The 422nd Infantry Regiment was activated at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, on March 15, 1943, and assigned to the 106th Infantry Division. After training at Fort Jackson, in Tennessee, and at Camp Atterbury, it staged at Camp Myles Standish, sailed from Boston on October 19, 1944, reached England on October 28, and landed in France on December 5. The regiment crossed into Belgium on December 10 and, with the 423rd Infantry, entered the Schnee Eifel sector as the 106th relieved the 2nd Infantry Division.
The position was thin, exposed, and difficult for a newly arrived regiment. The 422nd occupied part of a long line east of the Our River, with limited reserves and difficult supply routes back through Schonberg and St. Vith. When the German Ardennes offensive began on December 16, the 18th Volks Grenadier Division and neighboring German forces enveloped the Schnee Eifel from north and south. By December 17 the 422nd and 423rd were cut off west of the Schnee Eifel, while German columns pushed through Schonberg toward St. Vith.
The 422nd formed a perimeter south of Schlausenbach with attached and supporting troops, then tried to move west in concert with the 423rd. Orders changed repeatedly as the division attempted to organize relief from the west, but no armored breakthrough reached the trapped regiments. During the night of December 18-19 the 422nd moved toward what was believed to be an assembly area for an attack on Schonberg. By daylight it was misoriented and too far from the objective. German machine-gun, tank, artillery, and infantry fire broke up the attempt, while ammunition and tactical control deteriorated. The regiment surrendered on December 19 after the encirclement collapsed. Rebuilt in France on March 16, 1945, it later trained with the 66th Infantry Division and entered Germany for late-war occupation duties.
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