94th Infantry Division (United States)

For forty years, beginning in the late 1960s, the United States Army Reserve was divided up into a varying number of regional, branch-immaterial commands.

[citation needed] Army Regulation 840-10 dictates that the distinguishing flag of an RRC features a white-bordered, 38.1 cm (15 in.)

In 2003-04 the 94th MPs added a battle streamer to their guidon when they were awarded the Valorous Unit Award for their actions in al-Anbar, hunting Iraqi Ba'ath members after the collapse of government and conducting Counter-Insurgency Operations against the increasing militant uprisings in Al-Qaim, Rutbah, Haditha, Baghdad, Ramadi and Fallujah.

The history and spirit of the Military Police Platoon, 94th Infantry Division of World War II lives on with them.

[2] One of the division's nicknames, the "Neuf-Cats," most likely comes from this era, as most World War I combat involving Americans occurred in French-speaking areas and the number "94" was pronounced in French as "Neuf-Quatre", literally, "Nine-Four".

As the pronunciation of the numeral four in French is similar to the English word "cat," the division decided to adopt this as a nickname and pluralized it.

The 94th Division headquarters was organized in November 1921 at the Custom House Tower in Boston, and remained there until activated for World War II.

[6] Following a brief stay in England, the 94th landed on Utah Beach, France on D-Day + 94, 8 September 1944, and moved into Brittany to relieve the 6th Armored Division and assume responsibility for containing some 60,000 German troops besieged in their garrisons at the Channel ports of Lorient and Saint-Nazaire.

The following day, the Nennig-Berg-Wies area was wrested from the enemy, severe counterattacks followed, and it was at Nennig that the Germans gave the division its nickname "Roosevelt's Butchers" for stacking the dead in houses and along roads and refusing prisoners, lacking the means to guard and transport them.

On the 20th, an unsuccessful battalion attack against Orscholz, eastern terminus of the switch position, resulted in loss of most of two companies.

Under command of Lieutenant Colonel William A. McNulty, the 94th's 3rd Battalion, 301st Infantry Regiment crossed the icy and swollen Saar on 23 February 1945.

Despite Lt. Col. McNulty's own preparatory reconnaissance in absence of other adequate intelligence and undertaken at considerable personal risk, many men and materiel were lost during the very ill-prepared Saar crossing.

Two of the three crossings sites were eventually abandoned due to heavy and pinpoint German artillery and machinegun fire.

[7][8] After establishing a bridgehead at Serrig, the 376th Infantry Regiment was detached to assist the 10th Armored Division in the capture of Trier.

A heavy German attack near Lampaden achieved penetrations, but the line was shortly restored, and on 13 March, spearheading XX Corps, the division broke out of the Ruwer River bridgehead by ford and bridge.

With the reduction of the pocket in mid-April, the division was assigned military government duties, first in the Krefeld and later in the Düsseldorf areas.

[14] Under the aforementioned compromise plan agreed to by the Congress and the Defense Department, the fourteen area corps were deactivated; in their place, eighteen army reserve commands ("ARCOMs") were established.

Commanded by a reserve major general, each ARCOM served as a regional non-tactical peacetime headquarters for unrelated support units.

94th ARCOM units participated annually in Exercise REFORGER (from REturn of FORces to GERmany) and Operation Bright Star throughout the Cold War.

These exercises were intended to ensure that NATO and the United States military had the ability to quickly deploy forces to West Germany and Egypt in the event of a conflict with the Soviet Union.

Units of the 94th ARCOM; principally the 187th Infantry Brigade (Separate), the 167th Support Group (Corps) and their subordinate battalions and companies; deployed to Canadian Forces Base Gagetown in southern New Brunswick, to simulate the defense of Iceland against Warsaw Pact forces, the CAPSTONE mission of both the 187th and 167th.

As they did five years before, units of the 94th ARCOM; principally the 187th Infantry Brigade (Separate), the 167th Support Group (Corps) and their subordinate battalions and companies; deployed to Canadian Forces Base Gagetown in southern New Brunswick, to simulate the defense of Iceland against Warsaw Pact forces, the CAPSTONE mission of both the 187th and 167th.

In 1995, the 94th ARCOM was redesignated the 94th Regional Support Command (RSC) and moved from Hanscom Air Force Base to Fort Devens, Massachusetts.

Continuing with Operation New Horizon, the command deployed members of the 94th Military Police Company to Rambala-Bocas del Toro, Panama in spring 2007.

Mission areas include Continental United States ("CONUS"), Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Kuwait, the Horn of Africa and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

At its end, the 94th Regional Readiness Command was made up of more than 6,000 citizen-soldiers serving within fifty-six units located throughout New England.

The 94th RRC mobilized and deployed over twenty units and more than 2,500 soldiers in support of the Global War on Terror.

In September 2008, the 94th Training Division (Force Sustainment) entered "carrier status", under the command of Brigadier General Mark Corson, at Ft. Lee, Virginia.

On 17 October 2009, the 94th Training Division was reactivated, under the command of Brigadier General Karen LeDoux, at Ft. Lee, Virginia.

94th Division distinguishing flag, 1923–1942
94th Infantry Division distinguishing flag, 1942–1956
A machine gun team of the 94th Infantry Division in Beurig, Germany. 26 February 1945
S/Sgt. Ralph Lubow, New York City with the Counter Intelligence Corps , 94th Div., Fifteenth U.S. Army, interviews Dr. Peter Hagemaan of the Netherlands. Dr. Hagemaan was ordered to install an electrical alarm system in Hitler's mountain retreat in Berchtesgaden during March 1943, thereby detecting the presence of unwanted persons from a distance of 20 kilometers. Düsseldorf, Germany. 27 April 1945. Photo U.S. Army (scanned courtesy nkyphotos, Newport, KY.
94th Infantry Division distinguishing flag, 1956–1967
94th Army Reserve Command distinguishing flag, 1968–91.
94th Regional Support Command / Regional Readiness Command distinguishing flag, 1991–2009
94th Division (Force Sustainment) distinguishing flag, 2009–present