Robbins, Major Robert A. The 91st Infantry Division in World War II. Nashville, TN: The Battery Press, 1999

ISBN 0-89839-297-7
423 pages

Foreword; photos; maps; Source Materials Used

Appendices: Honor Roll, 91st Infantry Division; Individual Awards; Distinguished Unit Citations; Division Citations; Division Headquarters, the Staff, Special Units, and Division Troops

   In the years immediately after the end of the Second World War, American combat formations began churning out an endless stream of unit histories of varying degrees of quality. Whether photographic scrapbook or serious historical effort, these volumes have without exception gone out of print and the originals have become expensive and hard to find.
   Fortunately, Dick Gardner at Battery Press has for several years made a business of resurrecting these old unit histories, reprinting them in high quality editions which remain as true to the originals as possible, and making the new editions available at reasonable prices.
   The latest reprint, the forty-ninth in Battery's "Divisional Series", resuscitates the history of the U. S. 91st "Powder River" Infantry Division, originally published in 1947 by the Infantry Journal Press.
   As with all the Battery reprints, physically this is a handsome, solid volume with sturdy binding, good paper, and a clean, bright look about it. From a historical perspective, this is also one of the stronger volumes: arrangements having been made shortly after its CO took command, the 91st throughout its existence gathered material for this book, surveyed the troops about their preferences for a divisional history at the end of the war, and then allowed a competent author to present the division's story in a fashion which contained everything military historians could want while retaining a simple, straightforward style and "division-as-family" approach.
   The author opens the book with a four-page retrospective of the 91st Division in World War I before describing the reactivation of the Powder River Division on 15 August 1942 and its progress through the Army training program from "march, shoot, and obey" to complex divisional maneuvers. In March 1944 the division moved from its Oregon training base to Camp Patrick Henry in Virginia; in April it began moving by echelon via Hampton Roads and the Atlantic Ocean to North Africa. By 10 May the entire division had arrived in Algeria and was undergoing further training near Oran. One of the early arrivals, the division's 361st Regimental Combat Team, was detached for service with Fifth Army in Italy a few days later. The remainder of the 91st completed its advanced training exercises and arrived in Italy in mid-June. Although both the 361st (which soon rejoined the division) and 363rd RCTs took part in earlier operations, the division as a whole launched its first attack against German defenders on 12 July 1944 when it took part in an offensive toward Pontedera on the Arno River east of Pisa.
   From that point the Powder River boys mostly spent the remainder of their war battering against the German Gothic Line (and its many "switch" positions) until they finally forced their way into the Po River valley in April 1945, then onward to Treviso and eventually Trieste.
   Robbins provides exacting military detail about dispositions of the 91st's regiments and battalions, when and where each one moved, who relieved them and who they relieved, dates and times of changes in command, particulars of firefights and patrols and assaults and skirmishes, and full information about plans and strengths and casualties.

   At 1700, 9 October, Division Field Order No. 23 was issued by General Livesay. The 363d Infantry was to be committed on the right of the Division sector. It was to attack north, seize Ca' Trieste, Hill 377, and Hill 357, maintain close contact with the 85th Infantry Division, on the right, and assist in the latter's advance. The 361st Infantry was to continue its attack to the northwest, pinching our the 362d and protecting the Division's left flank north of the 31st Northing. The objectives of the 361st were Mt. Adone and Mt. dei Frati. After the 362d Infantry had seized Le Fosse, just south of the 30th Northing, it was to revert to Division reserve. Commanders were cautioned to avoid, whenever possible, obvious approaches to enemy positions and to make every effort to locate possible targets for the artillery.
   On 10 October, the 362d Infantry, on the left of the Division sector, continued its push toward Le Fosse. The 1st Battalion had gone into reserve; the 3d held in position; and the 2d, with Company I attached, pressed the attack. Progress throughout the day was slow, and it was necessary to maneuver for positions. By noon Company F had reached Hill 518 near Ca' Bianca, and elements of Company G had reached Villanova. The attack was halted during the night, but at 0600, 11 October, the companies renewed their efforts. There was little resistance. As Company I moved through i Balzi, it captured 50 prisoners. Company E, to the east, found Ca' dei Boschi a very heavily defended point, and a running fire fight kept up there all day.
   During the night of 11-12 October, since the 362d's 2d Battalion had not reach Le Fosse, the 1st Battalion relieved it. At 0700, 12 October, the attack jumped off again, and Company C, which had replaced Company E before Ca' dei Boschi, seized the town and captured twenty prisoners.

   For particularly gallant individual deeds -- and the Power River Division included two Medal of Honor winners -- the book examines man-to-man actions under a magnifying lens.

   When the first counterattack was over, Staff Sergeant Alexander M. Greig of Company L collected eight or nine men to protect the right flank of the company position. Then the enemy charged up the rocky slope again. Several members of the hastily formed squad began to waver, and it looked as if the line might break.
   Greig jumped out of his firing position, shouted to his men not to let the enemy bluff them, spun around, and charged toward the advancing Germans, firing from the hip.
   His men were so inspired by Greig's courage and disregard for his own safety that four of them leapt up and followed him. The rest of the squad took new positions of vantage and reopened fire. There was no longer any question of the line breaking.
   Greig and all but two of the men who had followed him were killed but around them lay a score of enemy dead. The counterattack was repulsed with heavy losses to the enemy, and the battalion's right flank was secured.

   Beyond these accounts of dispositions, movement, and combat, Robbins also devotes space to making it clear that every soldier's experience in Italy included much more than fighting. With the same matter-of-fact style used to chronicle the 91st's battles, the author intersperses nuggets about sightseeing, receiving mail from home, Christmas chow in the line, and cleaning equipment. Similarly, Robbins shows how the division owed its success not only to combat and maneuver, but also to such mundane tasks as hauling supplies, repairing vehicles, training replacements, and establishing a divisional sock laundry.

   The Powder River doughboys had been directed, as a preventive measure, to change their socks every day. But the losses of socks on the front lines had been very great, and there was not an inexhaustible supply in the theater. The problem of salvaging and washing socks, therefore, became of paramount importance if the Division was to be maintained at peak strength. Fifth Army Quartermaster laundry units washed socks for the divisions, but the service was slow, and the haul to rear areas was long. If the roads should be blocked by snow, the service might even have to be suspended, and the whole preventative program would be seriously hampered. Accordingly, the Division G-4, Lieutenant Colonel Campbell W. Newman, and the 91st Quartermaster, Lieutenant Colonel Beuford A. Pittman, made plans to construct a Division sock laundry. The 791st Ordnance Company improvised wringers and hand-operated washing machines out of oil drums and scrap lumber, and local Italian labor was recruited. The construction of the unit too more time than had been anticipated, but at the end of the month it was in most successful operation.

   While this kind of "family" unit history published immediately after the war doesn't attempt to convey the same kind of careful analysis and thoughtful retrospective as newer unit histories such as Balkoski's Beyond the Beachhead and Brown's Draftee Division, there remains much to recommend this kind of quiet, matter-of-fact account of "here's who we were and here's what we did." This 1947 history of the 91st in particular does an excellent job of providing a solid factual record of the division while retaining that period flavor.
   A good book and a very nice reprint edition.
   Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from the Battery Press.
   Thanks to Battery for providing this review copy.