The US Army National Guard’s 34th 'Red Bull' Infantry Division was mobilized against the complex backdrop of the United States’ lack of readiness for modern war before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. After training, the 34th ID would be deployed in early 1942 to the United Kingdom as the first US division sent overseas, before participating in Operation TORCH and the capture of Algiers. Shocking engagements with Axis forces led to early traumatic defeats in Tunisia, battles that ultimately transformed the division’s men into the killer soldiers they needed to become. Their mettle would be tested when they won the bitter fight at Hill 609, where the Red Bull broke the Axis defensive line in Tunisia, resulting in the destruction of two Axis armies and the Allied conquest of the North African shore.
For the first time, almost 80 years after Nazi forces in Italy surrendered to the Allies, the complete story of the US Army National Guard’s 34th “Red Bull” Infantry Division during WWII is finally told. The Division comes to life through a narrative based on original papers, declassified documents, and personal accounts of the soldiers themselves as they changed from green troops to veteran destroyers of the Third Reich. With constant focus on what happened to the men on the battle line, this book vividly sets forth major battles and little-known events of the Red Bull’s brutal introduction to war and its heroic metamorphosis into an effective combat organization, within the context of Allied strategy and leadership.