A Rainbow Division Lieutenant In France

Lieutenant John Huddleston Taber was a New Yorker assigned to the 168th "Third Iowa" Infantry Regiment of the American Expeditionary Force's 42nd "Rainbow" Division during World War I. His diary provides a detailed narrative of a young officer maturing through his war experiences, from the voyage across the submarine filled Atlantic, to training in France, to front line combat. In a clear, unaffected voice, Taber records his dealings with superiors and enlisted men, billets in French and German towns, life in the trenches, intense shelling, machine gun fire, gas warfare, leaves to Paris, the occupation of Germany, and his return to New York.

This is literally two books in one. Not only is this a story of the 66th Infantry in France and what happened to the men after their transfers but, the reader can get an understanding as to what it is like trying to research a family members military history. "Panthers Under the Rainbow" gives a detailed description of how the 66th Division was formed. From its activation on April 15, 1943, training at Camp Blanding , Camp Robinson and Camp Rucker . Dates when troops from the 66th where transferred and when new recruits arrived. Finally when the 66th was alerted to be sent overseas the book covers Camp Shanks , NY . crossing the Atlantic with many depth charges being dropped to more training in England . The disaster of crossing the English Channel, combat in France with first hand accounts from veterans. The surrender of the Lorient and St. Nazaire is covered, the occupation of Germany as well as the cigarette camps in Marsailles , France . The deactivation of the Panther Division. After WWII officially ended many Pantherman did not have enough points to go home so they were transferred to occupation duty with the Famous 42nd Rainbow Division. This topic is also covered. The 8.5x11 book was heavily researched and is printed in full color with 116 pages, both from the 66th as well as occupation duty with the 42nd. Many photos are of original documents, soldiers and places which I collected during my research. A breakdown of a WWII division, how many men in a division, regiment, battalion, platoon etc. A detailed description of the Armys "ASR Point System" and timetables to troop movements of the 66th division. Interviews with 66th Veterans. A WWII casualty listing appears in the back of the book.

Send the Alabamians recounts the story of the 167th Infantry Regiment of the WWI Rainbow Division from their recruitment to their valiant service on the bloody fields of eastern France in the climactic final months of World War I. To mark the centenary of World War I, Send the Alabamians tells the remarkable story of a division of Alabama recruits whose service Douglas MacArthur observed had not “been surpassed in military history.” The book borrows its title from a quip by American General Edward H. Plummer who commanded the young men during the inauspicious early days of their service. Impressed with their ferocity and esprit de corps but exasperated by their rambunctiousness, Plummer reportedly exclaimed: In time of war, send me all the Alabamians you can get, but in time of peace, for Lord’s sake, send them to somebody else! The ferocity of the Alabamians, so apt to get them in trouble at home, proved invaluable in the field. At the climactic Battle of Croix Rouge, the hot-blooded 167th exhibited unflinching valor and, in the face of machine guns, artillery shells, and poison gas, sustained casualty rates over 50 percent to dislodge and repel the deeply entrenched and heavily armed enemy. Relying on extensive primary sources such as journals, letters, and military reports, Frazer draws a vivid picture of the individual soldiers who served in this division, so often overlooked but critical to the war’s success. After Gettysburg, the Battle of Croix Rouge is the most significant military engagement to involve Alabama soldiers in the state’s history. Families and genealogists will value the full roster of the 167th that accompanies the text. Richly researched yet grippingly readable, Nimrod T. Frazer’s Send the Alabamians will delight those interested in WWI, the World Wars, Alabama history, or southern military history in general. Historians of the war, regimental historians, military history aficionados, and those interested in previously unexplored facets of Alabama history will prize this unique volume as well.

World War I had a profound impact on the United States of America, which was forced to 'grow' an army almost overnight. The day the United States declared war on Germany, the US Army was only the 17th largest in the world, ranking behind Portugal – the Regular Army had only 128,00 troops, backed up by the National Guard with some 182,000 troops. By the end of the war it had grown to 3,700,000, with slightly more than half that number in Europe. Until the United States did so, no country in all history had tried to deploy a 2-million-man force 3,000 miles from its own borders, a force led by American Expeditionary Forces Commander-in-Chief General John J. Pershing. This was America's first truly modern war and rising from its ranks was a new generation of leaders who would control the fate of the United States armed forces during the interwar period and into World War II. This book reveals the history of the key leaders working for and with John J. Pershing during this tumultuous period, including George S. Patton (tank commander and future commander of the US Third Army during World War II); Douglas MacArthur (42nd Division commander and future General of the Army) and Harry S. Truman (artillery battery commander and future President of the United States). Edited by Major General David T. Zabecki (US Army, Retired) and Colonel Douglas V. Mastriano (US Army, Retired), this fascinating title comprises chapters on individual leaders from subject experts across the US, including faculty members of the US Army War College.

Decades before Americans became familiar with the term “embedded journalist,” a young cartoonist named Francis Webster embodied that role when he served as a volunteer infantryman during World War I. Using his skills as an illustrator, he documented firsthand the harsh realities of combat life and regularly submitted visual dispatches of his experiences back to an Iowa newspaper. The first published collection of Webster’s wartime chronicles, Somewhere Over There presents a unique view of World War I through a rare compilation of letters, diary entries, cartoons, sketches, and watercolors. As editor Darrek D. Orwig explains in his introduction, Webster gained valuable training as an illustrator when he worked for famed political cartoonist Jay “Ding” Darling during the early years of World War I. When the United States entered the conflict in 1917, Webster volunteered with the Iowa National Guard as it prepared for deployment on the western front. His regiment would be part of the Forty-Second Rainbow Division, one of the first American units to arrive in France. Webster’s accounts, rendered in words and pictures, capture the daily life of a citizen-soldier who trained in stateside camps, traversed the submarine-infested waters of the Atlantic Ocean, fought in muddy trenches, and recovered in hospitals from poisonous gas exposure. Webster suffered a mortal wound during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in 1918, when he placed a fellow soldier’s safety before his own. Webster’s illustrations for the Des Moines Capital helped readers of the time learn what American soldiers were experiencing “over there” by bringing news from the western front to the home front. For nearly ninety years following his death, Webster’s family treasured his collection of artwork and writings before donating it to the Iowa Gold Star Military Museum at Camp Dodge, where it resides today. This wartime assemblage is amplified by Orwig’s enlightening commentary based on extensive research that places Webster’s story within the wider narrative of American involvement in the “war to end all wars.”