During both World Wars, the 29th Division earned a fighting reputation second to none. In the First World War, the 29th fought in the trenches on the Western Front and actively participated in the U.S. Army's October 1918 Meuse-Argonne offensive, one of the largest American military operationsin history, and one which helped to bring the war to a close in favor of the Allied powers.
During the Second World War, the 29th Infantry Division played a decisive role yet again when it successfully assaulted Omaha Beach on D-Day, june 6, 1944, as part of the great Allied amphibious invasion of German-occupied France. The D-Day landings were a turning point in World War II and the beginning of the end for Hitler's Nazi Germany. Later the 29th participated in the Normandy campaign, liberating the vital Norman crossroads city of St.Lô on July 18, 1944. Subsequently the division played key roles in the Normandy breakout, codenamed "Operation Cobra," the liberation of Brittany and its critical port of Brest, the Rhineland campaign in Holland and Germany, and the final defeat of the German Army east of the Rhine River.
The 29th Infantry Division exists today as a "light division," the only such division in the U.S. Army comprised entirely of National Guard troops. Recently elements of the 29th Division (Light), under the command of Maj. Gen. H. Steven Blum, deployed to Bosnia for several months and played a key peacekeeping and anti-terrorist role there. Other 29th Division units have been mobilized for pivotal Homeland Security duties.
CLICK HERE to see the organization of the 29th Infantry Division and a list of its subordinate units' commanding officers on D-Day, June 6, 1944
CLICK HERE to see the organization of the 29th Infantry Division and a list of its subordinate units' armories on February 3, 1941 upon its induction into Federal service