88th Infantry Division Blue Devils

88th Infantry
Division


Blue Devils

1942 - 1945

88th Infantry Division
Blue Devils
Archive

88th Infantry Division Trust Period 1947-1954

88th Infantry
Division

Trust Period

 

349th Infantry "Kraut Killers" Regiment - 88th Infantry Division
349th Infantry
"Kraut Killers"
Regiment

350th Infantry "Battle Mountain" Regiment - 88th Infantry Division
350th Infantry
"Battle Mountain"
Regiment

351st Infantry "Spear Head" Regiment - 88th Infantry Division
351st Infantry
"Spear Head"
Regiment


313th Combat Engineers Battalion - 88th Infantry Division
313th
Combat
Engineers
Battalion

313th Medical Battalion - 88th Infantry Division
313th
Medical
Battalion

337th Field Artillery Battalion - 88th Infantry Division
337th
Field
Artillery
Battalion

338th Field Artillery Battalion - 88th Infantry Division
338th
Field
Artillery
Battalion

339th Field Artillery Battalion - 88th Infantry Division
339th
Field
Artillery
Battalion

913th Field Artillery Battalion - 88th Infantry Division
913th
Field
Artillery
Battalion

Band-88th Infantry Division
88th
Infantry
Division
Band

Militart Police-88th Infantry Division
88th
Infantry
Division
Military Police Company

Quartermaster Company-88th Infantry Division
88th
Infantry
Division
Quartermaster Company

Recon Troop (Mech)-88th Infantry Division
88th
Infantry
Division
Recon Troop (Mech)

Signal Company-88th Infantry Division
88th
Infantry
Division
Signal Company

788th Ordnance Company-88th Infantry Division
788th
Ordnance
Company


88th Infantry Division Order of Battle



Books about the
88th Infantry Division
and
World War II Italy

337th Field Artillary Battalion
"We Left Home"
Colonel Thomas St. John Arnold

Colonel Thomas St. John Arnold (Ret.) graduated from Virginia Military Institute (1935) and entered the U.S. Army. From 1944 to 1945 he served as the Plans and Operations Officer for the 92nd Division in Italy, and from 1945 to 1946 as Commander, 337th Field Artillery Battalion, 88th Division, on the Morgan Line between Italy and Yugoslavia. 78 Pages

 
PDF --->


338th Field Artillary Battalion
"Direct Support"
A Story of Fighting Men

Read: 105 Pages

 

 
PDF --->



339th Field Artillary Battalion
"The Morning Report"
History


Read: 65 Pages

 

 
PDF --->



349th Infantry Regiment
"Long Walk Through War"
by Klaus Huebner

Dr. Klaus Huebner, was born in Bavaria, Germany, twenty-five years before the outbreak of U.S.-Nazi hostilities and served as battalion surgeon to the U.S. 3d Battalion, 349th Infantry Regiment, 88th Infantry Division from 1943-1945.

The 344 days of combat of the 88th Infantry Division were part of the bitterly contested struggle for supremacy in Italy during the Second World War. Here is the gripping story of the first selective service division committed to battle in the European Theater, seen from the unique vantage point of a battalion physician.

Using notes hastily scribbled on the backs of maps and finished out whenever he was rotated to rear areas for rest, Dr. Klaus Huebner captured in his diary the frustration, fear, boredom, devotion, and anger that were the daily portion of combat infantrymen. The result is a remarkably sustained exposition of combat life. Dr. Huebner traces the 88th’s activities from final staging preparations at Fort Sam Houston to North Africa and on up the Italian peninsula to the Brenner Pass in Austria, just fifty-five miles south of the Bavarian hamlet where he was born.

Combat began for the Division just north of Naples, Italy. During combat, the medical aid station was set up in any available farmhouse, barn, cave, or clump of trees that offered some protection for treating the wounded. There the battalion surgeon and his aides did what they could under adverse circumstances, gave by their presence alone moral support to the casualties, and came to know well the miseries, emotions, and human drama of infantry soldiers in combat. Dr. Huebner writes: “I walked with the men who carried guns and slugged it out on foot. I treated the wounded where they fell.” His story is terse and often tense, a memorable view of battle and the men who tried to heal its wounds right in the field




350th Infantry Regiment
The Blue Devils
"Battle Mountain Regiment in Italy"
by John E. Wallace


A History of the 350th Infantry Regiment 1944 - 1945

Check for it on: eBay - Alibris - Amazon



350th Infantry Regiment
Battle Mountain Regiment In Occupation
With the "Blue Devils" Division in Italy

A pictorial review of the 350th Infantry in Occupation
Covers the Triest / TRUST occupation period. 69 Pages

 
PDF --->



350th Infantry Regiment
Combat Soldier
by James C. Fry

Between January 1943 and March 1944 Fry served as commanding officer of the 69th Armored Regiment and 6th Armored Division Trains at Camps Young, Cooke, and Coxcomb, California, and as assistant G3, Headquarters Armored Command, Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Then in April 1944 he was transferred overseas to command the 350th Infantry Regiment, 88th Infantry Division, in the North African Theater of Operations, later moving with that regiment to the Mediterranean Theater (Italy). In March 1945 he was made assistant division commander of the 88th Infantry Division in Italy.

In June 1944 he received the Silver Star. On 21 May 1944. The 2nd Battalion, 350th Infantry, launched an attack against the enemy at the mouth of the valley south of Monte San Biago, Italy, and was subject to intense machine gun and rifle fire from well entrenched positions from which the enemy was laying down fields of grazing and interlocking fire. Colonel Fry himself led the forward platoon, issued his orders from that position, and personally led a tank around the right flank to attack a house from which the enemy was making determined resistance. During this time there were no riflemen in advance of Colonel Fry. The courage, leadership, and personal example displayed by Colonel Fry inspired the battalion and insured the success of the attack. His gallantry in action reflects great credit upon himself and is in keeping with the high ideals of the military service.”

Check for it on: eBay - Alibris - Amazon



88th Infantry Division
We Were There
From Gruber To Brenner Pass

WITH THE 88TH DIVISION, ITALY
Published By
Information and Education Section, MTOUSA
Compiled By
Headquarters, 88th Infantry Division
Photos courtesy Army Pictorial Service, The Stars and Stripes,
YANK, The Army Weekly, 313th Engineer Battalion
The material in this story has been passed by the
United States censor and may be mailed home.

This short pocket history of the 88th Infantry Division was compiled by the 88th Division Headquarters and published by the Information and Education Section, MTOUSA in 1945. The history covers the 88th Infantry Division in WWI and WWII from training through the fighting in Italy to final German surrender. 98 Pages
 
PDF --->



88th Infantry Division
Draftee Division

by John Sloan Brown

The involuntary soldiers of an unmilitary people such were the forces that American military planners had to pit against hardened Axis veterans, yet prewar unpreparedness dictated that whole divisions of such men would go to war under the supervision of tiny professional cadres.

Much to his surprise and delight, Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall found that the 88th Infantry Division, his first draftee division, "fought like wildcats" and readily outclassed its German adversaries while measuring up to the best Regular Army divisions. Draftee Division is at once a history of the 88th Division, an analysis of American unit mobilization during World War II, and an insight into the savage Italian Campaign.

After an introduction placing the division in historical context, separate chapters address personnel, training, logistics, and overseas deployment. Another chapter focuses upon preliminary adjustments to the realities of combat, after which two chapters trace the 88th's climactic drive through the Gustav Line into Rome itself. A final chapter takes the veteran 88th to final victory. Of particular interest are observations concerning differences connected with mobilization between the 88th and less successful divisions and discussions of the contemporary relevance of the 88th's experiences.

Draftee Division is especially rich in its sources. John Sloan Brown, with close ties to the division, has secured extensive and candid contributions from veterans. To these he has added a full array of archival and secondary sources. The result is a definitive study of American cadremen creating a division out of raw draftees and leading them on to creditable victories. Its findings will be important for military and social historians and for students of defense policy. 256 Pages

PDF --->



88th Infantry Division
The Blue Devils in Italy

by John P. Delaney

This book details the involvement in Rome-Arno, the North Apennines, and Po Valley in 1944 and 1945. Illustrated with photos and maps. Includes lists of battle casualties; decorations and awards.

 

The 88th Division played a major role in the battle of Italy, where it was rated by the Germans after the summer of 1944 as the best American division in Italy. Because of the outstanding job it did in Italy, the 88th contributed its share to the winning of the war. It was the first of the draft infantry divisions to enter combat on any front in World War II and it was among the top divisions in the American Army. It won its share of territory and honors during its 344 days of combat. It paid dearly for all that it won—it lost 15,173 officers and men killed, wounded and missing in action. Only thirteen other divisions in the U.S. Army suffered heavier losses.

The 88th fought its battles on what was called “a forgotten front.” Some day history will appraise the true worth of the Italian campaign in the overall war picture. Military historians will analyze and sift and publish detailed volumes on the operational contribution of the 88th in the battle for Italy.

This book is not a history, in the true sense of the word. It is not intended to be such.

It is rather the story of a combat division from its beginning to its end. It is a story compiled both from official journals and from the personal experiences of the citizen-soldiers who made up its squads and platoons. It is a story which never can be told in every complete detail. For every one of the incidents related here, a reader can remember scores that are not found in these pages. There are not enough words, or paper, to list them all. The incidents related are considered to be representative of the experiences of the majority of 88th men. 384 Pages

 
PDF --->



5th Army General
Calculated Risk
by Mark Clark

Mark W. Clark was a major figure in World War II. He was prominent as one of the top American commanders. Together with Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar N. Bradley, and George S. Patton, Jr., Clark was widely regarded as being responsible for victory on the European side of the conflict.

One of the great World War II memoirs by a legendary American general in charge of operations in North Africa and Italy. General Mark W. Clark recounts his wartime exploits and tells the story of the battles in Tunisia and Italy with verve and attention to key detail. An unparalleled account by a great military leader. 500 Pages
 
Check for it on: eBay - Alibris - Amazon



5th Army General
From the Danube to the Yalu

by Mark Clark

From the Danube to the Yalu is General Clark's personal story of his seven years of almost constant struggle with the Communists in the battlefield and at the conference table--a struggle which began when he first came face to face with Soviet duplicity as U.S. High Commissioner for Austria in 1945 .

Mark Wayne Clark (May 1, 1896 – April 17, 1984) was a senior officer of the United States Army who saw service during World War I and World War II and the Korean War. He was the youngest lieutenant general (three-star general) in the United States Army during World War II. During the Korean War, he took over as commander of the United Nations Command on May 12, 1952, succeeding General Matthew Ridgway. From 1954 until 1965, after retiring from the Army, General Clark served as president of The Citadel, the military college located in Charleston, South Carolina. 356 Pages
 
Check for it on: eBay - Alibris - Amazon



88th Infantry Division
1992 50th Anniversary Reunion Book

Blue Devils Association

 
Check for it on: eBay - Alibris - Amazon



88th Infantry Division
The Blue Devils in Northern Italy 1944-45
by Valerio Calderoni and Renzo Grandi


 
Check for it on: eBay - Alibris - Amazon



Northwest Italy
Final Campaign

00 Pages

 

 
PDF --->



Finito

by Headquarters, 15th Army Group - Italy, 1945.

Covers the winter of 1944-45, the battle, victory, story of the eighth army (breaching the Senio and Santerno, capture of Imola, through the Argenta Gap, fall of Bologna), story of the fifth army (crossing of the Panaro, reaching the Po, fall of Verona). Headquarters, 15th Army Group, 1945. Soft cover. 69 Pages

 
PDF --->



Road To Rome

56 Pages

 

 
PDF --->



The War Against Germany and Italy

00 Pages

 

 
PDF --->



North Apennines
10 September 1944–4 April 1945

The northern Apennines fighting was the penultimate campaign in the Italian theater. Although the Allies steadily lost divisions, materiel, and shipping to operations elsewhere, which diminished their capabilities, their offensives prevented the Axis from substantially reinforcing other fronts with troops from Italy.

Yet the transfer of units from Fifth and Eighth Armies for use in northwest Europe, southern France, and Greece, both after the capture of Rome and during the North Apennines Campaign itself, left Allied commanders with just enough troops to hold Axis forces in Italy but without sufficient forces to destroy the enemy or to end the campaign. 00 Pages
 
PDF --->



Naples - Foggia
9 September 1943–21 January 1944

The Allied goals, established before the invasion of Italy, were to gain control of the Mediterranean, keep pressure on the Germans while building for the cross-Channel attack, and force Italy to withdraw from the war. All agreed that bases in Italy would provide support for the air war against German sources of supply in the Balkans and the German industrial heartland itself.

These sound strategic goals were valid in 1943 and have stood the test of time. By late August, the Italian government had decided to withdraw from the war and break relations with Germany. The fall of Sicily had enhanced Allied control of the Mediterranean but had not assured it. Prior to the invasion of Italy, therefore, the Allied goals were far from being totally satisfied, and an eager world watched as the Allies launched first Operation BAYTOWN and then Operation AVALANCHE to invade the European continent. 00 Pages
 
PDF --->



Po Valley
5 April–8 May 1945

For the Allied armies in Italy, the Po Valley offensive climaxed the long and bloody Italian campaign. When the spring offensive opened, it initially appeared that its course might continue the pattern of the previous months and battles in Italy, becoming another slow, arduous advance over rugged terrain, in poor weather, against a determined, well-entrenched, and skillful enemy.

However, by April 1945 the superbly led and combat-hardened Allied 15th Army Group, a truly multinational force, enjoyed an overwhelming numerical superiority on the ground and in the air. On the other side, Axis forces had been worn down by years of combat on many fronts; they were plagued by poor political leadership at the top as well as shortages of nearly everything needed to wage a successful defensive war. By April 1945 factors such as terrain, weather, combat experience, and able military leadership, that had for months allowed the Axis to trade space for time in Italy could no longer compensate for the simple lack of manpower, air support, and materiel. By the end of the first two weeks of the campaign both sides realized that the end of the war in Italy was in sight, and that all the Allies needed to complete the destruction of Axis forces was the skillful application of overwhelming pressure, a feat largely accomplished within ten days, by 2 May 1945. 00 Pages
 
PDF --->



Rome - Arno
22 January–9 September 1944

The Allied operations in Italy between January and September 1944 were essentially an infantryman’s war where the outcome was decided by countless bitterly fought small unit actions waged over some of Europe’s most difficult terrain under some of the worst weather conditions found anywhere during World War II. 00 Pages

 
PDF --->


Copyright Gary Smith 2021
All Files on This Website Are Free to Download.
88thInfantryDivisionArchive.com
An 88th Infantry Division Blue Devils World War II Research Website
email : info@88thInfantryDivisionArchive.com