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Organized at Camp Logan, Houston, Texas, about the middle of August, 1917 with the Illinois National Guard (1st and 2nd Inf. Brig. Hdqs.; 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Inf. Regts.; 2nd and 3rd Regts. Fld. Arty.; Co. A, Signal Corps; 1st Engrs; 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th Field Hospitals and Amb. Cos.). The first organization left Camp Logan, April 23, 1918, for Camp Merritt. The rest of the division followed shortly afterward and sailed from Hoboken to France, disembarking at Brest. The last units arrived in France June 11, 1918.
Upon arrival in France the division was first sent to the Huppy area, near Abbeville, and on June 20th and 21st the division moved into the Amiens sector, where it was trained under the British, occupying portions of the British trenches and participating in a number of small operations. On July 4th, Co. C and E, 131st Inf., and A and G, 132nd Inf. took part in the attack on Hamel, which was the first time American troops had fought with the Australians. On August 8, 1918, began the great British offensive, in which the 33rd Division broke the German line at Chipilly Ridge and Gressaire Wood. On Aug. 23rd it was transferred by rail from the British front to the area of the 1st American Army in the Toul sector, being concentrated on Aug. 26th in the region of Tronville-en- Barrois. On Sept. 5th it started for Verdun, where it relieved on the nights of Sept. 7th, 8th and 9th, the 120th French Division.
In the Meuse-Argonne battle, commencing Sept. 26th, the 33rd Division formed the right of the 3rd Armerican Army Corps. For the next eleven days it formed the pivot of this corps. On Oct. 6th, the division was transferred to the French 17th Army Corps and participated (Oct. 8th) in the attack of the French 17th Corps east of the Meuse. Upon being relieved the 33d Division marched to the Troyon-sur-Meuse sector on the St. Mihiel front, relieving the 79th Division on the nights of Oct. 23rd, 24th, and 25th. From this date to include the date of the armistice the division participated in a number of minor operations in this sector.
This division captured from the enemy the following: 65 officers; 3,922 men, 100 pieces of artillery, 414 machine guns, 20 trench mortars and other material. It made a total advance against resistance of thirty-six kilometers. Battle deaths, 153 officers and 701 men; wounded, 153 officers and 6,844 men; missing 148 men; prisoners of war, one officer and 17 men.
Maj. Gen. George Bell, Jr., U.S. Army commanded the division from Aug. 16, 1917 to include Nov. 11, 1918.
Following is a list of the decorations conferred on individuals of this division: Congressional Medals of Honor, 8; Distinguished Service Crosses, 110; British Distinguished Service Orders, 1; British Military Medals, 41; French Croix de Guerre, 47; Belgian Order of Leopold, 1.
The following organizations composed this division: 65th and 66th Inf. Brigs., 129th, 130th, 131st, and 132d Inf. Regts., 123d and 124th Machine Gun Bns., 58th Arty. Brig., 122d, 123d, and 124th Arty. Regts., 108th Trench Mortar Battery, 122d Div. Machine Gun Bn., 108th Supply Train, 108th Amm. Train, 108th Sanitary Train (129th, 130th, 131st and 132d Amb. Cos. And Field Hospitals).
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