World War II
In 1942 he was promoted to colonel and assigned to the 106th Cavalry Regiment (United States) of the Illinois National Guard then in training at Camp Livingston, Louisiana. This regiment was one of the first to receive mechanized equipment and was being prepared for overseas duty in a crash program. Every individual had to the retrained, new subjects taught and tactics and techniques developed and perfected. As commander, he prepared this regiment for combat by intensive training which included two of the famous Louisiana Maneuvers. As the regiment was deployed to Europe in 1943, Herren returned to the Cavalry School at Fort Riley as its commandant and was promoted to brigadier general in 1944.
Herren joined the 70th Infantry Division (United States) at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri as assistant division commander in the fall of 1944, near the end of its pre-deployment training. With three infantry regiments— 274th 275th and 276th - the incomplete division, minus special troops, deployed to Marseilles, France in December 1944. As Task Force HERREN it undertook combat missions with the Seventh United States Army in northeast France, mostly in the Alsace-Lorraine region. Task Force HERREN fought in numerous engagements in Operation Nordwind and along the Rhine until remaining units of 70th Division arrived. Herren remained with the 70th Division until it returned to the States and demobilized.
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