355^th Infantry Regiment

The 355th Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp Carson, Colorado, on July 15, 1942, and trained with the 89th Division before departing Boston on January 10, 1945. It landed in France on January 24, crossed into Luxembourg on March 8, and entered Germany on March 10. The regiment's wartime service quickly became attachment-heavy: it served with the 11th Armored Division from March 17 to March 21 and with the 4th Armored Division from April 3 to April 6.

While the 353rd and 354th opened the Bullay bridgehead on March 16, elements west of the Moselle took Alf and Ernst. On March 18 the 355th crossed at Alf and followed the 11th Armored Division in motorized mopping-up as the German Moselle position collapsed. After the division cleared southward to the Nahe, the regiment joined the March 26 Rhine operation. Crossing at Boppard, it moved along the eastern bank, took Kestert, and fought into the Rhine bend. On March 28 the regiment captured Lorch after heavy fighting, then helped clear the bend west of Wiesbaden as the division reached Neuhof-Eltville.

The 355th returned to a mobile role during the April drive across Thuringia. It protected the division right flank, overran Grafenhain, and on April 9 furnished a battalion to reinforce the 354th at Georgenthal and Finsterbergen. The next day it advanced with the 354th to the Gera River at Rudisleben, Arnstadt, and east of Espenfeld. On April 12, while Task Force Crater dashed to the Saale, the 355th mopped up bypassed resistance and seized Tannroda. With the 353rd it cleared Rothenstein-Beutelsdorf west of the Saale. The regiment then helped drive across the Weisse-Elster and Pliesse to the Zwick Mulde, expanding the Zwickau bridgehead with the 354th and overrunning Zwickau and Wilkau.