Dedicated to veterans of the "Forgotten Front", 1942-1945
|
Dedicated to veterans of the "Forgotten Front", 1942-1945 |
|
"The war in Italy was tough. The land and the weather were both against us. It rained and it rained. Vehicles bogged down and bridges washed out. The country was shockingly beautiful, and just as shockingly hard to capture from the enemy." - Ernie Pyle in "Brave Men", 1944 |
|
CUSTER DIVISION 85th Infantry Division Monument Sons and Daughters of the Polar Bears of World War II
|
Welcome to our site commemorating the history of the 85th Infantry Division, Fifth Army, in World War II, with emphasis on the division's "Combat Team 9": the 339th Infantry, 910th Field Artillery Battalion, Co. C, 310th Engineers, and Co. C, 310th Medical Battalion, 1942 to 1945. The 85th Infantry Division was the second all-draftee infantry division to see combat in World War II. The division was named after George Armstrong Custer, a native of Michigan where the division was activated in 1917 for service during World War I. Re-activated at Camp Shelby, Mississippi in May 1942 the division trained at Camp Shelby, in nearby DeSoto National Forest, in the swamps of Louisiana, and at Camps Coxcomb and Pilot Knob at the Desert Training Area in California. In December 1943 and January 1944 the Custer Division was shipped overseas and landed in North Africa where the division went into further training in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria and then at the Invasion Training Center on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. In March 1944, the division's forward elements arrived in Italy and went into the line near Minturno. The division was officially in action as a complete unit on April 14, 1944. From that point on, the 85th Infantry Division was one of Fifth Army's premier fighting divisions and contributed directly to the capture of Rome, the destruction of the German "Gothic Line" in the North Apennines, and the closure of the Brenner Pass in the Italian Alps. At the close of hostilities, the Custer Division performed redeployment duties in Italy until ordered to return to the United States where it was deactivated on August 26, 1945. |
|
Latest News: February 2011: The first reunion of the Sons and Daughters of the Polar Bears of World War II was held at the Gettysburg Hotel in downtown Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, September 9-12, 2010. Check our Sons and Daughters of the Polar Bears of World War II page for more information about our organization.
|
|||||
|
The Author's Corner This webpage is meant to provide a database and history of the 85th Infantry Division in World War II. Future plans are for an expanded number of pages on the history of all three infantry regiments of the 85th Infantry Division, and brief histories of the division artillery, engineers, medical, and other support units. Additions will be added as time permits the author who is dealing with a heavy work load in the real world. Check back for future updates that will be posted as time allows. Like hundreds of other grateful sons, I'm proud that my dad was a serviceman in the Army of the United States during World War II. Pfc. Wilford C. "Bill" Heiser served in A Company, 399th Infantry, 100th Infantry Division and overseas in F Company, 339th Infantry, 85th Infantry Division. |
 Century Division |
 Pfc. W.C. Heiser 1917-2000 |
 Custer Division |
 |
Thanks for visiting! |
Thank a veteran for your freedom.
We fully support our servicemen and women in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Come home soon!
