193^rd Glider Infantry Regiment

The 193rd Glider Infantry Regiment was activated at Camp Mackall, North Carolina, on April 15, 1943, as part of the 17th Airborne Division. After airborne training in North Carolina and Tennessee, it staged at Camp Myles Standish, departed Boston on August 20, 1944, and reached England eight days later. The regiment did not take part in the Normandy or southern France airborne operations. Its combat service began in the emergency movement of the 17th Airborne Division to the Continent during the Ardennes crisis.

The 193rd landed in France on December 31, 1944 and moved immediately into Belgium. The division had been flown into the Reims area in late December, defended the Meuse from Givet to Verdun, and relieved the 28th Infantry Division near Neufchateau on January 1, 1945. It attacked northwest of Bastogne on January 3, entering a hard fight against German armored and infantry forces around Rechrival, Flamierge, Hubermont, and the approaches to the Ourthe River. The 193rd's separate record shows attachment to the 101st Airborne Division from January 3 to 7 and again from January 14 to 18, placing it in the Bastogne sector during the reduction of the German salient.

The division's January fighting was costly and uneven. German counterattacks forced temporary losses around Flamierge, and the division had to reorganize while learning combat under severe winter conditions. By mid-January German withdrawal allowed the 17th Airborne to retake ground, reach the Ourthe River, and advance through Tavigny, Steinbach, Limerle, Espeler, and Wattermal before relief late in the month.

The 193rd did not remain active for the division's later airborne assault across the Rhine. It was disbanded in Belgium on March 1, 1945. Its wartime record is therefore an Ardennes service record, not a Varsity or Ruhr campaign combat narrative.