92nd Infantry Division (United States)

The division was organized in October 1917, after the U.S. entry into World War I, at Camp Funston, Kansas, with African American soldiers from all states.

The 92nd Division was first constituted on paper on 24 October 1917 in the National Army, over six months after the American entry into World War I.

[4] The division was organized on 27 October 1917 from draftees (Selective Service men) from the United States at large at eight camps.

[6] A special "Negro zone" was to be built at the east end of Camp Funston, with "separate amusement places and exchanges."

A.D. Jellison, a banker of Junction City, Kansas, gave a plot of land for a "community house," to be erected by the Black trainees who had been drafted from seven states.

[citation needed] Arriving on the Western Front, the 92nd was a green and untried unit that was not even given time to maneuver as a division before being committed to the line.

During the 92nd Division's participation in the Italian Front, the Buffalo Soldiers made contact with units of many nationalities: beyond the attached 442nd Regimental Combat Team (442nd RCT), they also had contact with the colonial troops of the British and French colonial empires (Moroccans, Algerians, Senegalese, Indians, Gurkhas, and both Arab and Jewish Palestinians) as well as with exiled Poles, Greeks and Czechs, anti-fascist Italians and the troops of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB).

[12] Its art director, Ted Shearer, later created the early African American comic strip Quincy.

This Operation Fourth Term meets German minefields and counterattacks and is called off on 11 February due to disappointing successes.

[15] After continuing poor combat performance, including many instances of unauthorized withdrawals upon meeting the enemy, low morale and malingering, the US Command concluded that the 92nd Infantry Division was of inferior quality and fit for only defensive roles.

(According to a 1966 study by historian Ulysses G. Lee, German documents showed their command also had low opinions of these troops.

In addition, the U.S. Fifth Army leadership was wary of the perception of poor performance; they decided to withdraw the division from the front lines and rebuilt it in early 1945.

[17] On 1 April, the 370th RCT and the attached 442nd Regimental Combat Team (Nisei) attacked the Ligurian coastal sector and drove rapidly north against light opposition from the German 148th Infantry Division.

Elements of the 92nd Division entered La Spezia and Genoa on 27 April and took over selected towns along the Ligurian coast until the enemy surrendered on 2 May 1945.

Square Division example: 1918 US Infantry Division. On the far left can be seen two Brigades of two Regiments each
African American doughboys of the 366th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Division, inspecting their gas masks behind the front line, Ainvelle, Vosges , France, August 1918.
Officers of the 367th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Division, on the Western Front, pictured here in September 1918.
Triangular Division example: 1942 U.S. infantry division. The brigades of the Square division have been removed, and there are three regiments directly under divisional control.
The soldiers of the 92nd Infantry Division enter the city of Montignoso (MS), Italy after having freed it from German troops, 8 April 1945.
Major General Edward Almond, Commanding General of the 92nd Infantry Division, inspects his troops during a decoration ceremony, March 1945.
Soldiers of the 92nd Infantry Division operate a mortar, Massa, Italy in November 1944.
Soldiers of the 92nd Infantry Division with a captured German soldier. Lucca, September 1944
Capt. Ezekia Smith, of the 370th Infantry Regiment, receives treatment at the 317th Medical Battalion Collecting Station, for shell fragments in face and shoulders suffered near Querceta, Italy.