Hobbs, Leland Stanford.

Hobbs, Leland Stanford, born on 04-02-1892 in Gloucester, Massachusetts and was raised in New Jersey. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point , New York from which he graduated in June 1915, in the same class as Dwight D.Eisenhower, Omar Nelson “Brad” Bradley, James Alward Van Fleet, Henry “Spiece” Aurand or Stafford Leroy Irwin ,”The class the stars fell on”

Leland was subsequently commissioned a second lieutenant of Infantry and assigned to the 12th Infantry Regiment, nickname  “The Old Guard”  in Nogales, Arizona. He saw there his first action in the skirmishes with the Mexican bandits during the Pancho Villa Expedition.

He then saw service in California and Maryland, until he was ordered to the France during World War I with the 11^th Infantry Division. However, the armistice with Germany was signed before the division saw any action. The division was ordered back to the United States and then disbanded at Camp Meade, Maryland. Hobbs was then assigned to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he served as an assistant instructor of tactics until 1924.

In 1935, Hobbs was appointed quartermaster in the Fourth Corps area and in 1937, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Third U.S. Army under the command of Lieutenant General Stanley Dunbar Embick

 Embick died age 80 on 23-10-1957 also in the Walter Reed Army Hospital.

At the beginning of the 1940, Hobbs was transferred to the Washington, D.C, where he was appointed the executive officer of the 3^rd Infantry Regiment. He served in this capacity for a brief time and after his promotion to the temporary rank of colonel, he was made the commander of the regiment.

With the United States entry into the World War II, Hobbs served as a Chief of Staff of the Trinidad Base Command at Fort Read. In July 1942, Hobbs was appointed a Commanding General of the 30^th Infantry Division, nickname “Old Hickory”  stationed at Camp Blanding, Florida. Hobbs succeeded General  William Hood “Bill” Simpson, who was appointed commander of XII Corps.

In November 1943, Hobbs was transferred together with his division to Camp Atterbury, Indiana, where it continue in training for its deploying within European Theatre of Operations. The 30^th Infantry Division arrived in England on 22-02-1944, and trained until June of that year. General Hobbs landed on the Omaha Beach with his division on June 11 and secured the Vire-et-Taute Canal, crossed the Vire River, 07-07-1944, and, beginning on July 25 spearheaded the St. Lô break-through.

Hobbs led the 30^th Infantry Division in the Battle of Normandy, Mortain Counter-offensive, the Battle of the Bulge, the Battle of Aachen and for the rest of the war. He was succeeded by Major General Albert Cowper Smith    in September 1945. Albert Smith died on 24-01-1974 in Washington. Major General Hobbs was highly decorated for his leadership of the 30^th Division during the World War II. The division took 3.848 prisoners and suffered 8.954 casualties in 282 days of combat. On 25-04-1945 Hobbs troops captured the German General Kurt Dittmar and his son Berend and in the evening he had a diner with his guests.

Wedtlenstedt, 10-04-1945: Leland Hobbs (right) at the negotiation about the surrender of the city of Braunschweig with Lieutenant General Karl Veith. Generalleutnant Karl veith (left, Kommandeur Flak-Schul-Division Braunschweig) being presented the unconditional surrender terms by the Americans at Braunschweig, Germany, 10-04-1945. Second from right is Leutnant Schmidt, the interpreter for Veith and Major-General Leland S. Hobbs (Commander U.S. 30th Infantry Division). A description of the negotiations. The guy with the Volkssturm Armbinde (whom Lieutenant Henderson considered to be the real leader of the delegation, somewhat naively assuming he was a “Gestapo officer” or “the political leader of the area”!) was actually the local Volkssturm commander Major d.R. Ernst Webendoerfer, managing director of the Vieweg-Verlag, who had lost a leg in World War I.

Hobbs was then transferred back to the United States, where he was appointed Commanding General of Fort Dix, New Jersey and acting Commanding General of Second Service Command in February 1946. He served in this capacity until October 1946, when he was assigned to the 2^nd Armoured Division as its Commanding General, succeeding his West Point classmate, Major General John William Leonard.

In August 1947, he was transferred to Fort McPherson, Georgia, where he was appointed the Deputy Commanding General of the Third United States Army, under the command of Lieutenant General Alvan Cullom Gillem.

At the beginning of 1949, he was transferred to Japan, where he took command of IX Corps at Camp Sendai. Hobbs performed regular occupation duties with his unit until August 1950, when he was replaced by General Frank William Milburn. .

His last military assignment was a Deputy Commanding General of the First United States Army, stationed at Fort Jay, Governors Island, New York, under the command of Lieutenant General Willis Dale Crittenberger.

Farewell to the Old Hickory Division on the steps of the Maastricht City Hall with in the foreground (from left to right) General Major Hobbs, Mayor Michiels van Kessenich, Colonel. Johnson and Lieutenant. General William Hood “Bill” Simpson

  (March 1945)

Death and burial ground of Hobbs, Leland Stanford.

In September 1945, he was succeeded as commander of The Old Hickory by Major General Albert Cowper Smith. After the war Leland was, among other things, commander of the 9th Army Corps in Japan. He retired in 1953.  He retired from the army in 1953 and became vice president of the Colonial Trust Bank in New York City. Major General Leland Stanford Hobbs died on 06-03-1966 at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. and was buried with his wife Lucie, born Davis , who died age 88 in 1980 at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, Section 1.

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