The U.S. 75th Infantry Division

The Bulgebusters From Activation Through The Battle of the Bulge

May 19, 2007

The 75th Division Patch, Steve DeVault Archive

In late World War II, the young & inexperienced 75th Infantry Division rushed to help defend against the Ardennes Offensive; the Diaper Division became the Bulgebusters.

Formation, Training, and Embarkation

The American 75th ‘Bulgebusters’ Infantry Division became active and began training in April of 1943 at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; Major General Willard S. Paul commanding. The division was comprised of the 289th, 290th, and the 291st Infantry Regiments, with four attached 105mm artillery battalions. In August, Major General Fay B. Prickett assumed command of the division. At various stages during combat, the division would be accompanied by five different tank battalions and six different tank destroyer battalions. In January 1944 the division relocated to Louisiana for participation in the No. 6 Louisiana Maneuvers with the Fourth Army, and was then off to Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky in April. The call for deployment arrived in November, and the 75th moved to Camp Shanks in New York until embarking for England on the 11th, arriving in Europe on the 22nd.

The Ardennes Operation

The Germans had since begun to secretly stockpile troops and supplies along the western front. Hitler had an idea he believed would turn the fleeing war in favor of the Germans. Operation Watch on the Rhine was to be a hard, fast drive through the Ardennes region. Hitler’s great offensive pulled troops and supplies from where they were needed most - the fight against Soviet Russia in Eastern Europe.

On December 16th the operation had begun and caught the Allied, primarily American, forces unprepared for a German offensive. The operation made fast headway and the order was given for American reinforcements to move toward the German ‘bulge’ in the line. The extremely inexperienced 75th Division, which had landed in France on the 13th, was pushed to the line along with the 17th Airborne and 11th Armored Divisions, which were just as untried and had also just arrived in France. The 75th Infantry Division would gain the nickname ‘Diaper Division’ as the youngest committed to the battle.

The 75th joined Major General Lawton Collins’ VII Corps and established defensive positions along the Ourthe River on December 23rd; enhancing the 3rd Armor Division with battalion sized infantry and artillery strength. The division suffered heavy casualties among the green rifleman in a battle east of Soy against the German 560th Volksgrenadier Division, but the bulge was beginning to be pushed back. Around the start of January near Sadzot, the division was in another round of heavy fighting. On January 10th they relived the 82nd Airborne Division along the Salm River and began an attack across it on the 15th at the towns of Beck and Salmchateau. The snow in the Ardennes had begun to fall again as the division took the towns of Petit Their, Vielsalm, and after another hard fight, Burtonville. Near Burtonville, a counterattack by the German 2nd SS Panzer Division took two days to repulse. By January 24th the division had captured Braunlauf from the 326th Volksgrenadier Division, captured Commanster, and cleared the Grand Bios. The towns of Maldingen and Aldringen had also been captured, thus ending the 75th’s offensive operations in the reduction of the bulge. The ‘Diaper Division’ had become the ‘Bulgebusters’ Division.

The division had sustained heavy losses in the Ardennes, including its commander. It was felt by General Ridgeway that Major General Prickett had moved to cautiously during an operation designed to cut-off two German divisions in a pincer movement along with the 30th Division. The pincer closed too late and the German divisions escaped capture, and Major General Prickett was replaced by Major General Ray E. Porter as commander of the 75th Division.

The division would see about a week’s rest before beginning to assist with the reduction of the Colmar Pocket; followed by action in the Ruhr Region.

Additional Sources:

Stanton, Captain Shelby L., World War II Order of Battle: An Encyclopedic Reference to U.S. Army Ground Forces from Battalion through Division 1939-1946 (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1984 and 2006)

MacDonald, Charles B., The Last Offensive: United States Army in World War II, The European Theater of Operations (Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1995)

The copyright of the article The U.S. 75th Infantry Division in Military History is owned by Steve DeVault. Permission to republish The U.S. 75th Infantry Division in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.