Talk:32nd Infantry Division (United States)/GA1

GA Review
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GA review of this version: Pn = paragraph n • Sn = sentence n
 * GA review (see here for criteria)


 * 1) It is reasonably well written.
 * a (prose): b (MoS):
 * 1) It is factually accurate and verifiable.
 * a (references): b (citations to reliable sources):  c (OR):
 * 1) It is broad in its coverage.
 * a (major aspects): b (focused):
 * 1) It follows the neutral point of view policy.
 * Fair representation without bias:
 * 1) It is stable.
 * No edit wars etc.:
 * 1) It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.
 * a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):
 * 1) Overall:
 * Pass/Fail:
 * a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):
 * 1) Overall:
 * Pass/Fail:
 * Pass/Fail:

Some issues. I see no reasons why this won't pass once those items are addressed. —
 * Introduction:
 *  "It was the first division to pierce the famed German Hindenburg Line of defense"
 * "They were among the first" are were still talking about the seven divisions, or about the 32nd? Should be "it" if the latter.
 * Wasn't. Qualification required here.
 * these, as far as I can tell. - Ed! (talk) 18:43, 5 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Pre-World War I:
 * Link Wisconsin National Guard first time it is used.
 * Un-capitalised "division" when not part of the title. (This occurs in subseqient sections as well.)
 * Link "Washington", "Wisconsin Territory", "Iron Brigade", "Pancho Villa Expedition"
 * Any need to italicise Iron Brigade?
 * Calling Pancho Vila a "bandit" is too POV
 * Check the 1913 date; this is too early for Pancho.
 * "The Guard units' Troop A and Troop B" Misplaced apostrophe here.
 * - Ed! (talk) 18:50, 5 May 2009 (UTC)
 * World War I:
 * I like the box but can it be moved down (and perhaps to the right) so as to be out of the way and not interrupt the text?
 * "Second and Third Squadrons" -> 2nd and 3rd Squadrons
 * "Army Tables of Organizations" -> "Army Tables of Organization"
 * The Iron Brigade wasn't an artillery unit.
 * Reference required at end of last paragraph.
 * "Distinguished combat in France and Germany" The division saw no combat in Germany!
 * "Up to this point much of the war had been a stalemate, fought from static trench lines over the same few kilometers of terrain." That is completely incorrect.
 * The last paragraph is a mess. The division participated in the Occupation of the Rhineland. After November 1918.
 * You spell "kilometers" two different ways. (I prefer "kilometres" but make it consisted either way.
 * Don't abbreviate "Division".
 * "The only American unit in French General Charles Mangins famous 10th French Army," Apostrophe required here.
 * World War II
 * Aitape and Morotai were not part of Operation Cartwheel. They were part of Operation Reno (The Western New Guinea Campaign). Saidor was part of Operation Cartwheel, however. Adjust the box.
 * Pre-World War II: reference required.
 * Technically speaking, the division was not "reactivated", as it was active throughout the inter-war period
 * "Prime Minister" should link to "Prime Minister of Australia"
 * "Prime Minister John Curtin demanded the Allies release Australian troops from the Mediterranean and North Africa front to defend their home." No, that is not correct. You're misreading Milner, p. 15. The British sent the 6th and 7th Divisions back from the Middle East to participate in the defence of Java and Sumatra. These islands fell before the Australian divisions got there. The Australian government then insisted that they be sent to Australia instead of Burma. See Hasluck, pp. 75-78.
 * They did not have M108 howitzers!
 * Vicksburg was not the final major campaign of the American Civil War.
 * "They were the first American division in World War II to be moved in a single convoy from the United States to the front lines." Adelaide was thousands of miles from the "front lines".
 * "When the division arrived in the port of Adelaide three weeks later" They arrived in the previous paragraph.
 * Link Sandy Creek, South Australia
 * Training in Australia: Middle paragraph required reference
 * Japanese assault on Port Moresby: paragraph requires reference
 * Japanese withdrawal from the Kokoda Track: U. S. air Force should be "US Army Air Force". Or better still, Fifth Air Force.
 * General Willoughby has not been introduced yet. Say who he is and link.
 * "This was the first time a Japanese advance had been stopped in the Pacific" This is incorrect, as the Japanese had been stopped at the Battle of Milne Bay in September.
 * Papuan campaign: The Buna-Sanananda Operation (footnote 27) is a book; page numbers should be provided. (Any chance of changing the citation format to the more conventional Harvard (author, page#) style?)
 * "The Allies had no intelligence on the defensive positions that Japanese had been constructing." requires reference
 * "The U.S. Army typically required divisions to train as a unit for a full year before being entering combat... Nonetheless, on 13 September 1942, after less than two months of training" The division had on full-time active duty since 1940! Nominally at least, it had been training for two years.
 * "As the Southwest Pacific Area of operations was still in its organizational stages, there was insufficient transport available to ship the division’s personnel and heavy equipment at the same time. As a result, most of the unit’s heavy 81mm mortars and artillery were left behind." This is simply not true. Shipping was indeed in short supply but there was enough to ship the division and all of its heavy equipment to New Guinea if need be. On the other hand, the 81mm mortars and artillery would have been useless in the jungle as neither guns nor ammunition could have easily been carried forward. As it was the 32nd Division had a hard enough time advancing overland.
 * "Because of the last-minute switch from their original destination of Ireland and the European Theater of Operations, and because of inadequate supply lines... The men had no insect repellent; although they were entering a rain forest, they had no waterproof boxes or pouches in which to keep their malaria tablets and other medicine" Actually neither of these factors was critical. The fact was that the medical implications of a fight in the tropics had not been fully realised in Washington and global supplies of insect repellents, miticides, mosquito netting and anti-malarial drugs were inadequate. (Also, the Japanese had overrun many sources of supply.) See the article on Neil Hamilton Fairley. As an aside, the importance of these things was not appreciated by the officers of the 32nd Division, and anti-malarial discipline was poor. Anti-malarial disciple remained bad at Aitape and Luzon, even though the need was well-understood by then.
 * "The Australian Army units on New Guinea were under increasing pressure..." This was before the Japanese withdrawal, described two paragraphs back.
 * Kapa Kapa Trail march: Every paragraph requires a reference. (Get them from the main article).
 * "With the only artillery support provided by a single 25 pounder battery with limited ammunition, the division began its attack on 19 November" This is incorrect. The only artillery support available was from the 1st Mountain battery, equipped with 3.7 inch Mountain Howitzers. Two 25-pounders of the 55th Battery, 2/5th Field Regiment had been lost when the barge transporting them forward was attacked by Japanese zeroes. The 25-pounders began firing in support on 22 November.
 * "Major General Robert Eichelberger, to relieve Maj. Gen. Edwin F. Harding of command. " One rank is abbreviated and the other is not. (To make it easier for the non-military reader, I would strongly prefer all ranks to be consistently spelt out in full.)
 * Also: Eichleberger had been promoted to lieutenant general on 23 October 1942.
 * Casualties and refitting: More could be said here. Drea wrote a good article on it which you can find here (first part) and here (second part)
 * Operation Cartwheel: As mentioned, Aitape was not part of Operation Cartwheel. This whole section is inadequate. There should be a whole paragraph at least on the Landing at Saidor (take it from the intro to the A-class article.)
 * Then there should be a section on Aitape, probably the most important operation fought by US troops in the New Guinea campaign. See Drea, "Defending the Drunimor".
 * Morotai could also benefit from, more words.
 * Leyte and Luzon also need more work. And some references.
 * Are you sure William H. Hill is not be William H. Gill, the division commander?
 * "Once in the South West Pacific Area, portions of the 128th Infantry were the first to be airlifted into combat," The first what?
 * "The other United States to engage in ground combat operations during the summer and fall of 1942 were the 41st who followed them into New Guinea, the 1st Marine and the Americal on Guadalcanal, Carlson's Raiders on Makin Island, and the 3rd Infantry, 9th Infantry, 1st Armored and the 2nd Armored Divisions in North Africa." I think there is a word missing. (I would have said "division" but for the bit about the raiders.) Also, I heard there was some fighting in the Philippines on Bataan and Corregidor. (NB: the 1st and 34th Infantry Divisions also fought in North Africa.)
 * June to November is winter and spring, not summer and fall.
 * "On the island of Saidor, they became the first U.S. Division to make a beach landing in the New Guinea Campaign." For a start, Saidor is not an island. For another, the 1st Marine Division had landed on New Britain the month before.
 * "Southwest Pacific" is sometimes spelt the American way, and sometime the Australian way ("South West Pacific"). This is historically accurate but I recommend sticking to American spelling consistently throughout, as other editors are very into consistency.
 * "They were the first to employ General MacArthur's "by-pass strategy," leaving some Japanese units alone and attacking behind them to cut them off from their lines of supply." That was Mac's idea. Unfortunately, the 32nd Division could not pull it off.
 * "the four gun sections of Battery A of the 129th Field Artillery" Actually, there were only four tubes in a battery. They should be referred to as howitzers, not guns.
 * "Recent history" References required.
 * "Legacy" Ditto, especially the nice quote.

Hawkeye7 (talk) 12:09, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

Ambiguous links: Hawkeye7 (talk) 20:51, 6 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Battle of Aisne [redirects to Battle of the Aisne]
 * Battle of Aitape
 * Fort McCoy
 * GI
 * Henderson Field }
 * KIA
 * Leroy Johnson
 * Limon
 * PFC
 * WIA
 * William H. Hill [redirects to William Hill]