Fighting 69th Infantry Division

Nickname: Fighting 69th. Shoulder Patch: White-bordered square with interlocking numerals — red 6, blue 9 — designed by the Division’s original commander, Maj. Gen. Charles L. Bolte.

Training: Activated May 1943 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. Served under VII and IX Corps before shipping to the ETO in November 1944, arriving too late for the Battle of the Bulge.

Commanding Generals: Maj. Gen. Charles L. Bolte (May 1943–Sept. 1944); Maj. Gen. Emil F. Reinhardt (Sept. 1944–Aug. 1945); Brig. Gen. Robert V. Maraist (Aug. 1945–present).

Component Units (Nov. 1944): 271st, 272nd, 273rd Infantry Regiments; 724th (M), 879th, 880th, 881st (L) FA Battalions.
Higher Commands (overseas): Fifteenth, First, and Ninth Armies.

Combat Highlights: Entered combat in the Monschau sector, helping crack the Siegfried Line under V Corps/Fifteenth Army — two regiments broke through on a mile-wide front, taking 200 prisoners the first day and pushing on to capture Rescheid, Dickerscheid, and Honningen. By Feb. 27 (15 days after Feb. 12), the Division had severed the first Siegfried Line belt; Hellenthal and Hallschlag fell March 1. It swept up the Rhine’s west bank, crossing near Bad Neuenahr on March 27.

Its most famous action came April 19, 1945, defending Leipzig alongside the 11th Armored Division — S/Sgt. John J. Fitzgerald and Pfc. Sam Woolf (Task Force Zweibel) both earned Silver Stars there. On April 25, the 69th made the first American contact with Soviet forces, sighting them across the Elbe at Torgau. The Division went on to occupy Leipzig.