Helmet: M1 (Steel Pot) helmet, issued to US soldiers from the late 30s/early 40s until it was replaced in 1988
Webbing: M1936 suspenders
Belt: M1923 Cartridge Belt
Bag: M1936 Mussette bag with M1 Bayonet attached to the side
Holster: M3 shoulder holster with Colt M1911 holstered
Uniform: M1943 Field Jacket & M1943 Field Trousers
Boots: "Rough Out" boots |
More commonly known as "The Big Red One" or "The fighting first", they were literally the very first infantry division to be formed in the United States Army in 1917, they had many regiments/units that dated all the way back to the American Revolution in 1776. They were first officially deployed to france in 1917 as part of America's late war involvement in world war one.
The Big Red One was famous for its distinctive insignia which was literally a big red number 1 (hence the title Big Red One), It is not known for sure why that is their insignia and there are many theories/legends as to why.
The first theory states that the 1st Division supply trucks were manufactured in England. To make sure the 1st Division's trucks were not confused with other allies, the drivers would paint a huge "1" on the side of each truck. Later, the division engineers would go even farther and put a red number one on their sleeves.
The second theory claims that a general of the division decided the unit should have a shoulder insignia. He decided to cut a red numeral "1" from his flannel underwear. When he showed his prototype to his men, one lieutenant said, "the general's underwear is showing!" Offended, the general challenged the young lieutenant to come up with something better. So, the young officer cut a piece of gray cloth from the uniform of a captured soldier, and placed the red "1" on top
The combat operations that the 1st division was involved in during the second world war began with Operation Torch, which was a series of landings in north africa where they fought both Rommel's afrika korp and vichy france. They also fought throughout the north africa campaign in Libya, tunisia and parts of egypt, they were particularly well known for their battles in Tunis and the Kasserine pass. North africa was one of the operations that the big red one is famous for.
They went on to fight in Sicily and Italy where some of their well known battles included Gela (in scicily) and Piano lupo in italy. They are also famous for landings in scicily and italy.
On D-Day they were deployed to Omaha Beach and secured exit E-1, (d-day being another landing they were famous for) and pushed on into france where they helped push back the germans from the saint lo breakout and moved on to tae Aachen (which was the first german city to fall to the americans) before being pushed back and fighting in the battle of the bulge. Once the germans had been pushed back yet again, the first division attacked the seigfreid line and crossed the rhine river at remagen.
After that they moved into checkoslovakia where they were involved in raiding and shutting down the various concentration camps. 16 members of the first division were awarded the congressional medal of honor, which is the highest decoration in the united states military.
Once the war ended, the first division was put on occupation duty, securing the nuremberg trials and remained in germany up into the 1950s as a deterrent to any possible communist invasion of the west and hence were not involved in the korean war. They did serve in Vietnam, the first gulf war, the balkans and the iraq war. |
