"Attack, Attack, Attack"

In the face of unrelenting German successes, the United States Congress passed a Joint Resolution on August 27, 1940, ordering the entire National Guard to active duty for twelve months. One of the National Guard divisions mobilized was the 34th ('Red Bull') Division composed of units from Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

On February 10, 1941, the division, still organized as a World War I-era square division of four infantry regiments, was activated at Council Bluffs, Iowa. Ten days later, relying on both rail assets and truck convoys, the division moved to Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. Once established in its tent city, the unit underwent intensive training and later successfully participated in the Third Army's Louisiana Maneuvers. Because of its outstanding performance during the maneuvers and its advanced state of training, the 34th Division was selected as the first American contingent to cross the Atlantic and enter what would eventually become the European Theater of Operations. Meanwhile, on February 1, 1942, the division was redesignated the 34th Infantry Division and reconfigured as a triangular division built around the 133rd, 135th and 168th Infantry Regiments.

Once the third and final contingent of the 34th Infantry Division and augmentees arrived on May 10, rigid training, to include amphibious training, and maneuvers became the order of the day. It was during this period of intense training when Captain William O. Darby, an aide to General Hartle, was tasked to form the 1st Ranger Battalion, 80 percent of which consisted of 34th Infantry Division personnel.

In the latter part of October the division departed the Belfast area en route to North Africa, where on November 8, it took part in Operation Torch and conducted amphibious landings in the vicinity of Algiers. The division would go on to play a key role in six major campaigns in North Africa and Italy, resulting in 517 days in combat, more than any other U.S. division.

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