The 101st Infantry Division was a Territorial division (french: 101e Division d'Infanterie Territoriale, 101e DIT) during World War I, and a Fortress division (french: 101e Division d'Infanterie de Forteresse, 101e DIF) during World War II.

History

World War I

During World War I, the division comprised: * 223rd Territorial Infantry Regiment. * 259th Territorial Infantry Regiment. * 268th Territorial Infantry Regiment. * 279th Territorial Infantry Regiment. The division was formed on 25 May 1914, and was dissolved on 26 November 1916. During this time, it was part of the French

3rd Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

, 8th, 31st and 33rd Corps (Corps d'Armée (CA)), which in turn were part of the French 1st and

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds or 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Second of arc, an angular measurement unit ...

Armies.

World War II

During the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...

in May 1940 the division was made up of the following units: * 84th Fortress Infantry Regiment. * 87th Fortress Infantry Regiment. * 161st Artillery Regiment. It was a Series B reserve division containing older reservists. It was a Fortress Division meant to defend the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

border with Belgium. At the start of the German offensive on 10 May 1940, the 101st was assigned to the 5th Army Corps (motorized), 1st Army, 1st Army Group. The division held a section of the

Maginot Line The Maginot Line (french: Ligne Maginot, ), named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Germany and force the ...

near

Clairfayts Clairfayts () is a commune of the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic. The communes cooperate in t ...

. The 7th Panzer Division broke through the sector of the 84th Regiment in a night assault on 16 May after "considerable resistance".

References

{{French Army Divisions Infantry Division, 101st Infantry divisions of France Infantry Division, 101st Military units and formations established in 1914 Military units and formations disestablished in 1916