The 8th ID takes a wrong turn at Albuquerque...

[HorseSoldier]

I suspect what we're seeing is poor internal consistency between products, with the initial idea being what the OP suggested -- 8th ID is eventually pushed into a stable position in Latvia by the enemy situation further west. Then later writers failed to substantiate that in other sourcebooks. As for the navigation error, I agree it's improbable, but maybe it's a bit of a joke -- the division's patch being 'eight up' and all . . ..