5th Infantry Division ( United States ) The 5th Infantry Division ( Mechanized ) — nicknamed the Red Diamond , the Red Devils , or die Roten Teufel — was an infantry division of the United States Army that served in World War I , World War II and the Vietnam War , and with NATO and the U . S . Army III Corps . Its final inactivation occurred on 24 November 1992 . World War I . The 5th Division was activated on 11 December 1917 at Camp Logan , near Houston , Texas . The entire division had arrived in France by 1 May 1918 and components of the units were deployed into the front line . The first soldiers of the unit to be killed in action died on 14 June of that year . On 12 September , the unit was part of a major attack that reduced the salient at St . Mihiel . The division served in the Army of Occupation , being based in Belgium and Luxembourg until it was inactivated in Europe on 4 October 1921 . World War II . The 5th Division was activated as part of United States mobilization in response to the outbreak of European war in the fall of 1939 , being formed at Fort McClellan , Alabama under the command of Brigadier General Campbell Hodges . Under the new " triangular " organization , units assigned included : The following spring , in 1940 , the division was sent to Fort Benning , Georgia , and then temporarily to Louisiana for training exercises , before being transferred to Fort Benjamin Harrison at the end of May 1940 . That December the division relocated to Fort Custer , Michigan , from where it participated in the Tennessee maneuvers . The formation went next to Camp Joseph T . Robinson , Arkansas , in August 1941 for staging into both the Arkansas and Louisiana maneuvers before returning to Fort Custer that October . The division was stationed at Fort Custer when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States declared war during December 1941 . As the winter passed the division was brought up to strength and fully equipped for forward deployment into a war zone . During April 1942 , the 5th Division received its overseas orders and departed the New York Port of Embarkation at the end of the month for Iceland . The division debarked in Iceland in May 1942 , where it replaced the British garrison on this island outpost along the Atlantic convoy routes , and a year later was reorganized and re - designated as the 5th Infantry Division on 24 May 1943 . Normandy landings . Now commanded by Major General Stafford L . Irwin the 5th Infantry Division landed on Utah Beach , 9 July 1944 and four days later took up defensive positions in the vicinity of Caumont . Launching a successful attack at Vidouville 26 July , the division drove on southeast of Saint - Lô , attacked and captured Angers , 9 – 10 August , captured Chartres , ( assisted by the 7th Armored Division ) , 18 August , pushed to Fontainebleau , crossed the Seine at Montereau , 24 August , crossed the Marne and seized Reims , 30 August , and positions east of Verdun . The division then prepared for the assault on Metz , 7 September . In mid - September a bridgehead was secured across the Moselle , south of Metz , at Dornot and Arnaville after two attempts . The first attempt at Dornot by the 11th Regiment failed . German - held Fort Driant played a role in repulsing this crossing . A second crossing by the 10th Regiment at Arnaville was successful . The division continued operations against Metz , 16 September to 16 October 1944 , withdrew , then returned to the assault on 9 November . Metz finally fell 22 November . The division crossed the German border , 4 December , captured Lauterbach ( a suburb of Völklingen ) on the 5th , and elements reached the west bank of the Saar River , 6 December , before the division moved to assembly areas . On 16 December the Germans launched their winter offensive , and on the 18th the 5th ID was thrown in against the southern flank of the Bulge , helping to reduce it by the end of January 1945 . In February and March , the division drove across and northeast of the Sauer , where it smashed through the Siegfried Line . First to cross the Rhine . The 5th ID became the first Allied unit to cross the Rhine River on the night of 22 March 1945 . ( The Rhine was crossed at Remagen on 7 , 8 , 9 March 1945 , 9th Armoured Division , units of 9th ID and 78th ID ) After capturing some 19 , 000 German soldiers , the division continued to Frankfurt - am - Main , clearing and policing the town and its environs , 27 – 29 March . In April the division , under Major General Albert E . Brown took part in clearing the Ruhr Pocket and then drove across the Czechoslovak border , 1 May , reaching Volary and Vimperk as the war in Europe ended . Cold War . Following World War II , the 5th Infantry Division was inactivated on 20 September 1946 . However , the division was reactivated on 15 July 1947 under Brigadier General John C . Church . The 1950s saw the division in West Germany as part of the US contribution to NATO though the division later returned to the United States . When the 1st Infantry Division deployed to Vietnam in 1965 additional manoeuvre battalions were required ; thus two infantry battalions from the 2nd Brigade , 5th Infantry Division , at Fort Devens , Massachusetts , were relieved and assigned to " The Big Red One . " In September 1965 , the 2nd Brigade , 5th Infantry Division was moved , minus personnel , to Fort Carson , Colorado , and refilled there . The remaining personnel at Fort Devens formed the basis of the 196th Infantry Brigade . By 1968 the division was stationed at Fort Carson , Colorado , as a mechanized formation . 1st Brigade , 5th Infantry Division was dispatched to Vietnam after the Tet Offensive to replace a U . S . Marine Corps unit . The brigade , consisting of one battalion each of infantry , mechanized infantry , and armor , served there from July 1968 until 1971 . Combat units included 1st Battalion , 11th Infantry ; 1st Battalion , 61st Infantry ( Mechanized ) ; 1st Battalion , 77th Armor ; A Troop , 4th Squadron , 12th Cavalry ; and 5th Battalion , 4th Artillery . ( Society of the Fifth Division ) On 22 August 1971 , the colors of 1st Brigade , 5th Infantry Division were cased and the brigade was deactivated at Fort Carson . Its final assignment was to III Corps , with the mission of reinforcement of Europe if a general war was to break out there . In September 1969 the 4th Brigade , 5th Infantry Division was activated at Fort Carson , although , on the later return of 4th Infantry Division home from Vietnam in December 1970 , the 4th Division replaced the 5th Division at Fort Carson and the 5th Division appears to have disappeared from the active force . On 21 October 1974 the 1st Brigade , 5th Infantry Division was reactivated at Fort Polk , LA . , as part of the Army ' s new 24 - division force . Due to lack of sufficient housing , the brigade initially only had two manoeuvre battalions . ( Manoeuvre and Firepower , Chap XIII ) The division base and a second brigade was organised in 1975 - 77 , and the Louisiana Army National Guard ' s 256th Infantry Brigade was assigned as the ' round - out ' third brigade of the division . In 1989 , units of the 5th Division , based at Fort Polk , Louisiana , deployed in support of Operation Nimrod Dancer to " protect American interests " in Panama . First Battalion , 61st Infantry ( Mechanized ) , " Roadrunners " ( 1st Brigade , 5th ID ) was one of the first reinforcing units and remained there until September when there was a hand over to 4th Battalion , Sixth Infantry ( Mechanized ) , " Regulars " ( 2nd Brigade , 5th ID ) . 4 – 6 Infantry was in country and assisted during Operation Just Cause helping to overthrow Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega , and also assisted in an emergency extraction of Delta Force operators engaged in Operation Acid Gambit when their helicopter went down . The division was inactivated for the final time on 24 November 1992 , and reflagged as the U . S . 2nd Armored Division as part of the post - Cold War drawdown of US forces . The 2nd Armored Division moved from Fort Polk to Fort Hood , TX in 1993 , with the majority of the 5th Division ' s equipment . In popular culture . In the " Axis & Allies " miniatures role - playing game , a US infantry unit was designated " Red Devil Captain " . In the " " role - playing game , players start out as members of the 5th ID in July 2000 , after the Division is overrun by Soviet and Polish units near Kalisz , Poland during a hypothetical World War III .