35th Infantry Division Memory

For never forget...
Santa Fe
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Foreword


If the History of the 35th Division could be written in one word, that word would be "attack". Few, if any divisions can claim a record of ten months of almost continuos action, many days of which were in bitter attacks, nor can many divisions claim some 1600 miles of combat travel. From the time we landed at Omaha Beach, early in July through St. Lo, the Vire River, Mortain, Orleans, Montargis, Troy, Nancy, Sarreguemines, the Blies River, Bastogne, the lower Vosges, the Roer River, Venlo, Wesel, the Ruhr and on to the Elbe, the division established a record for aggressive action, determination, and the ability to win battles second to none. Such a feat can only be accomplished by careful coordination and the full cooperation of everyone connected therewith, based on plans carefully prepared and carried through to their conclusion.

For our success, full credit is due to an exceptionally smooth functioning staff, to a determined group of commanders who knew but one motto, "advance," and to as fine a group of non-commissioned officers as any unit can boast of. But when it is all said and done, the finest staff work and best type of command will fail, if the determination and the will to do of the individual soldier is lacking. I cannot praise too highly the indomitable spirit of our soldiers who withstood the worst that the Germans could offer in shot and shell, as well as the bitterest mud, rain and extreme cold that the winter could produce. This spirit of determination not only pervaded the division and its attached units throughout the operation, but was quickly imbued in all reinforcements that arrived. No better illustration can be offered than the fact that when the division received 2200 replacements in a four day period prior to Christmas Day 1944, and had but one day, Christmas Day to absorb them, these new members became so imbued with the spirit of the division, that within the following ten days, the 35th not only drove the Germans from the Arlon-Bastogne highway, but for four days withstood the withering attack of elements of four of the best divisions the Germans had.

Successful action as fierce and sustained as that in which the 35th Division was engaged, unfortunately, entails a price. We, too, paid that price. The brilliant deeds of those comrades we left behind, of those who will bear the scars of war, as well as the rest of us fortunate enough to return in good health, are indelibly recorded in the pages of history; all members of a proud, aggressive, successful division - heroes every one.

PAUL W. BAADE
Major General, U. S. A.

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