Harry J. Collins
Harry J. Collins (December 7, 1895 – March 8, 1963) was a senior United States Army general who led the 42nd Infantry Division, the Rainbow Division, during World War II. He was born in Chicago and grew up in Hoboken, New Jersey, and Sparta, Illinois. An honor graduate of Western Military Academy in 1915, he attended the University of Chicago before joining the Army in 1917, after World War I began. He earned his commission as a second lieutenant in the Infantry and served with the 3rd Infantry on the Mexican border and during World War I.
Over the following years, Collins held various training and command roles, including positions at Fort Benning, Fort Sam Houston, and Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. He became an expert on machine-gun tactics and later studied at the Command and General Staff College and Army War College. In Hawaii again in the late 1930s, he commanded units and worked in planning and training roles before World War II.
When the United States entered World War II, Collins helped organize the 345th Infantry Regiment and later became the assistant division commander of the 99th Infantry Division. In April 1943 he took command of the 42nd Infantry Division at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma, and was promoted to major general. He was known as “Hollywood Harry” for his flamboyant style, including a motorcycle escort with flashing lights.
The 42nd Division trained in the United States for 16 months before going to Europe in December 1944. Under Collins, the division played a major role on the Western Front, helping to stop the German push in the Battle of the Bulge and later participating in the Allied invasion of Germany. The 42nd Division also helped liberate the Dachau concentration camp. Collins supported the division’s chaplain, Rabbi Eli Bohnen, and helped prisoners receive housing, food, and medical care.
After Victory in Europe Day, Collins served as military governor of western Austria during the occupation. In 1948 he commanded the 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Washington, and later held posts in New York and New Jersey. He commanded the 8th Division at Fort Jackson in 1951 and served as a military attaché in Moscow before returning to command the 31st Infantry Division at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. Collins retired from the Army in 1954 after 37 years of service.
Following retirement, he worked as a vice president for North American Van Lines and as a consultant to the Human Research Organization at George Washington University. He later lived in Colorado and then settled in Salzburg, Austria, near where many Dachau survivors had been helped after liberation. He died in Salzburg in 1963 and was buried there.
Collins’s family included his first wife, Maude Alice McAlpin Collins, and their daughter Patricia. After Maude’s death, he married Irene Gehmacher. Some later accounts criticized occupation officers for taking luxury items from the Hungarian Gold Train; while not all items were returned, some were auctioned to aid refugees. Collins received several decorations, including the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, and two Bronze Stars.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:30 (CET).