1945. Almond, surprised to be given such an assignment, in later years speculated why he was selected for command of the 92nd, stating: He led the division during its training in the United States and in combat in the final phases of the Italian campaign of 1944–1945. During its time in Italy the division, arriving piecemeal throughout the latter half of 1944, underwent several changes in its organization, and suffered a total of almost 3,000 casualties during the often bitter Italian fighting, all while forming part of the U.S. Fifth Army under Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark and later Lucian Truscott. Although Marshall picked Almond for this assignment because Marshall believed Almond would excel at this difficult assignment, the division performed poorly in combat with Almond blaming the division's poor performance on its largely African-American troops, echoing the widespread prejudice in the segregated Army that blacks made poor soldiers—and went on to advise the Army against ever again using African-Americans as combat troops. Almond told confidants that the division's poor combat record had cheated him of higher command. Occupation duty in Japan In 1946 Almond was transferred to Tokyo as chief of personnel at General Douglas Macarthur's headquarters, normally a dead-end job. Almond very effectively handled the sizable challenge of staffing the occupation forces in Japan as American forces rapidly demobilized, standing out among MacArthur's lackluster staff. Having won MacArthur's confidence as capable and loyal, Almond was the logical choice to become Chief of Staff in January 1949, when the incumbent, Paul J. Mueller, rotated home. Korean War and X Corps After the initial North Korean attack in June 1950, United Nations forces were forced to withdraw and eventually fell back to the Pusan Perimeter. MacArthur decided to counterattack with an amphibious invasion at Inchon in November. The invasion force, consisting of the 1st Marine Division and the 7th Infantry Division, was originally named "X Force" and was placed under the command of Almond. Because the name X Force was confusing to logistics officers, upon Almond's suggestion, the formation was re-designated as X Corps. MacArthur split X Corps from the 8th Army, then placed Almond, who had no experience with amphibious operations, in command of the main landing force just before the landings. Almond earned the scorn of Marine officers when, during the early phase of the Inchon landing, he asked if the amphibious tractors used to land the Marines