65^th Infantry Division

The 65th Infantry Division entered combat in March 1945, capturing Neunkirchen and breaching the West Wall on March 21 before two regiments crossed the Rhine together during the night of March 29-30. Attacking across the Fulda on April 2 behind the 6th Armored Division, the advance was briefly disrupted when a German counterattack overran a battalion near Strath on April 7 before air support restored the situation. Regrouping at Bamberg, the division renewed the offensive toward Altdorf on April 18, took Neumarkt on April 23, and pressed to the Danube, forcing a crossing southwest of Regensburg on April 26 against determined opposition before taking the city the following day.

Campaign map image

World War II Campaign Map of the 65th Infantry Division. Map courtesy of HistoryShots.

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Driving south behind armor, the division crossed the Isar at Platting on May 1. The 261st Infantry Regiment reached the Inn River at Passau on May 2 and assaulted across at Neuhaus; Passau fell the next day, Inn crossings were complete by May 4, and the advance continued through Linz and Enns. Contact with Soviet Army forces near Strengherg on May 8 ended the campaign. Its brief combat service — from the German frontier to the Austrian heartland in a matter of weeks — reflected the speed and momentum of the final Allied offensive.