The battle

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80th Infantry Division “Blue Ridge”

Organisation

• Reconnaissance
  80^th reconnaissance troop
  
• 80^th division infantry
  317^th infantry regiment
  318^th infantry regiment
  319^th infantry regiment
  
• 80^th division artillery
  313^th field artillery battalion
  314^th field artillery battalion
  315^th feld atillery battalion
  905^th field atillery battalion
  
• Special troops
  80^th signal company
  780^th ordnance company
  80^th quartermaster company
  305^th engineer battalion
  305^th medical battalion
  80^th CIC detachment
  

History

Origins

Same as the majority of American Divisions, which fought during the Second World War, 80^th ID draws its origins from a preceding unit. A 80^th ID had been created in August 1917 in Camp Lee. Composed mainly of conscripts from Pennsylvania and Virginia, this division of 23.000 men was sent to France in June 1918.

August 1944 - a soldier of 80th ID advances in Argentan, taking
cover from German sniper fire. © National CR Basse-Normandie
/ National Archives USA It was committed in three major battles: fighting in Artois, the Somme, then on the Meuse front. During those engagements, its eagerness made it to be classified better division by War Department. It went back to the United States in May 1919 and was demobilised on June 26^th of the same year.

80th ID was reborn on July 15^th, 1942, in Camp Forrest, Tennessee. It spent nearly two years on training. It took part successively in manoeuvre’s of Phillips Camp then to those of California desert. Quickly considered being combat-suitable, it was sent to Scotland on July 7^th, 1944. After last preparations, it was moved towards the southern coast. It unloaded in Utah Beach on August 2^nd.

In Normandy

After gathering in the sector of Saint Jores, 80^th ID was declared operational on August 8^th. On this date, it received task to descend south in order to stop the German counter-attack, Lüttich. This latter having failed quickly, the 80^th arrived too late in the area of Mortain.

Attached successively to 15^th then 20^th Corps, 80^th ID then turned eastwards. Crossing Mayenne, with Evron and Saint-Suzanne as its objective, it seized the latter August 10^th. It continued then the envelopment of the German troops towards north with the 2^nd Free French division and 90^th US ID.

Its mission consisted in seizing Argentan, a task that seemed within reach. However, Bradley had ordered from August 14 a pause in the offensive. When the GI' S of 80^th ID set out again with the attack, they ran up against the savage resistance of the 116. German PzD, which had had three days to strengthen its defences. After the failure of August 15/16^th attacks, the city underwent the repeated bombardment of aviation and allied artillery. A new attempt launched August 18^th also failed. Finally, when 317^th regiment penetrated in the city August 20^th, it found the city empty, its defenders having had plenty of time to evacuate it…

September 12^th, 1944 – 318^th Regiment crosses a canal on an impr-
ovised bridge, in direction of the Moselle.
While the engagements for Argentan still continued, a detachment of the division had progressed northwards, beyond the city. August 19^th, it cut the road Argentan-Trun, driving back the Germans towards the plain the Dives. With the end of the fighting for the Falaise pocket, 80^th ID was employed to recover the thousands of German prisoners.

In Lorraine

Once the battle of Normandy finished, 80^th ID took part in the race towards the east of the 3^rd Army. On the heels of the withdrawing Germans, it crossed the Seine, then the Marne. It liberated Châlons on August 29^th, then Commercy on September 1^st. The following day, it released Saint-Mihiel, where it had fought 26 years earlier.

On September 4^th, 80^th ID succeeded in establishing the first bridgehead of the 3^rd Army on the east bank of the Moselle, north of Toul. It moved then towards Nancy on the side of 35^th ID, but met important German opposition, in the form of several armoured brigades that were thrown in the battle.

September 13^th, 1944 - column of German prisoners captured by
317^th regiment.
From September 11^th, it ran up against the resistance of the 17^th SS Pz G-Division. In Pont-à-Mousson, it underwent a strong counter-attack, which obliged it to give up part of the conquered ground. It took a week of engagements to secure the neighbourhoods of Nancy - cities like Dieulouard, Loisy or Atton were bitterly disputed. Added to the supply problems, which disturbed then all the American army, the defence of the line of the Moselle by the forces of Reich froze the front on the Seille River until the beginning of November.

On November 8^th, 80^th ID attacked in direction of the Saar. It cleaned banks of the Seille, captured Abaucourt, then advanced towards Nied. The seizure of an intact bridge in Han-sur-Nied made it possible to establish a bridgehead then turn the German backs. These operations obliged the Germans to withdraw from Metz, allowing the capture of this city by 5^th and 95^th ID. November 25^th, 80^th ID stormed the Maginot line. The capture of several forts the same and the following day - Laudrefang, Kinseling, Einseling and Quatre Vents - opened the road of Saint-Avold and the Saar. 80^th ID managed to progress up to 5 kilometers of Saarbrücken, before being replaced on December 7^th.

From Ardennes to Bavaria

February 8^th, 1945 - a smoke generator hides the location of the
crossing of 317t^h regiment on Our River.
From December 16^th, 80^th ID was redeployed against the Siegfried line, with mission to breach it then launch an offensive around Zweibrüicken. However, the offensive of the Ardennes started by von Rundstedt modified the American plans: like all the 3^rd Army, 80^th ID was reoriented north and directed to Luxembourg, with mission to defend the southern flank and cover approaches to the capital of the Grand Duchy.

From December 22^nd, the 80^th division tackled enemy positions, which it hustled in Ettelbruck. It joined then the 4^th AD in its race towards Bastogne - tanks and infantry managed to break the encircling of the city on December 28^th. It continued the offensive at the beginning of January, and pushed back the enemy at Goesdorf the 7th, then beyond the rivers Clerf and Wiltz, January 26^th.

From February 7^th, division penetrated in German territory. It attacked on Our and the Sure, managing to cross this latter in Wallendorf the evening. However, the strong rains and the floods which resulted prevented engineers from building a bridge up to the 12^th. Finally, it is only on February 15^th that 80^th ID managed to definitively overcome the Siegfried line. It progressed then quickly following the 4^th AD, crossed Prum, then Kyll rivers on the beginning of March. From March 9^th, it was employed to clean this area, while 5^th ID took over with the 4^th AD.

March 1945 – 80^th ID fights in Frankenstein.
During following weeks, 80^th ID progressed by the Saar and Palatinat, until Kaiserlautern. It obliqued then east to arrive on March 20^th on the Rhine, around Ludwigshafen. It crossed the river March 28^th, then moved towards the Northeast. At the end of one week of engagements, it captured Kassel (April 6^th). Advancing always more into the east, it seized Erfurt (April 12^th), then Weimar, and then Gera (April 14^th).

From April 21^st, division was put at rest in the area of Nuremberg as an occupation force. While the war ended, it carried out its last mission. It crossed the Danube in Regensburg, and, on May 1^st, accepted the capitulation of the 6. German Army. May 4^th, it released Ebensee, a camp of concentration attached to Mauthausen.

After the German capitulation, 80^th Infantry Division served briefly as occupation force. It was repatriated in the United States in December 1945 and dissolved immediately after. Since August 1944, 80^th ID had fought 239 days. Its losses are 2.614 dead and 10.795 wounded.

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