39^th Infantry Regiment

The 39th Infantry Regiment was activated at Fort Bragg on August 9, 1940, and entered combat with the 9th Infantry Division in Operation Torch. On November 8, 1942, it landed east of Algiers near Cap Matifou, where the 1st Battalion moved on Maison Blanche airfield and the 3rd Battalion pushed toward the eastern approaches to Algiers. In Tunisia the regiment was drawn into the difficult fighting around El Guettar and Hill 772, then shifted north for the Jefna operation. There its battalions attacked Hill 432, Hill 438, and Hill 382 in rough, defended hill country, helping turn the German position before the fall of Bizerte.

In Sicily, the 39th Infantry entered the island before the full division and fought near Cerami and Troina, including the hard effort around Hill 1034 west of Troina. After recovering, it resumed the advance along Highway 120 toward Randazzo. The regiment landed in France on June 10, 1944, and, while attached to the 4th Infantry Division, fought through coastal strongpoints toward Quineville Ridge. Returned to the 9th Division, it helped cut the Cotentin Peninsula, joined the Cherbourg assault, drove through Octeville, and captured the fortress commander and naval commander in the St. Sauveur tunnel area on June 26.

After Normandy the regiment crossed Belgium and entered Germany in September 1944. It assaulted the Scharnhorst Line near Lammersdorf, fought through pillbox defenses in the Monschau corridor, and took Hill 554 after heavy combat. In December it fought in the Roer approach around Merode, Schlicht, and Derichsweiler, then helped defend the Monschau sector during the Ardennes crisis. In 1945 the regiment reached the Dreiborn area during the Roer-Urft dam fighting, pushed toward Thum and Berg after the Roer crossing, helped secure the Remagen bridgehead, and finished the campaign clearing the eastern Harz Mountains and reaching Quedlinburg.