102^nd Infantry Division

The 102nd Infantry Division entered combat with Ninth Army north of Aachen in November 1944, attacking toward the Roer River through difficult industrial terrain. Its regiments cleared Gereonsweiler and a series of fortified villages along the approaches to the German frontier before taking up defensive positions on the Roer's west bank, where they held through the winter while the Ardennes crisis was resolved to the south.

Campaign map image

World War II Campaign Map of the 102nd Infantry Division. Map courtesy of HistoryShots.

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In February 1945 the division crossed the Roer at Linnich as part of Operation GRENADE and drove rapidly through the Rhineland, helping take Krefeld in early March before reaching the Rhine. Crossing at Wesel in late March, the division swung north and east, bypassing the Ruhr and advancing through Münster.

From the Weser the division drove east across open country, covering the distance to the Elbe in a sustained advance through April against collapsing resistance. Its regiments reached the Elbe north of Magdeburg by mid-April and established forward positions on the river's west bank, where they remained as Soviet forces approached from the east. The division held the Elbe line when Germany surrendered on May 7, its campaign carrying it from the Roer's winter banks to the final boundary of the Allied advance.