260^th Infantry Regiment

The 260th Infantry Regiment was activated at Camp Shelby on August 16, 1943, and arrived in France with the 65th Infantry Division on January 21, 1945. After training and movement to the front, the division relieved the 26th Infantry Division in the Saarlautern bridgehead on March 9. The 260th entered combat during Third Army's Saar-Palatinate offensive, fighting from a restricted bridgehead against German West Wall defenses. On March 19 the regiment cleared Saarlautern and Saarlautern-Roden while the 259th took Fraulautern and Ensdorf and the 261st drove through Dillingen and Saarwellingen.

After the breakout, the division fought through the West Wall and captured Neunkirchen on March 21. The 260th then joined the eastward pursuit, crossed the Rhine during the night of March 29-30, and advanced behind the 6th Armored Division. After crossing the Fulda on April 2, the regiment reached the Reichensachsen-Langenhain line on April 3 before pausing as armored columns received road priority. The division went into reserve, shifted through Berka and Waltershausen, and assembled at Bamberg for the next phase.

On April 18 the 260th attacked toward Altdorf with the 259th. Neumarkt fell after a sharp fight on April 23, and the division then drove to the Danube. The 260th crossed in the Regensburg operation and took the city on April 27 as the 13th Armored Division passed through the sector. In the final advance it followed armor across the Isar at Platting, mopped up woods between Sandbach and Passau, and crossed into Austria after the Inn line was forced. On May 5 the regiment relieved XII Corps forces in Linz and remained there on garrison duty while the rest of the division closed on the Enns and made contact with Soviet forces.