Fact Sheet

106th Infantry Division

TYPE OF DIVISION:  Army of the United States
 

NICKNAME:  “Golden Lion” Division 
 

SONG: “Onward Lions of 106 to Victory,”  words and music by Frank Power.  
 

SHOULDER PATCH:  The Division insignia is a golden lion’s face on a blue circular background encircled by white, and then red borders respectively.  The blue represents the Infantry and the red the supporting artillery.  The lion’s face is indicative of strength and power.  
 

ACTIVATION  DATE:  15 March 1943.

INACTIVATION DATE:  2 October 1945, Camp Shanks, NY.
 

COMPONENT UNITS:    422, 423 and 424 Inf Regts; 81 Engr Combat Bn; 106 Cav Rcn Tp (Mecz); 331 Med Bn.  Div Arty: 589, 590 and 591st FA Bns (105 how) and 592 FA Bn (155 how).  Sp Tps: 106 QM Co, 106 Sig Co, 806 Ord Co (LM), Hq Co, MP Plat and  Band.

TRAINING UNDER ARMY GROUND FORCES:   The division was activated at Fort Jackson SC, and was assigned to the III Corps of the Second Army.  The 106th came through its first test, during the Second Army maneuvers held in Tennessee from Jan to Mar 1944, with flying colors.  In March 1944, the division was transferred to Camp Atterbury, Ind., under the second Army.
 

DEPARTED U.S. FOR FOREIGN DUTY:  10 November 1944  (See Note below)
 

OVERSEAS TRAINING:  Trained briefly in England and then in France before being put into the line.
 

DATE ENTERED COMBAT: (Division) 10 December 1944.  
 

COMBAT DAYS (DIV):   63
 

RETURNED TO U.S.:   1 October 1945
 

BATTLE CREDITS:  (Division)    Northern France, Ardennes, and Rhineland.
 

SUCCESSIVE COMMANDING GENERALS:   MG Alan W. Jones from 15 Mar 1943 through Nov 1944;  MG Donald A Stroh from Feb 1945 to inactivation.
 

DISTINGUISHED UNIT CITATION:   81st Engr Cmbt Bn for 16-23 Dec 1944 action in Germany.
 

COMBAT HIGHLIGHTS:  On 11 Dec 1944, the 106th Infantry Division went into the line in Belgium.  It was a quiet sector.  Five days later all the hell of modern war broke loose in that sector.  The full force of Von Rundstadt’s breakthrough spearhead came up against the 106th.  The regiments of the division absorbed all the power which the Germans could deliver at that point.  Only a handful of men from the regiments came back, but it could be said of the division as a whole that it went down fighting.  The German attack started 16 Dec 1944.  The enemy turned its guns on the 422nd and 423rd Inf Regts and followed up with infantry and tank assaults.  On 23 Dec the division pulled back to reorganize, but was thrown into the line once again the next day.  It finally helped to halt the Germans on the north side of the salient between Stavelot and Manhay.  During the gigantic German offensive the 106th suffered 8663 casualties, which included  more than 7000 men missing.  Before the last big drive into the Reich could gain momentum, the division was pulled back to Rennes France for rehabilitation.  While there it also constituted the reserve for American troops investing the St Nazaire and Lorient pockets.   When the Germans began to surrender by the thousands in April and early May 1945, the 106th was rushed east to take over the partly-built prisoner of war cages and to handle the masses of humanity who were milling about in American held territory.  The division in June 1945, had a strength of 40,000 men, three times the size of an ordinary Infantry Division, because of the gigantic task it had to undertake on caring for prisoners and displaced persons.  Late in June the division had headquarters at Bad Ems, and was disposed along a 340 mile front.  The division sailed for the US in late Sep 1945 and was inactivated upon arrival in this country.

 Source:  These fact sheets are from The Information Section, Analysis Branch, Hq Army Ground Forces, Washington 25 DC, 1 Mar 1947, as  found in the records of the National Archives and Records Administration, RG 407, Archives II, College Park MD.  Not all of the Division’s Fact sheets have survived and they are being presented here in random order as new ones are found.