The 1st Infantry Division
"Big Red One"

Operation Husky
 

Photos

The Army

Army List

This army was used by Sean Smith at Natcon 2003 & Call to Arms 2003.

The Rifle company below is inspired by the Big Red One at the landings in Sicily in July 1943.

HQ

1 Company command rifle team
1 2inC command rifle team 
1 Bazooka team

1st Rifle Platoon

1 Command rifle team
1 Bazooka team
2 Squads (6 rifle teams)

2nd Rifle Platoon

1 Command team
1 Bazooka team
2 Squads (6 rifle teams)

Anti-tank Platoon

1 Command rifle team in a jeep armed with an AA HMG
3 57mm anti-tank guns towed by 0.75 ton Dodge trucks  

Machine-gun Platoon

1 Command rifle team in a jeep armed with a AA HMG
2 Machine-gun sections (2 HMG & 1 Bazooka team in each section)

Reconnaissance Platoon

1 Recon Jeep armed with a light mortar
2 M3 Scout Car each armed with 1 AA HMG & 2 AA MGs
 
Tank Platoon

4 M4A3 Shermans

Artillery Battery

1 Command Rifle Team in a 0.75 Dodge truck with AA HMG
1 Staff team in a 0.75 ton Dodge truck with AA HMG
2 Observers each in a jeep
4 105mm howitzers towed by 2.5 ton Dodge trucks

Total Points = 1495

Note: Designed using solely the FOW rule book.

History

Introduction

The 1st Infantry Division was nicknamed the ‘Big Red One’ because of the large red ‘1’ on the division’s shoulder patch. It was formed in 1917 as part of America’s commitment to General Pershing’s Expeditionary Force.

At the commencement of WWII it was the oldest active division of the U.S. army. During WWII it fought in North Africa, Sicily, France and Germany.

Operation Husky

The Big Red One’s initial landings in Sicily went well, there was light opposition from the Italian Army. However, high surf, mines and traffic jams at beach exits prevented the landing of tanks. On D+1 a Kampfgruppen from the Herman Goring Division, consisting of 100 panzers, made a strong counter attack against the beachhead. It managed to breakthrough the centre of the Big Red One’s defenses and get loose on to the Gela plain, threatening the beachhead.

Sicily Campaign Map

At the critical moment 4 Sherman tanks (First Lieutenant James A White’s third platoon, C Company, 82 Reconnaissance Battalion) arrived to assist the artillerymen, who had depressed the tubes of their 105mm howitzers to fire point blank at the panzers, and infantry defending the tree lined Gela highway (the last defensible position before the beachhead).

The fighting was so intense that at one point the crews of two Shermans had to dismount to clean gun barrels in the middle of battle, in ordered to be able to continue firing. Later the visibility was so limited, because of the naval bombardment, tank commanders had to dismount and lead their tanks on foot to new firing positions.

They managed to hold off the panzers with the assistance of 4.2 inch mortars and naval gun fire, which concealed their presence, until support arrived in the form of more tanks and anti-tank guns. No panzer penetrated beyond the tree lined Gela highway.

In the subsequent campaign for Sicily the Big Red One fought it's way over the Sicily’s mountains, capturing Troina and opening the allied road to the Straits of Messina.

The Rest of World War II

The Big Red One is best known for its landing on D-Day June 6 1944. The Division's 16th Regiment stormed Omaha Beach. Unfortunately, all of the amphibious tanks assigned to support the Regiment sank before they reached the beach (they were swamped because the sea conditions were rougher than expected and they were launched too early). Within two hours, the soldiers of the decimated Regiment were huddled behind the seawall. The beach was so congested with the dead and the dying there was no room to land reinforcements. Colonel George Taylor, Commander of the 16th Infantry Regiment, told his men "Two kinds of people are staying on this beach! The dead and those who are going to die! Now lets get the hell out of here!". Slowly small groups of soldiers managed to fight there way onto high bluffs covering the beach and root out the German defenders, who had raked them with machine gun fire when they landed.   

The 16th Regiment succeeded at Omaha (in spite of the strong opposition and no armour support) because of the ‘perversity’ it displayed, which was one the defining qualities of the Big Red One in WWII.

The Big Red One went on to fight its way through the Normandy Hedgerows, liberated Liege, Belgium, and pushed to the German border, crossing through the fortified Siegfried line. It attacked the first major German city, Aachen and after days of bitter fighting, the German commander surrendered the city on October 21 1944.

On 15 January 1945, it attacked and penetrated the Siegfried Line for the second time and occupied the Remagen bridgehead. On Easter Sunday, 1 April 1945 it marched 150 miles to the east of Siegen. On 8 April it crossed the Weser river, into Czechoslovakia. The war was over on 8 May 1945.

By the end of World War II the Big Red One had suffered 21,023 casualties, 43,743 men had served in its ranks, its soldiers had won 20,752 medals and awards (including 16 Congressional Medals of Honor) and had captured over 100,000 prisoners.

Sources

Grunts.net: Home of United States Military History webpage.
2003 The United States Army Combat Arms Divisions.
URL: http://www.grunts.net/army.html.

Carlo D'Estate
1998 Bitter Victory: The Battle of Sicily 1943. Publisher - E P Dutton.

United States Military Academy West Point Department of History Map Library
URL: http://www.dean.usma.edu/history/dhistorymaps/Atlas%20Page.htm