1 Summary of shipment of division
headquarters by month.
2 The date given for overseas orders
is that of AGO orders to the division headquarters
to move the division to the staging area or
port of embarkation from which the division
actually left.
3 Port of embarkation from which
the division headquarters and main body of
troops sailed.
4 This dating is that given for "completed
overseas movement" in the chart, "Estimated
Status of Divisions as of 15 November 1945,"
prepared by the Logistics Group, OPD.
5 Date of reshipment is the- date
of sailing of the division headquarters for
a new destination unless otherwise indicated.
6 The Philippine Division was activated
in the Philippine Islands on 8 June 1Q21, and
at the beginning of hostilities in December
1941 consisted of two Philippine Scout régimes
the 45th and 57th Infantry arid an American
regiment-the 31st Infantry all part of the
Regular Army. The division was lost in combat
against the Japanese in the Philippine Islands
in April 1942.
7 The 24th Infantry Division, originally
activated in Hawaii in 1921 as the Hawaiian
Division, was redesignated the 24th Infantry
Division on 26 August 1941. The division, on
Oahu with headquarters at Schofield Barracks,
suffered minor casualties when the Japanese
bombed Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Thereafter
the 24th Division was charged with the defense
of northern Oahu. In the summer of 1943 the
division was moved to Australia to undergo
further training for the Hollandia- Tanahmerah
campaign.
8 The 25th Infantry Division was activated
on 1 October 1941 in Hawaii with the 27th and
35th Infantry Regiments (formerly part of the
Hawaiian Division) assigned to it. Before the
attack on Pearl Harbor, the division guarded
vital installations on southern Oahu. After
7 December 1941 the 25th Division moved to
beach positions for the defense of Honolulu
and Ewa Plains.
9 On 25 November 1942 the 25th Division
began moving to Australia, but the destination
was changed to Guadalcanal to make possible
the relief of marines near Henderson Field.
The division movement was trade in three phases,
leaving Hawaii on 25 November, 10 December,
and 17 December. First elements of the division
landed near the -Tenaru River, Guadalcanal,
on 17 December 1942 and entered combat on 10
January 194'3.
10 The 34th Division left New York
for Northern Ireland in three waves between
January and May 1942, the division headquarters
arriving in Northern Ireland in January.
11 Advance detachments of the 34th
Division ( 168th Regimental Combat Team) landed
at Algiers on 8 November 1942 with the Eastern
Assault Force. On 21 December 1942 and 3 January
1943 units of the division that had been left
behind in the British Isles landed at Oran.
12 Task Force 6814, which was organized
in the United States for the defense of New
Caledonia, left the New York Port of Embarkation
on 22 January 1942, sailing via Panama and
Australia. (Americal Division operations reports
give the sailing date as 2:3 January 1942,
but records of the New York Port of Embarkation
give the loading date for Task Force 6814 as
19-20 January, and sailing date as 22 January
1942.) After the task force arrived in New
Caledonia, additional units were requested.
During April the 164th Infantry Regiment, the
97th Field Artillery Battalion (pack), the
72d Field Artillery Regiment, and the 700th
Signal Air Warning Company arrived at New Caledonia
and were added to Task Force 6814. On 24 May
1942 the Americal Division was constituted
and organized from units of Task Force 6814.
13 The 164th Infantry Regiment of
the Americal Division went into action on Guadalcanal
on 13 October 1942. When the arrival of the
first elements of the 43d Division in New Caledonia
permitted the release of the Americal Division
from its mission of defending New Caledonia,
the entire division was committed to Guadalcanal.
The second unit of the Americal Division, the
182d Regimental Combat Team, arrived at Guadalcanal
on 12 November 1942 and was followed a few
weeks later by the division headquarters and
other units.
14 Strength reports and OPD's "Estimated
Status of Divisions as of 15 November 1945"
give an April dating for the arrival of the
entire 27th Division overseas. According to
Capt. Edmund G. Love (The 27th Infantry Division
in World War II, p. 18), the Lurline, carrying
the 27th Division headquarters, arrived at
Hilo on 15 March 1942, and the division completed
its overseas movement in April 1942.
15 This date represents the sailing
of the first contingent of the 41st Division
from Australia for New Guinea. -The 163d Infantry
Regiment arrived at Port Moresby on 27 December
1942, the 186th Infantry Regiment arrived in
New Guinea in January, and the 162d Infantry
Regiment arrived in February 1943.
16 Late in December 1941 the 32d Division
had been earmarked for MAGNET (Northern Ireland)
and in February 1942 was ordered to Fort Devens,
Massachusetts, in preparation for overseas
movement. In March the division was withdrawn
from the MAGNET Force and ordered to the San
Francisco Port of Embarkation for shipment
to Australia.
17 The transfer of the 126th and the
128th Infantry Combat Teams of the 32d Division
to New Guinea was accomplished partly by sea
and partly by air, the division headquarters
being flown to Port Moresby. The 127th Infantry
Combat Team disembarked at Port Moresby two
months later, on Thanksgiving day.
18 The 10th Infantry Regiment (less
the 2d Battalion) and the 46th Field Artillery
Battalion of the 5th Division had arrived in
Iceland on 16 September 1941. Other elements
of the division left the United States in February
and early April 1942.
19 Elements of the 1st Armored Division
first went into action in the North African
invasion, landing at Oran on 8 November 1942.
20 In January 1942 the 37th Division
was ordered to the New York Port of Embarkation
for shipment to Northern Ireland. After arriving
at the staging area, Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania,
the division was ordered in March to the San
Francisco Port of Embarkation for shipment
to New Zealand. The 1st and 3d Battalions of
the 147th Infantry Regiment, and the 134th
Field Artillery Battalion had been detached
from the division in March, sailing from the
New York Port of Embarkation for Tonga. In
May the destination of the 37th Division was
changed to the Fiji Islands, and the main body
of troops sailed late in May.
21 Estimates vary between 20 October
1942 as the date the 43d Division completed
overseas movement and 30 October as the port-of-debarkation
arrival date for the 43d Division. Since the
172d Regimental Combat Tram of the i3d Division
sailed on 6 October and arrived at Espiritu
Santo on 26 October, the 30 October date has
been used as that for completion of overseas
movement.
22 The 3d Division had been given
amphibious training in California and scheduled
for shipment to the Pacific, but was earmarked
for the North African operation in August 1942
because of its advanced state of training.
23 Elements of the 2d Armored Division
landed at three points on the French Moroccan
coast in the North African invasion on 8 November
1942. The division as a whole did not enter
combat until the invasion of Sicily, at the
assault landing at Gela, 10 July 1943.
24 In September 1942 the 9th Division
was assigned to Task Force "A," but
the 39th Combat Team (about one half of the
division) sailed from New York on 26 September
1992, landing at Belfast, Ireland on 5 October.
-this unit sailed from the United Kingdom on
26 October with the Eastern Assault Force for
the North African invasion, landing east of
Algiers on 8 November. The 47th and 60th Combat
'reams (about one fourth of the division) left
the United States with the Western Task Force
on 24 October, coming to North Africa on 8
November. The 47th Combat Tram landed at Safi,
and the 60th Combat Team landed at Port Lyautey,
French Morocco. The remaining elements of the
division (about one fourth) had arrived in
North Africa front the United Stairs at the
end of January 1943. The division was not entirely
reassembled as a unit until March 1943, in
Tunisia.