109^th Infantry Regiment

The 109th Infantry Regiment was a Pennsylvania National Guard regiment inducted at Scranton on February 17, 1941 and assigned to the 28th Infantry Division. After training in the United States, it reached England in October 1943 and landed in France on July 22, 1944. The regiment entered combat in the Normandy hedgerows as the division fought toward Percy and Gathemo. After the division commander was killed on August 12, the 28th Division was pulled back, but the 109th continued forward toward the Foret de Mortain. It later rejoined the division for the move through Verneuil, the ceremonial passage through Paris, and the pursuit across Belgium and Luxembourg.

In September 1944 the 109th helped carry the division's first attack into the West Wall. After the Our River crossing near Binsfeld, the regiment and the 110th Infantry breached German defenses, and the 109th fought several days for Roscheid. The regiment's next major action came in the Huertgen Forest. On November 2 it attacked north from the Germeter area toward the woods line overlooking Huertgen. Its battalions gained a narrow salient in dense forest, but German counterattacks, mines, artillery tree bursts, and infiltration prevented full success. A battalion later helped cover the withdrawal from the Kall gorge after the 112th Infantry's Schmidt-Kommerscheidt fight collapsed.

When the Ardennes offensive opened on December 16, the 109th held the division south flank in the Sauer-Our triangle. It resisted attacks by the 5th Parachute and 352d Volks Grenadier Divisions around Fuhren, Longsdorf, Tandel, and Diekirch, delaying German movement toward Luxembourg road centers. By December 20 the regiment was holding a line from Ettelbruck through Oberfeulen to Merzig and supporting armored commands. After the Ardennes, the regiment returned to the division for the Colmar Pocket, where the 28th helped clear the northern approaches to Colmar. In March 1945 it joined the Eifel drive as the division seized Schleiden and reached the Ahr at Blankenheim before ending the war in occupation duties.