86^th Infantry Division

The 86th Infantry Division reached France in March 1945 and entered combat in April during the final reduction of the Ruhr Pocket. Crossing the Rhine at Eibelshausen on April 5, it attacked northward into the pocket, the 341st Infantry Regiment taking Hagen on April 14 while the 342nd Infantry seized Hohenlimburg and other elements cleared towns along the Lenne River. With the pocket collapsed, the division shifted south through Bavaria.

Campaign map image

World War II Campaign Map of the 86th Infantry Division. Map courtesy of HistoryShots.

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Moving from Ansbach on April 24, its regiments crossed the Danube at Ingolstadt on April 26-28 and pushed rapidly south, crossing the Isar at Freising during the night of April 29-30 under direct German fire in assault boats. The advance continued toward Wasserburg before the division was redirected east to Salzburg and was in the Austrian approaches when Germany surrendered on May 7.

Though among the last divisions committed to combat in Europe, the 86th participated in two of the campaign's final major operations — the reduction of Germany's principal industrial region and the drive through Bavaria to the Alpine approaches. Its brief campaign reflected the uneven pace of the war's final weeks, where rapid exploitation alternated with sharp resistance at river crossings and defended towns.