
313th
Combat
Engineers
Battalion
|

313th
Medical
Battalion
|

337th
Field
Artillery
Battalion
|

338th
Field
Artillery
Battalion
|

339th
Field
Artillery
Battalion
|

913th
Field
Artillery
Battalion
|

88th
Infantry
Division
Band
|

88th
Infantry
Division
Military Police Company
|

88th
Infantry
Division
Quartermaster Company
|

88th
Infantry
Division
Recon Troop (Mech)
|

88th
Infantry
Division
Signal Company
|

788th
Ordnance
Company
|
88TH
INFANTRY
DIVISION |
88th
Infantry Division
"Blue Devils" |
88TH
INFANTRY
DIVISION |
|
Introduction |
The 88th Infantry
Division was the first organized Reserve
Division to go overseas, and also
the first to enter combat. During
the time it was in combat, from March
4 1944 to May 2 1945, the Blue Devils
suffered over four thousand battle
casualties, of whom twelve hundred
were killed in action.
|
|
88th
Infantry Division
"Cloverleaf"
Emblem

The
insignia was evolved by two
figures "8" at right
angles, the result being a four-leaf
clover, representing the four
States from which the personnel
of the division came. It is
in blue for the infantry and
machine gun battalions, in red
for the artillery, and in black
for the remainder of the division.
Draftees were from Illinois,
Iowa, North Dakota and Minnesota.
|
|
|
|
Activated: |
15
July 1942 |
Overseas: |
6
December 1943 |
Campaigns: |
Rome-Arno
North Apennines
Po Valley |
Days of combat: |
317 |
Killed in Action: |
2,137
|
Wounded in Action: |
8,248 |
Missing in Action: |
521 |
Captured |
379 |
Total Casualties |
11,258
|
|
Source: The Blue
Devils in Italy |
|
Order
of Battle
349th
Infantry Regiment
350th Infantry Regiment
351st Infantry Regiment
337th Field Artillery Battalion (105mm)
338th Field Artillery Battalion (105mm)
339th Field Artillery Battalion (155mm)
913th Field Artillery Battalion (105mm)
88th Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized)
88th Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment
88th Infantry Division Military Police
Platoon
88th Infantry Division Special Troops
88th Quartermaster Company
88th Signal Company
313th Engineer Combat Battalion
313th Medical Battalion
788th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company
442nd Infantry Regiment (Nisei) attached
Aug 44 - Sep 44 |
|
|
|
Maj. Gen.
John E. Sloan |
July 1942-September
1944 |
|
Maj. Gen. Paul W. Kendall |
September 1944-July 1945 |
|
Brig. Gen. James C. Fry |
July-November 1945 |
|
Maj. Gen. B. E. Moore |
November 1945 to inactivation.
Inactivated: 24 October 1947 in Italy.
|
|

Major General
John E. Sloan
Commanding General
July 1942 - September 1944
|

Major General
Paul W. Kendall
Commanding General
September 1944 - July 1945
|
|
|
Brigadier
General
James C. Fry
Commanding General
July 1945
|
Major
General
Bryant E. Moore
Commanding General
November 1945 |
|
1942 |
|
15
Jul - |
Activated at Camp Gruber,
Oklahoma under the command of Major
General John E. Sloan. |
1943 |
|
Mid
Jun- |
The 88th participated
in Third Army Louisiana Maneuvers #3. |
Late
Aug- |
The division moved
to Fort Sam Houston, Texas. |
Nov- |
The division stages
at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia. |
15
Dec- |
The 88th arrivived
at Casablanca, French Morocco from the
Hampton Roads Port of Embarcation. |
26
Dec- |
An advance party of
the 88th echelon departed for Italy. |
28
Dec- |
The Division moved
to Magenta, Algeria and conducted intensive
training for employment in Italy. |
1944 |
|
4
Jan- |
The division went into
the line as observers attached to 3rd,
34th, and 36th Infantry Divisions, and
the British 5th, 46th, and 56th Divisions. |
3
Jan- |
A member of this advance
echelon became the 88th’s first KIA
when Sergeant William A. Streuli of
Paterson, New Jersey (a forward observer
in B/339th Field Artillery Battalion)
was killed by fragments from a bomb
dropped by a Luftwaffe aircraft in the
34th Infantry Division sector. Lieutenant
Elwin Ricketts, Battery B Executive
Officer, became the first WIA when he
was wounded in the same attack. |
6
Feb- |
The main body of the
88th was transported to Italy in early
February and concentrated around Piedimonte
d'Alife for combat training. |
27
Feb- |
The first 88th Division
unit into the line was 2nd Battalion,
351st Infantry, which relieved elements
of the Texas Division’s 141st Infantry
Regiment near Cervaro. |
28
Feb- |
The first artillery
round fired in combat by an 88th DIVARTY
unit was sent downrange by Battery C,
913th Field Artillery Battalion. It's
target was a registration point at the
Monte Cassino Abbey, the rubble of which
was occupied by the Germans after the
Allies bombed it. |
4
Mar- |
The entire Division
moved into the line at 1000 hours. |
5
Mar- |
The division assumed
responsibility for the sector previously
occupied by the British 5th Division.
At the same time, the 88th came under
the control of the British X Corps,
and deployed its three infantry regiments
on line from the Mediterranean into
the foothills to the east. Opposing
the 88th in the strong fortified positions
of the Gustav Line, were the German
71st and 94th Infantry Divisions. The
Blue Devil infantry spent the next two
months occupying and improving defensive
positions and patrolling, while DIVARTY
fired harassing and interdiction missions
at German positions and suspected and
known lines of communication. |
11
May- |
At 2300 the Allied
front in Italy began their last attack
on the Gustav Line with the the 88th.
In less than an hour, the 350th Infantry
Regiment captured Mt. Damiano, key terrain
overlooking the flank of the French
units attacking on the Division’s right. |
12
May- |
In that action, Staff
Sergeant Charles W. Shea of F/350th
took charge of his platoon after the
platoon leader was killed and the platoon
sergeant was wounded, and led an assault
which knocked the defenders out of their
well-prepared positions. For his actions
that day, Staff Sergeant Shea became
the first Blue Devil to earn the Medal
of Honor. |
11-14
May- |
The rest of the Division
also pushed hard and forced the stubborn
foe off the Gustav Line. The 351st Infantry
stormed into Santa Maria Infante and
engaged in a particularly bitter battle
with the German defenders there. After
more than two days of vicious combat,
the 351st seized Santa Maria. |
11
May- |
The 88th drove north
to take Spigno, Mount Civita, Itri,
Fondi, and Roccagorga. As the 349th
Infantry Regiment passed through the
351st and continued the attack to the
north, the 88th’s operations took on
aspects of a pursuit. Through towns
like Itri, Fondi, and Roccgorga, the
Blue Devils drove on toward Rome, effectively
destroying the German 94th Infantry
Division in the process. So badly battered
was the 94th that it had to be withdrawn
to Germany for reconstitution, and did
not return to combat until October. |
29
May- |
Elements of the 88th
made contact with Allied units breaking
out of the Anzio beachhead, reached
Anzio on 29 May, and pursued the enemy
into Rome. |
4
Jun- |
Elements of the 88th
were the first to enter the Rome. After
the fall of Rome, the 88th was pulled
out of the line to refit and prepare
for subsequent operations. |
11
Jun- |
After continuing across
the Tiber to Bassanelio the 88th retired
for rest and training. |
5
Jul- |
The Division went
into defensive positions near Pomerance
and relieved the 1st Armored Division
in the vicinity. |
8
Jul- |
The Division attacked
Volterra at 0500 with the 349th and
350th Infantry Regiments abreast, with
the 351st in reserve. Intending to envelop
the objective from both sides, the attack
successfully drove the defenders of
the veteran 90th Panzer Grenadier Division
from their choice terrain. Volterra
was secure by 2200 hours. |
9
Jul- |
While performing security
duties on the Division’s left flank,
the 351st Infantry Regiment unexpectedly
ran into a hornet’s nest near Laiatico
on 9 July. Here, the regiment encountered
Grenadier Regiment 1060, an element
of the recently-disbanded 92nd Infantry
Division now attached to the 362nd Infantry
Division, as well as other elements
of the 90th Panzer Grenadiers. |
12
Jul- |
The 351st Regiment
attacked again on the 12th with the
2nd and 3rd Battalions up and the 1st
in reserve. The 3rd Battalion tore into
the 1060th’s 1st Battalion, destroying
it and killing the enemy battalion commander.
|
13
Jul- |
All regimental objectives
were secure; for its part in the attack,
the 3rd Battalion, 351st Infantry Regiment
was later awarded the Distinguished
Unit Citation. |
13
Jul- |
Villamagna fell. |
20
Jul- |
The Arno River was
crossed. |
25
Jul- |
By 25 July, the Fifth
Army’s offensive power had been spent;
the loss of VI Corps and its veteran
3rd, 36th, and 45th Infantry Divisions
to the impending invasion of Southern
France prevented it from continuing
the drive further to the north. The
removal of the French Expeditionary
Corps for participation in the same
operation also diminished Allied combat
power in Italy. Above the Arno, the
units of the Germans’ Army Group Southwest
were finishing their preparations for
defense of the Gothic Line, and the
Allied forces of the US Fifth and British
Eighth Armies were going to require
every ounce of power they could muster
to breach the heavily fortified line
in the mountains that ran from the Ligurian
coast in the east to the Adriatic in
the west. |
Aug- |
Major General Sloan
was transferred first to a hospital
in Italy, then to the States for treatment
of a recurring disease. General Sloan
was succeeded by the Division’s Assistant
Commander, Brigadier General Paul W.
Kendall. |
10
Sep- |
Allied forces in Italy
attacked toward the Gothic Line and
penetrated it in the central and Adriatic
sectors. |
21 Sep- |
After a period of rest
and training, the Division opened its
assault on the Gothic Line and advanced
rapidly along the Firenzuola-Imola road,
taking Mount Battaglianear near Casola
Valsenio on the 28th. |
27
Sep- |
The 2nd Battalion -
351st Infantry Regiment earns the Distinguished
Unit Citation for Monte Cappello. The
fighting raged for days, sometimes literally
at bayonet point,until the 1st and 2nd
Battalions secured the top of the mountain. |
27-28
Sep- |
Captain Robert Roeder,
CO of Company G, was awarded the Medal
of Honor for his actions at Monte Battaglia. |
27
Sep- |
The 2nd Battalion -
350th Infantry Regiment earns the Distinguished
Unit Citation for Monte Battaglia. |
30
Sep- |
The 349th Infantry
Regiment attack the village of Belvedere
enroute to its objective, Mt. Grande. |
20-22
Oct- |
The enemy counterattacked
savagely and heavy fighting continued
on the line toward the Po Valley.
The strategic positions of Mount Grande
and Farnetto were taken on 20 and
22 October. |
24
Oct- |
Company G, 351st came
closest to breaking through, but was
literally wiped out at Vedriano, southeast
of Bologna, on 24 October. |
26
Oct-
|
The 88th went over
to the defensive in late October patrolling
in the Mount Grande-Mount Cerrere
sector and the Mount Fano improved
positions, and rehabilitated its combat
troops. |
22
Nov- |
The Division relieved
the 85th Infantry Division in its sector. |
1945 |
|
13
Jan- |
The Division was relieved
for general rehabilitation. |
24
Jan- |
The division was
committed in relief of the 91st Infantry
Division near Loiano and Livergnano
and after more patrolling and maintenance
of defensive positions, the Division
was pulled out of the line again for
further rehabilitation and special
training for the impending spring
offensive to 2 Mar. |
1
Apr- |
That offensive,
which would finally defeat the Wehrmacht
in Italy, commenced with a supporting
attack by the 92nd Infantry Division
on the Ligurian coast in the west
to draw German forces away from the
point of the impending main effort. |
9
Apr- |
Another supporting
attack, in much greater strength, was
launched by the British Eighth Army
on the Adriatic coast on 9 April. Finally,
with the German reserves being decisively
committed to meet these attacks at the
extreme ends of the line in Italy, on
14 April, Fifth Army jumped off in the
main attack against the German center. |
15
Apr- |
The 88th’s attack
began at 2230 hours on 15 April, as
its infantry regiments lunged toward
Monterumici. In two days the Blue
Devils knocked the German defenders
off the key ridge. |
17
Apr- |
Monterumici fell on
the 17th after an intense barrage. |
24
Apr- |
The Po River was
crossed as the 88th pursued the enemy
toward the Alps. |
25
Apr- |
Verona fell. |
28 Apr- |
Vicenza fell. |
2
May- |
The 88th was driving
through the Dolomite Alps toward Innsbruck,
Austria to link up with the 103rd
Infantry Division, when the hostilities
ended on 2 May 1945. German forces
in Italy surrendered although it took
until early the next day to notify
all Blue Devil units of the capitulation. |
4
May- |
Elements of the 349th
Infantry Regiment linked up with units
from the 103rd Infantry Division’s 409th
Infantry Regiment coming down from Austria
where German forces had yet to surrender
in the Brenner Pass. |
7
Jun- |
The 88th Division
assumed POW Command duties to repatriate
a minimum of 100,000 Germans and to
form an estimated 120,000 of them
into service units. POW strength figures
at the time indicated that the 88th
Division had approximately 295,000
Germans available to accomplish this
dual mission. Later figures raised
this total above 320,000 as Germans
came in out of the hills, unguarded
German service units were discovered
and taken over, and responsibility
for the Czech PWs was transferred
from the Fifth Army to the Division. |
1947
- 1954 |
The
88th in Occupation and the Free Territory
of Trieste Trust Period.
TRUST stands for Trieste United States
Troops, the 5,000 man U.S. contingent
based in the Free Terrority of Trieste
created in 1947. The Free State was
established in 1947 in order to accomodate
an ethnically and culturally mixed
population in a neutral country between
Italy and Yugoslavia.
After
the war, the 88th Infantry Division
on occupation duty in Italy guarded
the Morgan Line from positions in
Italy and Trieste until 15 September
1947. It was then withdrawn to Livorno
and inactivated. The 351st Infantry
was relieved from assignment to the
division on 1 May 1947 and served
as the main component of a garrison
command in the Free Territory of Trieste,
securing the disputed border between
Italy and Yugoslavia.
The command
served as the front line in the Cold
War from 1947 to 1954, including confrontations
with Yugoslavian forces. In October
1954 the territory was ceded to Italy
and administration turned over to
the Italian Army.
TRUST
units, which included a number of
88th divisional support units, all
bore a unit patch which was the coat
of arms of the Free Territory of Trieste
superimposed over the divisional quarterfoil,
over which was a blue scroll containing
the designation "TRUST" in white." |
|
History
of the
88th Infantry Division
"Blue Devils"
The 88th Infantry Division
was activated at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma
on 15 July 1942 under the command of Major
General John E. Sloan. On that day, standing
on the dusty, hot parade ground, on behalf
of the fledgling Division, General Sloan
accepted the challenge from the President
of the 88th Division Veterans Association
to, “take up the job we didn’t
get done.” In
response, referring to the Great War
veterans present, General Sloan assured
onlookers that, “their faith will
be sustained, their record maintained
and the glory of the colors never will
be sullied as long as one man of the
88th still lives.”
It was a solemn and
demanding pledge, but one that the men
of the 88th would keep through some
of the hardest-fought battles of the
Second World War.
General Sloan drove
the soldiers of the 88th hard, from
activation throughout all of its pre-deployment
training. Comprised overwhelmingly of
draftees, after basic training for the
Division’s recruits, small unit
training was conducted at Camp Gruber.
Next, the 88th participated in Third
Army Louisiana Maneuvers #3 from mid-June
1943, and moved to Fort Sam Houston,
Texas, in late August before staging
Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia in November.
From the Hampton Roads Port of Embarcation,
the 88th sailed for North Africa, arriving
in Casablanca, French Morocco, on 15
December.
The Division next moved
to Algeria just before the end of the
year, and conducted intensive training
for employment in Italy. Under the command
of the Assistant Division Commander,
Brigadier General Paul W. Kendall, an
advance party departed for Italy on
26 December, and went into the line
as observers on 4-5 January, attached
to 3rd, 34th, and 36th Infantry Divisions,
and the British 5th, 46th, and 56th
Divisions. On 3 January 1944, a member
of this advance echelon became the 88th’s
first KIA when Sergeant William A. Streuli
of Paterson, New Jersey (A forward observer
in B/339th Field Artillery Battalion)
was killed by fragments from a bomb
dropped by a Luftwaffe aircraft in the
34th Infantry Division sector. Lieutenant
Elwin Ricketts, Battery B Executive
Officer, became the first WIA when he
was wounded in the same attack.
The main body of the
88th was transported to Italy in early
February 1944, arriving in the Naples
area in increments as they were ferried
across from Oran, Algeria. The first
Division unit into the line was 2nd
Battalion, 351st Infantry, which relieved
elements of the Texas Division’s
141st Infantry Regiment near Cervaro
on 27 February. Early the next day,
firing in support of a French unit,
the first artillery round fired in combat
by an 88th DIVARTY unit was sent downrange
by Battery C, 913th Field Artillery
Battalion. Its target was a registration
point at the Monte Cassino Abbey, the
rubble of which was occupied by the
Germans after the Allies bombed it,
and not before.
The entire Division
moved into the line on 4 March, and
at 1000 hours on 5 March 1944 assumed
responsibility for the sector previously
occupied by the British 5th Division.
At the same time, the 88th came under
the control of the British X Corps,
and deployed its three infantry regiments
on line from the Mediterranean into
the foothills to the east. Opposing
the 88th in the strong fortified positions
of the Gustav Line, were the German
71st and 94th Infantry Divisions.
The Blue Devil infantry
spent the next two months occupying
and improving defensive positions and
patrolling, while DIVARTY fired harassing
and interdiction missions at German
positions and suspected and known lines
of communication.
At 2300 on 11 May, American,
British, British Commonwealth, French,
and Polish guns began a massive barrage,
behind which the entire Allied front
in Italy began their last attack on
the Gustav Line. Finally, the first
US Army division comprised primarily
of draftees would be tested in the crucible
of a major operation.
In less than an hour,
the 350th Infantry Regiment captured
Mt. Damiano, key terrain overlooking
the flank of the French units attacking
on the Division’s right. In that
action, Staff Sergeant Charles W. Shea
of F/350th took charge of his platoon
after the platoon leader was killed
and the platoon sergeant was wounded,
and led an assault which knocked the
defenders out of their well-prepared
positions. For his actions that day,
Staff Sergeant Shea became the first
Blue Devil to earn the Medal of Honor.
The rest of the Division
also pushed hard and forced the stubborn
foe off the Gustav Line. The 351st Infantry
stormed into Santa Maria Infante and
engaged in a particularly bitter battle
with the German defenders there. After
more than two days of vicious combat,
the 351st seized Santa Maria, and any
doubts that a well-trained “draftee
division” could fight as well
as Regular Army or National Guard units
were dispelled.
As the 349th Infantry
Regiment passed through the 351st and
continued the attack to the north, the
88th’s operations took on aspects
of a pursuit, one of the most challenging—and
exhausting—missions possible for
an infantry unit in mountains. Yet the
elements of the Division doggedly pursued
the withdrawing Germans, annihilating
them where they chose to stand, and
chasing them up and over the endless
Italian hills. Through towns like Itri,
Fondi, and Roccgorga, the Blue Devils
drove on toward Rome, effectively destroying
the German 94th Infantry Division in
the process. So badly battered was the
94th that it had to be withdrawn to
Germany for reconstitution, and did
not return to combat until October.
Surging northward, elements
of the 88th made contact with Allied
units breaking out of the Anzio beachhead
on 29 May, and were the first to enter
the “Eternal City”—Rome—
on 4 June.
After the fall of Rome,
the 88th was pulled out of the line
to refit and prepare for subsequent
operations. Those operations began on
5 July, when the Division relieved the
1st Armored Division in the vicinity
of Pomerance.
As the British, British
Commonwealth, and French colonial forces
opened their drive to the Germans’
next line of defense, the Gothic Line
above the River Arno, they attacked
on the east of the 88th toward Firenze.
At the same time, other US forces attacked
toward Livorno on the west coast. Between
these, the 88th was ordered to seize
Volterra, an ancient Etruscan fortress
town with a spectacular view of its
approaches for miles around.
The Division attacked
Volterra at 0500 on 8 July with the
349th and 350th Infantry Regiments abreast,
with the 351st in reserve. Intending
to envelop the objective from both sides,
the attack successfully drove the defenders
of the veteran 90th Panzer Grenadier
Division from their choice terrain.
Volterra was secure by 2200 hours.
While performing security
duties on the Division’s left
flank, the 351st Infantry Regiment unexpectedly
ran into a hornet’s nest near
Laiatico on 9 July. Here, the regiment
encountered Grenadier Regiment 1060,
an element of the recently-disbanded
92nd Infantry Division now attached
to the 362nd Infantry Division, as well
as other elements of the 90th Panzer
Grenadiers. After being initially repulsed
on 11 July, the regiment attacked again
on the 12th with the 2nd and 3rd Battalions
up and the 1st in reserve. The 3rd Battalion
tore into the 1060th’s 1st Battalion,
destroying it and killing the enemy
battalion commander. By the early morning
of 13 July, all regimental objectives
were secure; for its part in the attack,
the 3rd Battalion, 351st Infantry Regiment
was later awarded the Distinguished
Unit Citation.
By 25 July, the Fifth
Army’s offensive power had been
spent; the loss of VI Corps and its
veteran 3rd, 36th, and 45th Infantry
Divisions to the impending invasion
of Southern France prevented it from
continuing the drive further to the
north. The removal of the French Expeditionary
Corps for participation in the same
operation also diminished Allied combat
power in Italy. Above the Arno, the
units of the Germans’ Army Group
Southwest were finishing their preparations
for defense of the Gothic Line, and
the Allied forces of the US Fifth and
British Eighth Armies were going to
require every ounce of power they could
muster to breach the heavily fortified
line in the mountains that ran from
the Ligurian coast in the east to the
Adriatic in the west.
Perhaps the most significant
change in the 88th’s history to
that point occurred in August 1944,
when Major General Sloan was transferred
first to a hospital in Italy, then to
the States for treatment of a recurring
disease. General Sloan had built the
division from activation through all
of its training, and had led the 88th
into combat. A tough and demanding trainer,
his insistence on excellence had paid
off in victory and saved lives…and
proven that the US Army’s divisions
made up primarily of conscripts—the
largest category of units, just coming
into the line in 1944—could be
highly effective on the battlefield.
General Sloan was succeeded
by the Division’s Assistant Commander,
Brigadier General Paul W. Kendall. Kendall
had served with the 88th through stateside
training and had established a very
visible presence throughout the Division’s
combat to that point. His succession
to Division command seemed only natural
to the most of the Blue Devils, and
while General Sloan would be missed,
the turbulence inevitably created by
the departure of any respected and experienced
leader was certainly greatly attenuated
by General Kendall’s assumption
of command.
Allied forces in Italy
attacked toward the Gothic Line on 10
September, and penetrated it in the
central and Adriatic sectors, but the
Germans remained ensconced in their
mountain fortifications in the west,
and it was up to the Blue Devils to
drive them out in their zone. The Division’s
history, The Blue Devils in Italy, sums
up the Gothic Line assault this way....
Each veteran and
survivor has his own personal tale
of horror, his own nightmare of
those forty-four days and nights
which blended together in one long
drawn-out hell. It has been said
that ‘all the mornings were
dark, all the days were just different
colors of gray and all the nights
were black.’ And all the time
up in those mountains north of Florence
was just borrowed time. The terrain
was so rough the Germans figured
that no troops in the world could
get through the few heavily defended
mountain passes. But the Blue Devils
made it, through the passes or over
the mountain tops. The weather was
so bad that the Germans thought
no foot soldiers or vehicles could
possibly operate in the mud and
slime. But the Blue Devils walked
and rode through the worst of it.
The defenses and concrete, mined
emplacements were so formidable
that the Germans estimated they
were impregnable. But the Blue Devils
stormed and shattered the biggest
and the best of them. |
Perhaps the most spectacular
fighting of that raw, rainy autumn took
place on three craggy mountain peaks
in late September and early October.
On 27 September, elements of the 350th
Infantry Regiment linked up with Italian
partisans and occupied Mt. Battaglia
without opposition. However, over the
next six days, the “Green Devils”
of the German 1st Parachute Division
attacked fiercely and without surcease
in an effort to seize this key terrain.
Their efforts were in vain, however,
as the 350th committed everything it
had, including headquarters clerks,
and threw back every assault to retain
the critical mountain top. Casualties
were grave—50% of the regiment,
with all but one company commander killed
or wounded—and acts of extraordinary
valor had been almost common. For its
part in the brutal fighting on Mt. Battaglia,
the 2nd Battalion, 350th Infantry was
later awarded the Distinguished Unit
Citation, and for his gallantry and
intrepidity—at the cost of his
life—Captain Robert Roeder, CO
of Company G, was awarded the Medal
of Honor.
While the 350th was
grimly holding on to Mt. Battaglia,
the 349th Infantry Regiment was attacking
the village of Belvedere enroute to
its objective, Mt. Grande. At Belvedere,
it earned laurels of its own, if from
a distinctly different source. Referring
to the 349th’s assault, a German
officer captured in the fighting there
remarked to his captors that, “In
nine years of service, I have fought
in Poland, Russia, and Italy—never
have I seen such spirit I would be the
proudest man in the world if I could
command a unit such as the one which
took Belvedere.” Few comments
could be more telling than a profound
compliment from an opponent. Even as
the “Kraut Killers” (349th)
and “Battle Mountain” (350th)
regiments were engaged in these ferocious
and costly actions, the 351st Infantry
Regiment was locked in its own ferocious
struggle for Mt. Capello. As the author
of The Blue Devils in Italy put it,
“The battle for Capello…was
a struggle between German soldiers who
would not withdraw and American troops
who would not be stopped.” The
fighting raged for days, sometimes literally
at bayonet point,until the 1st and 2nd
Battalions secured the top of the mountain.
For its part in the battle, the 2nd
Battalion, 351st Infantry Regiment was
later awarded the Distinguished Unit
Citation.
Opposed by elements
of the Luftwaffe’s elite 1st Parachute
Division (the defenders of Monte Cassino
earlier in the year), the 88th slugged
forward through seemingly endless mountains
toward the Po Plain. In the total of
44 days of rain, mud, terror, ferocity,
and blood that was the campaign in the
North Appenines for the Blue Devils,
there were many tactical victories,
but no ultimate operational success.
Like the rest of the fighting elements
of the Fifth Army, the Division’s
soldiers were just too exhausted to
push further. Company G, 351st came
closest to breaking through, but was
literally wiped out at Vedriano, on
the very verge of the Po Valley southeast
of Bologna, on 24 October.
The 88th went over to
the defensive in late October and patrolled,
improved positions, and rehabilitated
its combat troops as best it could through
the oncoming winter of 1944-45. The
Division relieved the 85th Infantry
Division in its sector on 22 November,
and was in turn itself relieved for
general rehabilitation on 13 January.
After a brief interval
out of the line, the Blue Devils were
again committed on 24 January in relief
of the 91st Infantry Division near Loiano
and Livergnano. After more patrolling
and maintenance of defensive positions,
the Division was pulled out of the line
again for further rehabilitation, but
also special training intended to prepare
it for the impending spring offensive.
That offensive, which
would finally defeat the Wehrmacht in
Italy, commenced on April Fool’s
Day with a supporting attack by the
92nd Infantry Division on the Ligurian
coast in the west to draw German forces
away from the point of the impending
main effort.
Another supporting attack,
in much greater strength, was launched
by the British Eighth Army on the Adriatic
coast on 9 April. Finally, with the
German reserves being decisively committed
to meet these attacks at the extreme
ends of the line in Italy, on 14 April,
Fifth Army jumped off in the main attack
against the German center.
The 88th’s attack
began at 2230 hours on 15 April, as
its infantry regiments lunged toward
Monterumici. In two days of fearsome
fighting, the Blue Devils knocked the
German defenders off the key ridge;
they could not have known it at the
time, but the German defense of Monterumici
was the last well-organized resistance
that the 88th would encounter.
Once past Monterumici,
the 88th was on its way across the Po
and to the Alps. Verona fell on 25 April,
followed by Vicenza three days later.
German forces in Italy surrendered on
2 May, although it took until early
the next day to notify all Blue Devil
units of the capitulation. On 4 May,
elements of the 349th Infantry Regiment
linked up with units from the 103rd
Infantry Division’s 409th Infantry
Regiment coming down from Austria—where
German forces had yet to surrender—in
the Brenner Pass, marking the long-sought
union of Allied forces attacking from
Italy with those which had originally
landed in France and fought their wary
through the Reich.
The Blue Devil Division’s
accomplishments in its 344 days in combat
reflect the valor, commitment, and unwavering
devotion to duty of its soldiers. Not
on ly did the 88th earn high praise
from the likes of General Mark Clark,
Commanding General of Fifth Army and
a widely-recognized hard taskmaster,
but it was even grudgingly admired by
experienced enemy senior officers. Generalmajor
Karl-Lothar Schulz, Commanding General
of the famed 1st Parachute Division
and one of only 159 recipients of the
Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaf and
Swords, told his interrogators, “the
88th Division is the best Division we
have ever fought against.” A written
estimate of enemy unit effectiveness
prepared by German intelligence echoed
Schulz’s sentiments. It rated
the 88th, “a very good division
with excellent fighting material.”
It also noted that after VI Corps departed
for France that the 88th was “the
best US division in Italy,” with
“very good leadership.”
In its 344 days of combat,
the 88th Infantry Division lost 2,298
men killed in action (258 more died
of wounds) and 9,225 men wounded. Although
the cost was high, the Blue Devils—as
the first of the “draftee divisions”
to see combat—proved that well-trained,
well-led American citizen-soldiers were
equal or superior to anything the vaunted
Wehrmacht could muster, under even the
most arduous of circumstances. With
the victory to which they contributed
so much accomplished, their General
Sloan’s pledge to keep faith with
the Division’s veterans and to
uphold the Division’s standards
was fulfilled. |
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Distinguished
Unit
Citations |
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2nd
Battalion, 350th Infantry Regiment

2nd Battalion,
351st Infantry Regiment 
3rd Battalion,
351st Infantry Regiment 
Awarded in the name
of the President of the United States
(and later redesignated the “Presidential
Unit Citation”), this award
was created during WWII to recognize
units for a collective display of
extraordinary heroism. The degree
of heroism required is the same as
that which would warrant the award
of the Distinguished Service Cross
to an individual. The Distinguished
Unit Emblem may be worn by all soldiers
who were assigned, or permanently
attached and present for duty as members
of the unit in the action for which
it was cited. Persons who join the
unit later may wear the emblem while
serving with the unit. The emblem
is a blue ribbon set in a gold-colored
metal frame of laurel leaves.
As evidence of the
award, the unit displays a dark blue
streamer, with the name of the action
embroidered in white, with its colors
or guidon.
The following 88th Infantry
Division units were awarded Distinguished
Unit Citations in recognition of their
collective heroism in the actions listed. |
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The Distinguished
Unit Citation for
2nd Battalion, 350th
Infantry Regiment
Is authorized by War Department General Order
10, 1945
The 2nd Battalion, 350th Infantry
Regiment is cited for outstanding performance
of duty in action during the period 27 September
to 3 October 1944 at Mt. Battaglia, Italy. The
2nd Battalion was assigned the mission of seizing
and holding strategic Mt. Battaglia. For seven
days, in the face of incessant and violent counterattacks
by powerful enemy forces, which at times included
elements of four divisions, this battalion clung
tenaciously to its positions on the objective.
Each attack was preceded by artillery and mortar
barrages and climaxed by bitter fire fights,
use of flamethrowers by the enemy, hand-to-hand
combat, bayonet charges, and grenade duels.
The gallant officers and men of this battalion
repulsed each attack with a marked display of
fighting ability and teamwork. Evacuation of
the wounded was extremely difficult because
of the inclement weather conditions, the nature
of the terrain, and the fact that the enemy
artillery firing from the front and both flanks,
covered every route of approach to Mt. Battaglia
with a hail of fire. Nevertheless, all casualties
were promptly evacuated by teams of litter bearers
who courageously transported the wounded for
long distances through artillery barrages to
a point in the rear where further evacuation
could be carried on by ambulances. All supplies
were brought to the battalion's positions by
pack mules supplemented by carrying parties.
On several occasions the ammunition supply became
dangerously low, and when the men exhausted
their hand grenades, they resorted to throwing
rocks at the oncoming enemy. Though fighting
under the most adverse battle conditions, the
officers and men of this battalion displayed
an indomitable spirit that refused to waver
under the fiercest enemy attacks. The outstanding
fighting ability and magnificent courage displayed
by the 2nd Battalion, 350th Infantry Regiment
are exemplary of the finest traditions of the
Army of the United States.
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The Distinguished Unit Citation for
2nd
Battalion, 351st Infantry Regiment
Is authorized by War Department General Order
43, 1946
The 2nd Battalion, 351st Infantry
Regiment is cited for outstanding performance
of duty in action during the period 27 September
to 1 October 1944, near mt. Capello, Itlay.
The battalion was assigned the mission of wresting
the strategically important Mt. Capello from
a determined and numerically superior German
force. In the face of a withering hail of fire
from all types of weapons, the 2nd Battalion
launched its attack down the barren, forward
slopes of Mt.Guasteto, Italy, eliminating a
strong reverse slope German position in four
violent assaults characterized by bitter fire
fights and vicious hand-to-hand grenade duels.
Although outnumbered, the soldiers of this organization
maintained their captured position, despite
ruthless enemy counterattacks preceded by intense
artillery and mortar barrages. Although suffering
from severe losses and confronted by fanatical
enemy resistance, the courageous officers and
men of the 2nd Battalion again resumed a full
scale offensive and, advancing by infiltration,
neutralizing resistance by furious hand-to-hand
fighting within the German positions, gained
a foothold on the barren slopes of Mt. Capello.
Setting a commendable example of coolness and
efficiency in the face of great danger, the
2nd Battalion fought grimly, tenaciously maintaining
its foothold, despite the murderous enemy fire
and wave after wave of fresh enemy assault troops.
In a notable display of combat skill, teamwork,
and determination, the men of the 2nd Battalion,
because of a shortage of ammunition, resorted
to using captured German machine guns and grenades
to meet the enemy onslaughts. Utilizing personnel
from battalion headquarters as riflemen, because
of its heavily depleted effective strength,
the battalion, in a final all-out assault, drove
the enemy from Mt. Capello, retaining this strategic
terrain feature, despite final desperate enemy
counterattacks. The timely capture of this key
enemy position frustrated violent enemy efforts
to hold terrain of vital importance. A dangerous
enemy penetration between the 351st Infantry
Regiment and another hard-pressed infantry regiment
on the right was averted by the heroic determination,
self-sacrifice, and unfailing devotion to duty
of the officers and men of the 2nd Battalion,
351st Infantry Regiment. The valorous performance
of the 2nd Battalion, 351st Infantry Regiment,
reflects great credit on the personnel of the
regiment and upon the armed forces of the United
States.

Lieutenant
General John Lee, Commanding General of US Army
Forces in the Mediterranean Theater, fastens
the Distinguished Unit Citation Streamer to
the colors of the 2nd Battalion 351st Infantry
Regiment. |

The Distinguished Unit Citation for
3rd Battalion,
351st Infantry Regiment
Is authorized by War Department General Order
6, 1945
The 3rd Battalion, 351st Infantry
Regiment, is cited for outstanding performance
of duty in action during the period 9 to 13
Jnly 1944 in the vicinity of Laiatico, Italy.
During the attack on strongly fortified German
positions in the vicinity of Laiatico, the 3rd
Battalion occupied an advanced position devoid
of cover and with both flanks exposed, and for
three days withstood heavy enemy artillery and
mortar bombardments as well as three vicious
enemy counterattacks supported by tanks. Displaying
courage, skill, and determined fighting spirit,
the battalion frustrated all enemy efforts to
defend the town and surrounding strategic positions.
On the fourth day, the battalion launched a
night attack and penetrated the German stronghold
from the flanks and rear. Aggressively exploiting
its breakthrough, the battalion seized a German
regimental command post after a savage hand-to-hand
struggle in the darkness and cut the main escape
route from the Laiatico hill mass. As a result
of the 3rd Battalion's prodigious efforts, 425
prisoners were taken, 250 Germans were killed
or wounded, and a large quantity of enemy weapons
were captured which were promptly employed with
telling effect against the battered German forces.
The timely capture of this key enemy defensive
position compelled the Germans to abandon a
carefully prepared, strongly defended line and
opened the route of advance to the Arno River.
The fearlessness, heroic determinations and
aggressive lighting spirit of the officers and
men of the 3rd Battalion, 351st Infantry Regiment,
resulted in a performance which brings honor
to the armed forces of the United States. |
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The
Beginning of the Cold
War |
On
31 May, 1945 the 88th
gave Bolanzo over to
the Allied Italian troops,
but since tensions were
so high between the
Italians and the Germans,
the 349th Infantry stayed
to prevent trouble.
The
rest of the division
was sent to Lake Garda,
where they were given
the assignment of guarding
300,000 POWs. Some of
the soldiers had enough
points to ship out during
the summer, while others
were moved to Trieste
for occupation in the
fall. Many of them remained
in Italy for the next
two years.
The
city of Trieste in the
northern Adriatic was
the center of long-standing
Italo-Yugoslav territorial
struggle at the end
of World War II. The
United States assumed
a key role in this dispute
by joining Britain in
taking on temporary
military administration
of the city to prevent
its occupation by Tito's
Yugoslavia until a settlement
could be reached at
the peace table. This
"temporary" Anglo-American
control of Trieste lasted
nearly a decade, until
the sovereignty question
was finally resolved
in 1954 in favor of
Italy.
The
88th Infantry Division
was fighting in the
Dolomite Alps of Austria
when the war ended in
May of 1945.
After
the war the Division,
on occupation duty in
Italy, guarded the Morgan
Line from positions
in Italy and Trieste
until 15 September 1947.
It was then withdrawn
to Livorno and inactivated.
The
351st Infantry was relieved
from assignment to the
division on 1 May 1947
and served as the main
component of a garrison
command in the Free
Territory of Trieste,
securing the disputed
border between Italy
and Yugoslavia.
The
command served as the
front line in the Cold
War from 1947 to 1954,
including confrontations
with Yugoslavian forces.
In October 1954 the
territory was ceded
to Italy and administration
turned over to the Italian
Army.
In
1947, Trieste was declared
an independent city
state under the protection
of the United Nations
as the Free Territory
of Trieste. The territory
was divided into two
zones, A and B, along
the Morgan Line, established
in 1945.
From 1947 to
1954, the A Zone was
governed by the Allied
Military Government,
composed of the American
"Trieste United States
Troops" (TRUST), commanded
by Major General Bryant
E. Moore, the commanding
general of the American
88th Infantry Division,
and the "British Element
Trieste Forces" (BETFOR),
commanded by Sir Terence
Airey, who were the
joint forces commander
and also the military
governors. Zone A covered
almost the same area
of the current Italian
Province of Trieste,
except for four small
villages south of Muggia,
which were given to
Yugoslavia after the
dissolution of the Free
Territory in 1954. Zone
B, which remained under
the military administration
of the Yugoslav People's
Army, was composed of
the north-westernmost
portion of the Istrian
peninsula, between the
river Mirna and the
Debeli Rtic cape.
In 1954, the Free
Territory of Trieste was
dissolved. |
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The
vast majority of Zone A, including
the city of Trieste, was ceded to
Italy. Zone B became part of Yugoslavia,
along with four villages from the
Zone A (Plavje, Spodnje Škofije,
Hrvatini, and Jelarji), and was
divided among the Socialist Republic
of Slovenia and Croatia. The annexation
of Trieste to Italy was officially
announced on 26 October 1954, and
was welcomed by the majority of
the Trieste population.
The final
border line with Yugoslavia, and
the status of the ethnic minorities
in the areas, was settled in 1975
with the Treaty of Osimo. This
line is now the border between
Italy and Slovenia.
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