303^rd Infantry Regiment

The 303rd Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp Swift, Texas, on February 25, 1943, and trained with the 97th Infantry Division through Louisiana, Fort Leonard Wood, Camp San Luis Obispo, Camp Callan, Camp Cooke, and Camp Kilmer. It sailed from New York on February 19, 1945, reached France on March 1, and entered Germany on March 28. Attached to the 78th Infantry Division from April 3 to April 6, it helped take over the Sieg River line as the 97th relieved adjacent troops and prepared to enter the Ruhr Pocket battle.

The regiment's first major action came at Siegburg. After the division opened its Sieg assault, the 303rd fought through the city in street-to-street combat on April 9-10, clearing an important communications and industrial center on the south edge of the pocket. The division then pushed toward Duesseldorf through wooded, defended terrain while the 13th Armored Division passed through its sector. On April 15 the 303rd took the I.G. Farben chemical works near Leverkusen and continued to the Wupper. Two days later the division cleared Solingen, and on April 18 the regiment entered Duesseldorf virtually unopposed.

After relief on April 20, the 97th shifted east and relieved the 2nd Cavalry Group in the As-Arzberg line along the German-Czechoslovak frontier. During the final drive on May 5 the 303rd formed the division's left regiment, with the 387th in the center and the 386th on the right, in the attack toward Pilsen. The advance took Trstenice, Chodova Plana, Plana, and Bor and invested Stribro before the division reached its assigned objectives on May 6. European hostilities ended as the regiment stood near Konstantinovy Lazne.