Rainbow Division

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Rainbow Division, nickname of the 42d Division of the U.S. army. The first U.S. combat division to arrive in France in World War I, it participated in the second battle of the Marne, fought in the counteroffensive at Château-Thierry, and spearheaded attacks at Saint-Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne sector. Throughout the war the division suffered heavy losses. It later became a part of the National Guard.

See H. J. Reilly, Americans All—The Rainbow at War (1936).