97^th Infantry Division

The 97th Infantry Division arrived in France in March 1945 and entered combat in April during the reduction of the Ruhr Pocket. The 386th Infantry Regiment crossed the Sieg River in assault boats on April 7 as the division drove into the encircled German industrial region, and the 303rd Infantry Regiment captured Siegburg in street-to-street fighting on April 9-10 before advancing toward Düsseldorf. The 303rd Infantry seized the city virtually unopposed on April 18, completing the elimination of organized resistance in the Ruhr Pocket.

Relieved from Ruhr operations, the division shifted to the Czech frontier, capturing Cheb on April 26 and securing its airfield two days later before attacking toward Plzeň on May 5. The advance reached Konstantinovy Lázně at the war's end when hostilities were declared on May 7, 1945.

Following the German surrender, the division was redeployed for anticipated operations against Japan before the Pacific surrender forestalled that mission; it subsequently served occupation duty in Japan. Though its European combat service lasted only weeks, the 97th moved through two distinct operations — the encirclement and collapse of the Ruhr and the rapid advance into western Czechoslovakia — in quick succession, its brief campaign a reflection of the accelerating pace of Germany's final defeat.