18^th Infantry Regiment

The 18th Infantry Regiment served with the 1st Infantry Division from prewar training into the final campaign in Germany. Stationed at Fort Benning before the war, it moved through the Louisiana Maneuver area, Fort Hamilton, Fort Devens, Camp Blanding, Fort Benning again, and Indiantown Gap before sailing from New York in August 1942. On November 8, 1942, the regiment assaulted near Oran with the division. In Tunisia it fought through the 1st Division's early combat experience, including action with British forces at Djebel el Ahmera, the El Guettar operations, and the costly hill fighting that followed. During the March offensive, the 18th and 26th Infantry helped contain German counterattacks, and the regiment later fought at Djebel Berda and Hill 407.

In the Sicilian campaign the 18th Infantry initially remained offshore as reserve and landed at Scoglitti on July 13, 1943. Returning to England in November, it prepared for OVERLORD and assaulted Normandy on June 6, 1944. In the first days after Omaha Beach, the regiment advanced in the 1st Division center toward Engranville, Mandeville, Mosles, and Formigny. By mid-June it helped the division secure Caumont and the St. Lo-Bayeux highway approaches, then fought through the Normandy breakout and pursuit across France.

The regiment crossed Belgium in early September and entered Germany on September 15, 1944. During the Aachen battle, the 18th Infantry drove through Verlautenheide while other division regiments attacked the city or held the Eilendorf line. In the November West Wall fighting it was committed along Weh Creek toward Langerwehe. After the Ardennes crisis, the regiment resumed offensive operations in 1945, crossed east of the Rhine, and fought near Grafenhohn, Huscheid, Brungsberg, and related objectives. It later joined the division's Weser operations and the final drive toward Czechoslovakia, where the 18th seized Sangerberg and Mnichov before hostilities ended.