The World War II 42nd “Rainbow” Division was activated on July 14, 1943 with Brigadier General (later Major General) Harry Collins in command. During World War II, it was part of both the U.S. Seventh and Third Armies. In the fall of 1944, the division’s three infantry regiments were sent overseas in advance of the division headquarters and support units. These regiments arrived in Marseilles, France and were designated as “Task Force Linden” after the officer in charge, assistant division commander Brigadier General Henning Linden. Task Force Linden was immediately deployed, with no artillery or other support, in an attempt to prevent two German armies in Alsace from breaking out. Linden’s task force successfully defended along a 30-mile front throughout January of 1945. At the end of January, the rest of the division arrived in France. As part of the Seventh Army, the Rainbow Division penetrated German defenses in the Hardt Mountains, crossed the Siegfried Line, bridged the Rhine, and captured the cities of Wurzburg, Schweinfurt, Furth and Donauworth.
The 42nd Division also liberated Dachau concentration camp on April 29, and took Munich on April 30. A plaque in the Division’s honor hangs on one of the outside walls of the Jourhaus at Dachau. This is the building where the Germans who ran the camp placed a sign on the gate to “encourage” its Jewish prisoners -- “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work Brings Freedom).
The 42nd Division was the first in its corps to enter Germany, the first to penetrate the Siegfried line and the first into Munich. Rainbow Division soldiers seized over 6,000 square miles of Nazi held territory, before ending the war as part of the occupation forces in Austria. The 42nd Division was deactivated in 1946, but returned in 1947 as a National Guard division assigned to New York. During the Cold War, the Rainbow Division was deployed during several state emergencies and natural disasters while continuing to train for its wartime mission.
In December 1989, the 42nd Division headquarters was moved from New York City to Troy, New York. In 1991, hundreds of Rainbow soldiers volunteered and served in the Gulf War. In addition, soldiers from the 42nd Division were among the first to be activated and deployed in New York City after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Since 2001, Rainbow Division soldiers have been deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Noble Eagle. Today’s Rainbow Division contains units from several states, including New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Kentucky, Illinois, Michigan, and New Mexico. In 2004, the 42nd Division Headquarters, Division Support Command and other subordinate units were mobilized in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The division headquarters mobilized at Fort Drum, New York in May, while the Division Support Command and other units mobilized at Fort Dix, New Jersey. With the intent to implement the Army's new Unit of Action/Unit of Employment concept, the maneuver units making up the Rainbow Division included the active duty 1st and 3rd Brigades of the 3rd Infantry Division, as well as the National Guard's 116th Enhanced Brigade and the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment. The division completed its training and deployed to Iraq at the end of 2004 and beginning of 2005.
