The 30th Infantry Division was a United States Army unit of the National Guard that served in World War I and World War II. It was nicknamed the "Old Hickory" division, in honor of President Andrew Jackson. The Germans nicknamed this division "Roosevelt's SS". The 30th Infantry Division, involved in 282 days of intense combat over a period from June 1944 through April 1945, was regarded by a team of historians led by S.L.A. Marshall as the American infantry division that had "performed the most efficient and consistent battle services" in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). In the present day, the division's lineage continues as 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team, part of the North Carolina National Guard. The unit's most recent combat deployment was in 2019.

History World War I

The division was originally activated as the 9th Division (drawing units from the National Guard of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee) under a 1917 force plan, but changed designation to the 30th Division after the American entry into World War I in April 1917. From August 28, 1917 to May 1. 1918, the 30th Division trained at Camp Sevier in Taylors, South Carolina. It was formally activated under its new title in October 1917.

In May 1918, the division was sent to Europe and arrived in England, where it departed for the Western Front soon after. The division, along with the 27th Division, was assigned to the U.S. II Corps but did not serve with the main American Expeditionary Force (AEF) and was instead attached to the Second Army of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), trading American equipment for British equipment.

The major operations the 30th Division took part in were the Ypres-Lys, and the Somme offensive, in which it was one of the two American divisions assigned to the Fourth British Army that broke the Hindenburg Line on September 29, 1918. The Thirtieth Division broke through on its entire front, taking Bellicourt and part of Nauroy by noon of the 29th. The Australian 5th Division, coming up at this time, continued the attack with elements of the 30th division. The division had, in three months, from July until October 1918, sustained 1,237 officers and men killed in action (KIA), with a further 7,178 wounded in action (WIA) or missing in action (MIA).

WWI Division organization Headquarters, 30th Division 59th Infantry Brigade 117th Infantry Regiment (3rd Tennessee Infantry) 118th Infantry Regiment (1st South Carolina Infantry, detachments from 2nd and 3rd Battalions, 1st North Carolina Infantry, and 3rd Battalion, 2nd South Carolina Infantry) 114th Machine Gun Battalion (Troops A, B, and C, 1st Squadron Tennessee Cavalry) 60th Infantry Brigade 119th Infantry Regiment (2nd North Carolina Infantry, 1st Battalion, Headquarters Company (less band), Supply Company, and detachments from 2nd and 3rd Battalions, 2nd Tennessee Infantry, and detachments from 1st North Carolina Infantry) 120th Infantry Regiment (3rd North Carolina Infantry, detachments from 2nd and 3rd Battalions, 2nd Tennessee Infantry and 1st North Carolina Infantry, and band, 2nd Tennessee Infantry) 115th Machine Gun Battalion (Machine Gun Troop, North Carolina Cavalry, Troops B and C, 1st Squadron, North Carolina Cavalry, and detachment from 2nd Battalion, 1st North Carolina Infantry) 55th Field Artillery Brigade 113th Field Artillery Regiment (1st North Carolina Field Artillery and detachments from 1st North Carolina Infantry) 114th Field Artillery Regiment (1st Tennessee Field Artillery and detachment from 2nd Battalion, 1st North Carolina Infantry) 115th Field Artillery Regiment (1st Tennessee Infantry, less Machine Gun Company, detachment from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Tennessee Infantry, and detachment from 3rd Battalion, 1st North Carolina Infantry) 105th Trench Mortar Battery (Troop D, Tennessee Cavalry) 113th Machine Gun Battalion (Machine Gun Company, 1st Tennessee Infantry, as Company A; Machine Gun Company, 2nd Tennessee Infantry, as Company B; Machine Gun Company, 1st North Carolina Infantry, as Company C; Machine Gun Company, 2d South Carolina Infantry as, Company D; detachments of 2nd Battalion. 2nd Tennessee Infantry and 2nd Battalion, 1st North Carolina Infantry) 105th Engineer Regiment (Companies A, B, and C, North Carolina Engineers, and Sanitary Detachment, Supply Company, Band, and Companies B, C, and D, 1st North Carolina Infantry) 105th Field Signal Battalion (Company A, North Carolina Signal Corps as nucleus) Headquarters Troop, 30th Division (Troop A, South Carolina Cavalry) 105th Train Headquarters and Military Police (Sanitary Detachment and Headquarters Company (loss band), 2nd South Carolina Infantry, and Troops A and D, 1st Squadron, North Carolina Cavalry) 105th Ammunition Train (1st and 2d Battalions, 2nd South Carolina Infantry, and detachments from 2nd and 3rd Battalions, 1st North Carolina Infantry) 105th Supply Train (North Carolina Supply Train, Supply Company, 2nd South Carolina Infantry, and individual transfers) 105th Engineer Train (Company A, 1st North Carolina Infantry) 105th Sanitary Train (1st North Carolina Ambulance Company, 1st North Carolina Field Hospital, 1st Tennessee Field Hospital, 1st South Carolina Field Hospital, and individual transfers) 117th, 118th, 119th, and 120th Ambulance Companies and Field Hospitals

Interwar period The 30th Division headquarters arrived at the port of Charleston, South Carolina, aboard the USS Madawaska on 2 April 1919 after 11 months of overseas service and was demobilized on 7 May 1919 at Camp Jackson, South Carolina. In accordance with the National Defense Act of 1920, the division was allotted to the states of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, and assigned to the IV Corps. The division headquarters was reorganized and federally recognized 24 August 1926 at 121 Capitol Square, Atlanta, Georgia. The division headquarters was relocated on 20 September 1932 to Macon, Georgia. The designated mobilization training center for the “Old Hickory” Division was Camp Jackson, where much of the division's training activities occurred between the wars. For most years, the division's subordinate units held separate summer camps at locations usually within their respective states: Tybee Island or St. Simons Island for Georgia units; Camp Glenn near Morehead City for North Carolina units; Camp Jackson for South Carolina units; Camp Peay near Tullahoma or Camp John Sevier near Greenville, South Carolina for Tennessee units. The division staff, composed of personnel from all four states, came together to conduct joint training for several summers before World War II. The division staff usually assembled at Camp Jackson most summers, but conducted their training at Tybee Island for at least one camp. The division also participated in several corps area and army-level command post exercises.

The first opportunity that the division's units had to operate together came in 1928 when the entire “Old Hickory” Division was assembled at Camp Jackson from 8–22 July under a War Department experimental program designed to bring together multistate National Guard divisions for joint training. The experiment was declared a success, but due to budget constraints, the program was never fully implemented. The division was assembled again for the 1932 camp, but units were staggered over a 6-week period, so no large-scale training was conducted. The next opportunity came in August 1938 when the division was assembled at the DeSoto National Forest in Mississippi for the Fourth Corps Area concentration of the Third Army maneuvers. In that maneuver, the “Old Hickory” Division operated as part of the provisional IV Corps. The division's final training event before induction came in August 1940 when the 30th Division participated in the Third Army maneuvers in the Kisatchie National Forest near Alexandria, Louisiana. For that maneuver, the division again operated as part of the IV Corps against the provisional VIII Corps. The division was inducted into active federal service at home stations on 16 September 1940, assigned to the IV Corps, and ordered to move to Camp Jackson, where it arrived about 20 September 1940. After the division's initial train-up period, it participated in the VII Corps Tennessee Maneuvers in May–June 1941, and in the Carolina Maneuvers as part of the I Corps near Cheraw-Chesterfield, South Carolina, in November 1941 At this time, the 121st Infantry Regiment was relieved from the division and reassigned to the 8th Infantry Division. In late 1941, the division lost approximately 6,000 men when one-year enlistments in the Army of the United States expired and other men were released from active duty for hardship to their dependents as stipulated by Congress.

World War II WWII division organization Square division On 16 September 1940, the 30th Division was inducted into federal service at home stations and then assembled at Fort Jackson in South Carolina. It was one of four National Guard divisions to be inducted into federal service for a one-year period that day. The other divisions were the 41st Division, 44th Division and 45th Division. At the time the division still retained its World War I square organization and consisted of the following units.

30th Division, in Macon (GA)Clay, Vol. 1, p.224 30th Division Headquarters 59th Infantry Brigade, in Columbia (SC) Headquarters and Headquarters Company 118th Infantry Regiment, in Charleston (SC) Headquarters and Headquarters Company 3× Infantry battalions each battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 3× Rifle companies, 1× Weapons Company Anti-Tank Company (M3 37mm Anti-Tank guns) Service Company 121st Infantry Regiment, in Macon (GA) (transferred on 22 November 1941 to the 8th Infantry Division) same organization as 118th Infantry Regiment 60th Infantry Brigade, in Graham (NC) Headquarters and Headquarters Company 117th Infantry Regiment, in Knoxville (TN) same organization as 118th Infantry Regiment 120th Infantry Regiment, in Raleigh (NC) same organization as 118th Infantry Regiment 55th Field Artillery Brigade, in Savannah (GA) Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 113th Field Artillery Regiment, in Raleigh (NC) Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 2× Medium Field Artillery battalions Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 3× Howitzer batteries (M1918 155mm towed howitzers, replaced by M1 155mm towed howitzers in 1941) Anti-Tank Battery (M1897 75mm anti-tank guns) Service Battery 115th Field Artillery Regiment, in Memphis (TN) Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 2× Light Field Artillery battalions Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 3× Howitzer batteries (M1897 75mm field guns), replaced by M2 105mm towed howitzers in 1941) Service Battery 118th Field Artillery Regiment, in Savannah (GA) same organization as 115th Field Artillery Regiment 105th Engineer Regiment, in Raleigh (NC) Headquarters and Headquarters and Service Company 2× Engineer battalions each battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters, 3× Engineer companies 105th Medical Regiment, in Henderson (NC) Headquarters and Headquarters and Service Company Collecting Battalion battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters, 3× Collecting companies Ambulance Battalion battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters, 3× Ambulance companies Clearing Battalion battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters, 3× Clearing companies 105th Quartermaster Regiment, in Charleston (SC) Headquarters and Headquarters Company 2× Truck battalions each battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters, 2× Truck companies Light Maintenance and Car Battalion battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters, 1× Light Maintenance Company, 1× Car Company Service Company Headquarters, Special Troops, in Griffin (GA) Headquarters Company, 30th Division, in Griffin (GA) 30th Signal Company, in Canton (NC) 105th Ordnance Company, in Nashville (TN)