110^th Infantry Regiment

The 110th Infantry Regiment was a Pennsylvania National Guard regiment inducted at Washington, Pennsylvania, on February 17, 1941 and assigned to the 28th Infantry Division. It trained in the United States, arrived in England in October 1943, and landed in France on July 22, 1944. The regiment entered combat in Normandy as the division fought through the hedgerows toward Percy and Gathemo. It then joined the pursuit across France, passing through Verneuil and Paris before moving through Belgium and Luxembourg toward the German frontier.

In September 1944 the 110th was one of the division's lead regiments in the West Wall. It began attacking west of Grosskampenberg on September 12, helped breach the defenses with the 109th Infantry, and seized Hill 553 near Kresfeld and Losenseifen Hill in bitter fighting. In October a battalion was detached to the Aachen battle, where it reinforced the 1st Infantry Division sector. The regiment returned to the 28th Division for the Huertgen Forest attack in November. On the division south flank it attacked toward Raffelsbrand and Simonskall through thick woods, mines, wire, and pillboxes. The effort produced little ground and severe losses, and by mid-November the regiment was withdrawn from the Vossenack-Schmidt sector.

The 110th's defining action came when the German Ardennes offensive opened on December 16. Holding the division center on a broad Our River front, it faced elements of the 2nd Panzer, Panzer Lehr, and 26th Volks Grenadier Divisions. Its village strongpoints at Marnach, Heinerscheid, Hosingen, Consthum, and Clerf were overrun or forced back only after hard local fights that delayed the German timetable toward Bastogne. Remnants of the regiment, reinforced by tanks, tank destroyers, engineers, antiaircraft troops, and artillerymen, continued the fight around Wiltz and later helped block the Neufchateau-Bastogne highway. After rebuilding, the regiment rejoined the division for the Colmar Pocket and the 1945 drive into Germany, reaching Zingsheim as the division moved through Schleiden toward the Ahr.