9th Reconnaissance Troop WWII

[Milcollect]

My Father served with the 9th Reconnaissance Troop Mechanized Troop C in WWII. I am trying to piece together the lineage of his unit. I have a copy of his unit’s history it is a paperback of about 30 pages. The 9th Reconnaissance was attached to the Ninth Infantry Division throughout the war. In August of 1940 18 enlisted men from the 12th Cavalry of Fort Brown and Ringgold were attached to the Ninth Infantry Division. At the time they formed the 9th Reconnaissance Troop. So is it correct to say his unit was 12th Cavalry or 9th Cavalry. From what I have seen the 9th Cavalry was disbanded in 1941. Any information you can provide is welcome.

[Pat Holscher]

My Father served with the 9th Reconnaissance Troop Mechanized Troop C in WWII. I am trying to piece together the lineage of his unit. I have a copy of his unit’s history it is a paperback of about 30 pages. The 9th Reconnaissance was attached to the Ninth Infantry Division throughout the war. In August of 1940 18 enlisted men from the 12th Cavalry of Fort Brown and Ringgold were attached to the Ninth Infantry Division. At the time they formed the 9th Reconnaissance Troop. So is it correct to say his unit was 12th Cavalry or 9th Cavalry. From what I have seen the 9th Cavalry was disbanded in 1941. Any information you can provide is welcome.

The proper reference for the unit would be the 9th Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized). It would not be part and parcel of the 9th Cavalry Regiment, so it should not be referred to as the 9th Cavalry, which would have had a separate linage. I'm not sure if the 9th Reconnaissance Troop would have had a separate linage outside of itself, but it's possible that it might have.

The unit is one of those whose European service included service in the Battle of the Bulge, fwiw.

[Pat Holscher]

By the way, during World War Two, Recon troops typically had the number designation of their infantry division. So, for example the Recon Troop of the 10th Mountain Division was the 10th Reconnaissance Troop. They bore a relationship to cavalry in that they filled the same role as Recon HQ troops did in the division during World War One and at least in some cases they were made up of cavalrymen. As far as I know, only the recon troop of the 10th Mountain Division was mounted, with the rest being mechanized.

[Pat Holscher]

9th Infantry Division
Major General L.A.Craig
47th Infantry Regiment
HHB Division Artillery
26th Field Artillery Battalion (105mm)
34th Field Artillery Battalion (155mm)
60th Field Artillery
Battalion (105mm)
784th Field Artillery Battalion (105mm)
9th Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized)
15th Engineer Combat Battalion
9th Medical Battalion
9th Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment
Headquarters Company, 9th Division
Military Police Platoon
709th Light Maintenance Company
9th Quartermaster Battalion
9th Signals Company
47th Infantry Regiment
746th Tank Battalion
799th Tank Destroyer Battalion
58th Armored Field Artillery Battalion

[Alex]

Hi,

please look this topic http://militaryhorse.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9784 which deals with 9th and 10th Cavalry regiments in WW2. To make it brief - these two regiments were colored and were included into 4th Cavalry Brigade of the 2d Cavalry Division. In 1944 they were, along with two other colored cavalry regiments, disbanded with personnel reassigned to various service, ordnance and maintanance units.
As for the 12th Cavalry - during the WW2 it served with 1st Brigade of 1st Cavalry division as dismounted infantry.
The 9th Recon Troop as Pat correctly pointed out does not belonged to 9th Cavalry regiment and have a separate lineage. These Troops were activated during a wartime to provide infantry divisions their own reconnaissance assets (just as Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadrons at Corps level and Armored Reconnaissance Battalions at the armored division level).
Unlike the CRS which were part of the Cavalry Groups, division recon troops were separate and attached only to their respective infantry divisions.

MfG,
Alex

[Alex]

Also you may check with the Eisenhower's library http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/rese ... _Index.pdf:

Box 533 - 5th Mecz. Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop, 8th Mecz. Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop, 9th Reconnaissance Troop

And it worth to check the book Steeds of Steel by Harry Yeide. I don't remember (read it a relatively long ago) but it should contain some information interesting to you. Anyway, this book is almost single source of its kind dealing with Mechanized Cavalry. The other one is dissertation of Louis DiMarco.

MfG,
Alex

[Milcollect]

Thanks for the input very helpful. I am lucky I have his uniform dog tags, troop history and several other things from his service. I wish I would have asked more questions when he was still with us.

[Milcollect]

I have a PDF scan of my Dad's Troop history and can email it to any interested parties 32 pages long.

[Alex]

I have a PDF scan of my Dad's Troop history and can email it to any interested parties 32 pages long.

Greg,

I urge you to share it here, using Google docs, Microsoft SkyDrive or similar services. It'll help everyone who interested in Recon troops during WW2 in Europe.

MfG,
Alex

[Milcollect]

Here is a copy of my Dad's WWII Troop History.

[Alex]

Here is a copy of my Dad's WWII Troop History.

Greg,

it seems you forgot to put the link to document.

[Pat Holscher]

Alex is right, nothing is attached to the post.

[Milcollect]

Here is a link to the document. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0GE3W ... sp=sharing
Sorry it took so long

[wostenberg]

I was in the 1097th Trans Co (Med Boat) in Vietnam. I'm restoring a 42 WLA Harley Davidson that served in Europe during WW II. There's no way to track what unit got this bike. So I was wondering if the 9th Recognizance had them?
Thank you
William H Ostenberg IV
Command Sergeant Major
U.S. Army retired

[Milcollect]

From the research I have done no they did not. The 9th recon troops had jeeps and M8 Armored cars. Each Troop had 3 Jeeps and one M8 car. The motorcycles were used for reconnaissance, scouting and messages but not by the 9th recon. From this group I learned that the 9th reconnaissance mechanized was numbered from the 9th division and did not have lineage to the 9th Calvary. It is possible the 9th division did use motorcycles for recon but not with the 9th recon units. Great project good luck.

[Couvi]

Try the U.S. Army Center of Military History - Force Structure and Unit History Branch

https://history.army.mil/unitinfo.html

[C_Massimi]

My Father served with the 9th Reconnaissance Troop Mechanized Troop C in WWII. I am trying to piece together the lineage of his unit. I have a copy of his unit’s history it is a paperback of about 30 pages. The 9th Reconnaissance was attached to the Ninth Infantry Division throughout the war. In August of 1940 18 enlisted men from the 12th Cavalry of Fort Brown and Ringgold were attached to the Ninth Infantry Division. At the time they formed the 9th Reconnaissance Troop. So is it correct to say his unit was 12th Cavalry or 9th Cavalry. From what I have seen the 9th Cavalry was disbanded in 1941. Any information you can provide is welcome.

One of my relatives George A Knapp served as a staff sergeant in the 9th reconnaissance troop and I would appreciate any information on the troop or my relative.

[Milcollect]

I have a copy of the unit history book and the daily reports for the 9th Reconnaissance troop I can give you. Large files so will have to use dropbox.

[C_Massimi]

I have a copy of the unit history book and the daily reports for the 9th Reconnaissance troop I can give you. Large files so will have to use dropbox.

That would be great. Also one of my family members came across a box of his old stuff so I'll post anything of interest when I go through it.

[Milcollect]

Here is the link to the morning reports https://www.dropbox.com/s/yyp6aboyc6hdl ... s.pdf?dl=0