Activation
The 79th Division "Liberty" Division, also known as the "Lorraine" Division, was a National Army division established 5 August 1917 by the War Department to be formed at Camp Meade, Maryland. The division was commanded by Maj. Gen. Joseph E. Kuhn. Draftees were from Pennsylvania and Maryland. Movement overseas commenced on 6 July 1918 and was completed by 3 August 1918. Primary units included the 157th Infantry Brigade, consisting of the 313th Infantry Regiment, 314th Infantry Regiment, and 311th Machine Gun Battalion. The 157th Infantry Brigade was commanded by Brig. Gen. William J. Nicholson. One the Army's most expert cavalry officers, he was seldom seen off his horse at Camp Meade.
Shrouded in secrecy, the brigade left from Hoboken, New Jersey in July 1918 on the SS Leviathan, a speedy ex-German liner that arrived at Brest, France the morning of 15 July 1918. They trained for two months at Champ Little behind the French lines. On 26 September 1918 they "went over the top" in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. In a period of heartbreaking losses, the men struggled through nine kilometers of barbed wire and pot-marked earth. They destroyed German defenses that were said to be impregnable. That night they were on the outskirts of Montfaucon, headquarters of the enemy command. The 313th fought until the end, 11 November 1918. Gen. John J. Pershing commended the men of the 79th Division, and especially the 313th Infantry Regiment whose forces penetrated deeper into enemy territory then any other outfit.
The 157th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized) was reactivated on 3 January 1963 in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania using assets from the inactivating 79th Infantry Division. It moved to Horsham on 31 January 1968, where it remained until its inactivation on 1 September 1995 during the post-Cold War drawdown. In 2006, as part of the Army's Transformation Plan, the 5th Brigade, 87th Division was reflagged as the 157th Infantry Brigade.
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