The 29th Infantry Division (29th ID), also known as the "Blue and Gray Division", is an infantry division of the United States Army based at Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County, Virginia. The division is currently a formation of the Army National Guard and includes units from Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia.
Formed in 1917, the division deployed to France as a part of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I. It was called up for service again during World War II. The division's 116th Regiment, attached to the 1st Infantry Division, was the first wave of troops ashore during the Normandy landings in France (Operation Overlord). It supported a special Ranger unit tasked with clearing strong points at Omaha Beach. The rest of the 29th ID came ashore later, then advanced to Saint-Lô, and eventually through France and into Germany.
Following the end of World War II, the division saw frequent reorganizations (especially Pentomic), and was then inactivated in 1968. It was reformed in 1985, taking part in numerous training exercises. Then in the 1990s it made peacekeeping deployments to Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR10) and Kosovo (KFOR) as command elements. Units of the division deployed to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. Then parts of the division fought in the War in Afghanistan; and in the Iraq War as a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.
After the initial US withdrawal from Iraq in 2010, it again sent forces to the Middle East for Operation Spartan Shield. In 2016, two separate elements of the 29th deployed overseas. In July 2016, over 80 soldiers deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, a U.S. government military campaign against Islamic State militants.
In October 2019, over 450 soldiers from the division deployed for Operation Spartan Shield.
The division most recently deployed to Kuwait for its second Task Force Spartan rotation in 2021. From Kuwait, staff officers from 29ID Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion coordinated the rescue of approximately 11,000 refugees from Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the state.
History World War I The 29th Division was constituted on paper on 18 July 1917, three months after the American entry into World War I, in the National Guard. Troops came from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. As the division was composed of men from states that had units that fought for both the North and South during the American Civil War, it was nicknamed the "Blue and Gray" division, after the blue uniforms of the Union and the gray uniforms of the Confederate armies. The division was organized as a unit on 25 August 1917 at Camp McClellan, Alabama. In November, 1,000 draftees from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia joined the division, while in January 1918, the 1st Delaware Infantry was relieved from assignment to the division and used to form the separate 59th Pioneer Infantry Regiment. In May, remaining vacancies were filled by 5,000 more draftees from New York, New England, and the Midwest.
The division, commanded throughout its existence by Major General Charles G. Morton, departed for the Western Front in June 1918 to join the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF). The division's advance detachment reached Brest, France on 8 June. In late September, the 29th received orders to join the U.S. First Army's Meuse–Argonne offensive as part of the French XVII Corps.
During its 21 days in combat,Source book : operations of the 29th Division east of the Meuse river, October 8th to 30th, 1918 (full text) the 29th Division advanced seven kilometers, captured 2,148 prisoners, and knocked out over 250 machine guns or artillery pieces. Thirty percent of the division were casualties in the war, including 170 officers and 5,691 enlisted men were killed or wounded. Shortly thereafter the Armistice with Germany was signed on 11 November 1918, ending hostilities between the Central Powers and the Allied Powers. The division returned to the United States in May 1919. It demobilized on 30 May at Camp Dix, New Jersey,
Order of battle, 1917–1918 Headquarters, 29th Division 57th Infantry Brigade (now 57th Troop Command, NJ ARNG) 113th Infantry Regiment (former 4th New Jersey Infantry less Headquarters Company, Machine Gun Company, Company L, and part of Supply Company, 1st New Jersey Infantry less Company K, and 2nd New Jersey Infantry less band, Machine Gun Company, and Companies G and L) 114th Infantry Regiment (former 3rd New Jersey Infantry less band, Machine Gun Company, and Companies I and L, and 5th New Jersey Infantry less Company F) 111th Machine Gun Battalion (former Machine Gun Company, 4th New Jersey Infantry, and Machine Gun Company and Company L, 2nd New Jersey Infantry) 58th Infantry Brigade 115th Infantry Regiment (former 1st Maryland Infantry less Company H, 5th Maryland Infantry less Headquarters, Supply, and Machine Gun Companies, and 4th Maryland Infantry less band, Machine Gun Company, and Companies A, B, D, E, F, H, and I) 116th Infantry Regiment (former 2nd Virginia Infantry, 1st Virginia Infantry less band) and Machine Gun Company, and 4th Virginia Infantry less Headquarters Company, Machine Gun Company, and Companies D, I, and M) 112th Machine Gun Battalion (former Company H, 1st Maryland Infantry, Machine Gun Company, 4th Maryland Infantry, and Machine Gun Company and Company D, 4th Virginia Infantry) 54th Field Artillery Brigade 110th Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm) (former Headquarters and Supply Companies, 5th Maryland Infantry, Batteries A, B and C, Maryland Field Artillery, Batteries A and B, D.C. Field Artillery, 1st Squadron, D.C. Cavalry, and detachment from Company A, Virginia Signal Corps) 111th Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm) (former 1st Virginia Field Artillery, Headquarters Company and Companies I and M, 4th Virginia Infantry, and detachment from Company A, Virginia Signal Corps) 112th Field Artillery Regiment (155 mm) (former 1st New Jersey Field Artillery less Battery F, Troops B and D, 1st New Jersey Cavalry, and detachment from Company A, Virginia Signal Corps) 104th Trench Mortar Battery (former Battery F, New Jersey Field Artillery) 110th Machine Gun Battalion (former Machine Gun Company, 5th Maryland Infantry, Machine Gun Company, 4th New Jersey Infantry, and Machine Gun Company, 1st Virginia Infantry) 104th Engineer Regiment (former 1st Battalion. New Jersey Engineers, Company K, 1st New Jersey Infantry, Company G, 2nd New Jersey Infantry, Companies I and L, 3rd New Jersey Infantry, Co. L, 4th New Jersey Infantry, and Co. F, 5th New Jersey Infantry) 104th Field Signal Battalion (former Companies A and C, New Jersey Signal Corps, and Company B, D.C. Signal Corps) Headquarters Troop, 29th Division (detachment from 1st Squadron, New Jersey Cavalry) 104th Train Headquarters and Military Police (former Troops A and C, 1st Squadron New Jersey Cavalry, and Troop A, Maryland Cavalry) 104th Ammunition Train (former 1st Squadron, Virginia Cavalry, and individual transfers) 104th Supply Train (individual transfers) 104th Engineer Train (individual transfers) 104th Sanitary Train 113th, 114th, 115th, and 116th Ambulance Companies and Field Hospitals (former 1st Maryland Ambulance Company, 1st Virginia Ambulance Company, 1st New Jersey Field Hospital, 1st Maryland Field Hospital, and 1st Virginia Field Hospital)
Interwar period In accordance with the National Defense Act of 1920, the division was allotted to the states of Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, and assigned to the III Corps in 1921. The division headquarters was reorganized and federally recognized on 31 July 1923 at Washington, D.C. The designated mobilization training center for the "Blue and Gray" Division was Fort Eustis, Virginia. Units from New Jersey that were part of the 29th Division in World War I were assigned to the new 44th Division, which encompassed troops from New Jersey and New York. As a result, the 57th Infantry Brigade and 104th Engineer Regiment went to the 44th Division, while the newly constituted 91st Infantry Brigade and 121st Engineer Regiment were assigned the 29th Division. When 155 mm howitzers were returned to infantry divisions beginning in 1929, a formerly non-divisional unit from Pennsylvania was assigned to the division.
From 1922 to 1936, the division's subordinate units held separate summer camps at locations within their respective states: Camp Albert C. Ritchie, near Cascade, Maryland, for Maryland and District of Columbia units, the Virginia Beach State Military Reservation at Virginia Beach, Virginia, for Virginia units, and the target range in Monroe and Wayne Counties, Pennsylvania, near Tobyhanna, for the artillery units. The division staff, composed of personnel from all four states, came together to conduct joint training most summers before World War II. The division staff's summer training periods were conducted most years at Camp Ritchie, Virginia Beach, or Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. The headquarters also participated in several corps area and army-level command post exercises (CPXs) during the interwar years. However, the first time the majority of the division's subordinate units had the chance to operate together came in June 1935 during the portion of the First Army maneuvers held at Indiantown Gap Military Reservation, Pennsylvania.
Unfortunately, the 91st Infantry Brigade and the 121st Engineers did not attend the maneuver. The poliomyelitis epidemic which had developed in Virginia that summer prompted the governor of Pennsylvania to refuse the brigade's entry into the state. The next opportunity to train as one unit came in August 1939 when the entire division was assembled at Manassas, Virginia, for the Third Corps Area concentration of the First Army maneuvers. In that maneuver, the "Blue and Gray" Division operated as part of the provisional III Corps. For the additional week's training directed by the War Department for all National Guard units that winter, the Virginia elements of the 29th Division assembled 12–18 November 1939 at Virginia Beach, while the Maryland and District of Columbia elements assembled at Camp Ritchie. The final division training event before induction came in August 1940 when the 29th Division participated in the First Army maneuvers near Canton, New York. The division again operated as part of the III Corps against the provisional I Corps. The division was relieved from the III Corps on 30 December 1940 and assigned to the II Corps. It was inducted into federal service at home stations on 3 February 1941. Instead of Fort Eustis, however, it was ordered to move to Fort George G. Meade, where it arrived on 4-5 February 1941. The division was transferred to the A.P. Hill Military Reservation, Virginia, on 14 September 1941. After the division’s initial train-up period, it participated in the Carolina Maneuvers in October–November 1941 as part of the II Corps in the vicinity of Hoffman-Oakboro, North Carolina. Location of the division headquarters on 7 December 1941 was in transit between North Carolina and Fort George G. Meade.
Commanders Source: Major General Anton Stephan (Washington, D.C.), 31 July 1923 – 10 April 1934 Major General Milton A. Reckord (Maryland), 14 April 1934–February 1942
World War II WWII division organization Square division On 3 February 1941, the 29th Division was inducted into federal service at home stations and then assembled at Fort Meade in Maryland. At the time the division still retained its World War I square organization and consisted of the following units.
29th Division, in Washington, D.C. 29th Division Headquarters, in Washington, D.C. 58th Infantry Brigade, in Baltimore (MD) Headquarters and Headquarters Company, in Baltimore (MD) 115th Infantry Regiment, in Frederick (MD) Headquarters and Headquarters Company