311^th Infantry Regiment

The 311th Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp Butner on August 15, 1942, assigned to the 78th Infantry Division, and trained in the United States before sailing from New York on October 14, 1944. It arrived in England, landed in France on November 22, crossed Belgium, and entered Germany on December 7. Soon after the division reached the Roetgen-Monschau front, the regiment was detached to the 8th Infantry Division for Huertgen Forest fighting. It later returned to the division's Roer River dam sector, where its 2nd Battalion held the western edge of Kesternich after the December battle.

When the 78th renewed the dam offensive on January 30, 1945, the 311th attacked Kesternich. Fighting house to house through snow-covered rubble, mines, antitank fire, and counterattacks, the regiment cleared the town after two days at heavy cost. In the subsequent Schmidt operation, one battalion fought through Woffelsbach and rough wooded ground from the south, while other elements joined the February 7 attack on Schmidt. Attached with the 309th Infantry to the 9th Infantry Division, the 311th cleared wooded high ground along the Roerstausee and opened the way for the 309th's night movement on the Schwammenauel Dam.

The regiment crossed the Roer through the 9th Division sector on February 28, drove south to Blens, and took Heimbach as the division secured its bridgehead. It then entered the Remagen bridgehead, advanced beyond the first phase line to take Honnef, fought counterattacks there, and took Konigswinter with the 310th Infantry. By March 21 it reached the Sieg River at Meindorf. In April, the 311th joined the Ruhr Pocket advance through Waldbrol, Lichtenberg, Freudenberg, Wipperfuerth, Elberfeld, and Wuppertal, then shifted to First Army rear-area security before hostilities ended in Germany.