414^th Infantry Regiment

The 414th Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp Adair, Oregon, on August 15, 1942, and assigned to the 104th Infantry Division. It trained in Oregon, the desert maneuver area, Colorado, and New Jersey, departed New York on August 27, 1944, and landed in France on September 7. The regiment entered Belgium before the division's first combat along the Antwerp-Breda highway. During the opening phase in Holland, elements of the 414th remained near Moerdijk to assist the Polish 1st Armored Division while the rest of the 104th shifted toward the Aachen front.

In Germany the 414th became one of the division's principal assault regiments in the Roer plain fighting. On November 16 it attacked toward the Donnersberg and Eschweiler Woods, reinforced by a battalion of the 415th. Its advance toward Bergrath and Nothberg was slowed by observation and fire from nearby high ground, but it pushed through the industrial approaches and entered Nothberg after artillery helped suppress the hill positions. The regiment then attacked Weisweiler, fighting house to house and seizing a power plant west of town before the German withdrawal opened the way to the Inde River.

In December the regiment attacked from the Inden bridgehead toward Schophoven and Pier. It entered Pier on December 10 but was forced out by counterattack, then helped clear the west bank of the Roer after the 415th's night seizure of Merken opened a southern approach. On March 1, 1945, the 414th and 413th crossed the Erft Canal, overran Ichendorf, and held the bridgehead against counterattack. The regiment fought through Cologne, then served with the 3rd Armored Division from March 23 to April 12 during the eastward exploitation. After rejoining the 104th, it advanced through central Germany, helped clear the Harz approaches, crossed the Saale, and ended the war near the Mulde line.