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Insignia of the
84th Infantry Division. The 84th Infantry Division derives its nickname,
"Railsplitter" division, from the divisional insignia, an ax splitting a
rail. This design was created during World War I, when the division was
known as ...
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photographs

THE 84TH INFANTRY
DIVISION

The 84th Infantry Division was formed in
1917, the year the United States entered World War I. In World
War II, the "Railsplitter" division landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy
in early November 1944, five months after D-Day
(June 6, 1944). From France, the unit moved quickly into the Netherlands
in preparation for an offensive into Nazi Germany. During the Battle
of the Bulge, the 84th was diverted to Belgium to stop the German
offensive. In March 1945, it moved into the Rhineland and subsequently
advanced northward, capturing the city of Hannover on April 10. The 84th
eventually made its way to the Elbe River and made contact with Soviet
armed forces in early May 1945.

As the "Railsplitter" division advanced
into the interior of Germany, its troops uncovered Hannover-Ahlem (April
10, 1945) and Salzwedel (April 14, 1945), both satellite camps of the Neuengamme
concentration camp. The SS established the Hannover-Ahlem camp on
November 30, 1944, after transferring the camp and its inmates from the
Continental Gummiwerke factory at Hannover-Stöcken. In Ahlem the inmates
were forced to work in the nearby asphalt tunnels. These were to be
cleared for the production of aircraft and Panzer parts for Continental
Gummiwerke and Maschinenfabrik Hannover.

Defeat of Nazi Germany,
1942-1945

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When the soldiers of the 84th entered
the camp in Ahlem, they discovered an undetermined number of starving and
ill Jewish prisoners. Reports range from 30 to 250 persons. The SS guards
had abandoned these prisoners when they evacuated the camp, taking with
them some 600 "healthy" prisoners. Of the prisoners sent on this death
march, only 450 made it to the Bergen-Belsen
camp. The SS guards had shot many of those who were unable to maintain
the pace of the march. The U.S. Army war crimes investigators reported
that many of these survivors died soon after liberation from the
accumulated abuse, mistreatment, and neglect they had suffered. They
estimated that only 300 to 400 Jewish prisoners at Hannover-Ahlem survived
the war.

Several days later, the 84th Infantry
captured Salzwedel, a camp formed by the SS in July 1944 to supply forced
labor for a German munitions factory. The unit found some 3,000 female
inmates, mainly Jewish women who had been transported from the Auschwitz
camp complex, and several hundred political prisoners. The U.S. Army
reported that sanitary conditions at the camp were poor because of
overcrowding and a lack of water. Some 100 of these prisoners were
seriously ill and 33 of them required immediate medical attention at a
local hospital. The town's mayor was ordered to provide food immediately
for the former inmates, who were subsequently moved into modern German
barracks nearby.

The 84th Infantry Division was
recognized as a liberating unit by the U.S. Army's Center of Military
History and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1993.

Casualty figures for the 84th
Infantry Division, European theater of operations
Total battle
casualties: 7,260
Total deaths in battle: 1,468

Division nickname
The 84th
Infantry Division derives its nickname, "Railsplitter" division, from the
divisional insignia, an ax splitting a rail. This design was created
during World War I, when the division was known as the "Lincoln" division
to represent the states that supplied soldiers for the division: Illinois,
Indiana, and Kentucky. All figured prominently in the life of President
Abraham Lincoln, of log-splitting legend.

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Copyright © United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.
Encyclopedia Last Updated: March 6,
2007

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