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Contact Info
Home Town West Point
Last Address Washington, DC
Date of Passing Jan 03, 1984
Location of Interment West Point Cemetery - West Point, New York
Louis Aleck Craig Jr. was born at West Point, New York on July 29, 1891,a son of Army officer Louis Aleck Craig and Georgie (Malin) Craig.His siblings included brother Malin Craigand his paternal grandfather was James Craig.
After graduating from St. Luke's, a Catholic prep school in Wayne, Pennsylvania,Craig attended the United States Military Academy.He received his commission as a second lieutenant of Cavalry after graduating in 1913, ranked 56th in a class of 93.
Craig was initially assigned to the 5th Cavalry Regiment and served at Fort Huachuca, Arizonaand Fort Myer, Virginia.In March, 1914 Craig transferred to the Coast Artillery Corps and was assigned to Fort Hamilton, New York.
His subsequent assignments included Fort Howard, Maryland and Fort Grant, Panama Canal Zone. In August, 1916, Craig transferred to the Field Artillery and served with the 4th Field Artillery Regiment at Corozal, Panama Canal Zone.
In June, 1917, Craig returned to the United States and was assigned as an instructor for the officer training camp based at Madison Barracks, New York.In August, 1917 he was assigned to command a battery of the replacement battalion based in Syracuse, New York.
The battalion sailed for France in November, 1917 and upon arrival in December, Craig was assigned to the 5th Field Artillery Regiment.He was selected for attendance at the Army Staff College in Langres and after his May, 1918 graduation, Craig was assigned to the I Corps staff as an assistant plans and training officer.
In June, 1918 Craig was assigned to the 157th Artillery Brigade as adjutant, and in July he was posted to the 4th Division as assistant plans and training officer.From August to October, he was adjutant of the 4th Artillery Brigade, and from October to November he was assistant to the chief of artillery for Second United States Army.
Following the Armistice that ended the war, Craig served as chief of staff for the American Section of the Permanent International Armistice Commission in France.In February, 1919, he was posted to Trier, Germany to serve on the staff of the Army Center of Artillery Study.He served with the 17th Field Artillery Regiment at Ehrenbreitstein, Germany before returning to the United States with the regiment. He remained with the 17th Field Artillery at Camp Travis, San Antonio, Texas until August, 1920, when he returned to the Coast Artillery Corps.
Craig was then posted to Fort Barrancas, Florida as adjutant, followed by assignment to Fort McPherson, Georgia on the Fourth Corps Area staff.
Craig completed the advanced course for officers at Fort Sill, Oklahoma's Field Artillery School in 1923.He was then assigned as assistant professor of military science at Harvard University, where he remained until 1929, when he was selected for attendance at the United States Army Command and General Staff College.He graduated in 1931 and was assigned to Savannah, Georgia as the senior instructor for the Georgia National Guard.
From 1933 to 1936, Craig served as assistant inspector general for the Second Corps Area at Governors Island, New York, and he carried out a similar assignment for the Third Corps Area in Baltimore from 1936 to 1938.In 1938, Craig was nominated for attendance at the United States Army War College, and he graduated in 1939.
He was then posted to Fort Sill as commander of 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment.
In July, 1941 Craig was assigned as commander of the 18th Field Artillery Regiment at Fort Sill.In February, 1942 Craig was promoted to brigadier general and assigned as commander of the 72nd Field Artillery Brigade at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.He was promoted to major general in February, 1943 as commander of the 97th Infantry Division at Camp Swift, Texas.
In January, 1944 Craig was named to command the XXIII Corps at Camp Bowie, Texas.In August, 1944, he was assigned to command the 9th Infantry Division during combat in France.
Under his command, the 9th Infantry Division conducted offensive operations in France and Belgium and crossed the Meuse River at Dinant.The 9th Division then penetrated the Siegfried Line near Monschau, then drove to the Rur River between Langerwehe and Düren.During the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944-January 1945, the 9th Infantry Division held the left shoulder of the "Bulge" near Monschau.The division then took part in the drive to capture the Rur River dams, then continued to drive to the Rhine River near Bonn.
In March, 1945 Craig commanded all US troops at the Remagen Bridgehead until they resumed the offensive, including the 99th, 78th, and 9th Infantry Divisions.When the 9th Infantry Division resumed its offensive, it continued to the Ruhr Pocket and the Harz Mountains, then made contact with Soviet forces east of the Mulde River at the end of April.
In May, 1945 Craig was named to command the XX Corps in Germany.From June to July, 1945 Craig was commander of Third United States Army.In October he was named to command the Seventh Service Command based at Omaha, Nebraska.In February, 1946 he was assigned to command the Sixth Service Command in Chicago.When Fifth United States Army was activated on June 11, 1946, Craig was appointed as its deputy commander.
From August, 1947 to April, 1948 Craig was inspector general of the United States European Command.In April and May 1948, he served as commander of the United States Constabulary in Germany.In July, 1948 Craig was appointed Inspector General of the Army, and he served until retiring in May 1952.
Description The European-Mediterranean-Middle East Theater was a major theater of operations during the Second World War (between December 7, 1941, and March 2, 1946). The vast size of Europe, Mediterranean and Middle East theatre saw interconnected naval, land, and air campaigns fought for control of the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. The fighting in this theatre lasted from 10 June 1940, when Italy entered the war on the side of Germany, until 2 May 1945 when all Axis forces in Italy surrendered. However, fighting would continue in Greece – where British troops had been dispatched to aid the Greek government – during the early stages of the Greek Civil War.
The British referred to this theatre as the Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre (so called due to the location of the fighting and the name of the headquarters that controlled the initial fighting: Middle East Command) while the Americans called the theatre of operations the Mediterranean Theatre of War. The German official history of the fighting is dubbed 'The Mediterranean, South-East Europe, and North Africa 1939–1942'. Regardless of the size of the theatre, the various campaigns were not seen as neatly separated areas of operations but part of one vast theatre of war.
Fascist Italy aimed to carve out a new Roman Empire, while British forces aimed initially to retain the status quo. Italy launched various attacks around the Mediterranean, which were largely unsuccessful. With the introduction of German forces, Yugoslavia and Greece were overrun. Allied and Axis forces engaged in back and forth fighting across North Africa, with Axis interference in the Middle East causing fighting to spread there. With confidence high from early gains, German forces planned elaborate attacks to be launched to capture the Middle East and then to possibly attack the southern border of the Soviet Union. However, following three years of fighting, Axis forces were defeated in North Africa and their interference in the Middle East was halted. Allied forces then commenced an invasion of Southern Europe, resulting in the Italians switching sides and deposing Mussolini. A prolonged battle for Italy took place, and as the strategic situation changed in southeast Europe, British troops returned to Greece.
The theatre of war, the longest during the Second World War, resulted in the destruction of the Italian Empire and altered the strategic position of Germany resulting in numerous German divisions being deployed to Africa and Italy and total losses (including those captured upon final surrender) being over half a million. Italian losses, in the theatre, amount to around to 177,000 men with a further several hundred thousand captured during the process of the various campaigns. British losses amount to over 300,000 men killed, wounded, or captured, and total American losses in the region amounted to 130,000.