General Robinson Duff
Details On The Artifact
From the estate sale of General Duff his Ike Jacket and Overseas cap. Ribbon bars and stars not original to uniform
A Bit Of History About General Duff
Wanting to cut the German Army from retreating to the Alps 10thMountain Division Commander General Hays put his assistant Division Commander General Robinson Duff in command of a task to push forward in hopes of cutting off the retreat. In his book The Last Ridge author McKay Jenkins states “General Duff pushed the men to keep up the pace, roaming the advancing column like a nervous sheep dog. Apparently, his coaching worked. Running ahead of thirty other Allied divisions, the advancing mountain troops sometimes arrives just hours after the Germans had left. So quickly did they cover the 50 miles from Mount Della Spe to the Po that the German General Frido von Senger had to decide whether to run or give himself up.” Ultimately, Von Senger decided to withdraw stating “I no longer entertained any hope again of having a combat ready force at my disposal”.
Upon reaching his objective, the banks of the Po River, General Duff began preparing to cross the River which was still under German bombardment to continue his pursuit. It was here that the General noticed an antitank mine lying in the path of one of his advancing tanks. When his shouts went unnoticed by the tank’s driver, the General ran forward to get the tank to stop. Just as he arrived at the tank the mine exploded severely wounding General Duff.
Recovering from his wounds Duff would return to service in June of 1945 serving in the Pacific Theater and then returning to Europe in 1946.