The US 29th Infantry Division is a United States infantry division that has existed since World War I as part of the Army National Guard. Nicknamed "Blue and Gray", the division's motto is "29, Let's Go!" taken from General Eisenhower's inspiring speech to the troops preparing for the invasion of Normandy. The shoulder patch is a half-blue, half-gray Chinese taijitu; this patch was approved on December 14th, 1917 and was designed by Maj. James Ulio. The uniting of the blue and grey symbolizes the fact that the division was composed of regiments from Virginia and Maryland that had fought on both sides of the American Civil War.

Teamed with the U.S. 1st Infantry Division, the 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Division was in the first assault wave to hit the beaches at Normandy on D-Day, June 6th, 1944. The division itself landed on Omaha Beach on the same day in the face of intense enemy fire but soon secured the bluff tops and went on to occupy Isigny on June 9th. The division cut across the Elle River and advanced slowly toward St. Lo, fighting bitterly in the Normandy bocage (hedge rows). After taking St. Lo on July 18th, the division joined in the battle for Vire, capturing that strongly held city on August 7th. Turning west, the 29th took part in the assault on Brest from August 25th to September 18th.

After a short rest, the division moved to defensive positions along the Teveren-Geilenkirchen line in Germany and maintained those positions through October. (In mid-October the 116th Infantry took part in the fighting at the Aachen Gap.) On November 16th, the division began its drive to the Ruhr, blasting its way through Siersdorf, Setterich, Duerboslar, and Bettendorf, reaching the Rur by the end of the month.

On December 8th, heavy fighting reduced Julich Sportplatz and the Hasenfeld Gut. From December 8th 1944 to February 23rd, 1945, the division held defensive positions along the Ruhr and prepared for the offensive. The attack jumped off across the Ruhr on February 23rd and carried the division through Julich, Broich, Immerath, and Titz to Mönchengladbach on March 1st. The division was out of combat in March, however in early April the 116th Infantry helped mop up in the Ruhr area and on April 19th the division pushed to the Elbe River and held defensive positions until 4 May. Meanwhile, the 175th Infantry Regiment cleared the Kloetze Forest. After VE Day, the division was on military government duty in the Bremen enclave.

Pictured here are members of the US 29th Infantry Division then deployed to Normandy in 1944. Now in stock!

Release Date: July 2007

Historical Account: "Hedgerows" - The Battle of Normandy was fought in 1944 between Nazi Germany in Western Europe and the invading Allied forces as part of the larger conflict of World War II. Over sixty years later, the Normandy invasion, codenamed Operation Overlord, still remains the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving almost three million troops crossing the English Channel from England to Normandy in then German-occupied France. It is most commonly known by the name D-Day.

The primary Allied formations that saw combat in Normandy came from the United States of America, United Kingdom and Canada. Substantial Free French and Polish forces also participated in the battle after the assault phase, and there were also contingents from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, the Netherlands, and Norway.

The Normandy invasion began with overnight parachute and glider landings, massive air attacks, naval bombardments, and an early morning amphibious phase began on June 6th. The “D-Day” forces deployed from bases along the south coast of England, the most important of these being Portsmouth. The battle for Normandy continued for more than two months, with campaigns to establish, expand, and eventually break out of the Allied beachheads, and concluded with the liberation of Paris and the fall of the Falaise pocket in late August 1944.

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