320^th Infantry Regiment

The 320th Infantry Regiment was activated on January 26, 1943 at Camp San Luis Obispo, California, and assigned to the 35th Infantry Division. After training in California, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, and New Jersey, it sailed from New York on May 12, 1944. The regiment arrived in England on May 26 and landed in France on July 7. It entered combat in Normandy during the drive on St. Lo, attacking from the La Meauffe-Villiers-Fossard area while the division fought through hedgerow defenses north of the city.

After the breakout, the 320th crossed France with the 35th Division and fought through Lorraine. In September it crossed the Rhine-Marne Canal in the Dombasle-Sommerviller area. In November it fought in the Bois d'Amelécourt and Forêt de Château-Salins, then advanced through Virming and Grening as the division pushed toward the Sarre. Company A's action at Uberkinger on November 27 showed the regiment's close-quarter character in Lorraine: infantry crossed a flooded stream, entered the village, used bazookas against German armor, and held the position. In December the regiment crossed the Saar in assault boats and fought in the Sarreguemines and Blies River operations. At Bliesbruck it cleared the west-bank town, crossed the Blies, held Hill 312, and later helped take Nieder-Gailbach.

The regiment moved north for the Ardennes campaign after the German offensive opened. It fought through Baschleiden and toward Harlange, where the battle around Fuhrman Farm and nearby woods became a hard infantry fight. In January 1945 it took Oubourcy in house-to-house combat during the Lutrebois-Lutremange operation. Returning to the Rhineland, the 320th crossed the Roer with the division and advanced quickly to capture Venlo, Holland, on March 1. It later fought into Germany through the Rhine, Ruhr, and Central Europe operations before returning to the United States in September 1945.