42nd Rainbow Division

[Edward Tinker]

The 42nd Infantry Division was created in August 1917, just months after the United States entered World War I, and was sent overseas to France in November. In 1943, the "Rainbow" division was reactivated for duty and deployed to Europe in December 1944, when it landed in the French port of Marseille. By mid-December, the "Rainbow" division had advanced into Alsace, closing in on the Strasbourg area. In March 1945, the 42nd drove into Germany and crossed the Rhine River by the end of the month. In April, the "Rainbow" division captured the cities of W�¼rzburg, Schweinfurt, and F�¼rth. By war's end, it had completed its drive into Bavaria and had entered Austria.

On April 29, 1945, the 42nd Infantry Division entered the Dachau concentration camp, the earliest and longest-functioning SS-controlled camp in Nazi Germany. On that day, three U.S. Army divisions converged on the camp: the 42nd Infantry, the 45th Infantry, and the 20th Armored. When the three units arrived at Dachau, they discovered more than 30,000 prisoners in the overcrowded camp. Just days before, about 2,000 inmates evacuated on a death march from the Flossenb�¼rg concentration camp had arrived at Dachau and the SS guards had forced almost 7,000 Dachau inmates to move southward....

http://www.rainbowvets.org/

http://www.mickeymartins.com/history.html

http://www.dmna.state.ny.us/arng/42div/42div.html

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php...uleId=10006164