Division History
The account below is from a document written in October 1947 and was obtained
from the US Army Military History Institute.
The 70th Division was activated as a component of the Army of the United States
on June 15th, 1943, with headquarters at Camp Adair, Oregon. The Division had
one change of station to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, before embarking for the
European Theater in December 1944. The three infantry regiments began arriving
in Marseilles, France, on December 10th and were immediately organized into Task
Force Herren and assigned to the Seventh Army. Reaching the front on December
28th near Bischweiler on the west bank of the Rhine river, the task force
engaged German units attempting to drive south from Bitche as part of an attack
to cut off Seventh Army forces west of Severne Pass (Operation Nordwind).
The troops of the 70th took on von Rundstedt's German forces and defeated them
at Phillipsbourg and at Wingen. Over 1,000 SS troops were killed by the division
elements at Wingen, and the Bitche salient was eliminated. The Task Force moved
to an area south of the heavily fortified German town of Saarbrucken in
mid-January and patrolled aggressively until the arrival of the rest of the
division on January 18th, 1945. The men of the 70th improved their defensive
positions and launched a series of combat raids along a line running from
Sarrguemines to Morsbach through mid-February and prepared for the drive into
Germany.
On February 17th, the division attacked just below the Saar River and captured
the high ground overlooking Saarbrucken. The French town of Forbach was
liberated, and the 70th advanced to Stiring-Wendel where over 1,000 allied
prisoners were freed in one of the first of such actions along the Western
Front. Continuing its advance, the 70th made a night crossing of the Saar River
on March 18th and captured Saarbrucken after two days of fierce fighting. The
Siegfried Line was pierced north of the Saar and several cities were captured
including the large town of Volklingen. On March 21st, elements of the 70th
Division and the Third Army units met forming the Saar Pocket. The division then
participated in the destruction of enemy forces in the Saar Basin until the war
ended on May 8th, 1945.
In October of 1945, the division returned home after performing occupation
duties in Germany with command posts located in Frankfurt, Bad Kreuznach,
Oranienstein, and Otterberg. The men of the Trailblazer Division had fought in
three campaigns and lost 3,919 men killed and wounded during 83 days of combat.
The shoulder patch of the 70th Division was approved on June 15th, 1943. The axe
head represents the aim of the unit to overcome all obstacles in the path of the
division. The white mountain in the background suggests Mt. Hood which is near
where the unit organized, and the green fir tree suggests the region and ties
between the 70th and the 91st Divisions. The color red represents the blood of
the early pioneers who settled the area where the division was formed.
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Notes:
Full history in
DOC
or  PDF.
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