Kindre, Thomas A.

Thomas Andrew Kindre, Jr. was born on May 19, 1921 in Rahway, New Jersey. He is the only child of Thomas A. Kindre, a Pennsylvania Ralroad worker, and Margaret Drexler Kindre. Tom went to Rahway High School, and graduated in 1938. Four years later, in 1942, he graduated from Rutgers College with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism. While at Rugers, Tom met Inez Hope, who he married on December 1, 1945.

After Tom graduated from Rutgers College, he was inducted into the Army as a 2nd Lieutenant (having finished the ROTC Program) on June 15, 1942. He was attached to the 397th Infantry, 100th Division at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. By April 1943, Kindre left from Camp Kilmer with the 34th Division to South America, and then out to sea to Casablanca in Africa. Two months later, Kindre landed in Tunis, and eventually Oran, which is where he opens his diary. According to his calender, it was between July and September 1943 that he was in the area. In September, his Division moved into Italy, where Kindre was a Supply Officer in an Ordinance Corps. By the end of his tour, he earned 5 Battle Participation Medals, and was commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant. Kindre's service ended on December 24, 1945, which was well after the war had ended (August 15, 1945). However, his diary ended in May 1944.

From the description of Diary of service in Army 34th Division in World War II 1943-1944. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122525622

On September 1, 1939, the world community was introduced to a multi-national war, which escalated to a global scale by 1941. Many crises throughout the 1930's brought the world to war for the second time. The most significant was the Versailles Treaty the ended World War I in 1919. Harsh penalties on Germany provoked her to rebuild and the Nazis to gain power in the Reichstag. Fascism also took over Italy with Benito Mussolini's March on Rome in 1922. Italy and Germany's common political bond brought them together and they eventually befriended Japan, forming the Axis Powers. Throughout the 1930's several nations were overrun, nerves were tested and ultimatums were given. The kettle reached it's boiling point in 1939 and several theaters of war were opened.

The theater we shall be concerned with here is that of the Mediterranean, specifically in Italy. Since Thomas Kindre's service was predominantly in Italy, the following summation of events and the later chronology will focus on the Italian theater of operations in order to help supplement the researcher's understanding of Kindre's experiences.

The following information was gathered from James L. Stokesbury , A Short History of World War II (New York, 1980)

After having enthusiastically participated in the spoils of war with the Axis powers, such as gaining control of Ethiopia, Somoliland, Greece, and Libya, the Italian forces were loosing steam by the summer of 1943. Their navy was no match for the Allied naval forces, and many of the Italian troops were surrendering in great masses in Northern Africa. As Stokesbury explains, the Italian branch of the Axis powers always felt "2nd class" to the Germans, as Hitler would place Italian forces in Africa, but German forces to defend Italian soil. Italian citizens began loosing faith in Mussolini, seeing him as Hitler's puppet. Further, Hitler, remembering his history of World War I, knew the Italian government tended to end up on the "winning" side. In other words, it was apparent Hitler did not trust the Italian government, and felt they may bail out of the Axis side when things got tough. His premonitions were correct, as the Italian government entered into secret negotiations with the Allies in early 1945.

Nevertheless, Italy was "ripe for invasion and for collapse" in 1943. Keeping to Churchill's wishes to strike at the Mediterranean area, the Allied forces invaded Sicily on June 10, 1943. Italian General Guzzoni commanded 350,000 Axis forces in Sicily, but began withdrawing from Messina. Since Messina was the strategic point of the island, the Allies charged towards the city, and entered the area on August 17, 1943. Seeing that the Allied advance was getting close to the Italian mainland, the Fascist government decided Mussolini had to be removed from office in order to avoid battling in Italy. Thus, on July 24, 1943, King Victor Emmanuel III sought, and got Mussolini's resignation. Badoglio replaced the Premier, and not only announced their loyalty to the Axis powers, but entered into secret negotiations with the Allies in Portugal.

The German forces stationed in Italy began moving north when Mussolini left office. On September 3, 1943, the Allied 8th Army landed in Calabria (from Messina), catalyzing Italy's signing of a secret armistice with the Allies (1943). Although the Germans were unaware of such armistice, German General Kesslering had to pump up his forces in order to compensate for Italian-army defections. On September 9, General Mark Clark and the American 5th Army hit Salerno, and there they met some of this German resistance.

The Germans continued to move north, but were building heavy defensive hurdles along the way in order to prevent the Allies from getting to Naples or Rome. Kesslering was ordered by Hitler to defend these towns with all of his might. However, the Allies could not break such German resistance without re-enforcement, which they were denied because of the build-up necessary for the Normandy campaign (set out for May 1944). Despite such competition with the invasion, the 5th Army took Naples in October, and the 8th Army got over Sangro in November.

As a result, the Germans built several lines between the Mountainous ranges and around Rome (Winter, Bernhard, Barbara, Gustav Lines). Cassino was the strong-point key to the Gustav Line, which was the strongest of the defensive lines. It was also where the Benedictine Abbey Monastery stood (a controversial point of the war). Although comparatively weaker, the Allied forces broke through the Winter Line in December, and reached the Gustav Line in January 1944.

Although the Allies had been battling German forces for almost 5 months, they could not break the strong Gustav Line. Thus, the Allied command developed a plan to hit the Line in 3 places: the seacoast along the Line, Cassino and Anzio. Thus, on January 17, 1944, the British forces of the 36th Division hit the seacoast area to draw German reserve forces off the Line. On January 22, General John Lucas lead the VI Corps into Anzio, where they dug in. However, they did not meet any German resistance, because the Nazi forces evacuated the area. It was slow going from here.

On February 8, the Allies reach Cassino. Believing the Germans were using the Monastery as an observation point, heavy Allied bombers pounded the building to rubble on February 15th. However, the Germans had good visible points of observation from the mountainous range around the Monastery, and thus, had no need to occupy the religious palace and respected its territory. One month later, March 15th, Indian and New Zealand forces attacked in Cassino.

The German forces, despite their drive north, began to exhaust the Allied forces by May, who were pushing throughout Anzio and Cassino. Since it was thought to be not only a symbolic advantage to capture the first Axis capital, but a distracting point to draw German attention away from the build-up in England, 28 Combat Divisions were sent to Italy in May to help the armies take Rome.

Thus, General Alexander moved his forces on May 11th onto Anzio beachhead in order to again push at the Gustav Line. This was the beginning, as not only did the Polish forces "capture" the ruins of the Monastery in Cassino, but the German resistance on the Gustav Line broke because they were hit in several places simultaneously by Allied international forces. Kesslering's reaction was to build two new lines of defense, the Hitler and Caesar Line around Rome. But these too were broken by the Allies in about a week.

Meanwhile, General Truscott was still in Anzio with his forces planning to sweep Italy and close the gap in Valmontone in order to bag and destroy the German forces. However, General Clark did not want the British 8th Army to get to Rome before the American 5th Army (a situation similar to that between Patton and Montgomery, and amongst the Allies in their rush towards Berlin), and therefore ordered Truscott to close his moving forces in Rome. This slowed down Truscott's sweep, and eventually prevented the Allies from destroying the German forces in Italy. Finally, on June 4, 1944, the American 5th Army reached Rome.

Since the D-Day invasion was only days away, the Allies began pulling divisions out of Italy towards Normandy. At the same time, Hitler was recalling German divisions out as well. Thus, both sides having been weakened, the Germans managed to re-establish the Gothic Line in northern Italy. They also snatched Mussolini out of his prison cell (via airborne forces) and brought him north. Mussolini subsequently established the Salo Republic, a make-shift Fascist government, who ruled several northern Italian towns.

The winter cold storms of 1944 slowed the Allies armies considerably, and no gains were made until April, 1945. Kesslering was recalled out of Italy by Hitler to the western front to fight the encroaching Allied armies in Europe (after their breakout from the Normandy invasion) in March 1945, thereby lowering the morale of German forces in northern Italy. Thus, on April 2, the 8th Army moved, and the 5th Army began to roll on April 14th out of their icy stand-stills. The Germans forces retreated to the Po Valley in response. However, pushing and fighting, the Allies eventually reached the French and Austrian frontiers later that month. Such move brought Mussolini's Salo Republic down, and on April 28th, Il Duce, his staff and his mistress were captured, tried, shot and hung by their heels on a lamppost in Milan. The Italian Army then surrendered, and they with the German representatives, signed an unconditional surrender to be effective May 2, 1945.

Thomas Andrew Kindre, Jr. was born on May 19, 1921 in Rahway, New Jersey. He is the only child to Thomas A. Kindre and Margaret Drexler Kindre. His father worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad for 40 years, until his death in 1950.

Kindre went to Rahway High School, and graduated in 1938. Four years later, in 1942, Tom graduated from Rutgers College with a Bachelor's degree in Journalism. While at Rutgers, he participated in several groups, such as the Advanced Army ROTC program, the Captain Program, The Daily Targum newspaper, the Philosphian Society, and the Commuter's Club.

Kindre will perhaps have a fond memories of Rutgers because it was also the place where he met Inez Hope. She graduated from Arts High School of Newark, and was a 1945 graduate of the New Jersey College for Women (now Douglas College). Tom proposed to Inez on April 18, 1943, and they were married on December 1, 1945. Together, they had one child, John Alvin Kindre, born on November 5, 1947.

After Tom graduated from Rutgers College in May, he was inducted into the Army as a 2nd Lieutenant (having finished the ROTC Program) on June 15, 1942. It was from this date that Kindre was now an official participant in the war, and was attached to the 397th Infantry, 100th Division at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. By April 1943, after his liberty to home for 1 week, Kindre left from Camp Kilmer with the 34th Division to South America, and then at out to sea to Casablanca in Africa. Two months later, Kindre landed in Tunis, and eventually Oran, which is where he opens his diary. According to his calender, it was between July and September 1943 that he was in the area. In September, his Division moved into Italy, where Kindre was a Supply Officer in an Ordinance Corps. By the end of his tour, he earned 5 Battle Participation Medals, and was commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant. Kindre's service ended on December 24, 1945, which was well after the war had ended (August 15, 1945 [VJ Day]). However, his diary ended in May 1944.

Upon discharge as a 1st Lieutenant (promoted February 6, 1944) from the Army, Kindre worked Union Carbide Corporation as an editor and division manager in the Public Relations Department. He was the editor of there in-house magazine, the Electromet Review, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of The Layman's Movement, the International Non-Secretarian Association, and the Public Relations Committee of the National Council of YMCA's.

In 1952, he transferred to Hill and Knowlton, Inc., a public relations firm in New York City. His position as an editor also entailed handling public relations (PR) accounts of industries and industry trade associations. During his career there, he published an article in the journal Current Thoughts on Public Relations, entitled "Industrial Editing: Six Concepts to Demolish." Kindre was promoted to Vice President about 1968, and in November 1970, he advanced to Senior Co-Vice President, along with Mr. Paul Wagner.

Other positions Kindre held include: Class Correspondent, and Publicity Chairman of the 10th Reunion (1952); Assistant Managing Editor of Steelways, a bi-monthly magazine of the American Iron and Steel Institute in New York (1954); Class of 1942 Historian (elected 1968); Alumni Council Representative (1977).

In a 1977 Rutgers Alumni Survey, Kindre reported to be self-employed as a consultant in the Communications Audit Company. The official date he began this business, and his activities since is not quite known yet. However, apparently involved in his Class' activities, Kindre donated a copy of his diary to the Rutgers University Archives and Special Collections in 1996, as well as participated in giving an oral history of his experiences in World War II.

This diary is a supplement to the Rutgers University Oral History Archives of World War II, sponsored by the Class of 1942. Further information about this project can be obtained in Special Collections, or through the History Department in Van Dyck Hall on College Avenue Campus, or by contacting the head of the project, Mr. Kurt Pielher.

**For related topic: see also the diary of Captain Edward C. Piech, Class of 1942 (officially Class of 1949), who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. His records are also part of the Oral History Archives of World War II.

• May 1942: Thomas A. Kindre graduates from Rutgers College, Rutgers University, 2nd Lieutenant of the U.S. Army.
• May 20, 1943: Kindre gets his orders to leave.
• April 27, 1943: Kindre arrives in Casablanca.
• June 3, 1943: Kindre arrives in Tunis, officially beginning his service.
• August 29, 1943: Kindre enters the 151st Hospital in Oran.
• September 12, 1943: Kindre leaves the 151st Hospital.
• September 21, 1943: Kindre arrives in Salerno.
• October 11, 1943: Kindre in Naples.
• October 13 - 29, 1943 : Kindre in Maddaloni, Naples, Limatola, Calazzo, Pompeii, Dragoni, and Alife.
• November 3 - 23, 1943 : Kindre in Ailano, Prata and Naples.
• December 12, 1943: Kindre back in Alife, stays there until Christmas.
• January 11 - 29, 1943 : Kindre in Venafro and San Vittore, and has several court dates to attend for court marshals of fellow soldiers.
• February 5 - 29, 1944 : Kindre in Cervaro, Naples and back in Alife when the 34th Division is relieved (on February 14). He also has another court date on the 6th.
• March 6 - 24, 1944 : Kindre's division moves around southern Giorgio, southern Martino, and Pianjar.
• April 9, 1944: Kindre boards the Elizabeth Stanton.
• April 11, 1944: The ship sets sail towards Oran.
• April 14 - 28, 1944 : Kindre travels between Oran and Casablanca to bring the escorted prisoner for trial.
• May 2, 1944: Kindre leaves Oran towards Naples to link up with his division.
• December 1, 1945: Kindre marries Inez Hope.
• December 24, 1945: Kindre's service with the Army officially ends, and he is discharged.

From the guide to the Guide to the Diary of 1st Lieutenant Thomas A. Kindre (Rutgers College, Class 1942): Service in Army 34th Division in World War II North Africa/Italy Theaters, June 3, 1943-May 6, 1944, (Rutgers University. Special Collections and University Archives.)