strong enemy position with tommy gun, rifle, grenades, and BAR, leaping on a tank to clear a jammed machine gun and rake the Germans from his exposed position.

    When the 36th finally came off the lines near Piombino, June 29, after spearheading the entire Fifth Army, Associated Press’ Ken Dixon, wrote: “It seemed right and just that the 36th would be the men to chalk up these achievements.”

    The division withdrew to Paestum, and on the same beaches that had witnessed their battle baptism, the troops paraded in farewell to Gen. Walker. Maj. Gen. John E. Dahlquist took command as the 36th prepared for its second invasion.

    Eleven months of Italian warfare had changed the Texas Division. The ranks of National Guardsmen slowly had thinned. Of 11,000 casualties, 2000 were Texans; at Salerno alone: 1900 casualties, 750 from Texas.

    But the 36th had made the Germans pay heavily, too — 6000 prisoners in addition to enormous numbers killed and wounded. 

 T-PATCH BLITZ OPENS RHONE VALLEY

      “I know what you want,” said the mayor of Draguinan. He led the
     colonel to a beautiful, walled garden, quiet and shaded. “You want a
     cemetery. All the people of my town have contributed to give you this
     land. It is the gift of the people of Draguinan to their liberators.” 

    Aug. 15, 1944, 0800 hours: First Bn., 141st, scrambled ashore on Blue Beach. Unlike Salerno, the way had been paved by overwhelming naval and aerial bombardment. As a covering rocket basrrage lifted, 2nd and 3rd Bns. landed on Green Beach, near the tiny village of Dramont.

    For rooting the Germans from the slopes overlooking the beaches, 1st Bn., 141st was a awarded a Presidential Citation.
 

   For the fighting in the Colmar Pocket, both 1st Bn., 142nd, in Selestat, and 2nd Bn., 141st, which held the far right flank of the line, were awarded Presidential Citations.

    Gen. De Monsabert of the French II Corps, under which the 36th fought, paid this tribute to the division: 

       It was for me the signal honor of my career to have under my orders such companions in arms. I shall never forget it. 

     For this campaign, three additional T-Patchers received the Congressional Medal of Honor: Pfc Gerald S. Gordon, St. Joseph, Mo., a medic who tore off his arm band to help stem the advancing enemy near Ribeauville; Sgt. Ellis Weicht, Everett, Pa., who was killed at St. Hippolyte while cleaning out enemy machine gun nests and smashing powerful cannon emplacements; T/Sgt. Charles Coolidge, Signal Mountain, Tenn., who dueled two enemy tanks with a carbine and advanced alone to blast a German attack which threatened to turn his battalion’s flank.

    The Division was withdrawn to a less active sector near Strasbourg, and after Christmas, prepared to pull back for a rest near Sarrebourg. That rest never materialized. Before all units were off the line, came an urgent summons: German troops were attacking to the north, threatened to turn a flank. The 141st RCT hastily was committed; shortly after, the entire 36th went back into action.

    The three regiments alternated. While one engaged the enemy, another dug field emplacements along a switch line in case Krauts should penetrate too deeply; the third was in reserve, prepared to repulse German columns which had driven across the Rhine and established a sizeable bridgehead just north of Strasbourg. The only reserve force in Seventh Army, the 36th was prepared for immediate action in any sector.

    While the 141st was in the line, the 142nd covered an exchange of sectors to the south. Then came the call: Germans had rolled over the plains to threaten Strasbourg and the important rail center of Saverne. The 143rd raced to the defense of VI Corps’ right flank.

    The 143rd, supported by the 753rd Tank Bn. and 636th TDs, had just jockeyed into position when the 10th Panzer Div. Slammed squarely into the center of the defensive arc, extending from the Weyersheim to Bischwiller. Twenty-five enemy tanks, supported by large numbers of infantry, were hurled back. Gunners of two platoons from the 636th, outnumbered five to one, knocked out seven tanks. Fighting along a brush line, doughs captured their 20,000th Kraut in France.
 

 Co. K, 143rd, won a Presidential Citation for cleaning out the first important German stronghold of Bitschoffen astride the only first-rate supply route for the 36th.

VICTORY — AND A NEW JOB FOR THE 36th 

    In the days that followed, the 36th enjoyed its first rest since Italy, policing in the vicinity of Kaiserslautern. While Seventh Army thundered into Bavaria, the 36th stood guard in the Saar.

    Nine days before the war’s end, the 36th went to bat for its last licks against the Nazis, near Kunzelsau, in the so-called National Redoubt.

    From Kunzelsau to Kitzbuhel in Austria’s Tyrol, the division fought rear guards. Fiercest resistance came at Bad Tolz, where Field Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt, German military master-brain, was captured.

    There were other, equally important prisoners: Air Marshall Sperlle, foremost exponent of dive bombing and director of the London blitz; Air Marshal Ritter von Greim, successor to Goering as chief of the Luftwaffe; Reichminister Fran, Poland’s No. 1 war criminal; Max Amann, third member of the Nazi party and publisher of Mein Kampf; Leni Reifenstahl, directress of the German film industry; Admiral Horthy, regent of Hungry, Air Marshal Hermann Goering. Liberated by the 36th were French Generals Weygand and Gamelin, Premiers Daladier and Reynaud.

   With war’s end in the ETO came a new assignment for the 36th — policing of defeated Germany.

    After 400 days of combat, five campaigns in Italy and France, Germany and Austria, two major amphibious operations, the men of the 36th Infantry Division—the Texas Division—could look back with pride on a skein of victories woven with hardship and heroism. They could point to a record of 175,806 enemy captured, 12 Congressional Medals of Honor, six Presidential Citations, 12 Distinguished Service Plaques, a host of other commendations, medals and awards.

     But they could not forget that their casualty list was third highest in the ETO: 27,343, of whom 3974 were killed, 19,052 wounded, and 4317 missing in action.