Description
86TH INFANTRY DIVISION
“The Black Hawk Division” • World War II •
64 pages scanned. Instant PDF download.
Document Overview:
Published in 1944 by Albert Love Enterprises of Atlanta, Georgia, this pictorial booklet records the 86th Infantry Division during its stateside training, before the division shipped overseas. It opens with an 11 July 1944 letter to the men from the commanding general, Maj. Gen. Harris M. Melasky, followed by portraits of the command group, general and special staffs, and regimental commanders. Lt. Gen. Lesley J. McNair’s essay “Salute the Infantry!” is reprinted in full. Photo spreads then cover the work of each branch: infantry weapons training, division artillery, signal, engineers, reconnaissance, ordnance, quartermaster, chemical warfare, finance, military police, the chaplain and the Red Cross. It closes with candid camp-life scenes from Louisiana and Texas and a tribute to the division’s first commander, Maj. Gen. Alexander E. Anderson, who died on Christmas Eve 1942, nine days after reactivation. This is a digital download of a scanned copy of the original booklet.
Campaigns: None covered. The booklet documents the 1942–1944 training period in Louisiana and Texas, before the division deployed to Europe in 1945.
Commanders: Maj. Gen. Harris M. Melasky (Division Commander); Maj. Gen. Alexander E. Anderson (former Division Commander, 1942); Brig. Gen. George Van W. Pope (Assistant Division Commander); Brig. Gen. C. P. Townsley (Artillery Commander); Col. Charles P. Jones (Chief of Staff); Col. A. B. Hicklin (Executive Officer, Division Artillery); Col. Pete T. Heffner, Jr. and Col. George F. Bloomquist (regimental commanders, 341st–343rd Infantry; the third name is illegible in the scan).
Division newspaper: unknown
Table of Contents
Letter from the Commanding General: “The Black Hawk”
Division Commander
Assistant Division Commander
Artillery Commander
General Staff
Special Staff
Salute the Infantry! by Lt. Gen. Lesley J. McNair
Regimental Commanders
Infantry Training
Division Artillery
Signal Company
Engineers
Reconnaissance Troop
Training Snapshots
Ordnance
Quartermaster
Chemical Warfare Section
Pay Day: Finance
Military Police
The Chaplain
American Red Cross
Blackhawks in Review
In Memoriam: Maj. Gen. Alexander E. Anderson
“Mothers of the infantry, I salute your sons!” (Lt. Gen. Lesley J. McNair, “Salute the Infantry!”)