397^th Infantry Regiment

The 397th Infantry Regiment was organized at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, on November 15, 1942, and trained with the 100th Infantry Division before sailing from New York on October 6, 1944, and arriving in France on October 20. Attached briefly to the 45th Infantry Division in early November, it entered combat in the Vosges. On November 12 the 397th and 399th crossed the Meurthe at Baccarat to outflank Raon-l'Etape. The 397th advanced on the right along the east bank toward Bertrichamps and Hill 443, fought through the German winter line, helped defeat a counterattack on November 13, and opened Raon-l'Etape by seizing the Quarry Strongpoint.

The regiment continued through the Vosges as the division took Moyenmoutier, St. Blaise, and routes toward the Bruche valley, then shifted to the Sarrebourg-Bitche sector. In December the 397th fought through the rugged Low Vosges during the approach to Bitche, while the division cleared Meisenthal, Mouterhouse, Lemberg, Reyersviller, and the Maginot fortress belt around Schiesseck. During NORDWIND the division yielded some ground but held prepared positions south of Bitche. In March 1945 the full regiment joined the renewed Bitche attack, passed the Maginot works, and entered Germany.

After crossing the Rhine on March 31, the 397th fought along the Neckar River during the Heilbronn battle. One battalion crossed south of the city during the night of April 5, found resistance as strong as that at the northern bridgehead, and held while engineers struggled to keep crossings open under artillery fire. Heilbronn fell on April 12 after house-to-house fighting. The regiment then advanced behind armor through the Loewenstein Hills, reached the Murr River at Sulzbach on April 19-20, and moved with the division toward Stuttgart, the Rems crossings, and military government duty around Goeppingen.