19th Division (United States)

19th Infantry Division
109th Infantry Division
Active1917–19
1944 (notional)
1947
Country United States
Branch United States Army
RolePhantom formation (in WWII)
SizeDivision
EngagementsWorld War I
World War II
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Brigadier General Benjamin T. Simmons

There have been a number of 19th Divisions in the history of the United States Army.

The first 19th Division was a National Guard division established in early 1917 consisting of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. By the end of that same year, the 19th Division became the 40th Division.

World War I

The 19th Division was organized on 1 September 1918 as a Regular Army and National Army division for service in the American Expeditionary Force from a mixture of existing and newly-raised units, however the division did not go overseas and demobilized in February 1919 at Camp Dodge, Iowa.[1][2]

Organization

The 19th Division gained the nickname "Twilight Division" and was composed of the following units, not all of which joined before the Armistice:[3]

World War II

The third iteration was the 19th Armored Division was constituted in the Army of the United States on 18 January 1943, however, it was never officially activated during the war.

The "19th Infantry Division" was a "phantom division" used as part of Allied deception measures. It was notionally assigned to SHAEF for use in Operation Fortitude South, but was never actually utilized during that endeavor.[4]

The division's order of battle included the following fictional units:

  • Headquarters, 19th Infantry Division
  • 572nd Infantry Regiment
  • 573rd Infantry Regiment
  • 578th Infantry Regiment
  • Divisional Troops

In July 1944, it was redesignated as the 109th Infantry Division.

Cold War

On 1 July 1946, the 19th Armored Division was allotted to the Organized Reserve. The headquarters was activated on 15 January 1947 at Los Angeles, California, and the Headquarters Company was activated on 1 July 1947. Both units were inactivated on 20 August 1947 and reflagged as the 13th Armored Division and activated the next day.[5] The 19th Armored Division was disbanded on 21 March 1952.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Dougherty, E. G. (26 August 1918). "Major General To Command At Dodge". The Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette.
  2. 1 2 Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War. Vol. 3, Part 2. Washington, DC: Center of Military, United States Army. 1988. p. 656 – via Google Books.
  3. ↑ Beamish, Richard J.; March, Francis Andrew (1919). America's Part in the World War: A History of the Full Greatness of Our Country's Achievements; the Record of the Mobilization and Triumph of the Military, Naval, Industrial and Civilian Resources of the United States. Philadelphia: John C. Winston Company. p. 567. Retrieved 14 April 2025.
  4. ↑ "US phantom divisions – Normandy landing | D-Day Overlord". Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  5. ↑ McKenny, Janice E. (1997). "Appendix A: Divisions Reflagged". Reflagging in the Army. United States Army Center of Military History. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2008.


This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.