The 30th Infantry Division during World War II

30th Infantry Division during World War I

The 30^th Infantry Division was formed in 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. The division contained National Guard units from the Carolinas and Tennessee. As part of the American Expeditionary Forces, it fought with valor against the German army in France in 1918. When World War I ended, the 30th Infantry Division was deactivated and returned to its prewar status as National Guard units.

30th Infantry Division during World War II

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US troops wade ashore at Normandy on D-Day (Photo)

US troops wade ashore at Normandy on D-Day, the beginning of the Allied invasion of France to establish a second front against German forces in Europe. Normandy, France, June 6, 1944.

Credits:

• National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD

In 1940, one year after Nazi Germany invaded Poland and triggered World War II, the United States War Department reactivated the 30th Infantry Division.

In 1944, the 30th Infantry Division was sent to Great Britain as part of the planned Allied landing on the European continent. In June 1944, units of the 30th stormed the Normandy beaches following the D-Day invasion. The following winter the division fought in the Battle of the Bulge and helped drive back the German attack. In March 1945, the 30th Infantry Division crossed the Rhine River and quickly reached Madgeburg by April 17th.

The 30th Infantry Division and the Liberation of the Weferlingen Subcamp

As the 30th Infantry Division moved east into Germany, it liberated the Weferlingen subcamp on April 12, 1945. Weferlingen (code name “Gazelle”) was a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. There, US soldiers found 421 prisoners in dire need of medical attention. The inmates had been forced to construct tunnels for an underground armaments factory. Once this was completed, the prisoners had to build engines for the German war effort. Division representatives arranged for the mayors of the neighboring towns of Grasleben and Walbeck to immediately provide food for the starving inmates. Later, the 30th Infantry Division’s 105th Medical Battalion provided former prisoners with medical supplies to help them recover.

The 30th Encounters a Transport of Bergen-Belsen Prisoners

On April 13, 1945, members of the 30th encountered about 200 starving and ill Jewish concentration camp prisoners. The prisoners had escaped from a nearby transport. The American soldiers then sent two tanks to find the train with the remaining inmates. They located it near the German village of Farsleben. The unit's “after action” report indicated that:

There were 12 German military guards including the train commander who gave up without a fight when they saw our tanks. There 2500 pitable [sic], oppressed people from all over Europe, starved, beaten, ill, some dying, but all of whom were wildly happy and grateful to their “liberators.” The tank crews passed out what food and cigarettes they could to help the sufferers. These people, mostly Jewish political prisoners, had been until recently kept at a concentration camp near Hanover.1Footnote 11

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Gina Rappaport stands next to an American tank after liberation. (Photo)

Gina Rappaport (later Leitersdorf) stands next to an American tank shortly after her liberation by American troops of the 743rd Tank Battalion and the 30th Infantry Division. She had been rescued from a Nazi transport near the German village of Farsleben. Fluent in several languages, she translated for the Americans and other survivors of the train.

Credits:

• US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of George Gross

• View Archival Details

The prisoners encountered by the American soldiers on this transport were from the overcrowded and typhus-ridden Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. As British troops advanced into the area, the SS guards had loaded some 8,000 inmates onto three trains between April 6 to April 11, 1945. The SS planned to transport them to other Nazi camps still in German hands. Only one train made it to the Theresienstadt ghetto. US and Soviet troops liberated the other two.

When the 30th Infantry Division discovered the transport near Farsleben, most of the SS troops had fled into the countryside. To protect the prisoners from returning SS guards, the American soldiers stationed a tank and civilian patrols near the train. They also requisitioned food from nearby German farms and homes. The 30th Infantry Division then began efforts to find shelter for the former prisoners so that they “could be moved away from the filthy, jammed, evil-smelling railroad cars.”2Footnote 22

Recognition as a Liberating Division

The 30th Infantry Division was recognized as a liberating unit by the US Army's Center of Military History and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2012.

30th Infantry Division Battle Casualty Figures

The following are tentative battle casualty figures for the 30th Infantry Division in the European Theater of Operations:3Footnote 33

• Killed: 3,435
• Wounded: 12,960
• Missing: 753
• Captured: 543
• Total battle casualties: 17,691

30th Infantry Division Nickname and Insignia

The 30th Infantry Division was nicknamed “Old Hickory” in honor of President Andrew Jackson (1767-1845). Jackson received this nickname from the men he commanded during the War of 1812. Jackson was known for his combination of resolve and readiness to endure the same grueling conditions that his men had to endure. The insignia or patch of the 30th Infantry is shaped like an oval. It shows the letters “O” and “H” (“Old Hickory”) with the Roman numeral “XXX” (for the division number) in purple stitching. This emblem is shown against a crimson background.

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Insignia of the 30th Infantry Division. (Photo)

Insignia of the 30th Infantry Division. The nickname of the 30th Division was Old Hickory, named after President Andrew Jackson.