Draft:320th Infantry Regiment (United States)

The 320th Infantry Regiment is a United States Army regiment. The regiment was first organized in 1917 as a National Army infantry regiment assigned to the 80th Division for service in World War I, and served overseas in France. The regiment was reconstituted in the Organized Reserve during the interwar period and continued to serve with the 80th Division. Relieved from the 80th Division and inactivated after U.S. entry into World War II, the regiment was reactivated in 1943 and assigned to the 35th Infantry Division, subsequently serving in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Germany. In 1959, the 320th Infantry was redesignated a training unit and allotted to the United States Army Reserve.

320th Infantry Regiment 320th Regiment
Distinctive unit insignia
Active	1917-
Country	United States
Branch	Non-branch regiment
Role	Training
Motto(s)	Forward
Engagements	World War I World War II

World War I

The 320th Regiment was first constituted on 5 August 1917 in the National Army as the 320th Infantry Regiment and assigned to the 80th Division. It was organized in August-September 1917 at Camp Lee, Virginia. The regiment was composed of a cadre of Regular Army officers and men, Officers' Reserve Corps and National Army officer graduates of the First Officers Training Camps, and Selective Service men mostly from Pittsburgh and eastern Pennsylvania. The regiment moved overseas in May-June 1918. After training in quiet sectors of the front lines with the British Third Army in Flanders and Picardy in August 1918, the regiment participated in the Second Battle of the Somme. In late September, the regiment joined the U.S. First Army for major combat operations and participated with the 80th Division during the Meuse-Argonne offensive.

Interwar period

The 320th Infantry arrived at the port of New York on 29 May 1919 on the troopship USS Mobile, and was demobilized on 7 June 1919 at Camp Sherman, Ohio. Per the National Defense Act of 1920, the 320th Infantry was reconstituted in the Organized Reserve on 24 June 1921, assigned to the 80th Division, and allotted to the Third Corps Area. The regiment was initiated on 24 October 1921 with the entire regiment, less one company, located at Washington, D.C. The regiment participated in the inaugural parade of President Herbert Hoover in March 1929. The entire regiment was relocated on 11 December 1929 to Washington. D.C. It typically conducted inactive training period meetings at the Munitions Building in Washington, and conducted summer training most years with the 12th and 34th Infantry Regiments at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, and some years at Fort Howard, Maryland, or Fort Eustis, Virginia. As an alternate form of summer training, the regiment also conducted infantry Citizens Military Training Camps some years at Fort Meade or Fort Eustis. The primary ROTC "feeder" school for new reserve lieutenants for the regiment was Georgetown University.

World War II

After U.S. entry into World War II, the 80th Division was converted on paper from a square division to a triangular division before being ordered into active military service. As a result, the 320th Infantry Regiment was relieved 12 February 1942 from assignment to the 80th Division. On 2 April 1943, the 320th Infantry was withdrawn from the Organized Reserve and consolidated with a second 320th Infantry which has been constituted 19 December 1942 in the Army of the United States. The consolidated unit was assigned to the 35th Infantry Division and activated on 26 January 1943 at Camp San Luis Obispo, California.

The 1st Battalion, 320th Infantry, distinguished itself in early August 1944 during the response to Operation Lüttich, an ill-fated German counterattack late in the Normandy campaign that attempted to split the American lines in two. It was the first friendly infantry force to break through the German encirclement around Hill 314 near the village of Mortain and reach portions of the 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, which had been stranded on top of the hill for several days without food or supplies. The battalion received a Distinguished Unit Citation. The 320th Infantry later participated in the race across France after the collapse of German forces in the Falaise Pocket, the Battle of the Bulge and the final advance into Nazi Germany itself.

The 320th Infantry Regiment was inactivated on 21 November 1945 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, and relieved from assignment to the 35th Infantry Division.

Cold War

The 320th Infantry was allotted on 3 May 1954 to the Regular Army. It was withdrawn 12 February 1959 from the Regular Army and allotted to the Army Reserve, and concurrently redesignated as the 320th Regiment. The regiment was activated on 6 March 1959 as an element of the 80th Division (Training), with headquarters at Richmond, Virginia. It was reorganized on 31 January 1968 to consist of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions, elements of the 80th Division (Training). The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions were inactivated on 31 August 1973 and relieved from assignment to the 80th Division (Training). The 320th Regiment was reorganized on 17 November 1982 to consist of the 1st Battalion, an element of the 80th Division (Training), and reorganized on 16 October 1984 to consist of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions, elements of the 80th Division (Training).

Modern

On 1 October 1994, the 320th Regiment was reorganized to consist of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions, elements of the 80th Division (Institutional Training), and reorganized on 13 January 1995 to consist of the 1st and 2nd Battalions, elements of the 80th Division (Institutional Training).

Battle honors

Campaign participation credit

World War I

• Somme Offensive
• St. Mihiel
• Meuse-Argonne
• Lorraine 1918
• Picardy 1918

World War II

• Normandy
• Northern France
• Rhineland
• Ardennes-Alsace
• Central Europe

Decorations

1st Battalion entitled to:

• Presidential Unit Citation (Army) for Mortain
• French Croix de Guerre with Silver Star, World War II, for Mortain

Heraldry

Coat of arms

Description/Blazon

Azure semée-de-lys Or, two bars Gules fimbriated of the second (Or) and overall a chevron rompu Argent. That for the regiments and separate battalions of the Army Reserve: On a wreath of the colors Or and Azure the Lexington Minute Man Proper. The statue of the Minute Man, Captain John Parker (Henry Hudson Kitson, sculptor), stands on the Common in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Symbolism

The field, azure and semée-de-lys, is taken from the coat of arms of the Province of Artois (Pas de Calais) where the regiment received its baptism of fire and where, when in the front line, a detachment repulsed a German raiding party of greatly superior numbers, the two survivors of the attack receiving the British Military Cross for exceptional heroism in battle. The chevron rompu represents the regiment in the Meuse-Argonne offensive September 26-30, 1918, October 4, 1918, and especially November 1-2, 1918, when, as part of the 80th Division, it broke the German lines (Sector St. George's-St. Juvin, Department of Ardennes) enabling the division to advance 24 kilometers in six days and capture the town of Buzancy, the key-point of the German position. The two bars gules are taken from the Washington coat of arms to indicate the home station of the regiment. The motto, Forward, is suggested by the history of the regiment in the Meuse-Argonne offensive and the use of the word in connection with the commendatory letters and telegrams published in G.O. No. 19, Hq. 80th Division, November 11, 1918. The crest is that of the United States Army Reserve.

Background

The coat of arms was originally approved for the 320th Infantry Regiment on 24 January 1925. It was redesignated for the 320th Infantry Regiment and amended to remove the Organized Reserves crest on 25 August 1943. The insignia was redesignated for the 320th Regiment and amended to restore the Army Reserve crest on 3 December 1959.

Distinctive unit insignia

Description

Shield and motto of the coat of arms. A Gold color metal and enamel device 1 5/32 inches (2.94 cm) in height consisting of a shield blazoned: Azure semée-de-lys Or, two bars Gules fimbriated of the second (Or) and overall a chevron rompu Argent. Attached below and to the sides of the shield a Gold scroll inscribed "FORWARD" in Black letters.

Background

The distinctive unit insignia was originally approved for the 320th Infantry Regiment on 9 July 1925. It was redesignated for the 320th Infantry Regiment on 25 August 1943. It was amended to substitute the words "distinctive insignia" for "coat of arms" on 1 September 1943. The insignia was redesignated for the 320th Regiment on 3 December 1959.