Major General Harry John Collins (1895–1963) commanded the 42nd Rainbow Infantry Division of the U.S. Army during World War II. The photograph was taken during the Northwestern Europe Campaign of 1944 in France. Jack Lieb documented such encounters with commanders in the Normandy hinterland or during the subsequent advance on 16-mm Kodachrome film—in color, while comparable photographs from this period were almost exclusively preserved in black and white.