Talk:29th Infantry Division (United States)

I Don't Understand The Deletion of "Three Divisions"
On March 27, 2009, I added the well known epitaph for the Second World War casualties of the 29th Infantry that they were "three divisions: one in the field, one in the hospital, and one in the cemetery." This was said of 29th Division Commander Major General Charles H. Gerhardt both during his command and after it. If you grew up in Virginia (as I did) during the 1960's and 1970's you would have seen all the monuments in every little town listing all the war dead. That didn't include the dead and wounded from Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, the District of Columbia, etc.

The 29th's history is of course worthy. And FACTUALLY they were a division with among the highest casualty rates in the Second World War, and their commanding officer (a fine football player) was arguably held to account for it.

Major General Charles Hunter Gerhardt (later Colonel Gerhardt and finally Brigadier General Gerhardt)'s web page at the Arlington National Cemetery website cites the "Three Division" description:

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/chgerhardt.htm

I am not trying to denigrate the 29th; far from it. Instead, I think that this casualty rate is in their honor, After all, they did it, not us.

I can not understand why a Wikipedia page for such a distinguished unit would be whitewashed into a postcard. It is a disgrace in my opinion. I'll post this on the discussion page first. Respond as you like. But one week from now I'm restoring the "Three Divisions" aspect of the 29th's history.

I have searched this page (and others) to see if I am in error and I can find nothing. If I am in error, I will be the first to apologize and I will apologize to all.

I hope we can place the 29th in their rightful place on the interwebs.

-JM

////Salute from a Navy man. From Virginia.

JamesMadison (talk)JamesMadison —Preceding undated comment added 07:14, 20 October 2009 (UTC).
 * My concern when improving the page was primarily that I could not find a source for the detail. You are welcome to add the note back as long as it has a source. I've been in the process of systematically improving the entire article into a Good Article, and I was just trying to make sure that everything on the page had a citation, especially quotes like this, per WP:QUOTE. As long as it has a citation, it is just fine with being put back in the article. — Ed! (talk) 14:28, 20 October 2009 (UTC)


 * The "three divisions" sentence most certainly had an in-line citation in March 2009. While I agree with and applaud your efforts to achieve "good article" status for this entry on the 29th, I must tell you that your writing skills are somewhat lacking. You have taken what was once a fine article on an infantry division with a compelling storyline and turned that article into a memo. I now notice that every single sentence has an inline citation. Read any noted history book and see if there is a citation following every sentence. I did not write the original article on the 29th (I merely added one sentence) but you have apparently destroyed the work of several contributors who had put together what I considered to be a very fine, very readable article. JamesMadison (talk) 18:03, 20 October 2009 (UTC)


 * It's unfortunate you feel that way. However, my writing has improved the article by far from its original form, and you will find that Wikipedia policy will agree. In comparing the article to this revision before I ever touched it, the older version is vastly inferior to the article in its current state. It was full of speculation, unsourced information, and blatant unencyclopedic nonsense. What few citations there are (such as the one you mentioned) are in incorrect form, per WP:CITE. Please consult WP:NOT. Wikipedia is not a place for amusing stories and opinions; it is designed for neutral, factual, and verifiable information. The fact that this article is now rated a GA (an honor bestowed on less than 10,000 of Wikipedia's 3 million articles, see WP:GA) where it was previously a Start-class mess is a testament to this. All information on the article has a source, per WP:SOURCE. In its previous state, the article contained long narratives filled with jargain and opinions interspersed with lists which killed its readability. Because of all of this, the article was neither quality nor readable, as it is now. This article has not been destroyed, it has been built. — Ed! (talk) 03:57, 21 October 2009 (UTC)


 * A fair response. I hope I do not come off as strident (or an ass*ole), neither of which is my intention. I just believe in the narrative in history, which I feel was lost in this article. The article should tell a story, and a compelling story at that. If you want to build this story, I'll help you, and you can help me. And I do apologize for that crack about your writing skills, although I still feel this article is a memo.JamesMadison (talk) 11:37, 21 October 2009 (UTC)
 * I have to admit, this article could do with a fair bit of expanding in terms or what the division did during it's history; although each article is of course a WP:Summary it seems like this is too much of one. What I'd look for is something akin to 11th Airborne Division, which I've got up to A-Class, and will hopefully get to FA once I sort out some of the post-war organizational stuff. Skinny87 (talk) 08:16, 22 October 2009 (UTC)


 * Well, as always the article is far from done. Anything you can add to it is helpful. — Ed! (talk) 01:19, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

German 352nd Infantry Division
This statement is a crock of hooey--> "Rommel had also raised an entire new division of troops to oppose the landings, the 352nd Infantry Division. Founded around a core of hardened combat veterans from the Russian Front, it was rated by the German high command as a crack division."

Rommel had nothing to do with the raising of this division, or any division, for that matter. OKH and the Home Army raised new divisions and supplied replacement manpower. Combat generals such as Rommel were not involved with this.

While the 352nd did have men who had fought on the Eastern Front, the majority of the men were teenagers, 17 & 18 years old. Of the 333 officers assigned, fully 50% were without any combat experience and the division was short about 30% of the needed NCOs. 1455 of division were Russian "volunteers". There had never been any battalion or regimental training. Of the 12,021 men of division, only 6800 were combat troops, detailed to defend a 53km front. The 352nd was not considered to be a crack division by anyone's imagination.

I suggest that the hogwash statement in the article to be amended as this: The newly raised German 352nd Infantry Division was responsible for the defense of a large swathe of the Normandy coastline, including part of the area of Omaha Beach where the US 29th Infantry Division landed on 6 June 1944. JW (talk) 19:34, 3 June 2009 (UTC)

The statement was based on information given in Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy.

I would ask the source of your information--none of which contradicts the German High Command's own assessment of the 352nd.

Georgejdorner (talk) 08:25, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

I'm going to change the sentence.

JW (talk) 17:43, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

Corlett and Cota
These two paragraphs are so out of touch with reality that they need to be completely canned.

First, Corlett wasn't involved in the amphibious landings; his was a follow-up corps headquarters. He didn't even arrive in the ETO until well less than 2 months before D-Day; by that time, the "bright idea fairly" was properly shot and buried. More to the point, however, Corlett would have understood several key points which Eisenhower understood and the author of this article does not: 1) LVTs were in short supply and not available for Normandy; 2) The vast majority of LVTs were unarmored and would have been worse sitting ducks than the LCVPs & LC(A)s. Even the LVT2A(rmored) version had but 0.25 inch armor over most of it (at the cost of reduced troop capacity - 50% that of an LCVP) which would have been wholly insufficient on Omaha Beach once it climbed out of the water; 3) they were slower, meaning more exposure on the run in and higher losses; 4) there is no reason to believe LVTs could have made it through the shingle on Omaha - the Shermans certanly could not; 5) even if they could have negotiated the shingle, the unarmored LVTs would have been extremely vulnerable to mines on the invasion beaches - a threat not often seen in the Pacific; 6) LVTs could not be carried on davits as could LCVPs and LC(A)s. This would have required LPDs or the deck/cargo space on LSTs to transport them - as they did in the Pacific (the author of this article needs to do basic reading about the cross-shipping maneuvers used in the Pacific); 7) No LPDs were available for Normandy and there were no excess/reserve LCTs; 8) The diversion of LSTs to carry LVTs would have reduced the troops available the first day and set back follow-on landing schedules; 9) subsequent waves would still have required LVCPs/LC(A)s. This paragraph was clearly written by someone with no knowledge of LVTs or amphibious assault conditions.

As for Cota, this is an insultingly ignorant treatment of a complex subject that took months of staff work and discussion to decide. The Mediterranean assaults had been night assaults, but the planners rightly realized that the Atlantic and the Atlantic Wall were much different animals. Nothing in the actual landings indicate that a night landing would have fared better. Given how badly the landings were muddled on the run into the beaches in daylight, can you imagine how much worse they would have been in the dark? And then to be met at dawn with the full fury of the un-suppressed German coastal artillery?

These silly speculative attributions have no place in a serious discussion of the Normandy landings. 67.181.72.42 (talk) 02:31, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

The "silly speculative" attributions were garnered from a history of the 29th Division entitled Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Division in Normandy. The author took part in amphibious landings while in the U. S. Marine Corps. He also knew some of the 29th Division veterans who landed at Normandy that day.

In turn, the author would inquire, How many amphibious landings have you been through? And what is the source of your 9 points of objection? Georgejdorner (talk) 08:35, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

I agree completely.

JW (talk) 15:17, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Demobilized for 20 years?
Decentralized for 20 years between wars, maybe, but I found and included info on all constituent units for this period. So why was this deleted?

Georgejdorner (talk) 04:12, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I probably removed that unintentionally; I've completely rewritten the article using ONLY details I can source. This is because I am pushing to increase its quality. I may have deleted this information because I couldn't find a source for it. If you can source it, please re-add it and forgive my cautition. — Ed! (talk) 01:04, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

Featured in episodes of Star Trek: Voyager
In episodes 18 and 19 of season 4, hunts simulated by an alien species on the Holodecks of the USS Voyager included a scenario based on the events in France during WWII. "The Americans" that arrived to liberate the simulated town were the 29th Infantry Division.

I discovered this only by googling the blue and grey yin yang emblem they wore on their shoulders, and found it interesting that the real 29th spent time "conducting simulated attacks against fortified positions.", just as Commander Chakotay and his men did on Voyager.

I think this trivial tidbit is worthy of mention, perhaps in the "Legacy" section. What do my fellow Wikipedians think? 23:09, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

P.S. Assuming of course reliable refs can be found...

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