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This collection contains reports, notes, and manuscript maps related to the actions of Task Force Poinier, a United States Army unit, between March and April 1945, as well as a narrative account of the 331st Infantry's experiences in France in January 1945. The reports provide detailed records of American military operations as Allied forces progressed eastward across Germany in the closing months of World War II.

This collection contains 3 reports, 3 pages of notes, 11 manuscript maps, and a narrative account of the 331st Infantry Regiment's experiences in France in January 1945, written by Technical Sergeant Davenport West. The reports provide detailed records of American military operations as Allied forces progressed eastward across Germany in the closing months of World War II.

The S-3 Worksheets series contains 3 typed reports on the actions of various units including Task Force Poinier (comprised of companies from the 88th Reconnaissance Squadron; the 18th Tank Battalion; the 809th Tank Destroyer Battalion; and the 7th Armored Infantry Battalion).

The first document (5 pages, incomplete) is a list of communications received from various units moving east through Germany toward the Rhine River on March 1 and 2, 1945. These communications often reported encounters with enemy troops and occasionally relayed information received from captured prisoners of war. The battalion receiving the communications was stationed in Wankum, Germany, near the country's western border.

The second report (20 pages) is comprised of daily communications compiled throughout March 1945. The typescript has occasional manuscript revisions and marginal notes. During the first part of the month, soldiers remained in camp and spent most of their time participating in training exercises, and on March 24 they began making preparations to join other troops attempting to cross the Rhine River. The orders received on March 24 pertain to several tactical considerations for the upcoming military action to establish an Allied line between Hamm and Soest, Germany. The resulting battle to capture the town of Dorsten is covered in detail between March 28 and March 31.

The third S-3 worksheet, an incomplete copy of a report entitled "Secret After Action Report" (2 pages), contains daily updates on Task Force Poinier's progress through Germany between April 1, 1945, and April 4, 1945.

The Manuscript Narrative and Notes series includes a narrative account and 3 pages of miscellaneous notes. The narrative is entitled "Travels of Too Bad: Le Havre to Herzberg," and chronicles an unidentified unit's experiences between January 5 and January 12, 1945, written by "an informal EM" (p. 1). After landing on January 5, the unit traveled through northern France, and the author described the countryside and the army's movements. Though the narrative ends near Nomény, [France], on January 12, a table of contents indicates that the full document was intended to conclude after the author's unit moved into Herzberg, Germany. The narrative is accompanied by 3 pages of notes.

Ten Manuscript Maps show various sections of Germany that the 7th Armored Infantry Battalion crossed in March and April 1945. These include detailed battle maps showing the location of various American units, as well as overlays of the battalion's route. An additional map is a sketch of the town of Dorsten, Germany.

The Hansen collection consists primarily of 142 letters written by Gordon L. Hansen to his family during his service in the 14th Armored Division during the Second World War. Additional materials include a journal, a memoir, and an article written by Hansen.

The Hansen papers contain 142 letters from Gordon L Hansen to his parents and sister, Ev, written during his service in the 14th Armored Division during the Second World War. The collection is supplemented by three valuable manuscripts: a journal detailing his experiences prior to going overseas, a memoir composed in 1995 which describes his overseas experience, and a 2007 article entitled "The Unreported Indignity." The bulk of the collection is concentrated in 1944-1945.

Hansen's letters to his parents include interesting and thoughtful descriptions of his wartime experiences. They reflect a deep longing for home, but an overriding sense of the need to fulfill his duty to serve. Prior to going overseas, he wrote "I am not daunted by the possibility that I may never return. My prayers have been for strength to conduct myself in a manner that will glorify God and be a credit to my family and country rather than for personal safety" (1944 October 1).

There are two main areas of interest in the Hansen papers. First, Hansen's religious faith emerges in nearly all of his letters and throughout his journal. His letters illustrate how his abiding faith helped him to endure the hardships of war with equanimity. He wrote to his parents, "I've seen a lot and God alone has brought me thru!" Men from his squad asked Hansen to read from the Bible, since he was the only one who had one; but he added, "men aren't atheists here."

Secondly, Hansen's memoir provides some truly outstanding descriptions of his combat experiences in 1944 and 1945. Compiled in 1995, the memoir is the true heart of the collection since censorship deprived his letters of any details on locations, troop movements, or engagements. His cohesive and detailed memoir is interspersed with copies of cartoons by Bill Mauldin, excerpts of Hansen's letters, and quotes from Eisenhower's Crusade in Europe. In his memoir, the skirmish near Rittershoffen, Germany, in early January 1945 in which nearly his entire squad was decimated, emerges as a particularly bitter event, though barely mentioned in his letters. The subsequent rebuilding of his company and their morale illustrates their resiliency and Hansen's optimism and faith.

This collection contains military records, photographs, printed publications, maps, and ephemera related to Horace Mitchell Miner's service with the United States Army Counter Intelligence Corps in North Africa and Europe during World War II.

This collection contains military records, photographs, printed publications, maps, and ephemera related to Horace Mitchell Miner's service with the United States Army Counter Intelligence Corps in North Africa and Europe during World War II.

The Military Papers series (27 items) contains reports, orders, and other material related to campaigns in North Africa and Europe during World War II. The documents pertain to military personnel, orders, intelligence procedures and policies, counterintelligence operations, and the progress of the war in Central Europe. A small group of items pertains to a tea hosted by King George VI and the queen consort, Elizabeth, in November 1943. The series includes Miner's military identification, a translation of a "captured diary" (Lemiers, [Netherlands], September 16, 1944-September 29, 1944); a document promoting Otto Sulzbach to SS-Sturmbannführer of the Waffen-SS, signed by Heinrich Himmler (December 8, 1941), a signed note of thanks by Heinrich Himmler (undated), and a Counter Intelligence Directive for Germany issued by the 12th Army Group headquarters (April 18, 1945). Later items include a 1953 essay by Horace Miner about the actions of the II Corps in Tunisia and Sicily, printed letters from George H. W. Bush and Gordon R. Sullivan (October 1991), and a veterans' newsletter (July 15, 1992).

The Photographs and Maps series is comprised of photographs, printed and manuscript maps, a photographic aerial map, and a group of arranged and mounted photographs and colored manuscript maps.

The group of mounted photographs and maps respect the German invasion of France in 1940. The maps show the Wehrmacht's increasing progress through Belgium, Luxembourg, and France, and the photographs depict German soldiers, military cemeteries, German soldiers' graves, military equipment, destroyed buildings, and concrete bunkers. Some items are annotated in German. Two loose photographs are images of the Buchenwald concentration camp after Allied liberation, and a third shows a plaque donated to Clifton College by former members of the 1st United States Army's Headquarters Regiment in 1991.

The Printed Items and Ephemera series contains manuals, articles regarding military campaigns, propaganda, and other items related to North Africa, Italy, and Germany. One handbook and two manuals concern the Allied Forces' counterintelligence operations. La Favola Vera del Britanno, an illustrated book in Italian, is a work of propaganda in the form of a children's book, negatively depicting Great Britain. Three books about Hitler, the Nazi Party, and the SS were published in Germany between 1933 and 1940. Six items in the series are catalogued separately (see below). Ephemeral materials include items written in Arabic, a humorous poster regarding best practices for civilian blackouts, and United States, United Kingdom, and Romanian flags.

The Jack Keenan World War II Sketches are a collection of over 150 pieces of original art, in the mediums of pencil, pen and watercolor, created by John “Jack” Keenan during his service with the Seventh Armored Division, Third Army, under General George C. Patton. The collection contains scenes from the daily lives of soldiers in this division and chronicles Keenan’s experiences from the beginning of his training at Camp Polk in Louisiana, through his service in Europe and finally his trip back to the United States following the Allied victory.

The contents of this collection correspond with John “Jack” Keenan’s service in the Seventh Armored Division, Third Army, during World War II, from 1941 to 1945. Included are sketches of military personnel, living quarters, landscape vistas, battlefields, weaponry, military transportation, urban scenes, ruins, civilians, prisoners of war, and other topics. Specific locations depicted in these sketches include the states of Louisiana, California, Arizona, Georgia and the countries of England, France, Belgium, Germany, Poland and Scotland.

The Jeanette Alexander papers consist primarily of incoming correspondence from several friends and family members, including correspondence from her son, Earl Alexander, Jr., and his girlfriend Dolores regarding his service in the United States Army Air Forces.

The Jeanette Alexander papers consist primarily of incoming correspondence, from several friends and family members, including correspondence from her son, Earl Alexander,Jr., and his girlfriend Dolores, regarding his service in the United States Army Air Forces. Much of the material within the collection was composed by Earl (19 letters and two telegrams) and Dolores (21 letters), with other contributors including his parents, Earl Alexander, Sr., and Jeanette Alexander, as well as several family members and friends. The earliest items in the collection are three report cards of Earl Alexander, Jr.'s academic progress for second (1931-1932), third (1932-1933), and fifth (1934-1935) grades and a manual answering frequently asked questions for a driving exam. Several other early letters written to the younger Earl Alexander relate his parents' experiences traveling in Florida in February 1938. The letter of February 22, [1938], in which they mentioned their intention to travel to Havana, Cuba, includes several pages of stationary illustrating leisure pursuits in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The remainder, and bulk, of the collection dates to the Second World War, and opens with Earl, Jr.'s correspondence from his year at Rutgers University; he described scenes from his collegiate life and discussed the likelihood of conscription, as well as its effect on his future. Following a May 7, 1943, telegram ordering him to appear for a military mental exam, the collection focuses on his military service, related primarily through the communications of his girlfriend Dolores. Dolores, then a student at Mary Washington College at the University of Virginia, frequently wrote to Jeanette Alexander, providing updates on her life in Fredericksburg and news from Earl, and commenting on the effect of soldiers' absences on those remaining at home. Earl also composed several letters to his parents, the majority of which date from his time in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he awaited his final orders. Six letters from Ella Garza, whose husband Rudolf served with Earl, round out the collection, which concludes with a December 4, 1945, telegram from Earl reporting his expectation of an imminent return home.