ORIG NAMED 45TH INFANTRY DIV (THUNDERBIRD) LOT W/DUI, PASSES, MANUAL, MEMORIAL

Description

This is a 100% original 8-piece lot of items named to a US Army soldier attached to the 45th Infantry Division (Thunderbird Division). The lot consists of these items: (1) A brass and enamel DUI for the 45th Infantry Division; (2) A U.S. Army Basic Field Manual (FM 22-5) titled "Infantry Drill Regulations," August 4, 1941. The manual has written on the cover the following: "PROPERTY OF CO. 'A' 180th BN., Pfc. Henry W. Lange 37410033, Co. A. 180th Inf. 45th Div." Written inside is "Pfc. Henry W. Lange, A.S.N. 37410033, 189th Inf. Co. A, 45th Div. 1944." (3) A small booklet, "SOLDIER'S INDIVIDUAL PAY RECORD," for Pfc. Henry Lange. Stapled inside are two folded cards titled "IMMUNIZATION REGISTER" for Private Lange, showing various vaccinations received in 1943, 1944, and 1945 (for typhoid, smallpox, yellow fever, tetanus, cholera, and typhus). The pay record inside indicates that Lange's personal contact was Maggie Lange, who lived in Ewing, Missouri. The pay record book was filled out on December 27, 1944. (4) A page (front page) of a pamphlet or program for a Memorial Day Service at Konigsplatz, Munich, Germany, held on May 30, 1945, for soldiers of the 45th Infantry Division; the back of the page has a dedication to soldiers lost during the war. It reads in part "DEDICATION, From the beaches of Sicily to the birth-place of the Nazi party in Munich, Germany has been a long and circuitous way. It has been an historical one, with high points that shall be forever remembered -- Salerno, Volturno, Venafro, Anzio, Rome, Southern France, Vosges, Saar, Rhine, Bavaria. Not everyone who started on that July day in 1943 made the whole conquest which we have completed now -- in some units, not many made it." (5) A meal ticket to be used on the return from France to the United States, dated October 30, 1945, made out to Pfc. Lang, Henry W. 37410033. The meal ticket issigned by Jon F.H. Hollenbeck, 1st Lieutenant, and states that Henry W. Lang "is assigned to this Organization and his work necessitated his eating Early Chow." The top of the meal ticket reads "14TH MAJOR PORT, PROCESSING  CENTER (PROV), APO 437 US ARMY." (6) A pass for 72 hour leave, made out to Lange, dated August 16, 1945, for a visit to Rheims, France. The pass is sined by Charles G. White, 1st Lt., and indicates Lange is assigned to the 180th Infantry, 45th Division. (7) Another pass, identical to the other, dated August 12, 1945, for a visit to Rheims, France. (8) A pass for 48 hour leave, made out to Lange, Company A, 180th Infantry, 45th Division, allowing him to visit Andover on August 29th, 1945. It is signed by Charles G. White, Lieutenant, and is labeled "AG Form No. 27, Reproduced Hq 71st Inf., 3 July 1945." ********* The items are in very good to excellent condition. The paper items have some age toning and wear, and some small tears here and there. The field manual is complete, with some slight wear. The DUI is in excellent shape. ************ A brief history of the 45h Infantry Division in WWII is as follows:
On 16 September 1940, the 45th Infantry Division, under Major General William S. Key, was federalized from state control into the regular army force. It was one of four National Guard divisions to be federalized, alongside the 30th, the 41st and 44th Infantry Divisions, originally for a one-year period. Its men immediately began basic combat training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Throughout 1942, it continued this training at Camp Barkeley, Texas, before moving to Fort Devens, Massachusetts, to undergo amphibious assault training in preparation for an invasion of Italy. It then moved to Pine Camp, New York briefly for winter warfare training, but was hampered by continuously poor weather. In January 1943 it moved to Fort Pickett, Virginia, for its final training. The division, now commanded by Major General Troy H. Middleton, a Regular Army soldier and highly distinguished World War I veteran, moved to the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation's Camp Patrick Henry to await combat loading on the transports.
The division's two combat commands, the 89th and 90th Infantry Brigades, were not activated, as the army favored smaller and more versatile regimental commands for the new conflict. The 45th Infantry Division was instead based around the 157th, 179th, and 180th Infantry Regiments. Also assigned to the division were the 158th, 160th, 171st, and 189th Field Artillery Battalions, the 45th Signal Company, the 700th Ordnance Company, the 45th Quartermaster Company, the 45th Reconnaissance Troop, the 120th Engineer Combat Battalion, and the 120th Medical Battalion.
The 45th Division sailed from the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation for the Mediterranean region on 8 June 1943, combat loaded aboard thirteen attack transports and five cargo attack vessels as convoy UGF-9 headed by the communications ship USS Ancon. By the time the 45th Division landed in North Africa on 22 June 1943, the Allies had largely secured the African theater. As a result, the division was not sent into combat upon arrival and instead commenced training at Arzew, French Morocco, in preparation for the invasion of Sicily. Allied intelligence estimated that the island was defended by approximately 230,000 troops, the majority of which were drawn mostly from weak Italian formations and two German divisions which had been reconstituted after being destroyed earlier. Against this, the Allies planned to land 180,000 troops, including the 45th Infantry Division, which was assigned to Lieutenant General Omar Bradley's II Corps, part of the U.S. Seventh Army under Lieutenant General George S. Patton, for the operation.
The division was subsequently assigned a lead role in the amphibious assault on Sicily, coming ashore on 10 July. Landing near Scoglitti, the southernmost U.S. objective on the island, the division advanced north on the U.S. force's eastern flank. After initially encountering resistance from armor of the Hermann Goering Division, the division advanced, supported by paratroopers of the 505th Parachute Regimental Combat Team, part of the 82nd Airborne Division, who landed inland on 11 July. The paratroopers, conducting their first combat jump of the war after six weeks of training in Tunisia, then set up to protect the 45th's flank against German counterattack, but without weapons to counter heavy armor, the paratroopers had to rely on support from the 2nd Armored Division to repulse the German Tiger I tanks. As the division advanced towards its main objective to capture the airfields at Biscari, and Comiso, German forces were pushed back. For most of the first two weeks while the division moved slowly north, it encountered only light resistance from Italian forces fighting delaying actions.[34] Italian and German forces resisted fiercely at Motta Hill on 26 July, however, and for four days the 45th Division was held up there. After this, the division was allocated to drive towards Messina, being ordered by the Seventh Army commander to cover the distance as quickly as possible. The 45th Division spent a few days in that city, but on 1 August, the division was withdrawn from the front line for rest and rear-guard patrol duty,[26] after which the division was assigned to Major General Ernest J. Dawley's VI Corps, part of the U.S. Fifth Army, under Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, in preparation for the invasion of mainland Italy.
Salerno
On 3 September 1943, Italy surrendered to the Allied powers. Hoping to occupy as much of the country as humanly possible before the German Army could react, the U.S. Fifth Army prepared to attack Salerno. On 10 September, elements of the division conducted its second landing at Agropoli and Paestum with the 36th Infantry Division, on the southernmost beaches of the attack. Opposing them were elements of the German 29th Panzergrenadier Division and XVI Panzer Corps.[37] Against stiff resistance, the 45th pushed to the Calore River after a week of heavy fighting. The Fifth Army was battered and pushed back by German forces until 20 September, when Allied forces were finally able to break out and establish a more secure beachhead.
On 3 November it crossed the Volturno River and took Venafro. The division had great difficulty moving across the rivers and through the mountainous terrain, and the advance was slow. After linking up with the British Eighth Army, which had advanced from the south, the combined force, under the 15th Army Group, commanded by British General Sir Harold Alexander, was stalled when it reached the Gustav Line. Until 9 January 1944, the division, now under Major General William W. Eagles (replacing Major General Middleton who, struck down with arthritis, was sent to England to command VIII Corps in the Normandy invasion), inched forward into the mountains reaching St. Elia, north of Monte Cassino, before moving to a rest area.
Anzio
Allied forces conducted a frontal assault on the Gustav Line stronghold at Monte Cassino, and VI Corps, under Major General John P. Lucas from 20 September, was assigned to Operation Shingle, detached from the 15th Army Group to land behind enemy lines at Anzio on 22 January 1944. For this mission, CCA (Combat Command A) of the 1st Armored Division was attached to the 45th Infantry Division.[43] Landing on schedule, VI Corps surprised the Germans, but Major General Lucas's decision to consolidate the beachhead instead of attacking gave the Germans time to bring the LXXVI Panzer Corps forward to oppose the landings.
One regiment of the 45th (the 179th Infantry) went ashore with the landings. In company with the British 1st Infantry Division, they advanced north along the Anzio-Albano road and captured the Aprilia "factory", but encountered ingrained resistance from German armored units a few miles further on. Lucas then ordered the rest of the division ashore. The 45th Division was deployed on the southeastern side of the beachhead, along the lower Mussolini Canal.
On 30 January 1944, when VI Corps advanced from the beaches, it encountered heavy resistance and took heavy casualties. VI Corps was stopped at the "Pimlott Line" (the perimeter of the beachhead), and the fight became a battle of attrition.
The first major German counterattack came in early February, was against the British 1st Division. Two regiments of the 45th (the 179th and 157th Infantry) were sent to the Aprilia sector to reinforce the British. The 179th Infantry and a tank battalion of CCA tried to recapture Aprilia but were repulsed. Lucas then moved the rest of the 45th Division to the left-center of the perimeter, at Aprilia and along the west branch of the Mussolini Canal. For the next few months the 45th Infantry Division was mostly stuck in place, holding its ground during repeated German counterattacks, and subjected to bombardment from aircraft and artillery.
On 16 February, a major German attack struck the 45th, and nearly broke through the 179th Infantry on 18 February. Lucas sent famed U.S. Army Ranger leader Colonel William Orlando Darby to assume command of the 157th Infantry, and the Germans were repulsed. The next three months were spent on the defensive, with the 45th engaged in trench warfare, alike to that in World War I.
On 23 May, VI Corps, now commanded by Major General Lucian Truscott, went on the offensive, breaking out of the beachhead to the northeast, with the 45th Division forming the left half of the attack. By 31 May, the German defenses were shattered, and the 45th Division turned northwest, toward the Alban Hills and Rome. On 4 June the 45th Division crossed the Tiber River below Rome, and entered the city along with other VI Corps troops. Men of the 45th Division were the first Allied troops to reach the Vatican.
On 16 June, the 45th Division withdrew for rest in preparation for other operations. At this time, VI Corps was attached to the Seventh Army, under Lieutenant General Alexander Patch, itself part of the 12th Army Group under Lieutenant General Jacob L. Devers. The 45th, 36th, and 3rd Infantry Divisions were pulled from the line in Italy in preparation for Operation Dragoon (formerly Anvil), the invasion of southern France. Dragoon was originally planned to coincide with the Normandy landings in the north, but was delayed until August because of a shortage of landing craft.
France and Germany
The 45th Infantry Division participated in its fourth amphibious assault landing during Operation Dragoon on 15 August 1944, at St. Maxime, in Southern France. The 45th Infantry Division landed its 157th and 180th regimental combat teams and captured the heights of the Chaines de Mar before meeting with the 1st Special Service Force. The German Army, reeling from the Battle of Normandy, in which it had suffered a major defeat, pulled back after a short fight, part of an overall German withdrawal to the east following the landings. Soldiers of the 45th Infantry Division engaged the dispersed forces of German Army Group G, suffering very few casualties. The U.S. Seventh Army, along with Free French forces, were able to advance north quickly. By 12 September, the Seventh Army linked up with Lieutenant General George S. Patton's U.S. Third Army, advancing from Normandy, joining the two forces at Dijon. Against slight opposition, it spearheaded the drive for the Belfort Gap. The 45th Infantry Division took the strongly defended city of Epinal on 24 September. The division was then reassigned to V Corps, under the command of Major General Leonard T. Gerow, for its next advance. On 30 September the division crossed the Moselle River and entered the western foothills of the Vosges, taking Rambervillers. It would remain in the area for a month waiting for other units to catch up before crossing the Mortagne River on 23 October. The division remained on the line with the U.S. 6th Army Group the southernmost of three army groups advancing through France.
After the crossing was complete, the division was relieved from V Corps and assigned to Major General Wade H. Haislip's XV Corps. The division was allowed a one-month rest, resuming its advance on 25 November, attacking the forts north of Mutzig. These forts had been designed by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1893 to block access to the plain of Alsace. The 45th Division next crossed the Zintzel River before pushing through the Maginot Line defenses. During this time much of the division's artillery assets were attached to the 44th Infantry Division to provide additional support. The 45th Infantry Division, now commanded by Major General Robert T. Frederick, who had previously commanded the 1st Special Service Force, was reassigned to VI Corps on New Year's Day. From 2 January 1945, the division fought defensively along the German border, withdrawing to the Moder River.  It sent half of its artillery to support the 70th Infantry Division. On 17 February the division was pulled off the line for rest and training. Once this rest period was complete, the division was assigned to XV Corps for the final push into German territory. The 45th moved north to the Sarreguemines area and smashed through the Siegfried Line, on 17 March taking Homburg on the 21st and crossing the Rhine between Worms and Hamm on the 26th.  The advance continued, with Aschaffenburg falling on 3 April, and Nuremberg on the 20th.  The division crossed the Danube River on 27 April, and liberated 32,000 captives of the Dachau concentration camp on 29 April 1945. The division captured Munich during the next two days, occupying the city until V-E Day and the surrender of Germany.  During the next month, the division remained in Munich and set up collection points and camps for the massive numbers of surrendering troops of the German armies. The number of POWs taken by the 45th Division during its almost two years of fighting totalled 124,840 men. The division was then slated to move to the Pacific theater of operations to participate in the invasion of mainland Japan on the island of Honshu, but these plans were scrubbed before the division could depart after the surrender of Japan, on V-J Day.
World War II Casualties
Total battle casualties: 20,993
Killed in action: 3,547
Wounded in action: 14,441
Missing in action: 478
Prisoner of war: 2,527
... During World War II, the 45th Division fought in 511 days of combat. Nine soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during their service with the 45th Infantry Division: Van T. Barfoot,  Ernest Childers,  Almond E. Fisher,  William J. Johnston,  Salvador J. Lara,  Jack C. Montgomery, James D. Slaton, Jack Treadwell,  and Edward G. Wilkin.  Soldiers of the division also received 61 Distinguished Service Crosses, three Distinguished Service Medals, 1,848 Silver Star Medals, 38 Legion of Merit medals, 59 Soldier's Medals, 5,744 Bronze Star Medals, and 52 Air Medals. The division received seven distinguished unit citations and eight campaign streamers during the conflict.
Most of the division returned to New York in September 1945, and from there went to Camp Bowie, Texas. On 7 December 1945, the division was inactivated from the active duty force and its members reassigned to other Army units. The following year, on 10 September 1946, the 45th Infantry Division was reconstituted as a National Guard unit.  Instead of comprising units from several states, the post-war 45th was an all-Oklahoma organization. During this time the division was also reorganized and as a part of this process the 157th Infantry was removed from the division's order of battle and replaced with the 279th Infantry Regiment.
.  *********** A nice original grouping named to a soldier from a distinguished U.S. Army WWII division. Nothing added or removed, this is a lot of items as they were brought home by the soldier.
************ I can ship worldwide. Buyers pay exact postage costs only.