The 4th. Infantry Division landed on Utah Beach a mile off course. had they landed where they were supposed to they would have been cut to pieces.
They were fortunate on D-Day, but the division paid it’s full measure of casualties before the German surrender and suffered more than most divisions.
The 4th Infantry sustained 112% battle casualties during the eleven months until VE-Day. Added to these numbers were half again as many non-battle human wrecks debilitated by trench foot, frost bite, pneumonia, hernia, heart disease, arthritis, etc. Many never returned to duty. The total from their association page was 34,000 for a 14,000-man division. However, if just their rifle platoons are considered, the casualties are 525%.
Omar Bradley said, “Previous combat had taught us that casualties are lumped primarily in the rifle platoons. For here are concentrated the handful of troops who must advance under enemy fire. It is upon them that the burden of war falls with greater risk and with less likelihood of survival than any other of the combat arms. An infantry division of WW II consisted of 81 rifle platoons, each with a combat strength of approximately 40 men. Altogether those 81 assault units comprised but 3,240 men in a division of 14,000…..Prior to invasion we had estimated that the infantry would incur 70 percent of the losses of our combat forces. By August we had boosted that figure to 83 percent on the basis of our experience in the Normandy hedgerows.”
Links for Listings of United States Divisions during WW II
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Army_divisions_during_World_War_II
http://www.historyshots.com/usarmy/
Army Battle Casualties and Non-battle Deaths in World War II
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/Casualties/index.html
National 4th Infantry (IVY) Division Association
http://www.4thinfantry.org/content/division-history
Total casualties of 34,000