89^th Infantry Division

The 89th Infantry Division entered combat in the Saar-Moselle region in March 1945, crossing the Moselle in the Alf-Bullay sector and advancing behind armor. Its regiments crossed the Rhine on March 26 under intense enemy fire in the Wellmich-Oberwesel region, fought through the Lahn bridgehead, and drove into the Thüringer Wald, where Eisenach fell on April 6 after determined resistance. The advance then swept east through successive river crossings — the Saale, the Weisse-Elster, the Pleisse — before the division established a bridgehead across the Zwickauer Mulde near Zwickau by April 18.

Campaign map image

World War II Campaign Map of the 89th Infantry Division. Map courtesy of HistoryShots.

Purchase at HistoryShots →

Its most significant association came during the drive east, when its lead elements reached Ohrdruf in early April — a subcamp of Buchenwald and the first Nazi concentration camp to be liberated by American forces. The discovery had a profound impact on the troops involved and prompted visits from senior Allied commanders in the days that followed.

The division's advance was halted on order on April 23, its regiments shifting to security and patrolling duties short of Soviet positions. Though its combat service lasted only a few months, the 89th crossed three major rivers under fire, fought through the Thüringer Wald, and was present at one of the European war's most significant liberation events.