Order of battle

• Headquarters, 90th Division
• 179th Infantry Brigade
  • 357th Infantry Regiment
  • 358th Infantry Regiment
  • 344th Machine Gun Battalion
• 180th Infantry Brigade
  • 359th Infantry Regiment
  • 360th Infantry Regiment
  • 345th Machine Gun Battalion
• 165th Field Artillery Brigade
  • 343rd Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm)
  • 344th Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm)
  • 345th Field Artillery Regiment (155 mm)
  • 315th Trench Mortar Battery
• 343rd Machine Gun Battalion
• 315th Engineer Regiment
• 315th Medical Regiment
• 315th Field Signal Battalion
• Headquarters Troop, 90th Division
• 315th Train Headquarters and Military Police
  • 315th Ammunition Train
  • 315th Supply Train
  • 315th Engineer Train
  • 315th Sanitary Train
    • 357th, 358th, 359th, and 360th Ambulance Companies and Field Hospitals

Order of battle

• Headquarters, 90th Infantry Division
• 357th Infantry Regiment
• 358th Infantry Regiment
• 359th Infantry Regiment
• Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 90th Infantry Division Artillery
  • 343rd Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
  • 344th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
  • 345th Field Artillery Battalion (155 mm)
  • 915th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
• 315th Engineer Combat Battalion
• 315th Medical Battalion
• 90th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized)
• Headquarters, Special Troops, 90th Infantry Division
  • Headquarters Company, 90th Infantry Division
  • 790th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company
  • 90th Quartermaster Company
  • 90th Signal Company
  • Military Police Platoon
  • Band
• 90th Counterintelligence Corps Detachment

Combat chronicle

The 90th Infantry Division landed in England, 5 April 1944, and trained from 10 April to 4 June.

Lieutenant of the 1st Polish Armoured Division and American officer of the 359th Infantry Regiment after the units meet up at Chambois, August 1944.

The first elements of the division saw action on D-Day, 6 June, on Utah Beach, Normandy, the remainder entering combat 10 June, cutting across the Merderet River to take Pont l'Abbe in heavy fighting. After defensive action along the river Douve, the division attacked to clear the Foret de Mont-Castre (Hill 122), clearing it by 11 July, in spite of fierce resistance. In this action, the division suffered 5,000 men killed, wounded, or captured, one of the highest casualty rates suffered in WWII. An attack on the island of Saint-Germain-sur-Sèves on 23 July failed so the 90th bypassed it and took Périers on 27 July.

On 12 August, the division drove across the Sarthe River, north and east of Le Mans, and took part in the closing of the Falaise Gap, by reaching 1st Polish Armored Division in Chambois, 19 August.

357th Regiment, take shelter behind a blasted wall and keep an eye out for enemy snipers, near Maizeres Les Metz, France.

The monument to the 90th Infantry Division at Utah Beach, Normandy, France.

It then raced across France, through Verdun, 6 September, to participate in the siege of Metz, 14 September – 19 November, capturing Maizières-lès-Metz, 30 October, and crossing the Moselle River at Kœnigsmacker, 9 November. Elements of the 90th Infantry assaulted and captured the German-held Fort de Koenigsmacker 9–12 November.

On 6 December 1944, the division pushed across the Saar River and established a bridgehead north of Saarlautern (present-day Saarlouis), 6–18 December, but with the outbreak of Gerd von Rundstedt's (Army Group A) drive, the Battle of the Bulge, withdrew to the west bank on 19 December, and went on the defensive until 5 January 1945, when it shifted to the scene of the Ardennes struggle, having been relieved along the Saar River by the 94th Infantry Division. It drove across the Our River, near Oberhausen, 29 January, to establish and expand a bridgehead. On 19 February, the division smashed through Siegfried Line fortifications to the Prüm River.

16 Tough 'Ombres killed in action during the Battle of the Bulge in Sonlez.

The 90th Division's military chaplain leads a field service for 3201st Quartermaster Service Company in Foy, Belgium (26 February 1945)

After a short rest, the 90th continued across the Moselle River to take Mainz, 22 March, and crossed the rivers Rhine, the Main, and the Werra in rapid succession. Pursuit continued to the Czech border, 18 April 1945, and into the Sudetes mountain range. The division was en route to Prague when they came upon the remaining 1500 emaciated prisoners left behind by the SS at Flossenbürg concentration camp. Today, a memorial wall at the former camp honors the 90th as the liberators of Flossenbürg concentration camp.^[4] A week later, word came that the war in Europe ended on 8 May 1945.

Casualties

• Total battle casualties: 19,200^[5]
• Killed in action: 3,342^[5]
• Wounded in action: 14,386^[5]
• Missing in action: 287^[5]
• Prisoner of war: 1,185^[5]

Assignments in ETO

• 5 March 1944: Third Army.
• 23 March 1944: Third Army, but attached to First Army.
• 27 March 1944: VII Corps.
• 19 June 1944: VIII Corps.
• 30 July 1944: Third Army, but attached to First Army.
• 1 August 1944: XV Corps, Third Army, 12th Army Group.
• 17 August 1944: Third Army, 12th Army Group, but attached to V Corps, First Army.
• 25 August 1944: XV Corps, Third Army, 12th Army Group.
• 26 August 1944: XX Corps
• 6 January 1945: III Corps.
• 26 January 1945: VIII Corps.
• 12 March 1945: XII Corps.