70th Inf Division

Genuine WWII shoulder badge of the 70th Inf Division. 

The 70th Infantry Division, nicknamed Trailblazers, is a unit of the US Army during World War II. It is at the forefront of the American Seventh Army when it enters Germany, south of Saarbrücken. It was created in 1943 at Camp Adair in Oregon. During the Second World War, it was sent to the European front but was deactivated in October 1945, after its return to the United States.

The three infantry regiments of the 70th Infantry Division, the 274th, 275th, and 276th, landed at Marseille, France, from December 10 to 15, 1944, and were formed into Task Force Herren under the command of the division's deputy commander, Thomas W. Herren, before the arrival of the rest of the division on January 18, 1945. Task Force Herren took control of the defensive positions along the west bank of the Rhine on December 28, 1944, near Bischwiller, south of the Haguenau forest. Elements participated in the fight to stop the German Operation Nordwind and struck the enemy at Philippsburg and Wingen between Bitche and Hagenau. In mid-January 1945, the group moved to an area directly south of Saarbrücken, where it conducted reconnaissance and combat patrols, and improved its defensive positions. When the rest of the division arrived, Task Force Herren was disbanded.

The division continued patrols and combat raids as it prepared for an offensive campaign in mid-February. On February 17, 1945, the division attacked just below the Saar. The 70th drove to the heights overlooking Saarbrücken, crushed Forbach, took Stiring-Wendel and continued across the Saar to take Saarbrücken, March 20, 1945. Pushing through the defenses of the Siegfried Line along the north bank of the Saar, the division took Völklingen and other Saar towns and villages. On March 31, he was reassigned to the Third Army. In April he participated in the reduction of the Saar Basin and, after VE Day, was engaged in professional duties, with command posts at Otterberg, Bad Kreuznach, Frankfurt and Oranienstein in Germany.