Sunday, January 2, 1944. 32nd Infantry Division lands at Saidor.

Just two days after Adolf Hitler had warned the German people to expect more hardships and setbacks, one came.  The Red Army captured Radovel, placing themselves within 18 miles of the pre World War Two, and post Russo Polish War, Russian border.

Much of the attention in late 1943 had been on the war in Ukraine, but this frankly was more than a little ominous.  The Soviets were not only recovering lost ground, they were about to enter ground they had not been on since their 1939 invasion of Poland.

The US landed troops of the 32nd Infantry Division at Saidor in New Guinea in Operation Michaelmas, an operation which would ultimately involve 13,000 U.S. troops in an effort to cut off 6,000 Japanese troops.

The 32nd Infantry Division was comprised of National Guard units from Michigan and Wisconsin and had seen significant participation in World War One.  Immediately after the Japanese strike on Pearl Harbor, the unit was designated for shipment to Northern Ireland and ordered to move to embarkment locations, however, Japanese advances caused it to be redesignated for the Pacific, at which time, after having suffered some manpower losses due to restructuring, it was given only three weeks to make the cross-country trek and embark.  It was not fully equipped at the time.  Manpower shortages were filled out, however, by recent conscripts.  It was then sent to Australia.

Division patch.

While the unit's early commitment to combat was problematic, the unit achieved many first during the Second World War.  It was the first US division to deploy as an entire unit from the US and the first to be shipped in a single convoy.  The 128th Infantry Rgt, part of the division, was the first to be airlifted into combat.  It was the first US unit to launch a ground assault against the Japanese.  At Saidor, they became the first US division to make a beach landing in New Guinea.  They later became the first US division to supply eleven battalions at one time from the air.

They were one of the "last" units as well, in that they were fighting Japanese soldiers on the Philippines the day after the Japanese surrender.  They then went into occupation duty in Japan, and returned in 1946.