102nd INFANTRY DIVISION - Ozark

Activated 15 Sep 1942  •  Entered Combat 26 Oct 1944  •  Days of Combat 173  •  Casualties 4,992

DIVISION CHRONICLE

The 102d Infantry Division arrived at Cherbourg, France, 23 September 1944, and, after a short period of training near Valognes, moved to the German-Netherlands border. On 26 October, elements attached to other divisions entered combat and on 3 November the Division assumed responsibility for the sector from the Wurm River to Waurichen. A realinement of sectors and the return of elements placed the 102d in full control of its units for the first time, 24 November 1944, as it prepared for an attack to the Roer. The attack jumped off, 29 November, and carried the Division to the river through Welz, Flossdorf, and Linnich. After a period of aggressive patrolling along the Roer, 4-19 December, the Division took over the XIII Corps sector from the Wurm River, north of the village of Wurm, to Barmen on the south, and trained for river crossing. On 23 February 1945, the 102d attacked across the Roer, advanced toward Lovenich, bypassed Munchen-Gladbach, took Krefeld, 3 March, and reached the Rhine. During March the Division was on the defensive along the Rhine, its sector extending from Homburg south to Dusseldorf. Crossing the river in April, the Division attacked in the Wesergebirge, meeting stiff opposition. Wilsede and Hessisch-Oldendorf fell, 12 April 1945, and the 102d pushed on to the Elbe, meeting little resistance. Breitenfeld fell, 15 April, and the Division outposted the Elbe River, 48 miles from Berlin, its advance halted on orders. It patrolled and maintained defensive positions until the end of hostilities in Europe, then moved to Gotha for occupational duty.