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3rd Infantry Division (United States)

The 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) (nicknamed Rock of the Marne) is a combined arms division of the United States Army based at Fort Stewart, Georgia. It is a subordinate unit of the XVIII Airborne Corps under U.S. Army Forces Command. Its current organization includes a division headquarters and headquarters battalion, two armored brigade combat teams, one aviation brigade, a division artillery, a sustainment brigade and a combat sustainment support battalion along with a maneuver enhancement brigade. The division has a distinguished history, having seen active service in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Global War on Terror. The Medal of Honor has been awarded to 61 members of the 3rd Infantry Division, making the division the most honored in the Army.

The division fought in France in World War I. In World War II, it landed with General Patton's task force in a contested amphibious landing on the coast of Morocco, North Africa, overwhelming Vichy French defenders in November 1942. In 1943, the division invaded Sicily in July, and invaded Italy at Salerno in September, before fighting in France and finally Germany. Medal of Honor recipient Audie Murphy, featured in the Hollywood movie, "To Hell and Back," was a member. The division also served in the Korean War. From 1957 until 1996, the division was a major part of the United States Army's presence in the NATO alliance in West Germany.

World War I

The 3rd Division was activated on 21 November 1917, seven months after the American entry into World War I, at Camp Greene, North Carolina. Eight months later, it saw combat for the first time in France on the Western Front.

Order of battle

 * Headquarters, 3rd Division
 * 5th Infantry Brigade
 * 4th Infantry Regiment
 * 7th Infantry Regiment
 * 8th Machine Gun Battalion
 * 6th Infantry Brigade
 * 30th Infantry Regiment
 * 38th Infantry Regiment
 * 9th Machine Gun Battalion
 * 3rd Field Artillery Brigade
 * 10th Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm)
 * 18th Field Artillery Regiment (155 mm)
 * 76th Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm)
 * 3rd Trench Mortar Battery
 * 6th Engineer Regiment
 * 5th Field Signal Battalion
 * Headquarters Troop, 3rd Division
 * 3rd Train Headquarters and Military Police
 * 3rd Ammunition Train
 * 3rd Supply Train
 * 3rd Engineer Train
 * 3rd Sanitary Train
 * 5th, 7th, 26th, and 27th Ambulance Companies and Field Hospitals

At midnight on 14 July 1918, the division earned a lasting distinction. Engaged in the Aisne-Marne Offensive as a member of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) to Europe, the division was protecting the French capital of Paris with a position on the banks of the Marne River. The 8th Machine Gun Battalion of the 3rd Division rushed to Château-Thierry amid retreating French troops and held the Germans back at the Marne River. While surrounding units retreated, the 3rd Division, including the 4th, 30th, and 38th Infantry Regiments, remained steadfast throughout the Second Battle of the Marne, and Colonel Ulysses G. McAlexander's dogged defense earned the 38th Infantry Regiment its nickname as the "Rock of the Marne". During the massive attack, the 3rd Infantry Division's commanding officer, Major General Joseph T. Dickman, famously cried out "Nous Resterons La" (We Shall Remain Here). Their Blue and White insignia also earned them the nickname The Blue and White Devils." The rest of the division was absorbed under French command until brought back together under the command of Major General Dickman, and by 15 July 1918 they took the brunt of what was to be the last German offensive of the war. General John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing, Commander-in-chief of the AEF on the Western Front, called this stand "one of the most brilliant pages in the annals of military history". During the war, two members of the division were awarded the Medal of Honor.

Casualties during the war were 3,177 killed in action with 12,940 wounded.

 * Commanders:
 * 1) MG Joseph T. Dickman (28 November 1917)
 * 2) BG James A. Irons (11 February 1918)
 * 3) MG Joseph T. Dickman (13 February 1918)
 * 4) BG James A. Irons (27 February 1918)
 * 5) BG Charles Crawford (8 March 1918)
 * 6) BG James A. Irons (10 March 1918)
 * 7) BG Charles Crawford (19 March 1918)
 * 8) MG Joseph T. Dickman (12 April 1918)
 * 9) BG Fred W. Sladen (18 August 1918)
 * 10) MG Beaumont B. Buck (27 August 1918)
 * 11) BG Preston Brown (18 October 1918)
 * 12) MG Robert Lee Howze (19 November 1918)

Interwar years
The 3rd Division arrived at Camp Merritt, Hoboken, New Jersey, between 23-28 August 1919, after completing nine months of occupation duty near and in Mayen, Germany. At Camp Merritt, all emergency period personnel were discharged from the service. The division proceeded to Camp Pike, Arkansas, where the headquarters arrived on 31 August 1919. The division was allotted to the Ninth Corps Area as the IX Corps' Regular Army infantry division in 1921, and was transferred on a permanent change of station to Camp Lewis (later redesignated Fort Lewis), Washington, where it arrived in September. The division’s units were ordered to posts throughout the western United States and Alaska in fall 1921 and early 1922. The division headquarters and special troops remained at Camp Lewis.

The 5th Infantry Brigade moved its headquarters to Vancouver Barracks, Washington, and its subordinate units to posts in Washington, North Dakota, and Alaska. The 6th Infantry Brigade was headquartered at Fort Douglas, Utah, as was the 38th Infantry Regiment, while the 30th Infantry Regiment was stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco, California. The 3rd Field Artillery Brigade's units were located at Camp Lewis with the exception of the 76th Field Artillery Regiment, which was split between Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming, and the Presidio of Monterey, California. The division’s units usually conducted the training of Organized Reserve units, Citizens Military Training Camp participants, and ROTC cadets at various posts throughout the Ninth Corps Area during the summer months. The officers of the IX Corps, XIX Corps, and the 91st, 96th, and 104th Divisions were habitually trained at the Organized Reserve camps. By the mid-1920s, the division headquarters had nearly ceased to exist, with only the division commander and a few staff officers remaining to carry out essential functions; they did not exercise a true command function over their units. By 1926, the War Department and the Ninth Corps Area realized the unsustainability of the situation and repopulated the 3rd Division headquarters.

Training of divisional units took place for the most part in the late summer and early fall after they assisted the training of the Reserve components. The largest concentration of division units since 1921 occurred in April 1927 when all units, except the 6th Infantry Brigade, were assembled at Camp Lewis for division maneuvers. The next major training event for the division came in August 1931 when much of the “Marne” Division (not including the 5th Infantry Brigade and parts of the 3rd Field Artillery Brigade), was assembled at the Gigling Military Reservation in California to maneuver against the 11th Cavalry Regiment. The first opportunity to assemble the entire division came in April 1937 when all elements, except one battalion in Alaska, converged on Fort Lewis for division maneuvers. Oddly, three months later the division did not participate in the Fourth Army maneuvers as a complete unit, but was split between Fort Lewis and Camp Ord, California. The 3rd Division reorganized into the “triangular” configuration in October 1939, with the 4th and 38th Infantry Regiments relieved, the 15th Infantry Regiment assigned, and the field artillery, engineer, medical, and quartermaster regiments subsequently reorganized into battalions.

Beginning in December 1939, the division participated in numerous training exercises to better prepare it for impending war. That month, the entire “Marne” Division deployed to California for amphibious operations at Monterey and maneuver training at Camp Ord to test the new triangular organization. After the exercises in California, the division returned to Fort Lewis to participate in the Fourth Army maneuvers near Fort Lewis and Centralia, Washington, in August 1940. In April 1941, the “Marne” Division participated in the IX Corps maneuver at Fort Lewis, operating against the National Guard 41st Division. The following month, the division moved to Hunter Liggett Military Reservation, California, to participate in the Fourth Army maneuver there, which pitted the IX Corps against the III Corps. The 3rd Division returned to Fort Lewis in July and there participated in another Fourth Army maneuver, again in the vicinity of Fort Lewis-Centralia, in August–September 1941.

 * Commanders:

 * BG William Mackey Cruikshank (Aug 1919)
 * BG Ora Elmer Hunt (Aug 1919–Oct 1919)
 * MG William M. Wright (Oct 1919–Jan 1920)
 * BG Edward Mann Lewis (Jan 1920–Aug 1921)
 * MG Charles Henry Muir (Aug 1921–Nov 1922)
 * BG Ulysses G. McAlexander (Nov 1922–Nov 1923)
 * MG Edwin B. Babbitt (Nov 1923–May 1924)
 * BG Joseph E. Kuhn (May 1924–Dec 1924
 * MG William H. Johnston (Dec 1924–Oct 1925)
 * MG Robert Alexander (Oct 1925–Aug 1927)
 * MG Joseph D. Leitch (Sep 1927–Mar 1928)
 * BG Michael J. Lenihan (Mar 1928–Mar 1929)
 * BG Joseph Compton Castner (Apr 1929–Nov 1932)
 * BG Halstead Dorey (1932–1933)
 * BG Henry W. Butner (1933–Feb 1934)
 * BG Otho B. Rosenbaum (Feb 1934–Aug 1935)
 * MG Casper H. Conrad Jr. (Aug 1935–Aug 1936)
 * MG David L. Stone (Sep 1936–Mar 1937)
 * BG Alfred T. Smith (Jul 1937–Jan 1938)
 * MG Walter C. Sweeney Sr. (1939–1940)

Order of battle

 * Headquarters, 3rd Infantry Division
 * 7th Infantry Regiment
 * 15th Infantry Regiment
 * 30th Infantry Regiment
 * Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 3rd Infantry Division Artillery
 * 9th Field Artillery Battalion (155 mm)
 * 10th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
 * 39th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
 * 41st Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
 * 10th Engineer Combat Battalion
 * 3rd Medical Battalion
 * 3rd Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop, Mechanized
 * Headquarters, Special Troops, 3rd Infantry Division
 * Headquarters Company, 3rd Infantry Division
 * 703rd Ordnance Light Maintenance Company
 * 3rd Quartermaster Company
 * 3rd Signal Company
 * Military Police Platoon
 * Band
 * 3rd Counterintelligence Corps Detachment

Combat chronicle
The 3rd Division is the only division of the U.S. Army during World War II that fought the Axis on all European fronts, and was among the first American combat units to engage in offensive ground combat operations. Audie Murphy, the most highly decorated American soldier of the war, served with the 3rd Division. The 3rd Infantry Division saw combat in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, Germany and Austria for 531 consecutive days. During the war, the 3rd Infantry Division consisted of the 7th, 15th and 30th Infantry Regiments, together with supporting units.

Chips
The 3rd Infantry Division also had a German Shepherd, Border Collie and Siberian Husky-mix war dog named "Chips" from Pleasantville, New York given to them by the Dogs for Defense program. He was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division from October 1942 until he was discharged in December 1945, serving on a variety of missions including the Algerian-Moroccan, Tunisian, Sicilian, Rhineland and Central Europe Campaigns.

The 3rd Division, under the command of Major General Jonathan W. Anderson, after spending many months training in the United States after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, first saw action during the war as a part of the Western Task Force in Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa, landing at Fedala on 8 November 1942, and captured half of French Morocco. The division remained there for the next few months and therefore took no part in the Tunisian Campaign, which came to an end in May 1943 with the surrender of almost 250,000 Axis soldiers who subsequently became prisoners of war (POWs). While there, a battalion of the 30th Infantry Regiment acted as security guards during the Casablanca Conference in mid-January 1943 with Chips as one of the guard dogs. Some soldiers say that Chips saved lives before the conference took place by sniffing out a time bomb set up by enemy saboteurs. In late February, Major General Anderson left the division and was replaced by Major General Lucian K. Truscott, Jr. He instituted a tough training regime and ensured that all ranks in the division could march five miles in one hour, and four miles an hour thereafter. The troops called it, "the Truscott Trot". The division began intensive training in amphibious landing operations.

On 10 July 1943, the division made another amphibious assault landing on the Italian island of Sicily (codenamed Operation Husky), at Licata town on the beach, to west, called Torre di Gaffi and Mollarella and on the beach, to the east, called Falconara. During the invasion, a platoon of soldiers from the 30th Infantry Regiment, accompanied by Chips, moved inland into the Sicilian countryside when they got ambushed by Italian mortar and machine gun fire. Cut off from the rest of the regiment by Italian skirmishes and the field telephone line cut from the bombardment, the platoon fought hard until Chips, ordered by his handler Pvt. John P. Rowell, ran back to HQ with a phone line to restore communication while dodging enemy fire. Chips ran back through enemy fire as he returned to his handler and the platoon received word that reinforcements were on their way. Meanwhile, another Italian machine gun team made their way around the rear of the platoon and opened fire. The platoon leader sent a lone American soldier to take out the enemy machine-gun (MG) nest. But when he was pinned down, Chips broke free from his handler and ran toward the MG nest, jumped in and attacked the Italian soldiers manning the gun. Pvt. Rowell and the other soldier ran to help Chips and the gunners were forced to surrender. Chips sustained a scalp wound and gunpowder burns from the explosions. After his honorable discharge in 1945, Chips returned to New York to spend the rest of his days at home with his civilian family, the Wrens. He passed away about a year after returning home, as a result of injuries suffered during the war.

Later, the 3rd Infantry Division, serving under the command of Lieutenant General George S. Patton's U.S. Seventh Army, fought its way into Palermo before elements of the 2nd Armored Division could get there, in the process marching 90 miles in three days, and raced on to capture Messina on 17 August 1943, thus ending the brief Sicilian campaign, where the division had a short rest to absorb replacements. During the campaign, the 3rd Division gained a reputation as one of the best divisions in the Seventh Army. Eight days after the Allied invasion of mainland Italy, on 18 September 1943, the 3rd Division came ashore at Salerno, where they came under the command of VI Corps, under Major General Ernest J. Dawley who was replaced two days later by Major General John P. Lucas (who had commanded the division from September 1941 to March 1942). The corps was part of Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark's U.S. Fifth Army. The 3rd Division was destined to see some of the fiercest and toughest fighting of the war thus far, serving on the Italian Front. Seeing intensive action along the way, the division drove to and across the Volturno River by October 1943, and then to Monte Cassino, where the Battle of Monte Cassino would later be fought, before, with the rest of the 15th Army Group, being held up at the Winter Line (also known as the Gustav Line). In mid-November the division, after spearheading the Fifth Army's advance and suffering heavy casualties during the past few weeks, was relieved by the 36th Infantry Division and pulled out of the line to rest and absorb replacements, coming under the command of Major General Geoffrey Keyes' II Corps. The division remained out of action until late December.

After a brief rest, the division was part of the amphibious landing at Anzio, codenamed Operation Shingle, on 22 January 1944, still as part of VI Corps, and serving alongside the British 1st Infantry Division and other units. It would remain there for just over four months in a toe-hold against numerous furious German counterattacks, and enduring trench warfare similar to that suffered on the Western Front during World War I. On 29 February 1944, the 3rd Division fought off an attack by three German divisions, who fell back with heavy losses two days later. In a single day of combat at Anzio, the 3rd Infantry Division suffered more than 900 casualties, the most of any American division on one day in World War II. The division's former commander, Major General Lucas, was replaced as commander of VI Corps by the 3rd Infantry Division's commander, Major General Truscott; he was replaced in command of the division by Brigadier General (later Major General) John W. "Iron Mike" O'Daniel, previously the assistant division commander (ADC) and a distinguished World War I veteran.

In late May, VI Corps broke out of the Anzio beachhead in Operation Diadem with the 3rd Division in the main thrust. Instead of defeating the Germans, Lieutenant General Clark, the Fifth Army commander, disobeying orders from General Sir Harold Alexander, Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Allied Armies in Italy (formerly the 15th Army Group), sent the division on to the Italian capital of Rome. This allowed the majority of the German 10th Army, which would otherwise have been trapped, to escape, thus prolonging the campaign in Italy. The division was then removed from the front line and went into training for the Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of Southern France.

On 15 August 1944, D-Day for Dragoon, the division, still under VI Corps command but now under the U.S. Seventh Army, landed at St. Tropez, advanced up the Rhone Valley, through the Vosges Mountains, and reached the Rhine at Strasbourg, 26–27 November 1944. After maintaining defensive positions it took part in clearing the Colmar Pocket on 23 January, and on 15 March struck against Siegfried Line positions south of Zweibrücken. The division advanced through the defenses and crossed the Rhine, on 26 March 1945; then drove on to take Nuremberg in a fierce battle, capturing the city in block-by-block fighting, 17–20 April. The 3rd pushed on to take Augsburg where it liberated thousands of forced laborers from the Augsburg concentration camp, a forced labor subcamp of Dachau, and Munich, 27–30 April, and was in the vicinity of Salzburg when the war in Europe ended. Elements of the 7th Infantry Regiment serving under the 3rd Infantry Division captured Hitler's retreat near Berchtesgaden.

Casualties

 * Total battle casualties: 25,977
 * Killed in action: 4,922
 * Wounded in action: 18,766
 * Missing in action: 554
 * Prisoner of war: 1,735

 * Commanders:
 * 1) MG Charles F. Thompson (July 1940 – August 1941)
 * 2) BG Charles P. Hall (August 1941 – September 1941)
 * 3) MG John P. Lucas (September 1941 – March 1942)
 * 4) MG Jonathan W. Anderson (March 1942 – March 1943)
 * 5) MG Lucian K. Truscott Jr. (March 1943 – February 1944)
 * 6) MG John W. O'Daniel (February 1944 – July 1945)
 * 7) MG William R. Schmidt (August 1945 – August 1946)
 * 8) MG  Percy W. Clarkson (December 1947-October 1950)

Korean War
Commanders:
 * 1) MG Robert H. Soule (August 1950 – October 1951)
 * 2) MG Thomas J. Cross (October 1951 – May 1952)
 * 3) MG Robert L. Dulaney (May 1952 – October 1952)
 * 4) MG George W. Smythe (October 1952 – May 1953)
 * 5) MG Eugene W. Ridings (May 1953 – October 1953)

During the Korean War, the division was known as the "Fire Brigade" for its rapid response to the crisis. 3rd Infantry Division had been headquartered at Fort Benning along with its 15th Infantry Regiment. The 7th Infantry Regiment was located at Fort Devens. 3rd Infantry Division initially arrived in Japan where, as the Far East Command Reserve, it planned post-conflict occupation missions in northern Korea. In Japan their strength was increased by augmentation by South Korean soldiers. The division was assigned to X Corps and landed at Wonsan on the east coast of Korea on 5 November and received the 65th Infantry Regiment as their third maneuver element before moving north to Hungnam and Majon-dong. At Majon-dong they established a defensive position with the 65th Infantry. 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 7th Infantry were on the left flank. The 15th Infantry was between the 7th and 65th Regiments. 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry was set as the nucleus for Task Force Dog which was commanded by Brigadier General Armistead D. Mead, assistant 3rd Division commander and sent north to conduct a relief in place with 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment at Chinhung-ni; the south end of the 1st Marine Division and support the withdrawal of 1st Marine Division and Regimental Combat Team 31 from the fighting at the Chosin Reservoir. 3rd Infantry Division's Task Force Dog was the rearguard keeping the pressure off of the Marine column. The division along with the 7th Infantry Division established a collapsing perimeter around the port of Hungnam until the last of X Corps was evacuated. The division was the last unit to leave Hungnam and was shipped to Pusan where it completed unloading on 30 December and moved north to Kyongju and on 31 December it was placed in Eighth Army reserve for reorganization and reequipping following which it was to move into the Pyongtaek-Ansong area. The division was then transferred to the US I Corps.

In January 1953 the division was transferred from I Corps. The division served in Korea until 1953 when it was withdrawn. Notably, the division fought at the Chorwon-Kumwha area, Jackson Heights and Arrowhead outposts and blocked a push in the Kumsong Area in July 1953.

The 3rd Infantry Division received ten Battle Stars. Eleven more members of the unit received Medals of Honor during the Korean War. Eight were from the 7th Infantry Regiment: Jerry K. Crump (6 and 7 September 1951), John Essebagger, Jr. (25 April 1951), Charles L. Gilliland (25 April 1951), Clair Goodblood (24 and 25 April 1951), Noah O. Knight (23 and 24 November 1951), Darwin K. Kyle (16 February 1951), Leroy A. Mendonca (4 July 1951), and Hiroshi H. Miyamura, whose award was classified Top Secret until his repatriation (24 and 25 April 1951). Three more recipients were with the 15th Infantry Regiment: Emory L. Bennett (24 June 1951), Ola L. Mize (10 and 11 June 1953) and Charles F. Pendleton (16 and 17 July 1953).

During the Korean War, the division had 2,160 killed in action and 7,939 wounded.

After the armistice, the division remained in Korea until 1954 when it was reduced to near zero strength, the colors were transferred to Fort Benning, Georgia and, in December 1954, the 47th Infantry Division was reflagged as the Third.

On 1 July 1957, the division was reorganized as a Pentomic Division. The division's three infantry regiments (the 7th, 15th and 30th) were inactivated, with their elements reorganized into five infantry battle groups (the 1-7 IN, 1-15 IN, 1-30 IN, 2-38 IN and the 2-4 IN). In April 1958, the division deployed to Germany as part of an Operation Gyroscope rotation (soldiers and families, no equipment), switching places with the 10th Infantry Division (which was reflagged as the 2nd Infantry Division upon its arrival at Fort Benning). In 1963, the division was reorganized as a Reorganization Objective Army Division (ROAD). Three Brigade Headquarters were activated and Infantry units were reorganized into battalions.

Cold War to the Millennium (1953 through 2000)

The division was stationed with the V Corps (1958–63, 1992-1996) and VII Corps (1963–92) in West Germany from near the Czech border westward throughout various towns including Würzburg (Div. Hq. & Support Command), Schweinfurt (1st Brigade), Kitzingen (2nd Brigade), and Aschaffenburg (3rd Brigade). In August 1961, a few days after the Berlin Wall was erected, a reinforced company from the 7th Infantry Regiment (a unit of the 3rd Infantry Division) in full battle gear, was ordered to travel along the Autobahn (a major highway) from Aschaffenburg in Bavaria to West Berlin. This was to assert the right of US forces to travel unhindered from West Germany across the western part of East Germany to West Berlin. After the Berlin Wall was built, it was not known if the East German forces would attempt to impede or restrict the movement of US troops when crossing East Germany while trying to reach West Berlin. The unit arrived in West Berlin without incident confirming the right of free passage.

In November 1990, following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, more than 6,000 3rd Infantry Division men and women deployed with the 1st Armored Division on Operation Desert Storm as part of the Allied Coalition. They participated in the Battle of Medina Ridge which was the second-largest tank battle of the conflict. The 3rd Brigade was credited with the destruction of 82 tanks, 31 Armored Personnel Carriers, 11 artillery pieces, 48 trucks, 3 AAA guns and captured 72 EPW's with the loss of 2 Bradley Cavalry vehicles, 30 WIA's and 1 KIA.

Later nearly 1,000 soldiers(one unit-I co. 3rd Aviation Support, 3rd ID) deployed to southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq in Operation Provide Comfort to help Kurdish refugees.

In late Spring of 1991, the division supplied senior ranking officers and non-commissioned officers, along with a military police company to Task Force Victory (Forward). Stationed in Kuwait the Task Force was to provide division-level support to the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (which shared the same duty station). Those elements of V Corps attached to the task force (including those of the division) returned to their home units in early September 1991.

As part of the Army's reduction to a ten-division force, the 24th Infantry Division was inactivated on 15 February 1996, and reflagged to become the 3rd Infantry Division.

In 1996 the division was redeployed to Fort Stewart, Fort Benning, and Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia. The division repeatedly demonstrated its deployability since then by maintaining a battalion, and later a brigade task force presence in Kuwait. It has also moved sizable forces to Egypt, Bosnia and Kosovo in partnership training and peacekeeping missions.

In 1996–97, the 3rd Infantry Division Detachment, Rear Tactical Operations Center (RTOC), which is a unit manned by the Georgia Army National Guard was mobilized and served in Operation Joint Endeavor. During this time, the 3rd ID RTOC served under the 1st Infantry Division and later the 1st Armored Division. Respectively serving in Bosnia, at Camps Dallas and Angela, near Tuzla under the 1ID, and then in Croatia at Slavonski Brod, under the 1AD, serving as the Assistant Division Commander for Support, then BG George Casey.

Commanders
• MG Charles D. W. Canham (November 1953 – November 1954)

• MG Haydon L. Boatner (December 1954 – October 1955)

• MG George E. Lynch (October 1955 – February 1957)

• BG Frederick R. Zierath (March 1957 – March 1957)

• MG Roy E. Lindquist (March 1957 – August 1958)

• MG John S. Upham Jr. (August 1958 – April 1960)

• MG Albert Watson II (April 1960 – April 1961)

• MG William W. Dick Jr. (April 1961 – April 1962)

• BG Morris O. Edwards (April 1962 – June 1962)

• MG Frank T. Mildren (June 1962 – March 1964)

• MG Albert O. Connor (March 1964 – February 1966)

• BG Jack S. Blocker (February 1966 – April 1966)

• MG Robert H. Schellman (April 1966 – August 1967)

• BG Lawrence V. Greene (August 1967 – October 1967)

• MG George P. Seneff Jr. (October 1967 – March 1969)

• MG George M. Seignious II (March 1969 – February 1970)

• MG Robert C. Taber (February 1970 – April 1971)

• MG Marshall B. Garth (April 1971 – September 1972)

• MG Sam S. Walker (September 1972 – June 1974)

• MG Edward C. Meyer (June 1974 – August 1975)

• MG Pat W. Crizer (August 1975 – October 1977)

• MG R. Dean Tice (October 1977 – October 1979)

• MG Robert L (Sam) Wetzel (October 1979–1981)

• MG Fred K. Mahaffey (1981–1983)

• MG Howard G. Crowell, Jr. (1983–1985)

• MG George R. Stotser (1985–1987)

• MG Nicholas S. H. Krawciw (1987–1989)

• MG Wilson A. Shoffner (1989–1991)

• BG Richard F. Keller (1991–1993)

• MG Leonard D. Holder Jr. (1993–1995)

• MG Montgomery Meigs (July 1995 – February 1996)

• MG Joseph E. DeFrancisco (June 1996 – August 1996)

• MG John W. Hendrix (August 1996 – October 1997)

• MG James C. Riley (October 1997 – December 1999)

• MG Walter L. Sharp (December 1999 – December 2001)

Global War on Terrorism

 * Commanders
 * MG Buford Blount (December 2001 - September 2003)
 * MG William G. Webster (September 2003 - June 2006)
 * MG Rick Lynch (June 2006 - July 2008)
 * MG Tony Cucolo (July 2008 - April 2011)
 * MG Robert B. Abrams (April 2011 - August 2013)
 * MG John M. Murray (August 2013 - August 2015)
 * MG James E. Rainey (August 2015 - May 2017)
 * MG Leopoldo A. Quintas (May 2017 - June 2019)
 * MG Antonio Aguto (June 2019-June 2021)
 * MG Charles Costanza (June 2021 – June 2023)
 * MG Christopher Norrie (June 2023-Present)

OIF I (Baghdad Spearhead)
Early in 2003, the entire division deployed in weeks to Kuwait. It was called on subsequently to spearhead Coalition forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom, fighting its way to Baghdad in early April, leading to the end of the Saddam Hussein government. The First Brigade captured the Baghdad International Airport and cleared and secured the airport, which also resulted in the division's first Medal of Honor since the Korean War, awarded to SFC Paul Ray Smith. Second Brigade, Third Infantry division made the much-publicized "Thunder Run" into downtown Baghdad. The Second Brigade was redeployed to Fallujah, Iraq during the summer of 2003. The division returned to the United States in September 2003.

Order of Battle during the 2003 invasion:
 * 1st Brigade
 * 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment (Mech)
 * 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment (Mech)
 * 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment
 * 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Regiment (155SP)
 * 2nd Brigade
 * 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment (Mech)
 * 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment
 * 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment (Tuskers)
 * 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment (155SP)
 * 3rd Brigade
 * 203rd FSB 3rd Brigade Combat Team (Mech)
 * 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment (Mech)
 * 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment (Mech)
 * 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment
 * 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery Regiment (155SP)
 * 1st Battalion, 39th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd ID DIVARTY, MLRS - Inactivated May, 2006
 * 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment

Beginning in 2004, the 3rd began re-organizing. The division shifted from three maneuver brigades to four "units of action", which are essentially smaller brigade formations, with one infantry, one armor, one cavalry, and one artillery battalion in each. The former Engineer Brigade became the 4th Brigade at Fort Stewart. Each of these units of action engaged in several mock battles at the National Training Center and Joint Readiness Training Center, and preparation for a second deployment to Iraq.

OIF III
In January 2005, the Third Infantry Division became the first Army division to serve a second tour in Iraq. The division headquarters took control of the Multi-National Division Baghdad, MND-B, headquartered at Camp Liberty and with responsibility for the greater Baghdad area. The First and Third Brigades of the Third Infantry Division were placed under the control of the 42nd Infantry Division, and later under the 101st Airborne Division, in MND-North. In preparation for this deployment, a Fourth Brigade was organized and became the first cohesive brigade combat team sent into a combat zone by the US Army, cohesive in that it fulfilled the table of organization requirement of such a unit. The California Army National Guard's 1st Battalion 184th Infantry Regiment served as one of the brigade's two infantry battalions, as well as the detachment from the Hawaii Army National Guard's 29th Brigade Combat Team, the 2/299th Infantry, also the 48th Brigade Combat Team from the Georgia Army National Guard, 2/130 Infantry Battalion of the Illinois National Guard, and Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 295th Infantry Battalion from the Puerto Rico Army National Guard served in this Operation.

2/69 Armor was assigned to Camp War Horse in Iraq. By Mid 2005 Primary elements of the 2/69 Armor 3rd Brigade 3rd Infantry Division was redeployed to Ramadi Iraq, replacing elements of the 2nd ID. They ran joint missions with 2nd Mar Div. and elements of the Pennsylvania National Guard and the 2/130th Infantry of the Illinois National Guard was redeployed to Al Taquattum as the infantry battalion.

3/15 Infantry Battalion was assigned to FOB Hope, a small forward operating base opposite the northeast corner of Sadr City in Baghdad. By late 2005 Task Force 3/15 left FOB Hope and rejoined the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, BCT, at Camp Liberty.

OIF V
The division redeployed to Fort Stewart and Fort Benning in January 2006. On 17 November 2006, the Army announced that the Third Infantry Division is scheduled to return to Iraq in 2007 and thus become the first Army division to serve three tours in Iraq. The division headquarters became the leading organization of MND-C (Multi-National Division Central), a new command established south of Baghdad as part of the Iraq War troop surge of 2007.

In support of operations in Baghdad, the unit 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry was detached from 3ID and assigned by General Petraeus to 3rd BCT, 82nd Airborne who was under the command of the 1st Cavalry Division. In 2008, the 82nd Airborne and 1st CAV redeployed home, and 3–7 CAV was handed over to 3rd BCT, 4th Infantry Division under the command of the 25th Infantry Division. They would remain under this command until 3–7 CAV's redeployment back to Fort Stewart, being reattached to the 3rd Infantry Division. Similarly, 1st Battalion, 64th Armor was detached from 3ID and attached to 2nd BCT, 1st Infantry Division under 1st Cavalry Division, and later under 2nd BCT, 101st Infantry Division under command of 4th Infantry Division.

Reassignment of 1st Brigade
In the fall of 2008, the 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Brigade was assigned to serve as the on-call federal response force under the control of NORTHCOM, the combatant command assigned responsibility for the continental United States. The brigade remained at its home station of Fort Stewart, Georgia, and "is training to deploy domestically in response to terrorist attacks or other national emergencies." The brigade will be trained in responding to WMD attacks, crowd control, and dealing with civil unrest.

The force was renamed "Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high-yield explosive Consequence Management Response Force". Its acronym, CCMRF, is pronounced "see-smurf", and the unit is now under the daily control of United States Northern Command's Army North, whose mission is to "protect the United States homeland and support local, state, and federal authorities." The unit is a multi-branch force with servicemembers from the four branches of the United States Department of Defense.

Reorganization of 4th Brigade
In March 2009, 4th Brigade reorganized from a mechanized or heavy brigade to a light infantry brigade. As part of this reorganization, 4th Battalion, 64th Armor was reflagged as 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment.

OIF VII
The 3rd Infantry Division assumed command of the Multi-National Division-North, now United States Division-North, in October 2009. This milestone marked the division's fourth tour in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (I, III, V, and VII). The division has elements operating in every area of Iraq as the mission changes from Operation Iraqi Freedom to Operation New Dawn on 1 September 2010. With the advent of Operation New Dawn, the focus will shift from combat operations to stability and advise and assist operations throughout all Iraq's provinces.

In the course of Operation Iraqi Freedom up until 24 September 2010, 436 members of the division were killed in action

Operation Enduring Freedom
The Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division deployed to Afghanistan for a 13-month tour. The brigade was the first unit from 3ID to deploy to Afghanistan. During that tour 3rd CAB soldiers flew about 26,000 missions, including 800 air assaults, and were responsible for about 2,500 enemy casualties.

3rd CAB is slated to deploy to Afghanistan again in January 2013. The 2500 soldiers will deploy with the 3rd Special Troops Battalion for a 9-month tour. The Marne Air will be operating out of Kandahar Airfield in the RC-South area of operations, relieving the 25th CAB.

Both the 3rd CAB and 3rd STB will fall under their parent division when the 3ID Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion deploys in August and takes over command of RC-South from 82nd Airborne Division HQ.

The 2nd Heavy BCT's two combined-arms battalions were also deployed individually to Afghanistan. 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment deployed in March 2012. They are attached to the 3rd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (United States) from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA, to help train Afghanistan National Security Forces to take over their country's security operations. 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment deployed a month earlier. They are tasked with providing security to units conducting contingency operations. Both battalions will serve nine-month tour.

In December 2012, the 3rd Sustainment Brigade deployed for its fifth deployment over the last decade and first to Afghanistan, for nine months in support of Operation Enduring Freedom 12–13, let by COL Ron Novack and CSM Daniels. Deployed to Kandahar with 276 soldiers the brigade provided sustainment and retrograde support to the 3rd and 4th Infantry Divisions, 1st and 2nd Marine Expeditionary Forces, and International Security Assistance Forces operating in Regional Commands South, Southwest, and National Support Element-West. The brigade assisted in the closure and transfer of over 61 Forward Operating Bases while simultaneously providing sustainment to the force. Additionally, the 3rd Sustainment Brigade provided direct support to the 1st and 2nd Brigade Combat Teams and the Combat Aviation Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division.

In February 2013, the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division (later reflagged as the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division), deployed to Logar Province and Wardak Province, Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment was tasked with securing Logar Province, and disrupting the almost daily rocket attacks on Forward Operation Base Shank. 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment was tasked with securing Wardak Province's highly volatile Highway 1. The soldiers of 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division returned home in late November 2013 after serving a 9-month tour.

Operation Freedom's Sentinel
In April 2017, Military.com reported that about 200 soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division Headquarters will deploy to Afghanistan to replace the 1st Cavalry Division Headquarters at Bagram Airfield taking over command of the U.S. Forces-Afghanistan's National Support Element, as part of Operation Freedom's Sentinel.

Starting in December 2018 troops of the Georgia Army National Guard's 48th IBCT of the 3rd Infantry Division were deployed in support of NATO operations in Afghanistan. These missions included train, advising, assist missions for the Afghanistan military as well as attaching infantry units from the 3rd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment to Army Special Forces ODAs and other Special Operations forces.

Operation Atlantic Resolve
In February 2015, ArmyTimes reported that More than 3,000 soldiers from the 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd ID's Artillery and other units of the 3rd Infantry Division began an accumulative of 12 months deployment to Europe in March 2015 in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve. Soldiers from 3rd ID deployed to various European countries including Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria with the 1st Brigade acting as the European Rotational Force and NATO Response Force, which works and trains with NATO allies to remain prepared for contingency operations within the European Command's area of responsibility.

Organization

The 3rd Infantry Division consists of a division headquarters battalion, two armored brigade combat teams, a division artillery headquarters, a division sustainment brigade, and a combat aviation brigade. All units are based at Fort Stewart. The field artillery battalions remain connected to their brigade combat teams.

 * 3rd_Infantry_Division_CSIB.png 3rd Infantry Division
 * 3rd_Infantry_Division_DUI.svg Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion
 * 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team (1st ABCT), "Raider"
 * Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 1st ABCT
 * 7 Cav Rgt DUI.jpg 5th Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment–Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition (RSTA) "Warpaint"
 * 7th Infantry Regiment DUI.png 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment "Cottonbalers"
 * 64th_Armor_DUI.png 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment "Desert Rogue"
 * 069 Armored Regiment DUI.png 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment "Speed & Power"
 * 41st Field Artillery Regiment DUI.svg 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Regiment (1-41st FAR) "Glory's Guns"
 * US 10th Brigade Engineer Battalion emblem.jpg 10th Brigade Engineer Battalion (10th BEB) "Bridge the Sky"
 * 3rd Brigade Support Battalion Emblem.png 3rd Brigade Support Battalion (3rd BSB) "Ready to Roll"
 * 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team (2nd ABCT) "Spartans"
 * Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 2nd ABCT
 * 1-8cav.gif 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment "Mustang"
 * 15 Inf Regt DUI.jpg 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment "Old China Hands"
 * 67 Armor Rgt DUI.jpg 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment ”Hounds of Hell"
 * 069 Armored Regiment DUI.png 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment "Panthers"
 * 9 FA Rgt DUI.svg 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment (1-9th FAR)"Battlekings"
 * 9_Eng_Bn_DUI.jpg 9th Brigade Engineer Battalion (9th BEB) "Gila"
 * 703BSB_2ABCT_3ID.png 703rd Brigade Support Battalion (703rd BSB) "Maintain"
 * 3rd Division Artillery (DIVARTY) "Marne Thunder" has training and readiness oversight of field artillery battalions, which remain organic to their brigade combat teams.
 * 3d Inf Div Arty.png Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, DIVARTY
 * 63rd SIG Coat of Arms.jpg 63rd Expeditionary Signal Battalion (located at Fort Stewart, but part to 35th Signal Brigade
 * 83ChemBnDUI.jpg 83rd Chemical Battalion (assigned to the division as part of the Army 2030 reform)
 * 92 Eng Bn DUI.jpg 92nd Engineer Battalion (assigned to the division as part of the Army 2030 reform)
 * 103 MI Bn DUI.png 103rd Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Battalion (reactivated 16 September 2022 as part of the Army 2030 reform)
 * 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade (3rd CAB) "Falcon"
 * 3 Avn Rgt DUI.png Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade (3rd CAB) "Talons"
 * 17thCavRegtDUI.gif 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment (AH-64D/AH-64DW) "Lighthorse"
 * 3 Avn Rgt DUI.png 2nd Battalion (General Support), 3rd Aviation Regiment (2-3rd GSAB) (UH-60A/UH-60L/CH-47) "Knighthawk"
 * 3 Avn Rgt DUI.png 4th Battalion (Assault), 3rd Aviation Regiment (4-3rd AAB) (UH-60M) "Brawler"
 * US 603rd ASB insignia.png 603rd Aviation Support Battalion (603rd ASB) "Work Horse"
 * 3rd Division Sustainment Brigade
 * 3SustainBdeDUI.jpg Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 3rd Division Sustainment Brigade
 * Stb_3id.jpg Division Sustainment Troops Battalion
 * 87 Spt Bn DUI.png 87th Division Sustainment Support Battalion

The 2nd Brigade Combat Team was inactivated on 15 January 2015 as part of the Army's modular brigade reorganization. Special Troops Battalion; 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment; 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment; and 26th Brigade Support Battalion were inactivated concurrently, with some of their companies joining other brigades' battalions. The maneuver battalions of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team moved to other brigades in the division: 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment moved to the 1st Brigade Combat Team and the 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment moved to the 4th Brigade Combat Team. With the inactivation of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, the 4th Brigade Combat Team was reflagged as the 2nd Brigade Combat Team. After the reorganization, the division had three BCTs, each with three maneuver battalions.

The 42nd Fires Brigade was activated at Fort Stewart on 17 October 2013 and later reflagged as 3rd Infantry Division Artillery. Division Artillery has training oversight of the division's artillery battalions, although the battalions remain organic to their respective BCTs.

As part of budget-driven downsizing, the Army announced that it would inactivate the 3rd Brigade Combat Team by the end of 2015 and replace it with a Battalion Task Force centered around the 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry. The 3rd Brigade Combat Team was inactivated on 15 December 2015.

Division

 * Constituted 12 November 1917 in the Regular Army as Headquarters, 3d Division
 * Organized 21 November 1917 at Camp Greene, North Carolina
 * Redesignated 1 August 1942 as Headquarters, 3d Infantry Division
 * Reorganized and redesignated 1 April 1960 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Infantry Division
 * Reorganized and redesignated 16 May 2004 as Headquarters and Tactical Command Posts, 3d Infantry Division
 * Reorganized and redesignated 16 November 2010 as Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 3d Infantry Division

Campaign participation credit
• ;World War I

• Aisne

• Champagne-Marne

• Aisne-Marne

• Saint-Mihiel

• Meuse-Argonne

• Champagne 1918

• ;World War II

• Algeria-French Morocco (with arrowhead)

• Tunisia

• Sicily (with arrowhead)

• Naples-Foggia

• Anzio (with arrowhead)

• Rome-Arno

• Southern France (with arrowhead)

• Rhineland

• Ardennes-Alsace

• Central Europe

• ;Korean War

• CCF Intervention

• First UN Counteroffensive

• CCF Spring Offensive

• UN Summer-Fall Offensive

• Second Korean Winter

• Korea, Summer-Fall 1952

• Third Korean Winter

• Korea, Summer 1953

• ;1st Gulf War

• Operation Desert Shield

• Operation Desert Storm

• ;War on Terrorism

• Liberation of Iraq

• Transition of Iraq

• Iraqi Governance

• National Resolution

• Iraqi Surge

Division Artillery

 * Constituted 12 November 1917 in the Regular Army as Headquarters, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade, and assigned to the 3rd Division
 * Organized 26 November 1917 at Camp Stanley, Texas
 * Disbanded 16 October 1939 at Fort Lewis, Washington
 * Reconstituted 1 October 1940 in the Regular Army as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 3rd Division Artillery, and activated at Fort Lewis, Washington
 * Redesignated 1 July 1957 as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 3rd Infantry Division Artillery

Campaign participation credit
• ;World War I

• Champagne-Marne

• Aisne-Marne

• Saint-Mihiel

• Meuse-Argonne

• Champagne 1918

• ;World War II

• Algeria-French Morocco (with arrowhead)

• Tunisia

• Sicily (with arrowhead)

• Naples-Foggia

• Anzio (with arrowhead)

• Rome-Arno

• Southern France (with arrowhead)

• Rhineland

• Ardennes-Alsace

• Central Europe

• ;Korean War

• Chinese Communist Forces Intervention

• First United Nations Counteroffensive

• Chinese Communist Forces Spring Offensive

• United Nations Summer-Fall Offensive

• Second Korean Winter

• Korea, Summer-Fall 1952

• Third Korean Winter

• Korea, Summer 1953

Combat Aviation Brigade
Constituted 16 March 1985 in the Regular Army as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, and activated in Germany.

Campaign participation credit
• ; War on Terrorism

• Iraq

• Liberation of Iraq

• Iraqi Governance

• National Resolution

• Iraqi Surge

• Afghanistan

• Consolidation II

• Consolidation III

• Transition I

Division Band

 * Constituted 20 August 1943 in the Regular Army as the Band, 3rd Infantry Division
 * Redesignated 1 December 1943 as the 3d Infantry Division Band and activated in North Africa
 * Consolidated 20 March 1963 with Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 3rd Infantry Division Trains, and consolidated unit reorganized and redesignated as Headquarters, Headquarters and Band, 3rd Infantry Division Support Command.
 * Reorganized and redesignated 15 March 1968 as Headquarters, Headquarters Company and Band, 3rd Infantry Division Support Command.
 * Band element withdrawn 21 May 1972 from Headquarters, Headquarters Company and Band, 3rd Infantry Division Support Command, and absorbed by the 3d Adjutant General Company
 * Band element withdrawn 1 October 1984 from the 3d Adjutant General Company and redesignated as the 3rd Infantry Division Band.

Campaign participation credit

 * World War I
 * Aisne
 * Champagne-Marne
 * Aisne-Marne
 * Saint-Mihiel
 * Meuse-Argonne
 * Champagne 1918

 * World War II – EAME
 * Algeria-French Morocco (with arrowhead)
 * Tunisia
 * Sicily (with arrowhead)
 * Naples-Foggia
 * Anzio (with arrowhead)
 * Rome-Arno
 * Southern France (with arrowhead)
 * Rhineland
 * Ardennes-Alsace
 * Central Europe

 * Korean War
 * Chinese Communist Forces Intervention
 * First United Nations Counteroffensive
 * Chinese Communist Forces Spring Offensive
 * United Nations Summer-Fall Offensive
 * Second Korean Winter
 * Korea, Summer-Fall 1952
 * Third Korean Winter
 * Korea, Summer 1953

 * War on Terror
 * Liberation of Iraq
 * Transition of Iraq
 * Iraqi Governance
 * National Resolution
 * Iraqi Surge
 * Iraqi Sovereignty
 * New Dawn

Division Song
Dogface Soldier

"I wouldn't give a bean, To be a fancy-pants Marine. I'd rather be a dog-faced Soldier like I am I wouldn't trade my old ODs For all the Navy's dungarees For I'm the walking pride of Uncle Sam On Army posters that I read it says Be all that you can! So they're tearing me down To build me over again I'm just a dog-faced Soldier With a rifle on my shoulder I eat raw meat for breakfast every day! So feed me ammunition! Keep me in the Third Division For a dog-faced Soldier's A-OK!"

title: 3rd Infantry Division (United States)


text:
Hercules (1997 film)

Hercules is a 1997 American animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation for Walt Disney Pictures. It is loosely based on the legendary hero Heracles (known in the film by his Roman name, Hercules), a son of Zeus in Greek mythology. The film was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, both of whom also produced the film with Alice Dewey Goldstone. The screenplay was written by Clements, Musker, Donald McEnery, Bob Shaw, and Irene Mecchi. Featuring the voices of Tate Donovan, Danny DeVito, James Woods, and Susan Egan, the film follows the titular Hercules, a demigod with super-strength raised among mortals, who must learn to become a true hero in order to earn back his godhood and place in Mount Olympus, while his evil uncle Hades plots his downfall.

Development of Hercules began in 1992 following a pitch adaptation of the Heracles mythological stories by animator Joe Haidar. Meanwhile, Clements and Musker re-developed their idea for Treasure Planet (2002) following the critical and commercial success of Aladdin (1992). Their project was removed from development in 1993, and Musker and Clements joined Hercules later that same year. Following an unused treatment by Haidar, Clements and Musker studied multiple interpretations of Greek mythology before abandoning Zeus's adulterous affair with Alcmene. The project underwent multiple story treatments and a first script draft was inspired by the screwball comedy films of the classic Hollywood era and popular culture of the 1990s. During production, McEnery, Shaw, and Mecchi were brought on board to revise Musker and Clements' script. British cartoonist Gerald Scarfe was recruited as production designer and produced over seven hundred visualization designs of the characters. Research trips to Greece and Turkey provided inspiration for the background designs. Animation for the film was done in California and Paris. Computer animation was used in several scenes, predominantly in the Hydra battle sequence. The production budget was $85 million.

Hercules was released on June 13, 1997, and received generally positive reviews from film critics, with James Woods's performance as Hades receiving particular praise, but the animation (particularly the visual style) and music received a mixed response. The film under-performed in its theatrical release notably in comparison to previous animated Disney films, ultimately earning $252.7 million in box office revenue worldwide. Hercules was later followed by Hercules: The Animated Series, a syndicated Disney television series focusing on Hercules during his time at the Prometheus Academy, and the direct-to-video prequel Hercules: Zero to Hero (1999), which consists of three episodes from the TV series.

Plot
In Ancient Greece, the gods Zeus and Hera have a son named Hercules. While the other gods are joyful, Zeus' wicked brother Hades plots to overthrow Zeus and rule Mount Olympus. Through the Fates, Hades learns that in eighteen years, a planetary alignment will allow him to free the Titans to conquer Olympus, but only if Hercules does not interfere. Hades sends his minions, Pain and Panic, to murder Hercules, providing them with a potion that can strip a god of immortality. The two kidnap the baby and feed him the potion, but a married farmer couple pass nearby, causing the demons to flee before Hercules could drink every last drop; therefore he is only stripped of immortality but retains his god-like strength. The couple adopt Hercules and Pain and Panic decide not to report their failure to Hades.

Years later, the teenage Hercules becomes an outcast for his inability to control his strength. Wondering about his origins, he decides to visit the Temple of Zeus for answers. There, a statue of Zeus comes to life and reveals all to Hercules, telling him that he can earn back his godhood by becoming a "true hero." Zeus sends Hercules and his forgotten childhood friend Pegasus to the satyr Philoctetes ("Phil") who is known for training heroes. After completing the training, Phil and Hercules travel to Thebes, so he can prove himself there as a hero. On the way, they meet Megara ("Meg"), a sarcastic damsel whom Hercules saves from the centaur Nessus. Unbeknownst to Hercules, Meg is Hades' slave due to selling her soul to him to save her boyfriend, who eventually left her for another woman. When Meg mentions Hercules to Hades, he realizes Pain and Panic's failure and plots to finish off Hercules properly.

Hades stages an accident with the disguised Pain and Panic to lure Hercules into a fight with the Hydra. Hercules defeats the monster, earning the respect and admiration of the Thebans. He defeats many other monsters afterward, each of them sent by Hades, and becomes a celebrated hero. However, Zeus tells him that he is not yet a "true" hero but refuses to explain what that means. Saddened and frustrated, Hercules spends a day out with Meg, during which they fall in love with each other. Realizing this, Hades, on the eve of his takeover, holds Meg hostage and offers her freedom in exchange for Hercules surrendering his strength. On the condition that Meg will be unharmed, Hercules accepts but is heartbroken after learning that Meg was working for Hades all along.

Hades unleashes the Titans, who defeat the gods on Olympus, while the Cyclops goes to Thebes to kill Hercules. Hercules uses his wits to defeat the Cyclops. During the battle, Meg is mortally injured while saving Hercules from a falling pillar. This breaks Hades's deal, so Hercules regains his strength. Hercules and Pegasus fly to Olympus, free the gods and vanquish the Titans, but Meg dies from her injuries.

To recover Meg's soul, Hercules goes to the underworld and risks his life by leaping into the River Styx. This act restores his godhood and immortality, so he is able to reach Meg's soul and climb out alive. Hercules punches Hades into the Styx, where he is dragged to its depths by vengeful souls. After reviving Meg, she and Hercules are summoned to Olympus, where Zeus and Hera welcome him home, saying he has proved himself a "true hero" through the "strength of his heart". However, rather than joining the gods, Hercules chooses to remain on Greece with Meg, and he deactivates his god powers to show this. Returning to Thebes, they watch Zeus form a constellation in Hercules' honor, much to Phil's happiness.

Voice cast

 * Tate Donovan as Hercules, a powerful demigod based on the mythological deity Heracles. Supervising animator Andreas Deja described Hercules as "...not a smart aleck, not streetwise, he's just a naive kid trapped in a big body", and claimed that Donovan "had a charming yet innocent quality in his readings". Donovan had not done any voice-over work prior to Hercules. Deja integrated Donovan's "charming yet innocent quality" into Hercules' expressions.
 * Josh Keaton provided the speaking voice of Hercules as a teenager, while Roger Bart provided his singing voice. Originally, Keaton also provided his singing voice, but his singing was re-recorded by Bart. Randy Haycock served as the supervising animator for Hercules as an infant and teenager.
 * Danny DeVito as Philoctetes/Phil, a crotchety, old Satyr (half-man, half-goat) who served as a trainer of heroes in Ancient Greece, most notably Achilles and the powerful demigod, Hercules. Eric Goldberg, the supervising animator for Philoctetes, cited Grumpy in Snow White and Bacchus in Fantasia as the inspirations for the character's design. Goldberg mentioned that they discovered that Danny DeVito "has really different mouth shapes" when they videotaped his recordings and that they used these shapes in animating Phil.
 * James Woods as Hades, Hercules' uncle and Zeus' brother who is the ruler of the Underworld. Producer Alice Dewey mentioned that Hades "was supposed to talk in a slow and be menacing in a quiet, spooky way", but thought that Woods' manner of speaking "a mile a minute" would be a "great take" for a villain. Woods did a lot of ad-libbing in his recordings, especially in Hades' dialogues with Megara. Nik Ranieri, the supervising animator for Hades, mentioned that the character was "based on a Hollywood agent, a car salesman type", and that a lot came from Woods' ad-libbed dialogue. He went on to say that the hardest part in animating Hades was that he talks too much and too fast, so much so that "it took [him] two weeks to animate a one-second scene". Ranieri watched Woods' other films and used what he saw as the basis for Hades' sneer.
 * Susan Egan as Megara, Hercules' love interest and Hades' former servant. Supervising animator Ken Duncan stated that she was "based on a '40s screwball comedienne" and that he used Greek shapes for her hair ("Her head is in sort of a vase shape and she's got a Greek curl in the back.").
 * Rip Torn as Zeus, king of the gods and Hercules' birth father.
 * Samantha Eggar as Hera, queen of the gods and Hercules' birth mother.
 * Lillias White, Cheryl Freeman, LaChanze, Roz Ryan and Vaneese Thomas as the Muses (Calliope, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Thalia and Clio respectively), the narrators of the film's story. Michael Show served as the supervising animator for the Muses.
 * Bobcat Goldthwait and Matt Frewer as Pain and Panic, Hades' henchmen. James Lopez and Brian Ferguson respectively served as the supervising animators for Pain and Panic.
 * Patrick Pinney as the Cyclops. Dominique Monfrey served as the supervising animator for the Cyclops.
 * Hal Holbrook and Barbara Barrie as Amphitryon and Alcmene, Hercules' adoptive parents. Richard Bazley served as the supervising animator for both characters.
 * Amanda Plummer, Carole Shelley and Paddi Edwards as Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos, the three Fates who predict Hades' failed attempt to conquer Olympus. Nancy Beiman served as the supervising animator for the three characters.
 * Paul Shaffer as Hermes. Michael Swofford served as the animator for Hermes.
 * Jim Cummings as Nessus. Chris Bailey served as the animator for Nessus. Cummings also voiced the Tall Theban and the Elderly Theban.
 * Wayne Knight as Demetrius
 * Mary Kay Bergman as the Earthquake Lady
 * Corey Burton as the Burnt Man
 * Kathleen Freeman as the Heavyset Woman
 * Keith David as Apollo
 * Charlton Heston has a cameo role as the opening narrator.
 * Frank Welker as Pegasus. Ellen Woodbury served as the supervising animator for Pegasus.

Development
In early 1992, thirty artists, writers, and animators pitched their ideas for potential animated features, each given a limited time of two minutes. The first pitch was for an adaptation of The Odyssey, which entered into production in the following summer. However, production on the film was abandoned because it was deemed too long, lacked central characters, and failed to translate into animated comedy. Animator Joe Haidar also suggested pitching a story from Greek mythology, but thought his chances plummeted when work on The Odyssey was discontinued. Nervously, he produced a pitch sketch of Hercules, and delivered a brief outline set during the Trojan War where both sides seek the title character for their secret weapon. Hercules makes a choice, without considering the consequences, though in the end, he learns humility and realizes that strength is not always the answer. With the pitching session concluded, Hercules was approved for development based on Haidar's page-and-a-half outline, but his involvement with the project went no further.

In November 1992, following the success of Aladdin (1992), directors Ron Clements and John Musker re-developed Treasure Planet up until fall 1993. Aladdin co-screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio subsequently took Clements and Musker's earlier ideas and wrote a treatment. Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was the chairman of Walt Disney Studios, disapproved of the project, and instead suggested they do an adaptation of A Princess of Mars (in which Disney had held the film rights to). Clements and Musker were uninterested in the adaptation, and the film rights were transferred to Paramount Pictures in 2002. Katzenberg later struck a deal with the directors to produce another commercially viable film before he would green-light Treasure Planet. Turning down adaptation proposals for Don Quixote, The Odyssey, and Around the World in Eighty Days, the directors were notified of Haidar's pitch for a Hercules feature. "We thought it would be our opportunity to do a "superhero" movie," Musker said, "Ron and I being comic book fans. The studio liked us moving onto that project and so we did [Hercules]."

Writing
With Hercules in production, Clements and Musker conducted research and wrote extensive notes for the film. On excerpts detailed in November 1993, the similarities between their outlines included the naïve title character caught between two worlds, a Danny DeVito-type sidekick, a world-wise heroine, and a powerful villain in a battle of idealism versus cynicism. The directors also sought inspiration from classic screwball comedy films directed by Preston Sturges and Frank Capra with "Hercules as the young Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," Musker explained, and "Meg is modeled on Barbara Stanwyck, especially the characters she played in The Lady Eve and Meet John Doe."

While preparing the script, Clements and Musker consulted the works of Thomas Bullfinch, Edith Hamilton, Robert Graves, and other interpreters of Greek mythology until they reached the conclusion to not portray the traditional story of Hercules. Because Zeus sired Hercules outside of his marriage with Hera, Clements remarked "that illegitimacy would be difficult subject matter for a Disney movie. So [he and Musker] thought of different ways he could be half-man and half-god. [They] moved more toward making Hades the villain instead of Hera. The Underworld seemed like such a fascinating, dark image; the contrast with Olympus seemed to have all kinds of visual possibilities." Additionally during their research, the directors were inspired by the correlation of the popularity of Hercules in comparison to that of sport athletes and celebrities in the contemporary era, with both stating Hercules was the Michael Jordan of his era.

After multiple meetings and story conferences, Clements and Musker wrote several story treatments before proceeding to their first script draft. Comedy writers Donald McEnery and Bob Shaw were recruited by creative executive Jane Healey to work on Hercules. Meanwhile, their draft was concurrently rewritten by Irene Mecchi, which altogether brought additional humor and definition to the script.

Casting
Donny Osmond originally auditioned as the speaking voice of the title character, but was turned down because his voice was considered too deep. Osmond later earned a singing role in Mulan (1998) instead. While writing the role of Philoctetes, Musker and Clements envisioned Danny DeVito in the role, but DeVito declined to audition, so Ed Asner, Ernest Borgnine, and Dick Latessa were brought in to read for the part. After Red Buttons had auditioned, he left stating, "I know what you're gonna do. You're gonna give this part to Danny Devito!" Shortly after, the directors and producer Alice Dewey approached DeVito at a pasta lunch during the filming of Matilda (1996), where DeVito signed on to the role.

For every Disney animated feature since Beauty and the Beast (1991), Susan Egan auditioned for a role, and then landed the role of Belle in the Broadway production. Upon learning about Hercules, Egan actively pursued the role of Megara, though she revealed that "Alan Menken initially blocked me from going after that part. He said that the female lead in Hercules was supposed to be this cynical smart-ass, sounding nothing at all like sweet, innocent Belle." Menken eventually relented and allowed Egan to audition for the role. Egan read for the part in front of a microphone while being videotaped as Menken, Beauty and the Beast musical director Michael Kosarin, and the filmmakers sat at a table with their eyes closed. Nine months following the results of the test animation synced with Egan's audition, Egan won the role. During production, Meg was originally given a ballad titled "I Can't Believe My Heart", but Ken Duncan, the supervising animator of Meg, pointed out the song was out of character for Meg. Menken and Zippel would later compose "I Won't Say I'm in Love" instead.

The casting of Hades proved to be very problematic for Musker and Clements. When DeVito asked the directors who they had in mind to play Hades, Musker and Clements responded by saying they had not selected an appropriate actor. In response, DeVito blurted, "Why don't you ask Jack [Nicholson]?" After DeVito notified Nicholson of the project, the next week, the studio was willing to pay Nicholson $500,000 for the role, but Nicholson demanded roughly a paycheck of $10–15 million, plus a 50 percent cut of all the proceeds from Hades merchandise. Unwilling to share merchandising proceeds with the actor, Disney came back with a counter offer that was significantly less than what Nicholson had asked for. Because of this, Nicholson decided to pass on the project.

Disappointed by Nicholson's refusal, Clements and Musker eventually selected John Lithgow as Hades in fall 1994. After nine months of trying to make Lithgow's portrayal of Hades work, Lithgow was released from the role in August 1995. According to John Musker, Ron Silver, James Coburn, Kevin Spacey, Phil Hartman, and Rod Steiger arrived to the Disney studios to read as Hades. Musker also invited producer Robert Evans to read. Additionally, animator Nik Ranieri claimed Michael Ironside, Terrence Mann, and Martin Landau also auditioned for the role, and that Musker and Clements had reached out to Jerry Lewis to read for the role. When the directors invited James Woods to read for the part, they were surprised by Woods' interpretation, and he was hired by October 1995. Hades's co-henchman Pain was written with Bobcat Goldthwait in mind, although the actor confessed he still had to audition for the role despite playing himself.

Animation and design
In 1993, Clements and Musker fondly remembered a Time magazine cover of the Beatles, illustrated by English cartoonist Gerald Scarfe. While working as the production designer on a production of The Magic Flute, Scarfe was invited to tour the Disney studios where Clements and Musker noticed a direct correlation between Scarfe's style and the Greek vase painting style. With the permission from the Disney studios, Scarfe was hired as production designer to produce a dozen drawings. Scarfe conducted minimal research, not wanting to be influenced by other interpretations where he sent thirty-two sketches via fax machine or courier, and ended up producing more than 700 drawings throughout production. By July 1995, Scarfe and fifteen animators and designers began developing working prototypes for every character in the movie. That same year, the filmmakers embarked on a research trip to Greece and Turkey to research classic Greek mythology. Since Scarfe's style proved to be too fluid and chaotic for the animators, production stylist Sue Nichols created reference charts for the animators on which elements of Scarfe's style, as well as classical Greek illustration, to adapt into their work.

Animation began in early 1995 with a team of nearly 700 artists, animators, and technicians in Burbank, California while Walt Disney Animation France contributed nearly ten minutes of animation, including the finale with the Titans and Hercules' descent into the Underworld. Andreas Deja, the supervising animator for Hercules, commented that the animation crew he worked with to animate Hercules was the "largest [he] ever worked with". He previously worked on other characters (like Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, Jafar in Aladdin, and Scar in The Lion King) with about four animators on his crew, but he had a team of twelve or thirteen for Hercules. Given Deja had worked with three villains before, he was first offered Hades, but asked to animate Hercules instead – "I knew if would be more difficult and more challenging, but I just needed that experience to have that in your repertoire."

Following the release of Pocahontas (1995), Eric Goldberg was initially assigned to animate Hades when Jack Nicholson was thought to play the character. However, when Nicholson decided to pass on the role, Goldberg was not interested in animating the character anymore. Around the same time, Chris Buck was assigned to animate Philoctetes, but after he left the production of Hercules, this left the character of Philoctetes without a supervising animator. Goldberg then decided to instead animate Philoctetes when DeVito signed onto the role noting his similarities with the actor in their short stature, baldness, and admittedly a little "soft around the middle". Throughout production, there were twenty-seven designs for the character, but the final design took inspiration from Grumpy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Bacchus in Fantasia (1940) in terms of their curmudgeonly personality and facial structure. For Hades, animator Nik Ranieri took inspiration from Scarfe's concept drawings and James Woods' mannerisms during the recording sessions. While Hades' body was drawn by hand, the animation of the hair was handled by the effects animators with input from Ranieri as to how it should move.

For the Hydra, Scarfe provided preliminary drawings to give the mythical beast its requisite fangs and serpentine necks before work was transferred over to the computer animation team headed by Roger Gould. The Hydra was sculpted into a clay model where the dimensions were digitized into the computers as a wire-frame model by which the monster was animated. Early into production, the filmmakers decided the Hydra would ultimately have thirty heads by which the animators created one master head, and the computer could multiply the heads to their desired scale. Overall, thirteen animators and technical directors spent nearly a year-and-a-half creating the four-minute battle sequence. Additionally, because the directors envisioned Olympus as a city composed of clouds, painted backgrounds of clouds and cloud-like imagery were blended with drawn effects animation to create a morphing technique that were used for baby Hercules's cradle and Zeus's reclining chair.

Music
The soundtrack for Hercules consists of music written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist David Zippel, orchestrated by Daniel Troob and Michael Starobin, with vocals performed by Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Roger Bart, Danny DeVito, and Susan Egan among others. The album also includes the single version of "Go the Distance" by Michael Bolton. This was the last Disney Renaissance film for which Alan Menken composed music.

Marketing
On February 4, 1997, Disney began its marketing campaign by starting a five-month promotional traveling tour called Disney's Hercules Mega Mall Tour. Sponsored by Chevy Venture, the tour traveled throughout 20 cities starting first in Atlanta, Georgia. Previously used for the marketing campaigns for Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the tour featured eleven attractions including a multimedia stage show, a miniature carousel themed to Baby Pegasus, a carnival with Hercules-themed game booths, and a ten-minute animation workshop hosted by animator Andreas Deja where visitors would try their hand at drawing Hercules.

On June 14, the premiere of the film was accompanied with a Hercules-led performance of Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade held in Times Square. The parade of electrified floats, which was broadcast live on the Disney Channel as part of a program involving the making of Hercules, traveled from 42nd Street to Fifth Avenue. The parade also included attendees such as Lauren Hutton, Harvey Keitel, Andy Garcia, Barbara Walters, Michael Bolton, and Marilu Henner, as well as Olympic athletes who rode on thirty floats. The media event was not without controversy as former New York mayor Ed Koch objected to surrendering the city over to Disney, and critics raising questions about what politicians are willing to give a private firm in return for investment. Also, nearly 100 members of National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians used the occasion to strike for a new contract from Disney/ABC, with local union president Tony Capitano who complained: "I think the Mayor gave away the city to Disneyland." Furthermore, 5,000 businesses and residents within the city felt unusually eerie upon being asked to dim their lights as the parade passed. Following the parade, a private party was held at the Chelsea Piers complex, where dinner guests were served to a performance of Susan Egan singing songs from the movie along the Hudson River, and ten minutes of fireworks display.

Additionally, the film was accompanied by a marketing campaign with promotional tie-ins with 85 licensees including McDonald's, Mattel, Nestlé, Hallmark,  and various merchandise. A tie-in video game, titled Hercules Action Game, was developed by Eurocom and released in July 1997 for the PC and PlayStation. Another tie-in game was developed by Tiertex Design Studios and was released for the Game Boy by THQ the same month. Hercules was also the first Disney on Ice adaptation before the film was theatrically released.

Home media
Hercules was first released on VHS and widescreen LaserDisc in the United States on February 3, 1998, included as an installment of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection series. By summer 1998, sales and rentals of the VHS release had accumulated to $165 million. Released on November 9, 1999, Hercules was released in a "Limited Issue" DVD for a limited sixty-day time period before going into moratorium. Launching in January 2000, Walt Disney Home Video began the Gold Classic Collection, with Hercules re-issued on VHS and DVD on August 1, 2000. The DVD contained the film in its 1.66:1 aspect ratio and THX-certified, and was accompanied with special features including "The Making of Hercules" documentary video and the "Go The Distance" music video sung by Ricky Martin, as well as an "Animals of the Outback" activity booklet. The early DVD issues utilized a 35mm print of the film, rather than use the computer to encode the movie directly to digital. The film was released on a Special Edition Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD on June 10, 2014. On September 1, 2017, Hercules became available on Netflix.

Box office
Wall Street analysts estimated that Hercules could bring in between $125 and $150 million in the United States, on the basis of the extensive marketing campaign and the movie's light, humorous tone similar to that of Aladdin. Hercules began its limited release in North America on June 13, 1997, playing in one selected theater. The film earned $249,567 in box office receipts during the weekend of June 13–15, standing at the thirteenth place in the box office ranking. During its first two weeks, the film had grossed $1.45 million when it expanded into two selected theaters. The general release followed on June 27, 1997, in 2,621 screens. During the weekend of June 27–29, box office analysts estimated that Hercules earned $21.5 million ranking second behind Face/Off, which grossed $22.7 million.

In its first two weeks of general release, Hercules amounted $58 million in box office grosses, compared to Pocahontas (which took in $80 million) and The Lion King (which grossed $119 million) in their respective two weeks. Considered a disappointment among Disney shareholders, Disney's stock price slipped 9.7 percent by which executives blamed the film's box office performance on "more competition". By its third weekend, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution president Dick Cook confessed that competing family films such as Men in Black and Batman & Robin played a role in the downward box office performance, but projected the film would receive a worldwide gross of $300 million. Likewise, entertainment analysts speculated Hercules did not appeal strongly towards adults and teenagers compared to Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King, which served as date movies and family outings. By spring 1998, Hercules grossed $99 million, and the international totals for Hercules raised its gross to $253 million.

Critical response
Hercules received generally positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported the film has an approval rating of based on  reviews, with an average rating of. The website's critical consensus reads, "Fast-paced and packed with dozens of pop culture references, Hercules might not measure up with the true classics of the Disney pantheon, but it's still plenty of fun." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. According to journalist Franklin Foer, most critics praised the film for straying from Disney's standard musical-comedy formula.

James Woods received universal acclaim from film reviewers for his vocal performance as Hades. Reviewing for Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman graded the film an A− acclaiming it was Woods' most exciting performance since Salvador. He wrote his performance "is an inspired piece of deadpan vaudeville. His dry jocularity is hilariously incongruous – he's like a hostile, wisecracking salesman trapped in the body of the Antichrist." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote a positive review of the film, enjoying the story as well as the animation. Ebert also praised Woods' portrayal of Hades, stating that Woods brings "something of the same verbal inventiveness that Robin Williams brought to Aladdin". Similarly, Chicago Tribune film reviewer Gene Siskel, while awarding the film 2 out of 4 stars, stated, "The only memorable character in the film is the nicely drawn villain Hades (voice by James Woods), who seeks to turn Hercules to the dark side. Hades supplies the genie-like patter that Robin Williams provided in Aladdin." Janet Maslin of The New York Times also praised Woods' performance, remarking that he "shows off the full verve of an edgy Scarfe villain", and added "On any level, earthly or otherwise, the ingenious new animated Hercules is pretty divine." James Berardinelli, film critic for ReelViews, awarded the film 3 out of 4, stars writing, "The real star of the show is James Woods, whose Hades is the most vibrant Disney creation since Robin Williams' Genie. Hades is a lively villain with a great repertoire of one-liners. And, although Woods isn't as much of a vocal chameleon as Williams, he's close enough that it hardly matters."

The Scarfe-inspired animation style received mixed reviews, with Berardinelli labeling it as the film's most disappointing aspect. He wrote: "This approach makes the film look rushed and, at times, incomplete. It is never a visual marvel – even the computer-generated scenes fail to impress. The sequences intended to offer the biggest spectacle – Olympus and the Underworld – provoke little more than a yawn." Likewise, Siskel noted his surprise of "how soft and cheap the animation looks." Writing for The Washington Post, Desson Howe criticized the animation as being "some of the worst I've ever cringed through, including the corner-cutting junk of Don Bluth movies and every trashy cartoon that passes for entertainment on Saturday morning television. In Hercules, ancient Thebes looks like a hastily sketched field-trip location from public TV's The Magic School Bus; and no self-respecting immortal would be seen dead in this simplistic rendition of Mount Olympus. Nevertheless, Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times noted the animation "has just enough of a different look to it to make things interesting" and praised the Hydra as a technological marvel.

Likewise, the music also received a mixed response, with Rita Kempley of The Washington Post writing, "Like the other songs by Disney veteran Alan Menken and his new lyricist, David Zippel (City of Angels), the number gets the job done, but it doesn't topple the temple. The score is influenced by gospel, Broadway musicals, processional music and R&B, but its only spice is its variety." Variety film critic Leonard Klady noted the lack of distinctiveness of the music writing Menken "is hitting too many tired notes in his sixth animated score" and "there's simply not a song in the piece that has you humming as you exit the theater, and ballads such as "Go the Distance" will require aggressive repetition to register as playlist material."

Controversy
Disney intended for the film to have an open-air premiere at Pnyx hill, but the Greek government declined after the Greek media and public panned the film. Greek newspaper Adesmevtos Typos called it "another case of foreigners distorting our history and culture just to suit their commercial interests".

Cancelled sequel
The sequel Hercules II: The Trojan War was planned. It would have been about Hercules now living in Athens with Megara and their daughter, Hebe. However, when an old friend named Helen is captured by the evil Paris of Troy, Hercules joins the united Greek army as they head out to war. However, this war will create revelations, and Hercules finds an old friend who eventually goes missing. The project was cancelled when John Lasseter was named Disney's new chief creative officer in 2006, after which he called off all direct-to-video sequels that Disney had planned.

TV series and follow-up film
Hercules: The Animated Series is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation based on the original film and the Greek myth. The series depicts Hercules' teenage years training with Phil and studying at the Prometheus Academy high school. The series premiered in syndication on August 31, 1998, and on ABC through its Disney's One Saturday Morning block on September 12, 1998. The syndicated run lasted 52 episodes, while the ABC run lasted 13 episodes. Four episodes of the series were packaged together as the direct-to-video film Hercules: Zero to Hero, released on August 17, 1999. The film features a frame story set after the events of the feature film, with Hercules telling Meg stories from his teenage years.

Stage adaptation
On February 6, 2019, it was announced that a theatrical adaptation of the film would premiere at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park as part of its annual Shakespeare in the Park festival from August 31 until September 8. Menken and Zippel returned to compose and write the songs, while Kristoffer Diaz wrote the book, Lear deBessonet directed and Chase Brock will choreograph. The cast included Jelani Alladin (Hercules), Roger Bart (Hades), Jeff Hiller (Panic), James Monroe Iglehart (Phil), Ramona Keller (Thalia), Tamika Lawrence (Calliope), Krysta Rodriguez (Meg), and Rema Webb (Terpsichore). A revised version of the musical played the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey during the 2022–23 season, from February 9 to March 12, 2023. The revised book was written by Kwame Kwei-Armah and Robert Horn. A new production of the musical opened at the Neue Flora in Hamburg, Germany on March 24, 2024 and directed by Casey Nicholaw. Hercules is scheduled to open in London's West End at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in the summer of 2025.

Live-action remake
On April 29, 2020, it was reported that a live-action remake of Hercules is under development at Walt Disney Pictures, with the producers of the CGI remake of The Lion King (Jeffrey Silver and Karen Gilchrist) set to produce the film. Joe and Anthony Russo were to serve as producers on the film through their AGBO banner, with Dave Callaham as screenwriter. On May 7, 2020, the Russo brothers stated that the remake would not be a "literal translation" as they want the film to have new elements yet still being "something that's in the vein of the original and inspired by it". In June 2022, it was announced that Guy Ritchie, who had previously directed Disney's live-action Aladdin remake, had signed on to direct the film. Joe Russo told GamesRadar+ that the remake would pay homage to the original with a more modern spin on it and revealed that it would also be a modern musical inspired by TikTok.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Hercules (1997 film)


text:
Talk:François Truffaut

Problem in the chart for Academy Awards
Someone with more experience than myself needs to fix the issue in the chart for STOLEN KISSES and DAY FOR NIGHT. It did NOT win for KISSES, only DAY FOR NIGHT. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2603:8000:7800:9F15:C16:1050:B50F:8ACE (talk) 00:06, 11 July 2024 (UTC)

No subject
Why are the articles after the tittle ?

 * Paste job from some other source, I guess. I'm changing it now.  --KQ 01:34 Jan 5, 2003 (UTC)

Hi, thank you very much I feel to lazy to do that ;) It's good to "see" you again. User:Ericd
 * Thanks, I've been on vacation for three weeks. Refreshing.  I hope your holiday was good, too.  :-)  --KQ

Nuit américaine = Day for Night ? Is that correct translation ? This is a method to shoot night scenes by day using filters and under-exposures. This might be a good stub ? User:Ericd
 * Yes, that part of it would. Much of Insomnia was shot day for night (the Pacino one, at least)?  --KQ
 * It's maybe not the "correct" translation exactly, but it's what the film was released as in the UK and (I assume) the US, so it's right in this context, yes. --Camembert
 * Small Change is certainly not the correct translation either (thank Steven Spielberg for that one). --KQ
 * not strictly exact but close from the french title in fact the english may well be better User:Ericd
 * Of course but I'm interrested in what's the exact name of the technical process for both reasons the technical process can be a good stub and feel to write something about the film.

I love Truffaut and I have some affair with "Les studios de la Victorine" :) User:Ericd

"Nuit américaine" literally translates as "american night" which is the technical jargon (in France) for shooting movie exteriors during the day to look like the night. The same jargon on UK and US film sets is "day for night" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.233.131.60 (talk) 12:25, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Middle name
An anon changed FT's middle name from Roland to Maximus. Someone reverted while I was busily checking that F Roland T has few google hits while F Maximus T has one. Someone who knows might want to check. Martinp 04:02, 5 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Since anon has been going around adding "Maximus" to many Wiki articles, safe to assume is pure vanadalism. Martinp 04:03, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

I have never edited anything on Wikipedia before, but it was Andre Bazin, not Truffaut, who came up with the auteur theory (le politique des auteurs). Truffaut spent a good part of his teen years in and out of juvenile detention centers (read Dan Allen on Truffaut from the B.F.I. Cinema One film book collection.) Indeed, Four Hundred Blows is based on his early childhood experiences. he credited Bazin for basically saving him. Bazin is the author of Qu'est-ce que sais le cinema volumes one and two and was editor of Cahiers du Cinema. 69.203.84.120 (talk) 19:27, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

Quote
Can someone confirm the quote "Truffaut reported that his film The 400 Blows (1959) was largely autobiographical." with a source?
 * Yeah, I thought he stated the reverse.

I don't know if he said the opposite, the two show correlation. But a quote is only as valuable as its source.

Filmography format
At this point it seems like everyone everyone except Machocarioca prefers the longer tables, which allow for the English and French titles and notes. The smaller tables would be fine on individual film titles such as is done for David Lean and Stanley Kubrick's films for example. Rather than repeatedly reverting, which can get you banned, present your case here on the talk page. Doctor Sunshine  talk  21:02, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

 * I'm not reverting. I created the templates and just you and some other are reverting what I placed. You are the usar who is reverting here. All the notes you cited are inside the film articles itselves.

My point is: these templates are coolest, cleanest and ease the navigation. As the old format is not an obligation, but a suggestion - there's not a rule abouit it and I think it is horrible looking - I made the change and it costed me a lot of time and work, including fixing old links and creating film articles that there weren't. Please do not revert again, the banned here can be you. Machocarioca 05:37, 27 March 2007 (UTC)Machocarioca

 * I appreciate that you've put so much work into it but the thing to remember is that just as much work went into the table that you deleted. In fact, within the last 50 edits to this page you've deleted it 6 times. Now, the full table contains a lot of useful information that can all be viewed all on one page instead of clicking through 20 different articles to see it, it's more clear, and, most importantly, it's favoured by consensus—which is a rule. Here's the good news, all the work you did on the template can still be put to use. It can be moved to the template namespace and with a little modification will be suitable to be appended to all of Truffaut's directorial efforts. To see what I mean, take a look at the bottom of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. It's perfect for that. I'd be happy to help you set it up. Doctor Sunshine   talk  20:11, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I saw that, looks great. Could you do the job for us? ( i'm in a hurry here right now!)Machocarioca 07:06, 28 March 2007 (UTC)Machocarioca

 * I have restored the lists in the article and added the Truffaut template to the foot of the page, as suggested by Doctor Sunshine  - Grammarian 22:36, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one article was rated and this bot brought all the other ratings up to at least that level. BetacommandBot 03:24, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Facts but not substance
Somehow the article describes Truffaut and his work, but not really what his gifts were or why people were moved by his films. It states Adele H. added to his notoriety, but not why; doesn't talk about the work he got from actors, etc.--Parkwells (talk) 18:55, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Adding inline references
Hi all. I'm adding some new info and some inline references as this article doesn't have any.

after I do that I'll remove the "no inline references" notice. Cheers! Echoflame (talk) 21:21, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia sighting in Google's "Parisian Love" ad
Did anyone see Google's "Parisian Love" ad while watching this year's Super Bowl? When the American searches for information on Truffaut, a link to this article is briefly visible. :D --Ixfd64 (talk) 03:29, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Saw :) Venustas 12 (talk) 05:55, 10 February 2010 (UTC).

F77 Pronunciation?
What exactly is "F77 pronunciation"? It seems to only be used in this article and, without any kind of an explanation, comes across as either something you have to be in on the secret to know or vandalism. If it actually is relevant here, then it should be explained elsewhere in the article. (F77 redirects to Fortran -- is this a Fortran in-thing?) Motsa (talk) 15:35, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

birth anomaly
"at the age of 4 Truffaut was born in Paris" -- seems unlikely - Oniscoid (talk) 22:53, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

Work/400 Blows
This portion starts out with the assumed intent of providing a brief synopsis of the film. It devolves into no more than more info on Truffaut's life. As such, it seems out of place/off topic. I thought of editing out the biographical detail, but feel something should be put in it's place. There is the temptation to assume what is offered follows the films story line. As I am not familiar with the film to add meaningful info I would hope someone else might provide some substance. Thoughts?THX1136 (talk) 21:46, 26 December 2016 (UTC)

title: Talk:François Truffaut