| Original caption: “Major General Edward M. Almond, Commanding General of the Ninety-Second Infantry (‘Buffalo’) Division in Italy, inspects his troops during a decoration ceremony.” Major General Edward M. Almond (December 12, 1892 – June 11, 1979) musters a formation of the 92nd Infantry “Buffalo’ Division in front of the Hotel Esplanade at 18 Piazza Giacomo Puccini, Viareggio, Italy, in March 1945. This is just after Almond reorganized the entire 92nd Infantry Division, rebuilding 2 of its 3 regiments. The Margherita Building at 15 Piazza Giacomo Puccini is today a condominium. Viareggio was liberated on September 16, 1944. The city had been heavily bombed, especially the suburbs closest to the railroad yards and the historic downtown district. United Kingdom Royal Army Tommies found the city partially deserted; the local Fascist council had ordered most of the civilian population out of the city. The 92nd Infantry Division staff and remaining elements began arriving in early October in the port of Livorno. Almond arrived at Task Force 92’s headquarters in Viareggio on October 5 and assumed command and control of the coastal sector, stretching from the Ligurian coast inland for 12 miles. The entire 92nd Infantry Division arrived by November 13. On November 28, General Mark W. Clark (May 1, 1896 – April 17, 1984) attached the 366th Infantry Regiment, another African American unit, to the division. Almond, who had trained the rest of the Division for 2 years and did not like African Americans, had a cold welcome for the new arrivals. “Your Negro newspapers have seen fit to cause you to be brought over here, [and] now I’m going to see that you suffer your share of the casualties.” 1st Lt. Edward W. Brooke (October 26, 1919 – January 3, 2015) of the 366th, later a United States senator from Massachusetts, also heard Almond’s remarks and remembered his “angry and condescending tone” as he shouted through a bullhorn. Almond’s gruff and tactless words doomed his relationship with all of his soldiers. While the 366th Infantry were mostly volunteers from northern states with a high school education, Black officers, and a high degree of training and combat experience, the other 2 regiments in the 92nd Division were conscripts from southern states with little combat training and most lacked formal education. A government review of their combat potential found that their white officers believed they had never fired a rifle even in training, which was mostly incorrect. But most of the 92nd Infantry Division’s replacements came from soldiers who were caught after going Absent Without Leave in North Africa; those soldiers did not have high combat morale. Almond did little to correct the deficiencies of his unit. He antagonized Black officers until they requested to be relieved. Lower ranks, especially Black officers, were disgusted with his anger and aloofness, which adversely affected morale. Promotions, especially compared to white officers and men, were inexplicably and constantly delayed. Morale was severely impacted. In combat, the Nazi Germans would later remark after the war that Almond stationed his reserves too far away to exploit opportunities, and he was not an effective tactical leader. But Almond was successful in blaming the African Americans in the 92nd Infantry Division; he had the favor of General George C. Marshall Junior (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) who was a fellow graduate of the Virginia Military Institute. A great personnel swap was undertaken about February 18, 1945; Almond 1st removed the 366th Infantry Regiment from the line and returned it to 5th Army control. He then accepted the 442nd (Nisei) and 473rd Infantry Regiments and placed them in line, while withdrawing the division’s 3 organic infantry regiments. Selecting the 370th Regimental Combat Team as the lead element, Almond began to reorganize. The Commanding Officer identified his worst soldiers and sent them to the other 2 regiments, while the other regimental commanders selected their best soldiers and sent them to the 370th. Decorated soldiers, or those with the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, transferred to the 370th. After the reorganization, the 365th and the 371st would go to the division training area south of Viareggio and continue training, and perhaps be used in a limited role elsewhere. Almond assured General Lucian King Truscott Jr. (January 9, 1895 – September 12, 1965) that leaving the officer and non-commissioned officer leadership in place in the 365th and 371st Infantry Regiments would ensure those units could retrain properly. The 92nd’s reorganization moved approximately 70 officers and 1,400 enlisted men into the 370th Regimental Combat Team while removing 52 officers and 1,350 soldiers. Significantly, only White officers remained with the 370th Regimental Combat Team, though some Black officers transferred in. While Almond’s infantry components experienced a major shakeup, the organic artillery and service units remained unchanged. After the unwanted “substandard” infantry left the division, the 92nd’s artillery and other support units formed new combat teams with the 442nd and 473rd Infantry Regiments. The Japanese Americans in the 442nd (Nisei) Regimental Combat Team experienced a range of emotions when they attache to the 92nd Infantry Division. Some Nisei saw the discrimination African Americans were facing, and thought it mirrored their own. Others felt the 442nd broke through the Gothic Line in a few hours, when the 92nd had taken months and was still not able to pierce it. Unwittingly, by combining a white regiment, a Japanese regiment, and a black regiment, and proving that they made an effective combat unit in April 1945, Almond proved that integration worked. This example would be cited in 1947 when United States President Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) ordered the Armed Forces to be desegregated. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0641.jpg |
| Image Size | 807.87 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2920 x 2352 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Office of War Information |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | March 1, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | Viareggio |
| State or Province | Tuscany |
| Country | Italy |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NWDNS-208-AA-47Y-1 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
Author of the World War II Multimedia Database