In July 1944, upon the request of Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, commanding the American Fifth Army on the Italian Front he was sent to Italy where he took over command of the 34th Infantry Division (nicknamed "The Red Bull"), an Army National Guard formation, then locked in fierce combat on the Arno River. He replaced Major General Charles W. Ryder, who had led the 34th Division for over two years. He led the 34th through several successful actions, including the rupture of the Gothic Line, the winter campaign in the Apennine Mountains, the breakthrough and the capture of the Italian city of Bologna in Operation Grapeshot (codename for the final offensive of the Italian Campaign), the surrender of the Axis forces in Italy on April 29, 1945, and the subsequent occupation of the Northwestern and then the Northeastern sectors of Italy. The end of World War II in Europe came soon afterwards.