• Activated: 5 August 1917, Camp Dodge, Iowa
• Overseas: 7 September 1918
• Major operations: Did not participate as a division
• Casualties: Total-78 (KIA-12; WIA-66)
• Commanders:
  • Maj. Gen. Edward H. Plummer (25 August 1917)
  • Brig. Gen. Robert N. Getty (27 November 1917)
  • Maj. Gen. Edward H. Plummer (19 February 1918)
  • Brig. Gen. Robert N. Getty (15 March 1918)
  • Brig. Gen. William D. Beach (24 May 1918)
  • Maj. Gen. William Weigel (10 September 1918)
• Inactivated: 10 June 1919, Camp Dodge, Iowa

Composition edit

Initially, personnel for the division were furnished by Selective Service men from Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and North Dakota, and the division was at full strength of 20,000 by the end of September 1918. The 88th Division, like many National Army divisions, suffered heavily from transfers to other new units or units that were more advanced in their training and preparing to go overseas, delaying its combat readiness. In October, 3,000 men were transferred to the 34th Division and 1,000 to the 33rd Division, while in November 8,000 went to the 87th Division. The strength of the 88th Division was only 8,000 men in January 1918, but the next month, 12,000 men arrived from Iowa and Minnesota to bring the division to full strength. Subsequently, 16,000 men were transferred, the majority to the 82nd Division, and others to the 30th, 33rd, 35th and 90th Divisions. At the end of April, the division was left with less than 8,500 men, but during May and June more than 10,000 fresh drafts join, many from Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota, and during July, more fresh drafts and transfers completed the division. The division sailed in stages to England in August and September 1918, and moved to France. Elements of the division participated in training near the front lines with the French Army, and occupied quiet sectors of the front in Alsace beginning in early October 1918.

The division was composed of the following units:^[2][3]

• Headquarters, 88th Division
• 175th Infantry Brigade
  • 349th Infantry Regiment
  • 350th Infantry Regiment
  • 338th Machine Gun Battalion
• 176th Infantry Brigade
  • 351st Infantry Regiment
  • 352nd Infantry Regiment
  • 339th Machine Gun Battalion
• 163rd Field Artillery Brigade
  • 337th Field Artillery Regiment (155 mm)
  • 338th Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm)
  • 339th Field Artillery Regiment (155 mm)
  • 313th Trench Mortar Battery
• Headquarters Troop, 88th Division
• 337th Machine Gun Battalion
• 338th Engineer Regiment
• 313th Field Signal Battalion
• 313th Train Headquarters and Military Police
  • 313th Ammunition Train
  • 313th Supply Train
  • 313th Engineer Train
  • 313th Sanitary Train
    • 349th, 350th, 351st, and 352nd Ambulance Companies and Field Hospitals

The 88th Division was reconstituted in the Organized Reserve on 24 June 1921, allotted to the Seventh Corps Area, assigned to the XVII Corps, and further allotted to Minnesota, Iowa, and North Dakota. The division headquarters was organized on 2 September 1921 at 1684 Van Buren Street in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was relocated to the Kasota Building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on 29 September 1921, to 835 Palace Building in August 1924, and to the new Post Office Building in July 1937, where it remained until activated for World War II.

The designated mobilization and training station for the division was Camp Dodge, Iowa. For annual training the headquarters and staff usually trained with the staff of the 14th Infantry Brigade, either at Fort Crook, Nebraska, or Fort Snelling, Minnesota. The infantry regiments held their annual training primarily with the 3rd Infantry Regiment at Fort Snelling, or with the 17th Infantry Regiment at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. Other units, such as the special troops, artillery, engineers, aviation, medical, and quartermaster, trained at various posts in the Sixth and Seventh Corps Areas, often with the active units of the 7th Division or other Regular Army units. For example, the division artillery trained at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin; the 313th Engineer Regiment trained at Fort Riley, Kansas, with A Troop, 9th Engineer Squadron; the 313th Medical Regiment trained at the medical corps training camp at Fort Snelling; and the 313th Observation Squadron trained with the 16th Observation Squadron at Marshall Field, Kansas. The infantry regiments also rotated responsibility to conduct the Citizens Military Training Camps held at Fort Snelling, Fort Des Moines, and Fort Lincoln, North Dakota, each year. The division sometimes participated in Seventh Corps Area and Fourth Army command post exercises with other Regular Army, National Guard, and Organized Reserve units, but unlike the Regular and Guard units, the 88th Division did not participate in the Seventh Corps Area maneuvers and the Fourth Army maneuvers of 1937, 1940, and 1941 as an organized unit due to lack of enlisted personnel and equipment. Instead, the officers and a few enlisted reservists were assigned to Regular and Guard units to bring the units up to war strength for the exercises. Additionally, some were assigned duties as umpires or as support personnel.^[4]

• Ordered into active military service: 15 July 1942, Camp Gruber, Oklahoma
• Overseas: 6 December 1943
• Distinguished Unit Citations: 3
• Campaigns: Rome-Arno, North Apennines, Po Valley
• Days of combat: 344
• Awards: Medal of Honor-3 ; Distinguished Service Cross (United States)-40 ; Distinguished Service Medal (United States)-2 ; Silver Star-522; Legion of Merit-66; Soldier's Medal-19 ; Bronze Star Medal-3,784.
• Unit citations: Third Battalion, 351st Infantry Regiment (action vicinity Laiatico; 9–13 July 1944). Second Battalion, 350th Infantry Regiment (action on Mt. Battaglia, 27 Sept – 3 Oct 1944). Second Battalion, 351st Infantry Regiment (action vicinity Mt. Cappello, 27 Sept – 1 Oct 1944).
• Commanders:
  • 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. Bryant Moore (November 1945 to inactivation)
• Inactivated: 24 October 1947 in Italy

Combat chronicle edit

• First Entered combat: Advance party on night of 3–4 January 1944 in support of Monte Cassino attacks.^[5]
• First Organization Committed to Line: 2nd Battalion, 351st Infantry Regiment plus attachments^[6]
• First combat fatality: 3 January 1944
• Began post war POW Command: 7 June 1945. Responsible for guarding and later repatriating 324,462 German POWs.^[7]

Ordered into active military service at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma, around a cadre of officers and men from the 9th Infantry Division, the 88th Infantry Division, commanded by Major General John E. Sloan, arrived at Casablanca, French Morocco on 15 December 1943, and moved to Magenta, Algeria, on 28 December for intensive training. Destined to spend the war fighting on the Italian Front, the division arrived at Naples, Italy on 6 February 1944, and concentrated around Piedimonte d'Alife for combat training. The 88th Infantry Division, along with the 85th Infantry Division, were the first United States Army divisions composed essentially entirely of draftees to enter combat. An advance element went into the line before Monte Cassino on 27 February, and the entire division relieved the battered British 46th Infantry Division along the Garigliano River in the Minturno area on 5 March. A period of defensive patrols and training followed. The 88th formed part of Major General Geoffrey Keyes's II Corps, part of the U.S. Fifth Army, under Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark.

After being inspected by the Fifth Army commander on 5 May, the 88th Division, six days later, drove north to take Spigno, Mount Civita, Itri, Fondi, and Roccagorga, reached Anzio, 29 May, and pursued the enemy into Rome, being the first unit of the Fifth Army into the city on 4 June, two days before the Normandy landings, after a stiff engagement on the outskirts of the city. An element of the 88th is credited with being first to enter the Eternal City. After continuing across the Tiber to Bassanelio the 88th retired for rest and training, 11 June. The division went into defensive positions near Pomerance on 5 July, and launched an attack toward Volterra on the 8th, taking the town the next day. Laiatico fell on the 11th, Villamagna on the 13th, and the Arno River was crossed on the 20th although the enemy resisted bitterly.

After a period of rest and training, the 88th Division, now commanded by Major General Paul Wilkins Kendall, opened its assault on the Gothic Line on 21 September, and advanced rapidly along the Firenzuola-Imola road, taking Mount Battaglia (Casola Valsenio, RA) on the 28th. 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. From 26 October 1944 to 12 January 1945, the 88th entered a period of defensive patrolling in the Mount Grande-Mount Cerrere sector and the Mount Fano area. From 24 January to 2 March 1945, the division defended the Loiano-Livergnano area and after a brief rest returned to the front. The drive to the Po Valley began on 15 April. Monterumici fell on the 17th after an intense artillery barrage and the Po River was crossed at Revere-Ostiglia on 24-25 April, as the 88th pursued the enemy toward the Alps. The cities of Verona and Vicenza were captured on the 25th and 28th and the Brenta River was crossed on 30 April. The 88th was driving through the Dolomite Alps toward Innsbruck, Austria where it linked up with the 103rd Infantry Division, part of the U.S. Seventh Army, when the hostilities ended on 2 May 1945.^[1] The end of World War II in Europe came six days later. Throughout the war the 88th Infantry Division was in combat for 344 days.

Casualties edit

• Total battle casualties: 13,111^[8]
• Killed in action: 2,298^[8]
• Wounded in action: 9,225^[8]
• Missing in action: 941^[8]
• Prisoner of war: 647^[8]

Units edit

Units assigned to the division during World War II included:

• Headquarters, 88th Infantry Division
• 349th Infantry Regiment
• 350th Infantry Regiment
• 351st Infantry Regiment
• Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 88th Infantry Division Artillery
  • 337th Field Artillery Battalion
  • 338th Field Artillery Battalion
  • 339th Field Artillery Battalion
  • 913th Field Artillery Battalion
• 313th Engineer Combat Battalion
• 313th Medical Battalion
• 88th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized)
• Headquarters, Special Troops, 88th Infantry Division
  • 788th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company
  • 88th Quartermaster Company
  • 88th Signal Company
  • Military Police Platoon
  • Band
• 88th Counterintelligence Corps Detachment

After the war, the 88th Infantry Division absorbed some personnel and units from the 34th Infantry Division and served on occupation duty in Italy guarding the Morgan Line from positions in Italy and Trieste until 15 September 1947 when the Italian peace treaty came into force. The 351st Infantry was relieved from assignment to the division on 1 May 1947 and served as temporary military Government of the Free Territory of Trieste, securing the new independent State^[9] between Italy and Yugoslavia on behalf of the United Nations Security Council.^[10] Designated TRUST (Trieste United States Troops), the command served as the front line in the Cold War from 1947 to 1954, including confrontations with Yugoslavian forces.
In October 1954 the mission ended upon the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding of London^[11] establishing a temporary civil administration in the Anglo-American Zone of the Free Territory of Trieste, entrusted to the responsibility of the Italian Government.^[12]
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 quatrefoil, over which was a blue scroll containing the designation "TRUST" in white.

The 88th Army Reserve Command (ARCOM) was formed at Fort Snelling in January 1968, as one of 18 ARCOMs which were organized to provide command and control to Army Reserve units.^[13][14] The initial area of responsibility for the 88th ARCOM included Minnesota and Iowa, and this area was later expanded to include Wisconsin. Army Reserve Commands were authorized to use the number and shoulder sleeve insignia of infantry divisions with the same number. However, ARCOMs did not inherit the lineage and honors of the divisions because it was against Department of the Army policy for a Table of Distribution and Allowances organization, such as an ARCOM, to perpetuate the lineage and honors of a Table of Organization and Equipment formation, like the 88th Infantry Division.

In 1996, when the Army Reserve's command structure was revised, the 88th Regional Support Command (88th RSC) was established at Fort Snelling. Its mission was to command and control Army Reserve units in a six state region, which included Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. In addition, the 88th RSC ensured operational readiness, provided area support services, and supported emergency operations in its area of responsibility.

In 2003, the Army Reserve's command structure was again revised, and the 88th Regional Readiness Command (88th RRC) was formed at Fort Snelling with responsibility for USAR units in the same six states included in the 88th RSC. Various Combat Support units mobilize and deploy to Operation Iraqi Freedom in late 2003-mid 2004.

In its 2005 BRAC Recommendations, DoD recommended to realign Fort Snelling, MN by disestablishing the 88th Regional Readiness Command. This recommendation was part of a larger recommendation to re-engineer and streamline the Command and Control structure of the Army Reserve that would create the Northwest Regional Readiness Command at Fort McCoy, WI.

In 2008, the 88th Regional Readiness Command (88th RRC) moved to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. The mission was changed to provide base operations support to the new 19 state region, Welcome Home Warrior ceremonies, and the Yellow Ribbon weekends. The units assigned to the 88th RSC include 6 Army Reserve Bands and the Headquarters Company. It may supervise the 643rd Area Support Group at Whitehall, Ohio.

Operation Allies Welcome edit

The 88th was ordered to support Operation Allies Refuge in August 2021 as the core of Task Force McCoy. From August 2021 until February 2022, the task force assisted in feeding, housing, clothing, and providing assistance to the more than 12,600 Afghans resettling in the United States. Major subordinate elements of the task force included the Fort Mccoy Garrison, the 181st Infantry Brigade, 302nd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, 720th MP Battalion, and the 1st Squadron, 32nd Cavalry.^[15]

The division shoulder patch is worn by the United States Army Reserve 88th Readiness Division at Fort Snelling, Minnesota; the division lineage is perpetuated by the 88th RD.^{[citation needed]} RDs such as the 88th have the same number as inactivated divisions and are allowed to wear the shoulder patch, and division lineage and honors are inherited by an RD.

• Shoulder patch: A blue (for Infantry) quatrefoil, formed by two Arabic numeral "8s". A rocker above it with the nickname "Blue Devils" was often worn.
• During World War II, the Germans thought the 88th was an elite stormtrooper Division. This was most likely due to parallels between the "Blue Devil" nickname and patch rocker and the German SS's use of the Totenkopf death's head insignia.

• 1st Lieutenant James Henry Taylor
• Sgt Keith Matthew Maupin

Bibliography

• The Army Almanac: A Book of Facts Concerning the Army of the United States U.S. Government Printing Office, 1950 reproduced at http://www.history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/cbtchron/cbtchron.html Archived 21 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine.  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
• About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior, by David Hackworth: pp 35, 308.
• Brown, John Sloan. Draftee Division: the 88th Infantry Division in World War II. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1986. ISBN 0-8131-1581-7
• Delaney, John P. The Blue Devils in Italy: a history of the 88th Infantry Division in World War II. Washington: Infantry Journal Press, [1947] OCLC 2617939 1988 reprint is also available.
• Wilson, John B. (1999). Armies, Corps, Divisions, and Separate Brigades. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. p. 197. ISBN 978-0-16-049992-0.
• Wilson, John B. (1998). Maneuver and Firepower: The Evolution of Divisions and Separate Brigades. Archived from the original on 4 June 2008., Center of Military History, United States Army, WASHINGTON, D. C., accessed November 2011.
• Clay, Steven E. (2010). U.S. Army Order of Battle 1919-1941. Combat Studies Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-9841901-4-0.
• Isby, David C.; Kamps, Charles Jr. (1985). Armies of NATO's Central Front. Jane's Publishing Company.

• History of the 88th Division in the Great War
• The 88th Division in the World War of 1914 – 1918
• We Were There: From Gruber to the Brenner Pass
• The battle of Cornuda, the 88th division's last battle of World War II
• Oral history interview with Nicholas Cipu, a Staff Sergeant in the 88th Infantry Division, during World War II from the Veterans History Project at Central Connecticut State University
• 752nd Tank Battalion in World War II