120^th Infantry Regiment

The 120th Infantry Regiment was a North Carolina National Guard regiment inducted at Raleigh on September 16, 1940 and assigned to the 30th Infantry Division. After training in the United States, it reached England in February 1944 and landed in France on June 10. The next day it captured Montmartin-en-Graignes and then helped hold the Vire-Taute Canal line. On July 7 the regiment crossed that canal while the 117th Infantry crossed the Vire, together forming the St. Jean-de-Daye bridgehead that opened the division's route toward St. Lo.

The regiment fought through the St. Lo campaign and then was caught in the German counterattack at Mortain. Its roadblocks north and south of the town were hit early on August 7, and the 2nd Battalion, reinforced by part of the 3rd Battalion, was isolated on Hill 317 above Mortain. For five days the hill position held under repeated attack, sustained by artillery observers, airdrops, and emergency medical supplies delivered by artillery shell. The regiment reentered Mortain as relief forces restored the line on August 12.

In September the 120th moved into the Low Countries, occupied Lanaye, and captured the canal locks intact before the division entered Maastricht. It then attacked into the West Wall north of Aachen, fighting at Birk, Euchen, Broichweiden, Bardenberg, and Lohn. In November it took Lohn and held the village against counterattacks as the division advanced toward the Roer. The Ardennes crisis shifted the regiment to the Malmedy-Stavelot sector, where it manned roadblocks and helped contain the German armored thrust along the Ambleve.

On February 23, 1945, the 120th crossed the Roer near Schophoven after difficult bridge and ferry attempts forced part of the regiment to use the 119th Infantry's crossing site. It crossed the Rhine on March 24 near Rheinberg, advanced through Moellen beyond the rail lines east of the river, and finished the war in the rapid April drive through the Weser line, Teutoburger Wald, Elbe, and Magdeburg sector.