399^th Infantry Regiment

The 399th Infantry Regiment was organized at Fort Jackson 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 to the 45th Infantry Division from November 2 to November 9, it entered combat as the division relieved the 45th in the Vosges. On November 12 the 399th and 397th crossed the Meurthe at Baccarat. The 399th attacked on the left toward Neufmaisons, then wheeled southeast toward Hill 539 and Tete des Reclos, overlooking the Plaine River valley and northern exits from Raon-l'Etape. Its 1st Battalion reached the summit and held through repeated German counterattacks before the defenders began withdrawing.

After Raon-l'Etape fell, the 399th helped drive through the Vosges toward Schirmeck. On November 24 the 1st Battalion took over the division advance after motorized task forces were slowed by craters, mines, and roadblocks, marching ten miles farther to Schirmeck by nightfall. The division then shifted north to the Bitche sector. Through December the regiment fought as part of the advance through Meisenthal, Mouterhouse, Lemberg, Reyersviller, and the Bitche fortress belt, then held south of Bitche during the NORDWIND period. In March 1945 it joined the renewed attack that retook Bitche and carried the division to the Rhine.

The 399th crossed the Rhine with the division on March 31 and advanced southeast along the Neckar behind the 10th Armored Division. During the Heilbronn battle it helped contain and clear resistance east of the city while the 397th and 398th fought the bridgeheads. On April 18-19 the 399th fought for the heights at Beilstein in the Neckar valley, opening the route toward the Rems and Stuttgart. The regiment finished the campaign patrolling and performing military government duty near Kirchheim after organized resistance collapsed.