Important Dates

If you have a list of dates important to the 106th, including PW camp liberations, etc., please email me.

12 January 1942 - Division staff to report for 10th New Divisions Course Command and General Staff School, Ft. Leavenworth
04 January 1943 - Division staff at Ft. Leavenworth.  Staff and cadre report to Ft. Jackson, South Carolina.

15 March 1943 - 106th Division activated at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina

27 March 1944 - Leave Tennessee area for Camp Atterbury

29 March 1943 - Basic training begins
12 July 1943 - Unit training begins
03 October 1943 - Combined training, Regimental and Division exercises.
22 January 1944 - Tennessee maneuvers

April 1, 1944 - 106th Division arrives at CAMP ATTERBURY.  Unit Arrives For Further Training. Commander is Maj. Gen. Jones. Is Third to be At Camp.

April 15, 1944 - General McNair visits CAMP ATTERBURY.

April 18, 1944 - ASTP-trained soldiers join 106th Division at Atterbury.

03 May 1944 - Three Silver Stars and one Soldier's Medal were awarded to men of the 106th Division during the past week. The first soldier to be honored was Cpl. John Duggan, Co. B, 423rd Inf., whose home is in New York City. He had participated in a bayonet assault upon a large enemy force in North Africa, captured their position, and held it despite heavy enemy fire, until relieved by reinforcements. The presentation was made by Col. C. C. Cavender, commanding officer of the 423rd.

19 May 1944 - Blue Barron, nationally know orchestra leader at Atterbury Assigned to Service Co, 424th Infantry Regiment.  Soldier dies from injury. Pvt. Edwin M. Freeman, Jr., 20, of the 422nd Infantry, died early Friday morning at the Wakeman General Hospital as a result of an accident early Tuesday morning, when a jeep he was driving overturned.

03 June 1944 - Up to full Division strength at Camp Atterbury

14 June 1944 - Many from Here to See Demonstration by 106th at Camp Atterbury.  Atterbury to entertain on Infantry Day. Everyone invited

15 June 1944 - Medal of Honor to be presented by Maj Gen Allen Jones, 106th Division Commander, to father of Robert Craig, slain soldier at CAMP ATTERBURY Open House.    106th has first parade at CAMP ATTERBURY.  Lt. Col. George L. Descheneaux, Jr., former Division Plans and Training Officer (Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3) assumed command of the 422nd Infantry regiment this month. He replaced Col. William Murray, who left the division several weeks ago.

June 20, 1944 - 106th Division received combat swimming training to prepare for possible evacuation from troop ships.  Two story tower constructed at Yellow Wood lake near Nashville, Indiana.

June 30, 1944 - Camp Atterbury to have 5,000 in Indianapolis parade on the Fourth of July. 106th Division to lead the way. Lt. Gen Somervell to review troops.

July 6, 1944 - Germans report the 106th Division is in Normandy

Oct to November, 1944 - Camp Miles Standish, Massachusetts, P.O.E. and overseas to Liverpool and Greenock, then to Batsford Park in the South Midlands

17 October 1944 - 423rd Regiment departed NY about 0700 hours.

10 November 1944 - Departs U. S. for Foreign duty

17 November 1944 - 106th Infantry Division arrived in England,

29 November 1944: Assigned to VIII Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group.

06 December 1944 - LeHavre and Limesey, France

10 December 1944 - DATE ENTERED COMBAT: (Official) .  

11 Dec 1944 - 106th Infantry Division went into the line in Belgium.  Occupies a 28 mile front.  St. Vith, Belgium and into position on the Schnee Eifel.

16 December 1944 - Battle of the Bulge begins.  106th Division send final radio message -- NEED AMMO -- FOOD -- WATER.    Both Regiments send same coded message -- "WE ARE NOW DESTROYING OUR EQUIPMENT...".  Most are taken prisoners by the Germans.  Parachuting of supplies is impossible due to heavy fog.

Dec 19-23 - About 100 survivors of the 589th FAB of the 106th Division defended a vital crossroads at Baraque de Fraiture, Belgium, earning the French Croix de Guerre with Silver Gilt Star.  A few troops from other units, 82nd AB, 203rd AAA, etc., were also there to help. The place has become known as "Parker's Crossroads" in honor of Major Arthur C. Parker III, the commander at the time. Vielsalm.

20 December 1944 - Men of 422, 423, 589, 590 & Recon captured.  8,490 causalities, 415 KIA, 1,254 WIA, 6,821 MIA.  Assigned to XVIII (Abn) Corps, First Army (attached to the British 21st Army Group)

22 December 1944 - General Perrin takes command - 106th pulls out of St. Vith

23 Dec 1944 -  Division pulled back to reorganize, but was thrown into the line once again the next day.  Ernonheid.

24 December 1944 - 424th attached to 7th Armored Division.  General Ridgeway sends message to troops, "Germans last gasp".

25 December 1944 - 591st Field Artillery attached to 7th Armored Division.  Awan - Aywaille and Sprimont.

28 December 1944 - Anthisnes (Chateau Havette)

Jan 1-17, 1945 - Germans withdraw from the Ardennes.

12 January 1945 - Moulin de Ruy
15 January 1945 - Stavelot

18 January 1945: Assigned to XVIII (Abn) Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group.  106th Division causalities reported to be 8, 663.

24 January 1945 - Heuchenee

06 February 1945: Assigned to V Corps. 10 March 1945: Fifteenth Army, 12th Army Group

07 February 1945 - Hunnange (Hunningon?).  General Stroh takes command
15 March 1945 - St. Quentin, pulled back for rest and rehabilitation
01 April 1945 - Rennes.  Training reconstituted units and watching the Germans in the by-passed ports.

15 April 1945: Assigned to Fifteenth Army, 12th Army Group, but attached to the Advanced Section, Communications Zone

22 April 1945 - Started for the Rhine

23 April 1945 - Stalag IV-B liberated by the Russians (Milton Feldman)

25 April 1945 - Stromberg, Germany.  Start of the PW job.
04 May 1945 - Bad Ems (The Kasserne)

07 May 1945 - Stalag IV-A liberated

14 July - 1945 - Karlsruhe (Postdirektion Bldg)
16 August 1945 - General Woolfley becomes Division Commander.

31 August 1945 - 106th Division aboard SS Queen Elizabeth arrives back in New York.

07 September 1945 - Staging area, Camp Lucky Strike, Ste. Valerie en Caux

16 September 1945 - The 106th Inf. Div. was assigned the mission of guarding POWs in Germany in April as part of the 15th Army. POW enclosures in the vicinity of Buderich, Remagen, Bad Kreuznach and Mannheim, containing 165,272 POWs.  --  The first group of 106th men to break through the German's encirclement in December were members of the I & R Platoon, 423d Inf. Their first rest after 6 days of travel through enemy lines came at St. Vith, Belgium.  --  The Regimental Colors of the 424th Infantry were among the Missing in Action in the furious swift-moving fighting in the Ardennes. In May, a soldier in the 2d Inf. Div., advancing in Czechoslovakia, recovered the Colors from a captured Nazi. The Colors were brought to Bad Ems, and rededicated in a stirring ceremony.

01 October 1945 - Debarkation at Camp Shanks, N. Y. for Division Headquarters

02 October 1945 - 106th Division inactivated at Camp Shanks, New York

Nov 20, 1945 - Nuremberg war crimes trials begin.

Page last revised 09/15/2016
James D. West
www.IndianaMilitary.org

jimdwest@centurylink.net

Several above dates from CUB, April 23, 1967