14^th Infantry Regiment

The 14th Infantry Regiment began the war in the Panama Canal Zone and returned to the United States through San Francisco in June 1943. It moved to Camp Carson under Third Army and was assigned to the 71st Light Division, later the 71st Infantry Division. After training at Hunter Liggett Military Reservation and Fort Benning, the regiment staged at Camp Kilmer, sailed from New York on January 26, 1945, reached France on February 6, entered Germany on March 22, and entered Austria on May 4.

The regiment's combat opened in the Saar-Palatinate campaign after the division relieved the 100th Infantry Division near Ratzwiller on March 11. The 71st pushed through West Wall defenses and captured Pirmasens on March 21, then crossed the Rhine at Oppenheim on March 30. North of Hanau in early April, the 14th worked with the 5th Infantry to drive a bypassed German force eastward into Budingen Wald while the 66th Infantry blocked the exits. The division then advanced through the Fulda area, toward Coburg, and into the battle for Bayreuth.

During the late-April pursuit, the 14th was prominent in the division's fast movement through Bavaria. After the division cut the Sulzbach-Nuremberg highway and railroad, the 14th cleared Amberg with tank support on April 22. Two days later it crossed the Naab at Regenstauf as the division pushed toward Regensburg. On April 26 it crossed the Danube in the Donaustauf-Sulzbach vicinity, reinforced by a battalion of the 66th Infantry, and Regensburg surrendered the next day. At the end of April the 14th joined the assault crossing of the Isar under smoke and direct German fire. The regiment then advanced into Austria as resistance collapsed, moving with Third Army toward the Enns and the Soviet contact line.