347^th Infantry Regiment

The 347th Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp McCain, Mississippi, on December 15, 1942, and entered the European Theater with the 87th Infantry Division in late 1944. After landing in France on December 5, it moved from the Metz sector to the Saar-German border. In the division's first important fighting, the regiment helped carry the attack beyond Rimling. On December 15 it took Obergailbach and the high ground overlooking the Blies, cutting off part of the German 110th Panzer Grenadier Regiment and easing pressure on nearby American units.

The regiment next fought in the Ardennes. After the 345th's costly fight near Moircy, the fresh 347th took over the right-wing drive on January 1, 1945. From Moircy and Remagne it attacked through snow toward the Bastogne-St. Hubert road, with the 3rd Battalion taking Jenneville and then Bonnerue on January 2. The division later fought around Tillet, and the 347th retook Bonnerue on January 11. It was attached briefly to the 4th Infantry Division in mid-January, then returned to the division's West Wall operations.

With the 346th, the 347th cleared to the Kyll River by March 4. On March 7 it seized Feusdorf, Allendorf, and Ripsdorf as the 87th pushed rapidly toward the Ahr. On March 16 the regiment made the lead Moselle crossing upstream from Koblenz, encountering little opposition at the river but heavier resistance at Waldesch; by March 19 it captured Oberspray. At Rhens just before midnight on March 24-25, German machine guns, mortars, antiaircraft guns, and artillery disrupted the first Rhine assault waves, but the regiment got across, secured Oberlahnstein, and expanded the bridgehead. In April the 347th overran Bad Blankenburg, crossed the Saale with the division, reached Langenbach, and finished near the Czechoslovak border.