42^nd Infantry Division

The 42nd Infantry Division entered combat in early 1945 in the Alsace sector, its 222nd Infantry Regiment, 232nd Infantry Regiment, and 242nd Infantry Regiment relieving veteran units and conducting patrol and local offensive operations near Haguenau. On March 15, the division attacked through the Hardt Mountains at Baerenthal, crossed into Germany on March 18, and by March 22 had taken Dahn after the Germans abandoned their West Wall positions.

Campaign map image

World War II Campaign Map of the 42nd Infantry Division. Map courtesy of HistoryShots.

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Crossing the Rhine on March 31, the division pushed toward Würzburg behind the 12th Armored Division, seizing Wertheim on April 1. At dawn on April 3, the 222nd Infantry crossed the Main River at Würzburg in a frontal assault while the 232nd Infantry followed under smoke screens on April 4; German resistance in the city was overcome by April 5. The division then reduced Schweinfurt in heavy fighting April 6–12 with liberal air support, and the 222nd and 232nd Infantry reached the Aisch River at Neustadt on April 15. The division fought house-to-house in Fuerth April 18–19 and joined the 3rd and 45th Infantry Divisions in the assault on Nuremberg; the city fell on April 20.

Driving south, the division crossed the Danube at Donauwörth on April 25, passed through Munich on April 30, and crossed the Austrian border north of Salzburg on May 5 as the war ended. On April 29 its troops also liberated the Dachau concentration camp. Though its campaign lasted barely three months, the Rainbow Division participated in the final offensive across southern Germany and into Austria.