66^th Infantry Regiment

The 66th Infantry Regiment was activated at Camp Carson, Colorado, on July 15, 1943, and assigned to the 71st Light Division, later the 71st Infantry Division. It trained at Hunter Liggett Military Reservation and Fort Benning, staged at Camp Kilmer, and sailed from New York on January 26, 1945. The regiment arrived in France on February 6, was briefly attached to the 100th Infantry Division during March 12-14, and entered Germany on March 23.

The regiment joined the division's short but active Rhineland campaign after the 71st relieved the 100th Infantry Division near Ratzwiller. The division pushed through the West Wall, captured Pirmasens, crossed the Rhine at Oppenheim, and assembled near Frankfurt. In the first days of April, a bypassed German force north of Hanau overran Waldensberg. While the 5th and 14th Infantry Regiments forced the enemy eastward into Budingen Wald, the 66th blocked the forest's eastern exits. With support from the 5th Division and elements of the 2nd Cavalry Group, the pocket was eliminated on April 4.

The 66th then moved through the fast campaign across central and southern Germany. The division cleared toward Meiningen and Juchsen, followed the 11th Armored Division toward Coburg, fought at Bayreuth, and turned south. On April 25 the 66th reached the Danube and attacked Regensburg. The next day its battalions reinforced both the 5th Infantry crossing at Frengkofen and the 14th Infantry crossing near Donaustauf-Sulzbach. After Regensburg surrendered, the 66th joined the advance behind the 13th Armored Division. On April 30 it assaulted across the Isar with the 14th Infantry, then seized Inn River dams, entered Austria, reached the Enns on May 6, and relieved 80th Infantry Division forces there before the final linkup with Soviet troops.