The 3rd Infantry Division entered combat during Operation TORCH, landing in French Morocco on November 8, 1942 and entering Casablanca three days later. In the Sicilian campaign the division came ashore on July 10, 1943. The 7th Infantry Regiment seized Agrigento on July 16 with naval gunfire support, and the division reached Palermo ahead of armored columns on July 22. Turning east along the coastal highway on August 1, the 15th Infantry Regiment forced crossings over the Furiano River on August 4 with naval gunfire assistance, while a battalion of the 30th Infantry Regiment landed by sea east of Agata on August 7 to outflank withdrawing enemy forces. A second coastal landing at Capo d'Orlando on August 10 further compressed the retreat, and the 7th Infantry raced into Messina on August 16 still under fire from the Italian shore, closing the Sicilian campaign.

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World War II Campaign Map of the 3rd Infantry Division. Map courtesy of HistoryShots.

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Nine days after the invasion of Italy, the division landed at Salerno and fought north through Battipaglia into the mountains, crossing the Volturno River east of Capua on October 13, 1943 and engaging in ten days of brutal Winter Line fighting that opened in November. The Rock of the Marne assaulted Anzio on January 22, 1944, enduring four months of intense combat that included repeated German counterattacks and the near-collapse of the beachhead before joining the May breakout. The division was designated the garrison of Rome on June 4, entering the city as Fifth Army's lead formation.

In August 1944, the division landed in the Bay of Cavalaire in southern France on August 15, cleared Saint-Tropez by August 17, and reached the Rhône River at Arles on August 24. Advancing north up the Rhône Valley, the 7th Infantry assaulted Vesoul on September 11 and the division crossed the Moselle River on September 23. It then entered Alsace, helped secure Strasbourg in November, and continued winter operations including actions against the Colmar Pocket. In early 1945 the Rock of the Marne crossed into southern Germany and advanced into Austria in the final weeks of the war. Its combat record extended from Morocco to Central Europe, including repeated amphibious landings and sustained campaigning across North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, Germany, and Austria.