255^th Infantry Regiment

The 255th Infantry Regiment was activated with the 63rd Infantry Division at Camp Blanding on June 15, 1943, trained at Camp Van Dorn, and landed in France on December 7, 1944. Its first combat came before the 63rd Division fought as a complete formation. The regiment was attached first to the 100th Infantry Division and then to the 44th Infantry Division during the winter fighting in the Vosges and Maginot Line sector, where American units held and restored positions during the German offensive south of Bitche. By early February 1945 it had returned to the 63rd Division as Task Force Harris was dissolved.

The 255th soon became central to the division's Saar front. On February 15 it attacked the Bois de Blies Brucken, and later that month the division completed the reduction of the Welferding salient by taking Buebingen and Bliesransbach. In March the regiment joined the 63rd Division's attack southeast of Saarbruecken, a difficult fight through West Wall positions, mines, roadblocks, and fortified villages. On March 20 the 255th moved through the West Wall into Hassel and St. Ingbert, helping complete the breach that opened the division's route into Germany.

After the Rhine crossing at the end of March, the 255th advanced into the Jagst-Kocher country with the division. Its most important late-war action came at the Kocher River. On April 9 the regiment reached the river and established a bridgehead at Weissbach, then expanded it against strong German opposition. Two days later the 10th Armored Division attacked out of that bridgehead, giving the 255th a direct role in opening the armored drive through northern Wuerttemberg. The regiment continued through the Schwaebisch Hall phase, the Rems bridge seizure, and the advance toward the Danube before the 63rd Division was relieved and assigned security duties.