Description

A HISTORY OF THE 311TH INFANTRY REGIMENT

78th “Lightning” Infantry Division — “First Across the Rhine” · World War I & World War II ·

28 pages scanned. Instant PDF download.

Document Overview

Published for the men of the 311th Infantry Regiment, 78th Infantry Division, this short unit history opens by explaining the heraldry of the regimental coat of arms and its motto, “Jamais Trop Tard” (Never Too Late), earned in the St. Mihiel, Lorraine, and Meuse-Argonne offensives of World War I. It then traces the regiment’s World War II record from reactivation at Camp Butner in 1942 through the Hurtgen Forest, Kesternich, the Schwammenauel Dam, the Remagen bridgehead — where the 311th became the first regiment to close east of the Rhine since Napoleon in 1805 — and the reduction of the Ruhr Pocket, closing with the regiment’s postwar security duty in the Bremen Enclave. This listing is a digital download of a scanned copy of the original regimental history.

Campaigns: St. Mihiel, Lorraine, Meuse-Argonne (WWI) · Hurtgen Forest · Kesternich & the Roer River (Schmidt, Schwammenauel Dam) · The Remagen Bridgehead · Ruhr Pocket

Commanders: Maj. Gen. E. P. Parker, Jr. (Commanding General, 78th Division) · Col. M. E. Olmstead (Regimental Commander, earlier) · Col. Chester M. Willingham (Regimental Commander) · Lt. Col. Richard Keyes (2nd Battalion)

Division newspaper: Lightning

Table of Contents

Our Shield — Our Guide

World War I: St. Mihiel, Lorraine, and Meuse-Argonne

Reactivation and Training, Camp Butner

Into the Hurtgen Forest

Kesternich and Dedenborn

Ruhrberg, Schmidt, and the Schwammenauel Dam

The Roer River Crossing

First Across the Rhine — The Remagen Bridgehead

Advance to the Sieg River

Reducing the Ruhr Pocket

Commendations

Security Duty, the Bremen Enclave

“There is no finer group of fighting men in the world.”

— Maj. Gen. E. P. Parker, Jr., Commanding General, 78th Infantry Division