Remarks by
the late General George S. Blanchard, U.S. Army, retired, and former Company
Commander of Company C, 274th Infantry at the dedication of the Trailblazer
monument at Fort Benning, GA 6 October, 1997.
Thank you, General Franks, for those very fine
comment s and that very fine indication of the way other people look at our
efforts. We can’t brag too much, but you can brag about us all you want. To all
of you who came here to attend this formation, our thanks. It is a fitting and
proper response to a tremendous amount of work, incidentally, by the people
that George mentioned earlier who did so much to put this all together.
General Ernst, I think that the whole notion of doing this dedication or our
monument just makes all kinds of sense. I understand that you are encouraging
other organizations to do the same thing.
In my brief remarks ladies and gentlemen, I’d
like to say first that I am pleased and proud to be here both as a former
platoon leader in Company H, of the 274th and company commander in C Company.
I went to the school here at Fort Benning; I attended the basic course, the
advanced course and the airborne course. I taught regimental tactics at the
school, so I have some slight familiarity with the school, though I do admit it
was a few years ago-just a few years ago. Beth and I are pleased to be here
and think that this is a wonderful place to have this ceremony.
The purpose of my brief remarks is to try to put
in perspective, in conjunction with the remarks that General Ted Mataxis made on
Saturday, our wartime activities during combat in a very brief, very
encapsulated form. I should note that both General Eisenhower and General
Marshall ( you recall that General Marshall was the Army Chief of Staff and Gen.
Ike was the theater commander) were acutely aware of our overall situation and
its cause, and I would like to quote briefly from General Marshall’s report to
the Secretary of War for 1943-45:
“In order to defend the front adequately, full
use was made in the Seventh Army, of the Infantry regiments of three divisions
which were just arriving in the theater from the States in advance of their
division headquarters and supporting troops.”
In General Ike’s “Crusade in Europe”, he too
recognized us and our problems, and I’d like to quote his comments in his book
“Crusade in Europe”. “We found it difficult to find enough divisions to perform
all the tasks that required immediate attention and still maintain the the
concentration required for successful attacks. General Marshall sent me a
suggestion that seemed to possess great merit; It was that the infantry of the
trained divisions in the States should be dispatched to us without waiting for
the additional shipping needed to bring over their artillery, trucks and other
heavy equipment. He and I hoped that in this way we could bring into line new
regiments and give them valuable battle training by rotating them with
Infantry of divisions already on line. The principal purpose was to give tired
and depleted infantry of a veteran division the opportunity refit and
rehabilitate itself.”
In his book, General Ike said that 90% of the
casualties in the divisions in theater were Infantrymen; plenty of
lieutenants, and lots of privates, and corporals and sergeants. “In the
outcome, our hopes”, continued Gen. Ike, “were not completely fulfilled. As
the winter wore on, our need for troops became so great and the long lines were
so thinly manned, that when the new regiments arrived, each Army commander
frequently found it necessary instead of replacing tired troops, to assign a
special sector to the new troops and to support them with such artillery from
Corps and Army formations as he could scrape together. The situation was
entirely unsatisfactory and in complete violation of the purposes for which the
new Regiments were rushed to the theater ahead of their heavy equipment.
Nevertheless, the requirements of the front allowed us to do nothing else.
Although whenever possible, we were to return to the original plan but were
never able to implement it. The early arrival of these troops had a profound
and beneficial effect.”
Key Point about the 70th Infantry Division and
the other two-I’m thinking about Task Force Herren as well as the other two Task
Forces, that also came without their supporting elements... how important were
we? Task Force Herren certainly can’t take credit for defeating Nordwind
(Hitler’s so-called last gasp), but we did play an important role in its defeat.
The Germans had created a large gap in the Allied lines and were pouring
through. They had to be stopped and we were available. Task Force Herren was
attached to the 45th Infantry Division for that purpose, the 274th (-) and
275th Regiments to strengthen the shoulder on the east side of the penetration .
The 276th and 2d Bn/274th manned the Corps Reserve line on the Oder River. The
attack was halted by the strenuous efforts of all involved.
We remember in particular the names of Wingen
and Spicheren and Hitler’s Holy Ground. Had Nordwind succeeded, it would have
been a whole different ball game in Europe. Let me try to explain why all of us
should be extremely proud of our combat service. In support of the problems so
aptly described by Ted Mataxis earlier and some authors’ incorrect assignment
of blame for combat activities and despite some inevitable screw ups in combat,
our top bosses, Generals Marshall and Ike recognized and accepted the risks
indicated as did our leaders at all levels took actions which were very risky,
but succeeded.
Lastly, the appropriateness of the location of
this monument at Fort Benning is inescapable and the planners and executors both
within our association and within the Army deserve our plaudits. Let me tell you
of a reported comment by a very interesting French lady after the dedication of
the monument at Spicheren Heights in 1995 that I was privileged to attend on
Hitler’s Holy Ground. She said, “Sir, you have no idea of the impact of your
Trailblazers-of your soldiers. They saved my life, that of my family, those of
of my villagers and my country.” Is it any wonder that you and I are so proud
to be Trailblazers? Thank you very much.
