The 34th Infantry Division is an infantry division of the United States Army, part of the National Guard. It has the Special Designation "Red Bull." Established on 18 July 1917 from National Guard units of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, the division trained at Camp Cody, New Mexico, during World War I. It arrived in France in October 1918, too late to see combat, and was disbanded on 18 February 1919. The division's shoulder sleeve insignia, designed at Camp Cody by American regionalist artist Marvin Cone, superimposed a red steer skull over a black Mexican water jug called an "olla," evoking the desert training grounds. Originally known as the "Sandstorm Division," the unit later adopted the nickname "Red Bulls."
In World War II, the 34th was the first American division deployed to Europe, arriving at Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 26 January 1942. The division fought in North Africa from Operation Torch in November 1942, capturing Hill 609 in Tunisia, before moving to Italy. There it fought at Salerno, through the Winter Line, at Monte Cassino, the Anzio beachhead, and the Gothic Line, before capturing Bologna in April 1945. The division accumulated 517 days of front-line combat across six major campaigns, suffered 16,401 battle casualties, and was awarded the French Croix de Guerre with Palm.
Inactivated on 3 November 1945, the division was reformed within the Iowa and Nebraska National Guards in 1946–1947. The 47th Infantry Division was separately activated for Minnesota and North Dakota in the division's former area. Both divisions were disbanded in 1963. On 10 February 1991, the 47th Division was "reflagged" as the 34th Infantry Division, restoring the Red Bull designation.
Since October 2001, the division has deployed personnel for homeland security duties in the continental United States, combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. The division draws units from multiple states, with the Minnesota and Iowa National Guards forming its core.
History World War I The division was established as the 34th Division of the National Guard on 18 July 1917, consisting of units from Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Camp Cody, New Mexico, was selected as its training site on 3 August. On 5 August, the National Guards of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and the Dakotas were drafted into federal service. The units that were to comprise the division began concentrating at Camp Cody on 19 August. On 25 August 1917, the division was placed under the command of Major General Augustus P. Blocksom, who was succeeded by Brigadier General Frank G. Mauldin briefly on 18 September 1917, but was back in command by 10 December 1917.
A controversy arose when Brigadier General Frederick Emil Resche, the commander of the division's 68th Infantry Brigade and a native of Germany who had long resided in Duluth, Minnesota, was accused of anti-American sentiments. No evidence was forthcoming, but Resche was still relieved of command in April 1918, supposedly for inefficiency.
Brigadier General Frank G. Mauldin took command. Systematic training began on 29 October 1917, and during October and November, 5,000 draftees arrived from Camp Dodge, Iowa, and Camp Funston, Kansas, while personnel losses up to and including 10 May 1918 aggregated about 4,000 men. In June 1918, nearly all of the division's trained personnel were sent overseas to meet the requirements of the AEF automatic replacement system. Replacements arrived in August, the majority drawn from Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The 34th Division arrived in France in October 1918, but it was too late for the division to be sent to the front, as the end of hostilities was near. Most personnel were sent through the AEF replacement system to other units to support their final operations. The Armistice with Germany was signed the following month.
Brigadier General John Alexander Johnston took command 26 October 1918. Charles Dudley Rhodes took command in December and led the division until its departure for the United States in January 1919. The 34th was disbanded on 18 February 1919 at Camp Grant, Illinois.
The division takes its name from the shoulder sleeve insignia designed for a 1917 training camp contest by American regionalist artist Marvin Cone, who was then a soldier enlisted in the unit. Cone's design evoked the desert training grounds of Camp Cody by superimposing a red steer skull over a black Mexican water jug called an "olla," while the unit was called the "Sandstorm Division." German troops in World War II called the 34th Infantry Division's soldiers "Red Devils" and "Red Bulls," and the division later officially adopted the divisional nickname Red Bulls.
World War I order of battle Units of the 34th Division during World War I included: Headquarters, 34th Division 67th Infantry Brigade (Headquarters, 1st Brigade, Iowa National Guard) 133rd Infantry Regiment (1st Iowa Infantry, Troop C, 1st Iowa Cavalry, Machine Gun Company, 4th Nebraska Infantry, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Iowa Infantry, and Separate Company, Iowa Infantry) 134th Infantry Regiment (5th Nebraska Infantry) 126th Machine Gun Battalion (2nd Battalion, 2nd Iowa Infantry and Machine Gun Company, 6th Nebraska Infantry) 68th Infantry Brigade (Headquarters, Minnesota National Guard Brigade) 135th Infantry Regiment (1st Minnesota Infantry) 136th Infantry Regiment (2nd Minnesota Infantry) 127th Machine Gun Battalion (2nd Squadron, South Dakota Cavalry and individual transfers from 1st Squadron, South Dakota Cavalry) 59th Field Artillery Brigade 125th Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm) (3rd Minnesota Infantry, less Machine Gun Company) 126th Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm) (1st Iowa Field Artillery) 127th Field Artillery Regiment (155 mm) (4th Nebraska Infantry, less Machine Gun Company) 109th Trench Mortar Battery (Headquarters Company less band, Supply Company, and Machine Gun Company, 2nd Iowa Infantry) 125th Machine Gun Battalion (Troop B, 1st Iowa Cavalry, Machine Gun Company, 3rd Minnesota Infantry, and 1st Battalion, 2nd Iowa Infantry) 109th Engineer Regiment (1st Separate Battalion Iowa Engineers, Sanitary Detachment, 2nd Iowa Infantry, Headquarters Company (less band), Supply Company, and 2nd Battalion, 6th Nebraska Infantry) 109th Field Signal Battalion (Company C, Iowa Signal Corps, and Company B, Nebraska Signal Corps) Headquarters Troop, 34th Division (Troop A, 1st Iowa Cavalry) 109th Train Headquarters and Military Police (1st Battalion, 6th Nebraska Infantry, less Company D) 109th Ammunition Train (Iowa ammunition train, Troop D, 1st Iowa Cavalry) 109th Supply Train (3rd Battalion, less Company I, 6th Nebraska Infantry) 109th Engineer Train (Company I, 6th Nebraska Infantry) 109th Sanitary Train 133rd, 134th, 135th, and 136th Ambulance Companies and Field Hospitals (1st and 2nd Iowa Ambulance Companies, 1st Minnesota Ambulance Company, 1st and 2nd Iowa Field Hospitals, 1st Minnesota Field Hospital, 1st North Dakota Field Hospital, and Company D, 6th Nebraska Infantry)
Interwar period Reorganization and training In accordance with the National Defense Act of 1920, the division was allotted to Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota, and assigned to the VII Corps in 1921. On 17 January 1921, the aviation unit of the Minnesota National Guard was the first National Guard aviation unit to receive federal recognition. Per War Department naming conventions, it was re-designated the 109th Observation Squadron on 25 January 1923. By 1924, a sufficient number of subordinate units had been organized to meet the federal standards for organization of a division headquarters and staff, and the division headquarters was reorganized and federally recognized on 14 July 1924 at Council Bluffs, Iowa, under the command of Major General Mathew A. Tinley; when Major General George E. Leach of Minnesota took command, the headquarters was relocated on 14 July 1940 to Camp Ripley, near Little Falls, Minnesota.
The designated mobilization training centre for the "Red Bull" Division was Camp Dodge, Iowa, near Des Moines, 1921–1930, and Camp Ripley, 1931–1940. For most years from 1921 to 1940, the division's subordinate units held separate summer camps at locations within their respective states: Camp Dodge for Iowa units; Camp Lake View on Lake Pepin near Lake City, until 1931, and from 1931 on, Camp Ripley for Minnesota units; Camp Gilbert C. Grafton near Devils Lake for North Dakota units; and Camp Rapid near Rapid City for South Dakota units. For at least one year, in 1938, the division's subordinate units also trained over eighty company-grade Reserve officers of the 88th Division at their various training camps in the division's home area. The division staff, composed of personnel from all four states, came together to conduct joint training for several summers before World War II. The staff generally alternated years between Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and Camp Dodge and participated in several corps area and army-level command post exercises.
Domestic deployments On 16 May 1934, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters initiated a strike (Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934), which quickly degenerated into open violence in the streets of Minneapolis. Minnesota governor Floyd B. Olson activated 4,000 National Guardsmen to suppress the chaos. Utilizing roving patrols, curfews, and security details, the 34th quickly restored order, enabling a negotiated settlement of the labour dispute.
On 18 June 1939, a tornado hit Anoka, Minnesota, and Governor Harold Stassen called on the Guard again. Three hundred Guardsmen patrolled the streets and imposed quasi-martial law while the community was stabilized.
Pre-war exercises The first opportunity for the entire division to operate together came in August 1937 during that portion of the Fourth Army maneuvers held at Camp Ripley. The next opportunity came in August 1940 when the division again assembled at Camp Ripley for the Seventh Corps Area concentration of the Fourth Army maneuvers. In that maneuver, the "Red Bull" Division operated as part of the "Red Army" against the 35th Division and the "Blue Army."
In 1929, the 185th Field Artillery Regiment was reassigned from the VII Corps Artillery to the 34th Division when the Army returned 155 mm howitzer regiments to infantry divisions. The 109th Ammunition Train was never authorized for organization, and was disbanded in an inactive status on 1 July 1940.
The 109th Medical Regiment was originally allotted to Minnesota and North Dakota. In 1927, the regiment was relieved from assignment to the 34th Division, assigned to the VII Corps, and the North Dakota elements were concurrently withdrawn and allotted to Minnesota. No units of the regiment were ever organized before it was withdrawn from allotment to the National Guard in September 1927 and demobilized. Concurrently, the 136th Medical Regiment, allotted to Iowa and South Dakota, was reassigned from the VII Corps to the 34th Division with all South Dakota elements withdrawn and allotted to Iowa. The regiment, less two companies active since 1922 and 1926, respectively, began organization in April 1939.
World War II The expanding war in Europe threatened to draw a reluctant United States into the conflict. As the potential of U.S. involvement in World War II became more evident, initial steps were taken to prepare troops for what lay ahead through "precautionary training." The division was deemed one of the most service-ready units, and Ellard A. Walsh was promoted to major general in June 1940, and then succeeded to division commander in August. The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 was signed into law 16 September, and the first conscription in U.S. history during peacetime commenced.
WWII division organization Square division