114^th Infantry Regiment

The 114th Infantry Regiment was a New Jersey National Guard regiment inducted on September 16, 1940, and assigned to the 44th Infantry Division. After training at Fort Dix, Fort Lewis, the Louisiana Maneuver Area, and Camp Phillips, it sailed from Boston in September 1944 and landed in France on September 15. The regiment entered combat in Lorraine after a brief attachment to the 79th Infantry Division. In the 44th Division's November attack from Leintrey toward Sarrebourg, the 114th was committed from reserve when the initial advance of the 71st and 324th slowed.

Its Leintrey maneuver became one of the regiment's most useful early actions. Passing through the 71st on November 14, the 114th swung north across the division front, striking the German defenses from the flank and rear. By the evening of November 15 it had gained ground east, northeast, and north of Leintrey, helping dislocate the opposing line. During the Panzer Lehr counterattack later that month, elements of the regiment fought near Ischermuhl and Schalbach; 2nd Battalion held under armored pressure while artillery broke up a German attack. The regiment then took Tieffenbach and Frohmuhl as the division shifted north through the Low Vosges.

In December the 114th helped consolidate the 44th Division's advance toward the Maginot Line. After the 71st reduced Fort Simserhof, the regiment entered Hottviller on December 19. It then endured the defensive fighting of Operation Nordwind in the Rimling-Sarreguemines sector and joined the February 1945 effort to erase the Gros Rederching salient, reaching its objective beyond Bois de Blies Brucken despite fire near Bellevue Farm. In the final campaign, the 114th crossed Germany with the division, took blocking positions near Schwaebisch Gmuend, assembled near Laupheim, and moved into the Lech valley. As the 71st forced Fern Pass, the regiment advanced toward Tarrenz and Imst before German forces in the region surrendered.