28^th Infantry Regiment

The 28th Infantry Regiment, formerly a 1st Division regiment, was assigned to the 8th Division in June 1940. It trained in the United States, briefly carried a motorized designation, and landed in France with the 8th Infantry Division on July 3, 1944. In Normandy it fought through the hedgerows as the division pushed toward the Lessay-Periers road, then moved into Brittany. During the Brest operation the regiment fought as part of the division's central assault against the fortress perimeter. After the division was compressed out of the city fighting, it shifted to the Crozon Peninsula, where the 8th Division overran German defenses and forced the surrender of thousands of prisoners.

In November the regiment entered the Huertgen Forest after the 28th Division's costly fight around Vossenack and Schmidt. While the 121st Infantry bore the first attack into Huertgen, the 28th Infantry became important in the follow-on struggle for the Brandenberg-Bergstein ridge. It fought through the Tiefen Creek and Vossenack woods, helped clear the flanks of the Kleinhau-Brandenberg road, and operated with attached armor against strongpoints that had blocked the advance. By early December its battalions were pressing toward Bergstein from the south as Rangers fought on Castle Hill.

On February 23, 1945, the 28th Infantry made the 8th Division's most successful assault crossing of the flooded Roer. The 3rd Battalion crossed before the main H-hour, lost men and weapons to the current, but reached the woods overlooking Stockheim. Other battalions had more difficulty crossing under fire, yet the regiment built up its bridgehead and cleared Stockheim as the division secured its flank east of Dueren. In the final campaigns the 28th advanced through Germany, reached Erndtebrueck in the Ruhr pocket fighting, cleared Schwelm during the rapid northwest drive, and followed the 121st Infantry in the final movement from the Elbe toward Schwerin.