121^st Infantry Regiment

The 121st Infantry Regiment was a Georgia National Guard regiment inducted in September 1940. After initial assignment to the 30th Division, it joined the 8th Division in November 1941, trained as motorized infantry, returned to standard infantry status in 1943, and landed in France on July 1, 1944. After the division's Normandy hedgerow fighting, the regiment was attached to the 83rd Infantry Division for the attack on Dinard, west of St. Malo. Crossing the Rance on August 7, it ran into roadblocks, mines, wire, pillboxes, and heavy artillery. Its 3rd Battalion was isolated at Pleurtuit for three days before relief forces broke through, and Dinard fell after a methodical reduction of fortified positions.

The 121st Infantry later fought at Brest and then moved east to the German frontier. On November 21, 1944, it made the main 8th Division attack into the Huertgen Forest. The regiment advanced through mud, mines, wire, log bunkers, tree bursts, and close-range fire, suffering heavy casualties for gains often measured in yards. By November 24 it had lost roughly 600 battle casualties and still had not reached the woods edge overlooking Huertgen. Reinforced by the 1st Battalion, 13th Infantry, it finally pushed to the village, entered from the west, and helped secure Huertgen on November 28. It then assisted the attack toward Brandenberg by clearing the woods flanking the armored route.

In February 1945 the regiment crossed the Roer after the 13th and 28th Infantry had begun the assault near Dueren. It attacked through the 13th Infantry and captured Binsfeld as the division expanded the bridgehead. In April it fought through the Ruhr pocket, seizing Eschenbach and Lutzel while the division drove toward the Ruhr. In the final phase, the regiment helped lead the division's movement from the Elbe bridgehead toward Schwerin, where the war ended amid mass German surrenders.