US Army 104th Infantry Division shoulder sleeve patch with a howling gray timberwolf

Shoulder sleeve insignia of the United States Army 104th Infantry Division, nicknamed the Timberwolf Division. The circular, green badge has a gray timberwolf, native to the Pacific Northwest, where the Division originated in 1921. The 104th landed in France on September 7, 1944, and reached Aachen, Germany, a month later. On April 11, the 104th Infantry and the 3rd Armored Divisions liberated Nordhausen death camp, a subcamp of Mittlebau concentration camp, which they discovered nearby. Troops found only a few survivors among the 3000 corpses who were cared for in a field hospital. Local German civilians were ordered to gather and bury the dead in the city’s main cemetery. The unit then captured Halle on April 19 after a five day struggle. Relieved by Soviet forces, the unit reached Pretzsch on April 26th, where, after the May 7 surrender by Germany, they remained on occupation duty until returning to the US on June 27th. The division was inactivated on December 20, 1945.