Customer Reviews

The 92nd Infantry Division and the Italian Campaign in World War II

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The book is overpriced, and poorly written. There are some well done histories on the 92nd in print, this is not one of them. Half the book is written about three individuals, Fox, Baker, and Almond, the other half contains fragmented historical accounts of the units engaged in the Italian Campaign. As a poor aside he actually list the books in one paragraph that contain a more detailed history, but I ask; What is this book suppose to be about? I thought I was buying a history of a Black Fighting Division, instead I get autobiographical information on three people, only one of which-General Ed Almond I hadn't seen before. And no where in the book do I find any reference to the Divisions performance during the Serchio Valley attacks in December of 1944. As I stated in the title to this review. One good chapter does not a book make. Save your money folks, this book should be retailing for $ in the close out section of your local bookstore soon!

The 92nd Infantry Division and the Italian Campaign in World War II examines this U.S. Army division's combat participation and tries to explain its poor combat performance. As the only division composed primarily of African-Americans to take part in major combat operations, the 92nd Infantry Division became a symbol of all that was wrong with the segregated U.S. Army of World War II. The author, Daniel K. Gibran, a professor of history at Tennessee State University, believes that the most significant faults of the segregated Army were poor leadership and a lack of empathy toward African-American soldiers by white officers, beginning with the division commander and running down to the youngest platoon leader.

Gibran divides this slim volume into eight chapters. In Chapter 1, he discusses the activation and training of the division, segregation and turbulence within the division, and the early life, military training, and experience of the division's commander, Major General Edward M. `Ned' Almond. In Chapter 2, Gibran describes the 92nd Infantry Division's deployment to combat operations in Italy between September 1944 and March 1945. In Chapter 3, he explains the final offensive of the 92nd Infantry Division in Spring 1945. In Chapters 4 and 5, Gibran details, respectively, the lives and heroic actions of Medal of Honor winners Vernon J. Baker and John R. Fox. In Chapter 6, the author describes the process by which African-American soldiers were finally considered for Medals of Honor that they had been wrongly denied during World War II. In Chapter 7, Gibran summarizes and concludes his discussion of the 92nd Infantry Division's participation in the war. Lastly, in Chapter 8, the author closes on a personal note by discussing his work as the principal investigator of Acting Secretary of the Army John Shannon's study regarding why no African-Americans received the Medal of Honor during World War II.

Gibran has produced an interesting, well written, and well researched volume which will probably find an audience among the reading public. That having been said, I must admit that I do not see how this book contributes to existing historiography. Gibran himself admits that he was not attempting to produce a definitive history of the 92nd Infantry Division. Neither is the book a true biographical study of MG `Ned' Almond, Vernon J. Baker, or John R. Fox - works which would all be interesting to examine. Moreover, the author has already produced a book that deals exclusively with the issue of African-Americans and the Medal of Honor during World War II (Gibran, Daniel K., et al. Exclusion of Black Soldiers from the Medal of Honor in World War II. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 1997). Those interested in a more thorough treatment of these topics will have to look elsewhere or wait until they are given further coverage in future volumes.

Is he making his students buy this dribble? The poor guy is constantly billing himself as a International Relations expert, a History Expert, a Terrorism Expert, anything he can do to get his face on TV as an "expert" commentator. He is now writing on African-Americans, yet is from overseas, and now professes to tell us about our history?

This book's accounting of the performance of the 92nd Infintry Division in Italy is actually a book devoted to the famed but despicably maligned "Buffalo Soldiers" which was, in fact, the 92nd Inf. Division which traces its History back to the INDIAN WARS in the U.S.

This book strives but seemingly, to me, strains a bit, to present in a more true 'light', the presence and performance of the ALL Black Buffalo soldiers who remained, albeit unofficially and virtually under mandatory command of ALL WHITE superior officers with a few minor exceptions of a few Black Lt. and perhaps an occasional Captain, neither of which were expected to offer military advice worthy of serious consideration.

But since it deals with a still 'festering sore' and an irradicable blemish on our Nation's Military History, it should be read. The very 2nd in Command of that Division never disguised his brash racial bias for Blacks to be able to even serve in the military except for menial, physical tasks. This individual went on to become General McArthur's 2nd in command during the Korean War, believe it or not!