78^th Infantry Division

The 78th Infantry Division entered combat in December 1944 in the rugged terrain north of the Hürtgen Forest, relieving the 1st Infantry Division along the Roer-Urft sector. The 311th Infantry Regiment became heavily engaged in the month-long battle for Kesternich, which did not fall until January 31, 1945. Meanwhile, the division blocked the road junction near Monschau on December 18 in response to the Ardennes counteroffensive and spent January clearing hill positions over the Kall River.

Campaign map image

World War II Campaign Map of the 78th Infantry Division. Map courtesy of HistoryShots.

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The division's most consequential action came in early February. Attacking with three regiments toward the Schwammenauel Dam on the Roer, it fought through Kommerscheidt and adjacent strongpoints before two of its regiments were temporarily attached to the 9th Infantry Division, which seized the dam on February 8-9, removing the German ability to control flooding and opening the way for the Allied advance.

Crossing the Roer in late February and then the Rhine at Remagen attached to the 9th Infantry Division, the division broke out through the Rhineland and drove east. The 309th Infantry Regiment cut the Cologne-Frankfurt Autobahn in mid-March, and the division crossed the Sieg before turning to reduce the Ruhr Pocket in April. Its regiments overran Wuppertal and Elberfeld on April 16 before the division shifted to rear-area security duties near Marburg, where it was posted when Germany surrendered on May 7.