Introduction
Illinois and the Approach of the Second World War
George Marshall and the Pre-War Years
33rd Division and World War II: Training of the Division
33rd Division and World War II: The Battle of Guadicanal
33rd Division and World War II: The New Guinea Campaign
33rd Division and World War II: Philippine Liberation
33rd Aviation Battalion
Conclusion: Wars End
With the threat of both a European and a Pacific War, President
Franklin Roosevelt called the 33rd Division of the Illinois National Guard into
active federal service on March 5, 1941 with executive order 8633. The
33rd Division would remain in active service for the next 1,470 days, fight in
three major Pacific campaigns, receive a Presidential Unit Citation, and three
members of the 33rd Division would receive the Medal of Honor.
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The 1930’s were a tumultuous time for both the state of Illinois
and the United States of America. Both were suffering from the effects of
the Great Depression. However, just as threatening to the American
national conscious as the Great Depression were signs that the threat of another
great war could be in America’s near future. Threats of another great war
came from across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in the form of aggression
from the Imperial Japanese Empire, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
The first hints that a war could be in America’s future came from
the Far East. The Japanese Empire was the origin of these hints when it
invaded and occupied Manchuria in 1931. Next, in the guise of a border
dispute, Japan invaded and seized large portions of land from China in 1937.
Finally, after the fall of France to Nazi Germany in 1940, Japan occupied the
remainder of the French possessions in South East Asia. However, more
ominous threats of war came when Japan threatened the United States possessions
in Guam, Wake Island and the Philippine Islands.
The military stability of the world looked no better in Europe.
Fascist parties had taken control of both Germany and Italy. Italy, under
the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini, invaded Ethiopia (however the invasion was
a dismal failure) and attempted to start an Italian Empire in Northern Africa.
Nazi Germany under Adolph Hitler publicly defied the Treaty of Versailles, which
ended World War I by: establishing an army that well exceeded the 100,000 men
allowed by the treaty, reestablishing the Luftwafe (the German air force),
exceeding the prescribed naval limitations of the treaty and finally by rearming
the German-French border on the west side of the Rhine River. In addition
Nazi Germany officially annexed Austria in 1938. By using the threat of
war, Germany acquired the Seudatenland from Czechlosovacia in 1939 through the
“Peace of Berlin”, and invaded and occupied the remainder of Czechlosovakia
shortly there after.
World War II officially began in Europe the day after the German
Invasion of the Danzig Corridor of Poland in September of 1939. Originally
both American politicians and the American public hoped that America could
remain neutral in what seemed to be an Asian and European conflict.
However, these hopes were soon lost when France fell to Nazi Germany in June of
1940. The American public was fearful that Great Britain alone could not
keep Nazi Germany from world domination. To make matters worse, Germany’s
U-boats were attacking and sinking both unarmed United States merchant vessels
and warships of the United States Navy.
American politicians had hoped that Japanese aggression in the
Pacific could be checked by economic sanctions of the raw materials necessary
for the Japanese war effort, such as oil and scrap iron. However, these
sanctions produced the opposite effect as Japan decided to focus its plans of
military conquest on the possessions of the United States of America in the
South and Central Pacific Ocean that contained an abundance of these natural
resources. On December 7, 1941, prior to any formal declaration of war
Japan bombed the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. The following day
Congress declared war on the Japanese Empire. Less than a week later,
Adolph Hitler, against the advice of his military advisers declared war on
America. Regardless of the many political attempts to remain neutral
America again found itself at war.
Despite the numerous aggressions by potential enemies, the American military was
ill prepared to fight a major war in the mid 1930’s and in the early 1940’s.
Due to the massive amounts of casualties encountered in the First World War, the
American political mood of the time was strongly dominated by pacifism.
Any needed expenditure with the label of “military” had great deal of difficulty
passing through a Congress that was strongly conservative.
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The Illinois National Guard by the late 1930’s was a rare exception to the vast
majority of the United States military in this period. This is because it
was a very efficient and well-run organization. In early the 1930’s the
various National Guard units of the United States were in poor condition.
The Illinois State National Guard was in similar condition to other National
Guard units throughout the country before 1933. However, in 1933 the 33rd
Division of Illinois would receive an appointment that would change this
condition and set it apart from other American National Guard divisions.
General Douglas MacArthur, the Army General Chief of Staff, appointed Colonel
George Marshall as the Senior Instructor of the 33rd Division of Illinois.
This appointment was somewhat of a political move by General MacArthur.
General MacArthur despised the fact that, although Colonel Marshall was a
promising officer and had a distinguished career in the First World War, he was
a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute rather than West Point Military
Academy. For this reason MacArthur attempted to restrict Colonel
Marshall’s career opportunities by placing him in a position that would make
promotion all but impossible. Although Colonel Marshall was
disappointed with his appointment as Senior Instructor of the 33rd Division,
because he saw it as a difficult position to receive promotion to the rank of
brigadier general, he pursued it enthusiastically and applied his personal
resources of knowledge and energy accordingly.
Upon his appointment Colonel Marshall instantly saw many problems with the
organization, financial support, and structure of the 33rd Division.
Colonel Marshall saw both a shortcoming of adequate facilities and a lack of
contact between basic headquarter units to their service arms, and the services
themselves because of their physical separation. This caused each specific
group within the 33rd Division to concentrate on their own particular specialty
and ignore the required teamwork that is first necessary for the efficient
operation of the troops that are actually in the field.
Colonel Marshall solved these problems very skillfully. Not being
politically ignorant, he knew that due to the pacifist and anti-militaristic
attitudes prevalent in American society and politics of the period, Congress
would not set aside the necessary funds for the offices and armories required to
make the 33rd division more efficient. To accomplish his task, at the
suggestion of President Franklin Roosevelt, Colonel Marshall changed the wording
of his request for funds from Congress from “armories” to “community centers”.
With this change of language the resolution was able to pass and funds were
appropriated for the construction of “community centers”. With the
convenience of the improved facilities and their effect on the moral of the 33rd
Division, Colonel Marshall was able to hold much more effective and productive
staff meetings and was able to improve the order and structure of the 33rd
Division.
To impress the need for better cooperation and coordination from various units
of the 33rd Division, Colonel Marshall held a series of “map exercises” that
were commonly referred to as war games. These exercises illustrated to the
individual commanders of the 33rd Division of the impossibility of some of the
maneuvers that they had commonly ordered. The effect of these “map
exercises” produced officers who assigned maneuvers more practically and
soldiers that were better able to execute them.
In addition to these two improvements Colonel Marshall made a determined effort
to change the mentality that existed in the Illinois National Guard.
Before Colonel Marshall took the assignment of Senior Instructor of the Illinois
National Guard, there existed a mentality that lacked the seriousness and
professionalism commonly found in military organizations. However, due to
a deliberate effort to personally associate and communicate with the individuals
under his command and his encouragement of subordinate officers, a much more
professional and serious mentality began to prevail in the Illinois National
Guard.
Despite his success, Colonel Marshall’s assignment as Senior Instructor to the
Illinois National Guard would not be long. While serving in this position
he was on numerous occasions cited as an example of the army’s inability to
promote promising officers. In addition to the support received from his
fellow officers, General Douglas MacArthur was removed from his position as the
Army General Chief of Staff and was appointed to military governorship of the
Philippine Islands; this appointment no longer allowed him the opportunity to
keep Colonel Marshall’s career in check. After General MacArthur’s
removal, Colonel Marshall was promptly promoted to Brigadier General in 1936 and
placed in command of the Washington State Barracks. However, Colonel
Marshall would keep a watchful eye on the 33rd Division and would on a number of
occasions write official documents complimenting them on their order of drill
and their proficiency aiding the residence of Illinois from natural disasters
such as the devastating floods that occurred in the late 1930’s.
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Colonel Marshall’s work with the 33rd division would not go without
notice. On December 7, 1941 the Japanese bombed and disabled the American
Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Less than a week after the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor, Adolf Hitler, against the advice of his military advisers,
declared war on the United States. America would again require the services of
the 33rd Division. Due to the aggressions shown by Nazi Germany and
Imperial Japan, President Franklin Roosevelt called the 33rd division into
federal service March 5, 1941 with executive order 8633.
After mustering in Chicago, the 33rd division spent a three-month
training period at Camp Forrest in Tennessee. Camp Forrest had very little
to offer in terms of accommodations to further the training of the 33rd
Division. Because of this some of the very first tasks assigned to the
33rd Division was to upgrade and make repairs to Camp Forrest. After Camp
Forrest started to take shape as a training facility the 33rd Division spent
much time perfecting bayonet practice, marksmanship and war exercises.
Because the 33rd Division was one of the first to complete this process of
training, high-ranking military officers closely observed its progress and
skills as a unit.
After training in Camp Forrest Tennessee, the 33rd Division was
sent to Camp Lewis in Washington State where it received training in the art of
mountain combat. Upon perfecting these skills, the 33rd division was sent
to the Southern California desert for desert training. Here the men of the
33rd Division would receive some of the most strenuous military training that
they would ever receive in their life. They participated in forty-four
mile forced marches with only one quart of water per man in what was often over
130-degree heat.
After receiving desert training the men of the 33rd Division were
woken in the middle of the night and marched to the docks. They boarded
the transport ships Republic, Henderson, Ainsworth, Brazil, Shanks, Hinds and
Tyler and left without ceremony. Only after being out to sea for two days
were the men finally told that their destination was the Hawaiian Islands.
The primary task assigned to the 33rd Division upon their arrival was the
defense of the Hawaiian Islands. Once it became clear that the Hawaiian
Islands were in no danger of a Japanese invasion, the 33rd Division made use of
the islands’ dense jungle for training and did many practice amphibious
assaults.
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The service of the 33rd division against the Japanese Empire during
the Second World War would be very distinguished. The 33rd as a Division
would receive campaign participation credit for the campaigns of New Guinea,
Morotai, and Luzon (which is an island in the Philippines). Former
elements of the 33rd Division would participate in the campaigns of the Northern
Solomons (which included the battle for Guadicanal); and finally the work that
the 33rd Division did on New Guinea and Luzon would earn them honors and
citations for each respective campaign.
Due to the necessities of force structure to the mission at hand various
elements of the 33rd Division were stripped away from it and individually took
part in various campaigns in the Pacific Theater of War. Although the 33rd
Division itself did not take part in the land phase of the battle of Guadicanal,
an element of the 33rd Division was sent to Guadicanal to assist the United
States Marines in the expanding Guadicanal Campaign. This proved to be
important, because these elements played a large role in what was the first time
in history that the Japanese Army was defeated in a major land battle. The
actions that the elements of the 33rd Division took part in earned them high
praise in the United States Army and even from the Secretary of the United
States Navy Frank Knox[1].
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Ironically the first combat action that the 33rd Division would
take part in as a unit would be the New Guinea Campaign in late 1943 and early
1944, which was under the direct control of General Douglas MacArthur.
Many of the men of the 33rd Division that participated in the New Guinea
Campaign served under and were trained by Colonel George Marshall in the mid
1930’s. Although General MacArthur’s placement of Colonel George Marshall
to the position of Senior Instructor to the 33rd Division was entirely a
political move, General MacArthur would have the ability to benefit from the
excellent training and organization that Colonel Marshall had instilled on the
33rd Division.
Due to the vast superiority that the United States had over the Japanese Empire
in sea and air power it was not necessary to take New Guinea in a direct frontal
assault that would cost a great deal of American lives. Instead it was
possible to harass the Japanese until they were out of food and ammunition, then
the starved defenders would be forced to surrender. Because of this
strategy one of the most important aspects of the New Guinea Campaign for the
American Army was supplying the island; unfortunately this was a major problem
for the American Army due to lack of adequate port facilities. For this
reason the first task that the 33rd Division encountered on the Island of New
Guinea was port duty. Although not as dangerous as actual combat, port
duty was no easy task. Weather on the Island of New Guinea was hot and
humid, for this reason most of the strenuous dock work was done at night.
However, the weather was so uncomfortable, it made sleep in the daytime all but
impossible.
Eventually adequate port facilities were brought to the island and the 33rd
Division was introduced to combat as a unit for the first time. The
primary combat function of the 33rd Division on New Guinea was the pursuit of
the retreating Japanese Imperial Army. There can be no more accurate
praise than from that of your enemy, and a quote from a captured Japanese
prisoner, describing the effects of the artillery under the command of Colonel
Ralph MacDonald of 33rd Division speaks well of the tenacity in which the 33rd
pursued the retreating Japanese Army.[2]
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After the Japanese forces on New Guinea were forced to surrender
the next major operation that the 33rd Division would take part in would be
helping General Douglas MacArthur fulfill his promise of “I shall return” to the
Philippine people. As with the New Guinea Campaign, the 33rd Division
would be fighting under General Douglas MacArthur. The 33rd Division’s
combat record in the Philippines would be even more distinguished than the work
that they did on New Guinea. Most of the combat undertaken by the 33rd
Division took place on the island of Luzon, which is the northernmost major
island of the Philippines.
While in combat on Luzon, the 33rd Division captured the town of Naguilian and
the runway near it and was part of the force that seized the Filipino summer
capitol of Bagio. Because of their importance in seizing Bagio, the flag
of the 33rd Division was flown over the capitol building after the town was
captured. The 33rd Division received a number of unit citations while in
combat in the Philippines; the most important of which was the presidential unit
citation, which was displayed by the division form October 7, 1944 to July 4,
1945. Even though General Douglas MacArthur despised the background of
Colonel Marshall during the 1930’s, he had nothing but praise for the 33rd
Division in which Colonel Marshall had so great an influence.[3]
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In addition to the 33rd Division of the Illinois National Guard
that served in the Pacific was an Air Reconnaissance air wing of the 33rd
Aviation Battalion that served in the European Theater of Combat. On March
15, 1944 the 33rd Aviation Battalion was reorganized as Troop A of the 106th
cavalry reconnaissance squadron. Unfortunately, due to the relatively
small size of the air wing, there are not many records that document the story
of its existence; however what remains is impressive. Troop A of the 106th
cavalry reconnaissance squadron of Illinois received campaign participation
credit for the Campaigns of: Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes-Alsace,
Rhineland and Central Europe. During these campaigns the air wing received
the French Croix de Guerre (French for “cross of war”) on three separate
occasions; one of which was with the oak leaf clusters.
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After the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany and the surrender
of the Imperial Japanese Empire (they were allowed to keep their emperor as the
only condition of the surrender), the men serving as part of the 33rd Division
and Troop A of the 106th cavalry reconnaissance squadron were rapidly sent home
and both were inactivated in December of 1945. The statistics of
casualties and medals received testify to the amount of service the men of the
Illinois National Guard gave to their country. Of the men of the Illinois
National Guard who went to fight in the European and Pacific Theaters of War,
513 members of the 33rd Division and Troop A of the 106th cavalry reconnaissance
squadron paid the ultimate sacrifice. Three men of the 33rd Division
received the Medal of Honor.[4]
In addition 39 Distinguished Service Crosses (1 with oak leaf clusters), 497
Silver Stars, 43 legions of merit and 39 air medals were awarded to the 33rd
Division and Troop A of the 106th cavalry reconnaissance squadron.
[1] As commented by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox “I was
never prouder in my life when I met those Illinois men on that island
(Guadicanal). You have reason to be proud those are among the first
men to defeat the Japanese on land."
[2] The quote reads “your artillery followed us like flies"
[3] Quote from General Douglas MacArthur on the performance
of the 33rd Division “No finer division has ever fought than the 33rd, its
record is long and honorable and fills all America with pride and
gratification. My confidence in it during the vicissitudes of was
complete and never failed me”
[4] The Three men who received the Medal of Honor were
Private First Class Dexter J. Kerstetter, Sergeant John R. McKinney, and
Staff Sergeant Howard E. Woodford
In Europe, Fascist parties had taken control of both Germany and Italy. Italy, under the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini, invaded Ethiopia and attempted to start an Italian Empire in Northern Africa. Germany, under Adolph Hitler, defied the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War One. In violation of the treaty, Germany raised an army greater than 100,000, and reestablished its air force and navy. In 1939, Germany invaded and occupied Czechoslovakia. 
With the threat of both a European and a Pacific War, President Franklin Roosevelt called the 33rd Division of the Illinois National Guard into active federal service on March 5, 1941. After mustering in Chicago, the 33rd Division spent three months training at Camp Forrest in Tennessee. This included bayonet practice, marksmanship and war exercises. The Division was sent to Camp Lewis, Washington where it received training in mountain combat, followed by desert training in California. The 33rd was then sent to defend the Hawaiian Islands and continue training. 
The first combat action that the 33rd Division took part in as a complete unit was the New Guinea Campaign in late 1943 and early 1944, under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. With air and naval superiority over Japan, the United States decided to avoid a costly frontal assault on New Guinea. Instead the Americans cut off Japanese resupply and forced the surrender of the island. With resupply to the island difficult due to inadequate port facilities, the 33rd Division was assigned to perform port duty. Following this, the Division found itself in combat, pursuing the retreating Japanese Army. 
The Air Reconnaissance Wing of the 33rd Aviation Battalion served in the European Theater of Combat. On March 15, 1944 the Battalion was reorganized as Troop A of the 106th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron. The unit participated in campaigns in Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes-Alsace, Rhineland and Central Europe. On three occasions the unit was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for their service.