After passing through the 2d Battalion at Weichtungen, the 1st Battalion on April 9 seized the towns of Thundorf, Rothhausen, Stadtlauringen, Altenmunster and Fuchstadt and halted while the 2d Battalion passed through. The regiment stopped at this point and spent most of April 9-10 patrolling and cleaning rear areas of stragglers, who were becoming more numerous each day.

The 2d Battalion of the 15th Infantry, after clearing Frankenheim, moved out to attack Bischofsheim, the Division objective. But, like Bad Kissingen, it was surrendered by a group of civilians who met the leading elements of the battalion some distance outside the town. It was coincidental that both towns were being handed over to the 3d Division at about the same hour on the same day, as both surrenders were negotiated shortly after noon.

South of Bischofsheim, 'the 3d Battalion ripped through light opposition after the main part of the battalion had joined Company L at Langenleiten and swept southeast in the direction of Neustadt. The remarkable pace that the battalion maintained was attributed in a large measure to the work of Company C, 10th Engineer Battalion, commanded by Capt. Daniel A. Raymond, which cleared the debris-covered roads ahead of Major O'Connell's battalion. All highways were literally strewn with German vehicles that had been hit by our armor, artillery and air support.

Company L struck northeast to Waldberg, through Sandberg and on to Kilianshof, where the company turned southeast to Hohenroth. Company I, followed by Company K, moved east from Sandberg to Schmalwassen, where Company I came under enemy fire from self-propelled guns, which were silenced that night. After taking Schmalwassen, the two companies drove unopposed through Windhausen, Leuterhausen and to Hohenroth. Company K, commanded by 1st Lt. Walter H. Kropp, -attacked Strahlungen, where the enemy resisted for a short time with small-arms fire which was effectively suppressed with the capture of sixty-five PWs.

The 1st Battalion-, acting as infantry support for the 14th Armored Division, moved rapidly east along the main road to Neustadt from south of Bischofsheim.

Company A, commanded by 1st-Lt., Michael J. Daly, quickly cleared Unter Weissenbrunn, Wegfurt and Schonau. Company B, under 1st Lt. Harold M. Patterson, swung northeast off the main road, passed through Weisbach and Sondernau and pushed several miles to a point just north of Neustadt, where a strong roadblock was established.

The 15th Infantry was now closed in on Neustadt and the time was ripe for its capture. In a two-pronged thrust, Colonel Edson, the regimental commander, shot one column out from Schonau and another from the south, with Neustadt as the target.

Company C passed through Company A at Schonau and cleared the towns of Reyersbach, Braidbach and Rodles, which lie directly north of Neustadt. Company A, riding "ducks" whipped through Brendlorenzen, right outside the northern edge of Neustadt, and was met by heavy small-arms, sniper, Nebelwerfer and Panzerfaust fire coming from the southeast section of the town. Company B went north to occupy Weisbach and Sondernau and then struck southeast to an intersection near Wollbach, where a strong roadblock was established. Elements of the 1st Battalion entered the northern part of the city shortly after noon while the 3d Battalion's Companies K and L closed in from the south, Company K taking Strahlingen and Company L taking Ebersbach en route with a total of approximately 100 prisoners.

Resistance to the 15th's attack buckled late in the afternoon and the town fell with the bridges across the Frank Saale still intact. In less than twenty-four hours, the regiment had captured nineteen villages and nearly 300 prisoners, had destroyed at least ten enemy tanks and had neutralized a number of enemy guns.

With the capture of Neustadt, the 15th went into Division reserve and on the morning of April 9 moved into assembly areas near Schweinfurt, a city which once was known as the "graveyard" of Allied airmen because of the huge Flak concentrations that came from the city's numerous antiaircraft installations.

After the fall of Bad Kissingen, the 30th Infantry moved east and southeast and met considerable artillery and antitank fire from the vicinity of Hambach and Maibach, outer defensive points protecting Schweinfurt. The excellent coordination between our field artillery units and infantry elements was never better demonstrated than when the forward observer of the 41st FA Battalion, commanded by Lt. Col. Barney D. White, called for a concentration in the Maibach area that neutralized two tanks and a Flakwagon and drove off three other enemy tanks in less than an hour of firing.

It was obvious at this time that the Germans were trying once more to slow the 3d Division's relentless attack, either to make a stand along one of the few remaining natural lines of defense or to give the Nazi "bigwigs" a chance to withdraw to safety to the Redoubt area in the high Austrian Alps.

While the 42d Infantry Division was taking Schweinfurt, the 30th Infantry, which had gotten ahead of friendly elements on the flanks, was forced to slow down and confine its activities during April 10-11 to semi-defensive warfare, consisting mainly of moppingup and eliminating enemy roadblocks.

Many roads leading into Schweinfurt, a main industrial center, were heavily mined and several regimental vehicles were ambushed by isolated German resistance groups.

The 7th Infantry, commanded by Col. John A. Heintges, struck southeast from positions near Fuchstadt with the 2d Battalion, under Lt. Col. Jack M. Duncan, on the right, 3d Battalion, commanded by Maj. Ralph M. Flynn, on the left, and 1st Battalion, under Lt. Col. Kenneth W. Wallace, in regimental reserve.

Very little artillery and mortar fire, but much smallarms resistance was encountered as the 2d seized Kleinsteinach, Kleinmunster, Mechenreis, Holzhausen, Uchenhofen, Ober Hohenreid and Unter Hohenreid. The Germans attempted to make a stand at Uchenhofen, a few miles northwest of Haszfurt, but it was only suicidal and the battalion brushed on to Unter Hohenreid' overlooking Haszfurt.

The 3d Battalion captured Heilingen and Romershofen, receiving light artillery, small-arms, mortar and automatic-weapons fire designed primarily to slow the attack but actual defense of the towns was not made. The battalion seized Prappach and the high ground in that area and when 2d Battalion took Augsfeld in an early morning attack; it gave the 7th Infantry all the high ground surrounding the city and paved the way for 1st Battalion to move into Haszfurt at noon the following day with only a few roadblocks to impede the advance.

Continuing southeast along the banks of the Main, Colonel Wallace's men passed through Zeil, which the 2d Battalion had previously taken, and moved on through Zieglander to Steinbach, where the march was temporarily halted because the next two battalion objectives, Gleisenau and Ebelsbach, had already been taken by elements of the 45th Infantry Division. The retreat of the German forces at this point was matched only by the drive of the 3d Division doughboys and by the maintenance of our ever-lengthening supply routes and constant movement of our artillery and antiaircraft units, whose frequent changing of position kept the personnel digging in around the clock.

Hundreds of German stragglers, many of whom had changed into civilian clothes, were picked up by our rear elements and the Division Intelligence Section reported that two German officers and a master sergeant had bicycled into one of our outposts near Madenhausen and stated that they were "going home."

On April 11, the Division crossed the Main River for the fourth time at points east of Schweinfurt and the drive for Nurnberg (Nurenburg), important German bastion and symbol of Naziism, was on. The 45th Infantry Division was on our left flank and the 42d (Rainbow) Division was on, the right.

The Division's crossing was effected by the 30th Infantry, with 1st Battalion taking the lead in assault boats at a point near Unter Theres. Company A, commanded by Capt. Hugh S. Montgomery, met enemy Flakwagon and other fire near the village of Dampfach shortly after making the crossing but our artillery placed effective fire on the enemy positions and silenced the only display of resistance that marked the crossing.

The 3d Battalion crossed the river at Ober Theres on a footbridge constructed by Company A of the 10th Engineers, commanded by 1st Lt. Robert K. Sleeth, and turned east into the enemy-deserted village of Wonfurt.

Numerous Panzerfaust with tripcords attached were laid by the enemy in the path of the 30th but most of the roadblocks' that were encountered were either entirely unmanned or poorly manned with only small delaying groups. In the 24-hour period from noon April 12 to April 13, the regiment captured no less than forty German "88's," testimony to the disaster that the 3d was wreaking on enemy forces.

The 15th Infantry moved out of its reserve positions northeast of Schweinfurt on the afternoon of April 11 and attacked south toward the Main with the 3d Battalion leading the advance into Mainburg, which was occupied without a fight. Schonungen, Forst, Gadheim, Ottendorf, Bayerhof, and Gresshausen all fell to the battalion by the next day and the PW count was increased by 265.

The 2d Battalion pushed on to Kleinmunster and cleared the woods between that town and the Main as it rushed into Wulflingen, a river-bank village.

Both battalions crossed the river at Ober Theres on foot April 12, passed through 30th Infantry, and boarded every available vehicle to assume the spearhead of the Division's attack- along the banks of the Main and to the southeast.

The 2d Battalion, commanded by Lt. Col. Keith L. Ware, moved along the river and seized Limbach and Eltman, and Maj. John O'Connell's 3d Battalion drove southeast to occupy Zell and Unter Schleichach. The enemy forces were completely disorganized and occasional small-arms fire presented the only opposition to the regiment as it sped on' almost without pause to Bamberg, a sizable city located at the junction of the Main and Regnitz; (or Pegnitz) Rivers. En route, the following towns were occupied and quickly cleared, giving the 15th control of the southern part of Bamberg and all entrances to that section of the city: Priesendorf, Walsdorf, Gaustadt, Muhlendorf, Hofer, Reundorf, Pettstadt, and Sassanfahrt. The German retreat was so hasty that it was becoming more difficult each day for the Division to maintain contact with the enemy. The 3d Reconnaissance Troop, commanded by Capt. Allen R. Kenyon, roved the left flank of our units with abandon, capturing many towns, numerous prisoners, and much enemy equipment. The daily report of the 2d platoon for the 24-hour period beginning at noon, April 12, revealed the capture of six villages and 112 PW`s, and the destruction of two machine-gun nests. This report was repeated in its generalities day after day as the Division maintained its pursuit.

The 2d Battalion, 15th Infantry, captured four enemy artillery pieces and a large ammunition dump and destroyed a Mark V tank at Gaustadt, just west of Bamberg, while elements of the 3d Battalion recalled the days of Anzio when a large number of Goliath tanks (miniatures loaded with high explosive) were encountered in the vicinity of Erlau, southwest of Bamberg. Ten Goliaths were captured but not until two had detonated, killing two 3d Division men and wounding two others.

At 1835, April 13, less than twenty-four hours after the 15th had been committed across the Main River, 2d Battalion had entered Bamberg, a German hospital city containing some 200 enemy medical installations. In two days the regiment had occupied forty-four villages and captured more than 1,000 prisoners, including many German officers.

In sheer desperation and with utter disregard for the German patients in the city's hospitals, the Luftwage that night attacked the town, spilling numerous. bombs on the hospitals and in the area occupied by the 2d Battalion, which suffered many casualties and lost a number of vehicles. This apparently was a token raid, mustered as a final kick of a dying enemy.

Only slight resistance to the occupation of the town was offered by the German troops and the officer in command had been taken with hundreds of other prisoners when 2d Battalion entered the city.

The 7th Infantry, in assembly areas near Frenshof, also received the full blast of an air raid on the night of April 14 and antipersonnel bombs dropped in the area occupied by the regiment's Cannon Company, commanded by Capt. George E. Guckert, Jr., caused a number of casualties.

The 30th Infantry, which was on the right flank of the 15th, met little opposition as it proceeded southeast. The complete confusion which permeated the German ranks as the regiment drove forward was illustrated at a small town which Capt. George S. Peck, 2d Battalion S-3, entered on April 13. Unaware that the town was held by a company of Germans, Captain Peck acted under the pretext that he had come to accept a previously proffered surrender and to his amazement a majority of the defending officers and men gave up without a struggle, unsure that a surrender offer had been made but glad to accept Captain Peck's declaration as fact.

Although the advance of the 30th was only slightly restricted by the enemy, small fire fights were encountered at a few of the many towns that the regiment occupied during its headlong drive.

At Hochstadt, a hastily-organized town command put up a short fight that resulted in the capture, among other Germans, of the German colonel in command. At Millersdorf, southwest of Bamberg, a platoon-sized counterattack was repulsed and reconnaissance elements had fire fights in the vicinity of Greinendorf while some of our troops west of the Pegnitz River received enemy artillery fire coming from Forchheim, which was later taken by a small Division task force.

The force that took Forchheim was led by 1st Lt. Richard W. Rosebury, Jr., and, was composed of Battle Patrols from all three of the Division's regiments, three demolition men from the 10th Engineer Battalion, a radio team from the 3d Signal Company, a forward observation party 'from Division Artillery and one mechanic from the 703d Ordnance Company. All members of the force volunteered for the special assignment.

Moving six miles behind enemy lines, this daring group had the mission of securing the railroad and highway bridges across the Pegnitz in the vicinity of Baiersdorf. A motor-driven railroad engine captured by the Division was carried to the narrow-gauge railroad that ran between Bamberg and Hausen and the six-car "train" had to be jacked over several bombedout stretches that were met en route to the marshalling yards of Forchheim, where a house-to-house battle netted the raiders twenty prisoners. After a thorough reconnaissance in this unusual vehicle, the lieutenant and his group returned to Division headquarters with seventy-five PWs and much information for the Intelligence section.

By April 15 the entire 3d Division was poised on the west side of the Pegnitz ready for a lunge toward Nurnberg. The 30th Infantry made the initial crossing, overrunning many small towns and capturing numerous 88mm guns en route. It also included the crossing of the Ludwigs Canal at points in the vicinity of Baiersdorf, with 3d Battalion under Lt. Col. Christopher W. Chaney leading the attack, followed closely by the 2d Battalion, under Lt. Col. James L. Osgard.

The crossing, made under cover of darkness, was met with only slight opposition and the rest of the Division moved across the river on the following day and struck south toward Nurnberg, overrunning many small towns en route. Erlangen, Bruck, Eltersdorf, Grundlach, Steinach, and Stadein fell to the Division but many casualties were suffered at the hands of a strengthening German defense and more frequent reappearances of the Luftwage.

At Erlangen, which offered 'a poorly-conducted defense, the German colonel in command committed suicide after agreeing to terms surrendering the city.

The 1st Battalion of the 7th Infantry encountered small-arms, automatic-weapon, and self-propelled-gun fire in the fight for Tennenlohe, and 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry, received similar opposition in taking Heroldsberg. The 3d Battalion of the 15th also ran into strong 88mm artillery concentrations at Kalchreuth as the Division neared the outskirts of Nurnberg.

The Germans were determined to make a strong bid to defend the shrine of Naziism and members of the 441st AAA Battalion, commanded by Lt. Col. Thomas H. Leary, fired thousands of rounds of ammunition at enemy ME 109s and FW 190s during the advance on Nurnberg.

Our troops came under heavy fire from hundreds of German antiaircraft guns located in small villages that surrounded the big city. Entrance into the political capital was to prove little less costly than anticipated.

The 7th Infantry, for instance, was held up for some time at the small town of Kraftshof, just north of Nurnberg, by stubborn resistance and the villages of Kleinrueth and Thon were also taken against stiff opposition.

The 3d Battalion, 15th Infantry, met strong resistance as it moved through Bueckenbuhl while the 1st Battalion battered down the defenses of a large garrison of SS troops and drunken Volkssturm at Heroldsberg.

During the advance of the 15th Infantry, Pvt. Joseph F. Merrell performed the heroic action in a hill position near Lohe for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. He made a gallant one-man attack against vastly superior forces in an effort to drive the disorganized enemy forces from the hills dominating Nurnberg. His company was pinned down by brutal fire from rifles, pistols and two heavy machine guns.

". . . Entirely on his own initiative, Private Merrell began a single-handed assault. He ran a hundred yards through concentrated fire, barely escaping death at each stride, and, at point-blank range, engaged four German machine-pistol men with his rifle, killing all of them while their bullets ripped his uniform. As he started forward again, his rifle was smashed by a sniper's bullet, leaving him armed only with three grenades, but he did not hesitate. He zigzagged two hundred yards through a hail of bullets to within ten yards of the first machine gun, where he hurled two grenades and then rushed the position, ready to fight with his bare hands, if necessary. In the emplacement, he seized a Luger pistol and killed all Germans who had survived the grenade blast. Rearmed, he crawled toward the second machine gun, located thirty yards away, killing four Germans in camouflaged foxholes on the way, but receiving a critical wound in the abdomen. He went on staggering, bleeding, and, disregarding bullets which tore through the folds of his clothing and-glanced off his helmet. He threw his last grenade into the machinegun nest and stumbled on to wipe out the crew. He had completed this self-appointed task when a machine pistol burst killed him instantly . . ." (General Orders No. 21, War Department, 26 February 1946.)

The coordinated Division attack on Nurnberg was worked out in minutest detail. Major General O'Daniel issued comprehensive orders for the forthcoming operation.

Although the fighting in Nurnberg itself was fierce, it was no worse than in the little villages that edged the city proper and where enemy infantry, antiaircraft, artillery and machine gunners were imbedded in bombed-out structures that now served as strongpoints of defense.

Penetration of Nurnberg was made doubly difficult .by the fact that the city was a "city within a city" in that a century-old wall surrounded the inner section, which once -was the fortified Nurnberg of feudal days.

Although the entire 3d Division was committed in the siege, elements of the 15th Infantry were the first to enter the outer, or "new" city, shortly after noon of April 17, after Division troops had overrun at least fifty "88s" in the drive through the outskirts of the city on the previous night.

It was on April 17 that 1st Lt. Frank Burke, transportation officer of the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry, fought with such extreme gallantry in the war-torn streets of Nurnberg that he was later awarded the Medal of Honor. Lieutenant Burke had gone forward to select a motor-pool site, when in a desire to perform more than his assigned duties and take part in the fight, he advanced beyond the lines of the forward riflemen. Detecting a group of enemy making preparations for a local counterattack, he rushed back to a nearby friendly company and obtained a light machine gun, with which he engaged the superior enemy force. A fire fight ensued in which Lieutenant Burke succeeded in driving off the force after having killed a machine-gun crew of the attacking unit. Lieutenant Burke then picked up a rifle, dashed about a hundred yards through intense enemy fire and from a position behind an abandoned tank engaged the enemy. Lieutenant Burke finally disposed of the majority of enemy riflemen in and about his position with a hand-grenade assault. He continued on fighting his way forward along the battle-crazy street aiding our units to advance by his heroic example of willingness to close with the enemy. His citation reads in part: ". . . In four hours of heroic action Lieutenant Burke single-handedly killed eleven and wounded three enemy soldiers and took a leading role in engagements in which an additional twenty-nine enemy were killed or wounded."

However, it was the 30th Infantry that entered the "old" or walled city first, a little later, and it was through a hole breached by the 30th that the remainder of the Division entered.

Three solid German battle groups defended the old town in addition to many civilians, including a group of about 150 city firemen who were holed up in the eastern section of the town.

One of the defending units was the Battle Group Dirnagel, made up mainly of SS troopers organized in Rothernberg, southeast of Wurzburg; the Battle Group Rienow, consisting of air force personnel and officer candidates from an airfield at Roth, south of Nurnberg and the 1st Battalion, 38th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment. Although armor was not available to a great extent, the enemy employed all kinds of small arms in defense of the city as well as great numbers of Panzerfaust, which destroyed several of our vehicles in the drive through the outer edges of the bastion and on the road leading from Heroldsburg, where many Hungarian box mines had been laid.

Hundreds of snipers holed up in debris in the city caused numerous casualties and it was a step-by-step fight to ferret out the defenders in 'the northeastern part of the city, where they occupied individual holes effectively concealed in the tall grass in that area.

Four blocks of apartments between Bismarck Strasse and Sulzbacher Strasse were strongpoints that took several hours to clear and the fighting went into the second day with the city and its adjacent small towns converted into a giant inferno.

Company K of the 15th hit fierce resistance at the settlement of Klein and was forced to withdraw and call for artillery to blast out the buildings and other strong points.

The Germans used every trick in the book to hold the city. Mines, booby trapped German bodies, civilians with Panzerfaust and rifles, all combined to make the attack very costly but all three regiments drove on in -their zone of advance as house after house, park after park and even every immobilized streetcar was taken with a fight.

Civilian snipers hid in spider holes, let our troops pass, then opened fire at their backs.

The 15th Infantry, in its march toward the Pegnitz River, which runs through the heart of the town, captured a German general and several hundred German patients in a number of hospitals that were taken intact with their staffs.

Through the early days of the attack on Nurnberg the 30th Infantry had been in Division reserve with the 1st Battalion blocking to the Division right rear on the west bank of the Pegnitz River and the 2d and 3d Battalions blocking to the left rear or east bank of the river.

On April 19 the regiment was committed to the final drive to clear Nurnberg in a wide flanking movement driving in from the northeast. The 1st Battalion led the 30th Infantry's advance through the outer city, with Companies A and B spearheading the drive, and by noon of April 19 the battalion had captured i50 prisoners and reached the walled old city of Nurnberg.

That afternoon, 2d Lt. Telesphor C. Tremblay and his antitank platoon engaged in a spectacular action at the Laufer tower, on the edge of the walled city.

Advancing toward the tower, Lieutenant Tremblay and his men engaged in a hot pistol duel with a large number of Germans whom they kept imprisoned in the tower until bazooka and TD fire was placed on the structure. The ensuing concentration brought out a white flag and some 125 prisoners and the last resistance in the residential and factory district had ended in the 30th's zone.

The 2d Battalion, 30th Infantry, commanded by Lt. Col. James Osgard, was the first to enter the inner city after a coordinated regimental attack on the evening of April 19.

At 0400 hours the next morning, however, Company F was hit by a fierce enemy counterattack and the first fire hit the Company CP group, causing a number of casualties. This fanatical attack came from the island which was the 1st Battalion's objective and was led by the Gauleiter of the city.

The attackers were armed with automatic weapons, grenades and Panzerfaust but Capt. Robert L. Fleet's company stood them off in an hour-long battle that at times threatened the entire battalion positions in that section of the city. Although some casualties were suffered by Company F, a five-to-one ratio of losses was inflicted on the attacking force, which withdrew around daylight.

Many individual feats of heroism were performed in the attack on Nurnberg and 1st Lt. Michael J. Daly was one of the many -officers who led their men into the face of well-protected enemy positions in order to conquer the seat of the German political party.

Maj. Burton S. Barr, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, stated later that Lieutenant Daly had gone with out sleep for two days and nights during the attack, "advancing ahead of his men into blistering fire, destroying German gun positions single-handedly and fighting with an unfaltering heroism that won the admiration and amazement of all who witnessed it."

First Sgt. Roy A. Kurtz said: "We had advanced as. far as the Nordost railroad station when Lieutenant Daly, moving far ahead of us as usual, found that the twisted wreckage of a railroad bridge lay across the Bayreutherstrasse, the principal highway into the city. Swinging around to the right of the bridge, Lieutenant Daly had just begun to climb upon a low embankment along the railroad when a machine gun suddenly opened up on us from the other side of the Leipziger Platz. We were caught out in the open by rapid traversing fire. Our men were killed left and right.

"Realizing that the whole company was threatened with annihilation, the lieutenant ran toward the machine gun, a conspicuous target as he crossed the tracks to a position in some rubble within fifty yards of the enemy gun. He killed all the German gunners with his carbine and he pushed on forward, ahead of his company, until he sighted an enemy antitank detachment which was 'zeroed in' on our attached armor units."

S/Sgt. Ivan Ketron said that Lieutenant Daly signalled for the company to halt and again struck out alone.

"He was taking his life in his hands and we all knew it," Ketron said, adding, "I saw the Lieutenant work his way forward to what was left of a house and open fire with his carbine.

"The krauts replied with a rain of automatic fire that sent up eddies of fine white dust from the building he was shooting from. Then Panzerfaust rockets began to slam against the furthest wall of the building. Although the whole kraut patrol was concentrating on him, Lieutenant Daly kept firing his carbine until he killed six Germans and silenced the enemy fire.

"Leading his men forward once more, he entered a public park, well ahead of his troops. As he paused to place his platoons in position, two Germans rushed forward from concealment and set up a machine gun only ten yards from the Lieutenant. An American sergeant fell dead at the first burst and Lieutenant Daly seized the M-1 that was lying on the ground and took up a pointblank fire fight which resulted in the killing of the enemy MG crew."

Major Barr said that in four singlehanded fire fights with a strong enemy Lieutenant Daly "had killed fifteen Germans, destroyed three machine guns and wiped out an entire enemy patrol.

"During two days and nights of bitter hand-to-hand fighting he served as first scout of the company, taking all the major risks himself and fearlessly disregarding deadly enemy fire. His heroism during the battle for Nurnberg will never be forgotten by the officers and enlisted men who fought there," Major Barr concluded.

Lieutenant Daly was awarded the Medal of Honor for this deed of heroism.

Just before noon on April 20, 1945-Adolf Hitler's birthday-the 2d Battalion of the 30th reached the Adolf Hitler Platz in the center of the town after taking its ground in a building-to-building fight. The street markers in the square were replaced by others bearing the name "Eiserner Michael Platz" (Iron Mike Square) in honor of the 3d Division's Commanding General, Maj. Gen. John W. O'Daniel, who was known to his intimate friends and to thousands of Marnemen as "Iron Mike."

The 7th Infantry, which reached the center of town at about the same time as- the 30th, attacked directly south from the area northwest of Nurnberg, including the villages of Schnepfenreuth, Kleinreuth and Thon. After neutralizing a great deal of small-arms opposition at these points, 2d Battalion, in the regimental lead, moved slowly south through the outskirts of the city and by noon of April 18 the front elements were some 600 yards south of the railroad tracks and the left flank of the battalion was along the main road leading from Thon into Nurnberg. Fanatical resistance was encountered and an actual room-by-room battle was fought in one apartment house which finally yielded fifty PWs. Several small counterattacks were launched by the Germans but they were all repelled by Colonel Heintges' battalions, who fought amazingly and with utter disregard for their own safety.

A storeroom completely filled with machine guns and machine pistols was captured in Ruckert Strasse. The materiel was quickly demolished by our troops who were taking no chances with the boobytrapped contrivances that the Germans used so freely in defense of the city. Friendly tanks that roved the streets were kept constantly on the alert by Panzerfaust fired by Germans from upstairs windows. This was an innovation first introduced by the enemy, but which in the end proved costly to him. The standard procedure was to turn the fire of the nearest tank against the source of trouble.

The push down Ruckert Strasse by 2d Battalion was slow but devastating. When day broke April 19, its forward elements had reached the park at Wieland and Roritzer Strassen, where a road block covered by heavy machine guns held up the advance to the Pegnitz River.

By noon, Company G, commanded by 1st Lt. Louie R. Van Hoy, was in the municipal park of Unter Perkheimer; Company E, under Capt. James F. Powell, was cleaning out the buildings on Judg Strasse and eliminating another roadblock in front of Company F, commanded by 1st Lt. Willis B. Conklin.

Close contact was maintained by all units of the Division as the block-by-block cleanup proceeded. Members of Company E found themselves firing at the same targets as the 15th Infantry, Company E moved onto Wieland Strasse.

In the vicinity of Frommann Strasse, Company E had a hard fire fight as it moved down Graben Bucher Strasse. The street was lined with old stone walls which the enemy utilized to the fullest extent as protection. The old city rang with shellfire and smouldered in its ruins as the 7th fought into the second night of the siege. At 2000 April 19, Company E crossed Burgschmeit Strasse and was hit on both flanks by smallarms and machine-gun fire and one of the company's platoons was cut off by a sharp counterattack that was staged by Luftwaffe trainees in Johannes Strasse. Two platoons of Company F were sent to relieve the beleaguered outfit and in a short time the Germans were driven back.

At about noon, when the large castle north of Adolf Hitler Platz fell to the 15th Infantry, 7th Infantry was in the famed square, withdrawing from the old city late that afternoon to assembly areas north of the Pegnitz River and west of Graben Bucher Strasse. Here the men got their first real rest and sleep in four days,

The 1st Battalion, 7th, in its battle for Nurnberg attacked from positions in the vicinity of Reutles and Gross Grundlich, hitting the northwest section of the city. The movement of Lieutenant Colonel Wallace's battalion was hindered in the early stages of the attack by unusually heavy small-arms and machine-gun fire that came from dug-in positions in a cemetery and from across the Pegnitz River.

During the early hours of the battle, 140 members of the Nurnberg police department, who had been fighting as infantrymen, surrendered when attached tank destroyers moved into view.

By 1430 April 19 Company C, commanded by Capt. M. Morris, had taken two vehicle bridges and one foot bridge intact and had crossed the Pegnitz River. Within four hours the entire area west of Kern and Will Strasse had been cleared and more than 200 prisoners taken.

Late that night, Company C had a hot fire fight about 600 yards west of the clock in the old tower. This was overcome, and the company entered the wills of the old city at Max Pi early the next morning.

The 3d Battalion, 7th Infantry, had a hectic time before it entered Nurnberg and took several hundred prisoners en route from positions in the vicinity of Erlangen.

A large ammunition manufacturing plant at Bruck, surrounded by hastily-abandoned antiaircraft positions, was taken by Major Flynn's battalion, which successively occupied Tennenlohe, Klein Grundlich, Gross Grundlach and Steinach after coming under heavy "88" and artillery fire en route.

Company L, commanded by 1st Lt. Sherman W. Pratt, was in Steinach when the lieutenant, acting as fire control officer for the 10th FA Battalion, saw fourteen German Flak guns firing on Company E positions from the vicinity of Bislohe, Sack, and Braunsbach. His call for artillery resulted in a 20-battalion concentration on the three towns, two of which surrendered without a fight, although slight resistance appeared at Braunsbach.

Continuing to Poppenreuth, Company L captured twelve "88's" and their sleeping crews and drove southeast through Wetzendorf, Schniegling, and Muggenhof, taking much radar and searchlight equipment that had been abandoned by the enemy.

Pressing on in the wake of the remainder of the regiment, the 3d Battalion -accumulated vast stores of war materiel as well as hundreds of prisoners before it moved into Nurnberg following capitulation of the city.

The battle for Nurnberg cannot be described without mention of the Antitank Company of the 15th Infantry, which fought as infantrymen from the 18th to the 20th of April. Numbering only 52 officers and men, weary from continuous marching and fighting, after two nights without sleep or rest, these infantrymen blasted their way through the Nurnberger Stadtpark, destroyed a heavily manned roadblock in a rifle-grenade assault, broke through a block of sniper-infested apartment houses, and finally reached the massive Innerstadtmauer and moat which girded the old city. In the sector assigned to them this unit broke the back of enemy resistance. For this action it was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.

Officially, at 1400, April 20, Nurnberg-"the most 360 German of all cities"-fell, and all resistance north of the Pegnitz River had ceased.

At 1830, in the battered Adolf Hitler Platz, a rifle platoon from each regiment, as well as tanks, TDs, and Flakwagons, stood in silent array. Old Glory ascended an improvised flagpole and the band played the National Anthem. Maj. Gen. John W. O'Daniel then spoke.

"Again the 3d Division has taken its objective," he said. "We are standing at the site of the stronghold of Nazi resistance in our zone. Through your feats of arms, you have smashed fifty heavy antiaircraft guns, captured four thousand prisoners, and driven the Hun from every house and every castle and bunker in our part of Nurnberg.

"I congratulate you upon your superior performance. . .

The band broke into "Dogface Soldier." A few be wildered civilians contemplated the red, white, and blue banner flying at half-mast in mourning for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

On the following day an impressive military ceremony was conducted and the United States flag was officially raised over the city of Nurnberg, while still another ceremony was held on April 22 when Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch, Commanding General of the 7th Army, presented five members of the Division with the Congressional Medal of Honor in an impressive display witnessed by many of the famous news correspondents and radio announcers of the European Theater of Operations. The awardees were: T/Sgt. Ralph Dunham, S/Sgt. Lucian Adams and Pfc. Wilburn K. Ross of the 30th Infantry, and Lt. Col. Keith L. Ware and 1st Lt. John J. Tominac of the 15th Infantry.

The 3d Battalion, 30th Infantry, all blitzed up with new infantry jackets, painted helmets and new. boots, represented infantrymen of the Division at both ceremonies. The 3d Battalion was Division reserve at the time.

The latter ceremony was held at the famous Nurnberg Zeppelin stadium, site of great rallies in the more halcyon -days of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.

The fall of Nurnberg rocked Nazidom. The center of distribution for Nazi laws and Nazi propaganda was gone, the last-ditch fight which was exerted in defense of the city had been for naught and the relentless drive of the 3d Division and other United States units was no longer to be denied nor halted.

The Division was now about to go into Seventh Army reserve. However, in a dramatic move south, the l2th Armored Division, which had broken loose while the Marnemen were cleaning up Nurnberg, fought its way across the Danube River, last barrier before Munich, and captured a bridge intact near Dillingen, to the southwest.

The last chance for the Germans to develop a line west of Munich had now vanished. The 15th Infantry was rushed to that vicinity to reinforce and hold the bridgehead while the remainder of the Division stayed in Nurnberg on guard duty until relief by the 80th Infantry Division was effected.

After an all-night move, the 15th crossed the Danube near Dillingen and assembled in the Kicklingen-Holzhelm area early on April 24.

The 3d now was poised to strike toward Munich, Germany's third largest city and key to the entire southern part of the country and to the Redoubt area, in which many military authorities thought the Germans would make a last determined stand.

Passing through the l2th Armored Division at Binswangen, the 15th Infantry attacked toward Weringen, with the 1st Battalion, commanded by Maj. Kenneth B. Potter, taking the lead following a heavy artillery concentration on dug-in enemy positions.

With Company A on the right and Company C on the left, the battalion pushed ahead but was met with a counterattack just outside the village and a six-hour fight against small arms, machine guns and antitank weapons ensued. The town was cleared, the blocks established by midmorning, and Company A moved on to occupy Roggden before nightfall.

The 2d Battalion, meanwhile, was conducting guard duties in and around Dillingen and the 3d Battalion blocked in the vicinity of Holzheim, Weisengen, Altenbaindt and Eppisburg.

The 3d Battalion of the 30th Infantry also had a blocking mission in support of the l2th Armored Divlsion in the vicinity of Crailsheim while the armored units exploited the brilliant capture of the Dillingen bridge.

The bridgehead situation was precarious for several days and what was expected to be a two-day "breather" for the 30th turned out to be an active period of blocking that finally developed into an all-out attack by the regiment to clear troublesome Germans from woods on the left flank.

The 1st Battalion, meanwhile, crossed the Danube on the right of the established front and cleared a salient after establishing another bridgehead shortly after midnight of April-25-26.

This crossing was made northeast of Augsburg while the 7th and 15th Infantry Regiments fought through that portion of the city west of the river.

Crossing the Lech River and then the Werk Canal, on the early morning of April 28, the 1st and 3d Battalions of the 30th ran into some of the heaviest artillery fire witnessed since Anzio. The 3d Battalion, crossing behind the 1st Battalion, came under intense artillery fire as it was crossing the bridge. It was learned later that the massed artillery fire of two German divisions had been turned on the crossing site in addition to much 20mm. Flak and tank fire. Numerous battle groups, supported by fifty dual-purpose "88s" and a large number of "Tiger Royal" tank's carrying 120mm guns, were astride the Autobahn facing the river and poured hundred of shells into our attacking force. This was the last organized German defensive position protecting Munich.

The site chosen for the installation of a bridge was at the Autobahn, but the troop crossing site was 500 yards north over a spillway where the canal and river meet.

The intense enemy fire precluded the building of bridges and no ferry could be put into use. Every five minutes a heavy concentration of at least fifty guns was placed on the river crossing site and not until the doughboys overran the German positions did the firing cease.

Company C, under 1st Lt. Charles P. Murray, broke a German counterattack, cut through the enemy lines, and took a large number of "88's" in an attack from the rear. The pitched battle continued all day of April 28, with 1st Battalion taking 24 "88's" and 3d Battalionnetting 16. Company A alone captured 18 of the dreaded German field pieces.

Late that day, Company L, under 1st Lt. Abraham Fitterman, left the rest of the battalion and proceeded ,to clear the vital suburbs of Augsburg, east of the Lech River including Lechhausen, where contact was made with 15th Infantry, which had taken several hundred prisoners in its dash through Hettlingen, Gerashofen, Laugna, Asbach, Osterbuch, Reidsend, Wengen, Sontheim, Marzelstetten, Willenback, Rischgan, and Zusamaltheim. Company A captured a completely equipped airplane-parts plant at Roggden.

Frequent small groups of Germans were encountered during the rapid advance but there was no organized resistance such as was met at Wertingen, although the Luftwage came over at intervals. These raids did little more than harass our hard-driving troops.

The 2d Battalion of the 15th pushed through Affaltern, Feigenhofen, Lutzelburg, and Gablingen and the 3d raced into Bocksberg, Heretried, Holzhausen, Rettenbergen and Lautersbrunn on the morning of April 27; Company K, in front, was nearing Edenbergen on the Munich Autobahn.

Pushing north and northeast over a 20,000-yard front toward Therhaupten and Mertingen, the 1st and 3d Battalions of the 7th crossed the Lech River and the Werk Canal, turned south and southeast and, over a 4,000-yard front, moved into position for. entrance into Augsburg.

The 1st Battalion encountered stubborn small-arms resistance as it moved out of Wortingen but the enemy fire was soon silenced and the town of Gottmannshofen was cleared. Company B, commanded by 1st Lt. Aldo F. Dal Molin, moved into Frouerstetten and Company C, under Capt. Victor M. Morris, took Bleinsbach. Hohenreichen, Prettelshofen and Hirschbach were taken without a fight but members of Company A had to eliminate the defenders of a roadblock before they could occupy Rieblingen and Company C was forced to inspect forty-two Storch planes that the enemy had destroyed near Langenreichen. Company A came under enemy artillery fire at Biberbach after the Germans had evacuated the city.

All during the night of April 26-27, the 1st Battalion received artillery fire from enemy positions across the Werk Canal and many casualties were suffered. Early the next morning, Company C was in Markt, Company B was in Erlingen and Company A was in Eistenbrechtshofen, en route to Theringen, the jumping-off position for the attack on Augsburg from the west.

One of the most memorable liberations of the war was celebrated at the small town of Unter Thurheim, which was entered by Company K, under 1st Lt. Herman Ramer.

Fifty-two Americans, some of whom were members of the 3d Division who had been captured by the Germans at Anzio Beachhead more than a year before, were set free when the Marnemen entered the town. A wilder celebration and more genuine greeting had never before been received by 3d Infantry Division men who captured the town.

The men had heard the 3d Division Artillery for several days and all' of them had "sweated out" the liberation.

"When I saw those guys out of the window, my knees started to knock and I didn't know whether to jump or fly," said Pvt. Frank Parco, one of the liberated Anzio veterans. "Everybody was out in the street hugging and slapping each other, and I even kissed the first infantryman I saw, because I had been swearing for the last fourteen months that I would do so." Most of the 150 Germans defending the town were taken prisoner after a short fire fight, and Company K continued on to Vord Reid, Greggenhof, and Allmanshofen, where the company secured a bridge intact. Company 1, commanded by 1st Lt. Eli Levy, took Pfaffenhofen, Buttenwiesen, Druisheim, and Mertigen, destroying three 150mm guns that had caused several delays to the advance of the battalion. Company L, under 1st Lt. Sherman W. Pratt, cleared Westendorf, Ellgau, Ostendorf and Waltershofen, coming under machine-gun and Flakwagon fire from across the Werk Canal while in the process.

Main over-all enemy resistance in the 7th Infantry area was centered on the north-south road leading from Nordendorf to Mertingen which the enemy attempted to deny our forces by frequent concentrations of self-propelled-gun fire on the highway.

The regiment's 2d Battalion, which had been in mobile reserve, moved from its bivouac area in the vicinity of Langenreichen and Company F attacked Langweid, where the enemy put up one of the few organizedresistance fights that the 7th had encountered in recent days. Twelve "88's" were captured on the outskirts of the village and the attacking force was brought under heavy small-arms and mortar fire directed from woods north and east of the town.

Lieutenant Conklin's men overran ten 105s whose crews withheld their fire until the attackers reached a close range.

The remainder of the battalion met stubborn delaying action as it proceeded through Achsheim and Stettenhofen but the enemy gradually withdrew along the railroad tracks running into Augsburg.

The push to the south continued and Company G moved into Augsburg along the railroad right-of-way.

A civilian delegation offered to surrender the city to Lt. -Col. Jack M. Duncan, Commanding Officer of the 2d Battalion, late that night, but while negotiations were under way elements of 2d Battalion, 15th Infantry, swept into the town from another directionalso with civilian assistance-and the 30th threw a ring around the city, completely cutting off any possible escapes and making a surrender unavoidable.

A hastily-organized task force of the 15th had passed through elements of the 7th at Krigshaber early that day, taking Rettenbergen, Edenbergen, Batzenhofen, Westheim, and Stadtbergen in a whirlwind drive into Augsburg. Col. Hallett D. Edson, the regimental commander, devised a surrender plan for the differing groups of civilians and military authorities.

The military commander of the city, a Brigadier General Fehn, desired to capitulate. "honorably" but members of the German "Freedom Party" wanted to hand over the city without a fight, so Colonel Edson directed that the German garrison in the city of 200,000 population be surrendered in small groups, which was quickly accomplished to the satisfaction of all concerned, including the "honorable" German commander who also became a PW.

With the fall of Augsburg, the seizing of a bridgehead over the Lech River and the liquidation of the strong enemy defensive position astride the Autobahn to the east of the city, the 3d Division hardly paused in its sweep to Munich, whose Rosenheim Strasse beer hall was the scene of Hitler's famous "putsch" in 1923.

The 15th remained in Augsburg as the garrison unit while the other two regiments of the Division took up the pursuit of the disintegrating German army.

Passing through elements of the 30th Infantry at Friedberg, the 7th attacked on the right flank with Task Force Horton, commanded by Capt. Robert, Horton of the 3d Battalion, in the van as the regiment raced down a road parallel to the Autobahn in quest of new towns to conquer.

Hegnenberg, Horbach, Eitelsreid, Galgen and Puch all fell before the Horton Force, which was comprised of a platoon of the Reconnaissance Company of the 601st TD Battalion, a section of the regimental Battle Patrol, a platoon of light tanks from Company D of the 756th Tank Battalion and a platoon of mediums from Company A; an armored advance guard of two platoons of medium tanks and a platoon of TDs; one tank dozer from Company A, 10th Engineer Battalion; and all the personnel of Company L of the 7th mounted on the armored vehicles; followed by other elements of the 3d Battalion utilizing organic and reinforcing transportation.

It was no wonder that the Germans surrendered by ,the hundreds upon seeing these fast-moving forces sweeping over the country.

Twelve "88's," a huge searchlight, and much radar equipment were taken with a large number of prisoners between Friedberg and Mering. Some enemy machinegun and antitank fire was met on the road between Mering and Merching. Kiefersbrunn, Steinach and Hochsdorf were also occupied by noon but a large crater and blown water main at a railroad crossing on the Autobahn held up progress shortly before midnight of April 29. The force moved slowly past the 366 wreckage and was in Puchheim at 0200 the next morning. At Germering, fourteen "88's" were taken, in addition to numerous prisoners, after a fight that lasted almost until daybreak. Driving into Neaubing, the battalion detrucked, distributed its tanks and TDs to the other battalions of the regiment and continued the advance on foot, all Task Force missions having been completed and accomplished.

All the towns that were by-passed during the rapid advance of Task Force Horton were secured and cleaned out by the 1st Battalion while 2d Battalion, marching on foot, covered approximately twenty-five miles on the first day's trek toward Munich.

Rederzhausen, Mergenthau, Bachern, Holzburg, Harmonsburg, Ried, Zillenberg, Eismansberg, Sichenried, Baierberg, Tegernbach and Baindlkirch all fell to the 2d Battalion. At Holzberg, 800 prisoners were taken while another 500 were gathered up at Mittelstatten, Langenmoos, Hanshofen, Vogach and Gunzelhofen. By 0230 hours, April 30, the battalion had reached Unter Malching where it went into regimental reserve.

The 1st Battalion struck a strong resistance pocket at Pullach, where several hundred Hitler Jugend and SS troops fought for several hours before surrendering. Several bridges over the Isar River in the vicinity of Pullach were destroyed.

After clearing the. suburban districts south of Munich to the Isar on May 1, 7th Infantry was' placed in Division reserve and moved to the area cast of the Isar.

Task Force Osgard, named after its commander, Lt. Col. James L. Osgard, commander of the 2d Battalion, 30th Infantry, jumped off on its race to Munich at 0130 hours on the morning of April 29 with the other two battalions close behind mopping up by-passed German groups.

Moving down the Munich Autobahn at breakneck speed, Task Force Osgard liquidated or captured a great number of Germans in carrying out its mission to secure approaches to Munich and clear the suburbs around the southwestern side of the city.

Before noon, the force was at a slight rise before the last barrier, the Amper River, where only one of a large number of bridges had not been blown. This lone bridge was discovered by Col. Lionel C. McGarr and Lt. Col. James L. Osgard on a personal reconnaissance well forward of the advance units of the regiment.

Late in the afternoon, Company F, commanded by Capt. Robert L. Fleet, moved across the bridge with supporting armor, and after overcoming stiff early resistance established a bridgehead. The remainder of 2d Battalion followed by the 1st Battalion moved across the river later in the evening.

At 0945 hours, April 30, Company C, under 1st Lt. Charles P. Murray, entered the city and the rest of the

1st Battalion moved in around noon' after overcoming a force of 300 enemy with machine guns who had arrived in the southwest corner of the city from the east almost simultaneously with the 30th's advance units from the west.

Capt. Gilbert Hunt, 1st Battalion Adjutant, reported that civilians had pointed out hiding places of stubborn enemy troops and that United States soldiers and vehicles had been showered with flowers by some civilians.

Resistance in Munich was indeed weird, with flowerthrowing in some parts of the city and last-ditch fighting taking part in other sections. There were numerous antiaircraft guns protecting Munich and most of them were employed against the invading infantry of the 30 Division. The 30th Infantry encountered much small arms fire as it worked its way through the city's streets toward the center of the town, where a suicide squad of about twenty-five German elite Guards held out in a building until one of our artillery pieces tore the structure down with several well-directed shots.

There was no official surrender at Munich such as in Nurnberg and many other smaller towns for the very simple reason that all the city's officials had left before General O'Daniel rode into the main part of town at 1600 hours, April 30.

The General talked with three men who held minor jobs in the city government but none of them felt sufficiently responsible to offer up the city, although they were Nazi party members and had been ordered by party leaders to remain behind to care for the 450,000 persons in Munich.

With Nurnberg and Munich in our hands, pursuit of the German army by the 3d Division was converted into a campaign of mopping up scattered points of resistance and running thousands of PWs through the cages, which now were so full that it was almost impossible to keep an accurate check on their numbers.

Leaving Augsburg April 30, the 15th Infantry assembled in the area near Rottbach, northwest of Munich, and organized small, hard-hitting task forces that quickly pushed past Munich, moved south along the Isar River to Grunwald then southeast along the axis Grunwald Strasslach -Pullach- Oden-Kreuz and Ober Haching.

Task Force Ware, named after Lt. Col. Keith L. Ware, commanding officer of the 2d Battalion, led the regiment's attack as it took Otterloh, Sauerlach, Bergham, Holzham, Foching, Unter Darching and Unter Laindern during the drive of May 1-2, when 1478 prisoners were taken. German units were surrendering in their entirety and hundreds of enemy marched into our lines to give themselves up.

The closing days of the war were some of the most spectacular that the Division had encountered and the 30th Infantry, after leaving Munich, engaged in some stirring episodes during these final phases.

Task Force Chaney, named after Lt. Col. Christopher W. Chaney, 3d Battalion commander, was running hell-bent down the Autobahn to cut off escaping Germans in Rosenheim and to secure bridges across the Inn River, last natural barrier to the area leading into the Redoubt country.

It was May Day and a freak snow storm had blanketed the countryside. A cold, damp wind reminiscent of the Vosges whipped across the highways from the Tyrolean Alps as the task force pushed rapidly on, capturing one airport that held more than 300 German planes, many of which were "warmed up" and ready for flight when the raiders swooped down on the field.

Through Feldkirchen, the force reached Rosenheim where Company I and two platoons of Company L slipped through four enemy battalions and secured two of the three bridges in the city. The third, and most strategically-located bridge, a two-lane structure that reached 135 yards across the Inn, was reconnoitered by 2d Lt. Emil T. Byke's 1st platoon of Company L.

A fire fight arose when the platoon neared the bridge site and when the Germans fled; the Marnemen took up the chase only to be stopped by a great number of mines that had been strewn along the bridge flooring. At this point, Lieutenant Byke saw a smoldering fuse beneath the bridge, rushed down and cut the primacord (an instantaneous type fuse) on a huge amount of demolitions just in time to save the bridge and many of his men's lives.

The lieutenant's alertness and quick action saved the only bridge in that area capable of carrying the armored units on their drive south, and without it the entrance of the 3d Division into Salzburg and Berchtesgaden would have been delayed several days.

While Company L was securing the bridges, Company 1, commanded by 2d Lt. Gerald G. Mehuron, cleaned out the sentinels and outguards of the Rosenheim garrison.

By making the German commander believe that the United States forces were much larger than they were Lieutenant Mehuron won the surrender of nearly 1500 men and 125 officers in a slick ruse.

Task Force Chaney was held up at Traunstein when French and 20th Armored Division elements passed through, creating a traffic tie-up that was also agitated by a -blown bridge over the Salzach River. After taking Bergen, the entire 30th Infantry assembled in the vicinity of Traunstein, from where it moved to Salzburg to perform guard duty in that historic old city until May 10.

The 7th Infantry took up the chase along the Autobahn east of Bergen. A blown bridge over the Tirolger Achen River near Stegenhauser held up the forces until a crossing could be effected east of Moosen. A surprisingly stiff fight was encountered by Company I in Ober Siegsdorf but the resistance was short-lived and ended with the killing or capture of all the defending Germans.

During the night of May 2-3, the 2d Battalion passed through the 3d in the vicinity of Ober Siegsdorf but was held up at the Saalach River, west Of Salzburg, because all three bridges spanning the river had been destroyed.

On the following night, the battalion crossed the river in assault boats to be the first troops of the 3d Division to enter Austria.

Brig. Gen. Robert N. Young, Assistant Division Commander, accompanied advance elements of the 106th Cavalry Group, which was the first unit officially to enter Salzburg. General Young accepted the surrender of the city.

The German collapse was so complete that the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry, commanded by Major Kenneth B. Potter, cleaning up behind advance formations, took over 3,000 prisoners including three Generals.

One member of the battalion who had become separated from his company was called upon to accept the surrender of a completely equipped German battalion. While he was preparing to have the Germans march to the PW cage,, twenty more enemy officers came down from the hills and joined the surrender group.

Although Berchtesgaden was beyond the Division zone, General O'Daniel ordered the 7th Infantry to continue on through the hills to Hitler's mountain retreat, with the 1st and 3d Battalions following the regimental Battle Patrol in the attack.

Smouldering ruins of Hitler's Der Berghof Obersalzburg greeted the 3d Division. The Allied bombings of previous days had left little to defend, although the subterranean caves later proved interesting to sightseers who swarmed over the grounds for several weeks after the war's end.

During the afternoon of May 5, an American flag was raised over the charred buildings by members of the 7th Infantry in a ceremony that put the final touch to the 3d Division's pursuit that had began at Fedala, the French Morocco, more than two years before.

The last act of Nazidammerung was played out beginning May 3, before an appreciative 3d Infantry Division, the division which had fought over a longer trail than any other organization of comparable size in the European Theater of Operations. It was a fitting climax to the brilliant career of the Division which suffered 35,000 battle casualties in its almost solid twenty-two months' campaigning against the Axis.'

An armistice commission representing Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, commander of all German forces on what had been the Western Front until the Russians .and Americans met along the River Elbe and cut that front in two, had been reported in the Salzburg area for the past forty-eight hours.

In a small, rock-walled room, some hundred feet below the street level and at the bottom of a shaft sunk into the depths of the Monchsberg close by the Klausen Tor in Salzburg, several United States officers, -Brig. Gen. Robert N. Young; his staff officer, Major Frederick C. Spreyer; and Lt. Col. Jack M., Duncan, CO of the 2d Battalion, 7th Infantry, were discussing and attempting to solve the many problems attendant upon the surrender of the city of Salzburg with the Stadtskommandant, Colonel Lepperdinger, and his staff. Suddenly the radiotelephone in an alcove off the main room rings and the German Feldwebel responds with, "Jawohl, Herr General . . . Jawohl!" Colonel Lepperdinger is summoned to the phone and after a few minutes returns to inform the United States officers that he is in communication with Lieutenant General Zimmerman, Field Marshal Kesselring's chief of staff. General Zimmermann wishes to know if Salzburg is in United States hands. If so, would the United States commanding general receive a German armistice delegation from Field Marshal Kesselring's headquarters? German officers begin to talk sotto voce in little groups; General Young confers with his staff officers; English is translated into German, and German into English. Finally arrangements are agreed upon and relayed to Lieutenant General Zimmerman. The German armistice delegation will proceed from Field Marshal Kesselring's headquarters in, motor vehicles plainly marked with white flags of truce via Hallein to Salzburg and will be met by General Young at the Osterreicher Hof.

In Room 49 at the Osterreicher Hof General Young and Major Spreyer await the arrival of the German delegation. Col. Bernard Wilson, commander of the 106th Cavalry Group, is ordered to send out parties in reconnaissance cars to aid the delegation in passing the lines. A British captain, recently released from a German prison camp by the U.S. 3d Infantry Division, joins in the search.

That afternoon a German major drove through the lines and requested to be conducted to an American headquarters. He brought the information that a Lt. Gen. Foertsch was heading the party, which was on the way.

"Shortly after 1900, Major Thomas Howard and Lt. Herbert Heldt burst into Room 49 of the Osterreicher Hof, reported AP's Howard Cowan, and said, 'They blew the bridge up right in our faces!'

"The bridge near Hallein south of Salzburg had been dynamited by SS troops and it was feared the armistice party was trapped.

"'Maybe they've been picked up by some 'of our. men and taken to the PW cage.' said General Young. 'We'd never find them.

"The deal had been given up as a bad job as the sun went down and no sign of the German officers. Room 49 cleared....

"I left and got down one flight of stairs when I was almost knocked down by Foertsch and his party striding up the stairs two steps at a time. The part was covered with white chalk dust which gave their faces a deathly pallor and grayed their hair. The were loaded with brief cases and parcels of paper. . . .'

The British captain, had located the delegation an guided it to the Osterreicher Hof.

A German colonel said: "Do you want to see our credentials?" General Young nodded and the colonel began fumbling for the papers as General Foertsch began speaking in German with Maj. Frederick C Spreyer.

"I have come to ask an armistice as soon as possible to complete arrangements for unconditional surrender of the German army, navy, and air forces," said Foertsch. "I have full authority to act for the German army and German government. It is imperative that I see your Sixth Army Group commander immediately The meeting should be as near this spot as possible because of the state of our communications."

[The communications were in worse state than Foertsch suspected. Surrender negotiations were also being conducted in other parts of the dissected Reich.

The party left immediately for the Division CTat Ober Siegsdorf. The Germans travelled in their own vehicles, sandwiched in between armored cars and jeeps bristling with machine guns. White flags flew from the radiator of the touring car in which Foertsch was a passenger.

Behind him a huge American flag was folded on the lap of a German lieutenant.

"All along the route, which was cleared of heavy tank and truck traffic by scouts speeding ahead," said Cowan, "parties of doughboys lined the roads and you could hear the babble of comments as we passed by.

"Von Kesselring!' one ejaculated.

"Is it over?' was shouted scores of times."

The mission arrived in Ober Siegsdorf shortly after midnight, after detouring most of the way. The German general spent the rest of the night, at the CP.

Foertsch and his party left in the morning and went back to XV Corps headquarters to surrender to General Devers.

Following the meeting the German party passed through the 3d Division on its way to Kesselring's headquarters.

A United States party headed by Captain Rhoman Clem of Division Headquarters accompanied the German delegation on its quest for the headquarters. In the party were: 1st Lts. Joseph A Mercer, George Allen, and Harold Willingham; Sgt. George Allen and a group of twenty-one other men.

SS fanatics held up the combined party on the first day's try, blowing up roads and one whole mountainside. The 3d Division personnel present were treated to the rare spectacle of an SS 2d lieutenant arguing with a German lieutenant general, and actually getting abusive, Captain Clem's detachment returned to the Division CP, which had moved into Salzburg, while negotiations were held up for a day. Then German Colonel Zelling led the party along the road to Zell-am-See, "an idyllic Austrian lake resort where Nazi big-shots alternately played and planned their next conquests," according to Edgar Snow of Saturday Evening Post.

On the night of May 8, Captain Clem met Marshal Kesselring on his private train, the "Brunswick," which had moved to the south of the lake. From that time on communication was constant with the Allied high command, including General Eisenhower, and remained constant until the following day, when representatives of Sixth Army Group headquarters appeared . to receive the Marshal's final surrender. This historic act, involving the submission of more than one million enemy troops, took place in the "Brunswick" at the * little town of Saalfelden. The last German force in * Europe had surrendered.

(At 2:41 A.M., Monday, May 7 at Reims, France, General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower turned to his deputy commander, British Air Marshal Tedder and said, "Thank you very much, Arthur." Then he held up the two pens with which surrender had been signed and made a "V" for victory. Peace had officially come to Europe.

(Russian ratification of the final surrender came in Berlin, a little later in the day of May 8 when Field Marshal Keitel capitulated to Stalin's deputy, Marshal Gregory Zhukov.)

As far as the 3d Infantry Division was concerned, however, the war was not quite over.

A few days after the official V-E proclamation, 15th and 30th Infantry Regiments suddenly got the order to move, in full battle equipment. A group of SS troops was supposedly still holding out in the Redoubt area.

"A hell of a time to be shot---after all them speeches," grumbled the men, many of whom had well above the announced "critical score" necessary for a trip to the United States and possible discharge. According to C.I.C. information Himmler, the notorious SS leader who was still at large, was supposed to be in charge of the force.

The information proved erroneous, however, and men of the two regiments breathed sighs of relief. "For," said Jack Bell of the Chicago Tribune, "men do not want to be killed, even while playing cops and robbers."

The 3d Infantry Division apprehended the notorious Skorzeny, SS leader who had "rescued" Mussolini following the Italian dictators downfall in 1943, and who had, organized the abortive assassination missions against high-ranking allied military leaders during the Ardennes counteroffensive and breakthrough---a very much-sought war criminal.

Probably one of the most valued comments was made by Kesselring. The German Field Marshal, who commanded troops on the Italian Front during the entire time that 3d Infantry Division fought in Italy, and who succeeded Marshal von Rundstedt as commander of the German West Front, was asked directly by Seymour Korman, war correspondent for the Chicago Tribune: "What was the best American division faced by troops under your command on either the Italian or Western Fronts?" Without hesitation, Kesselring named four American divisions, two infantry and two armored. The 3d Infantry Division he placed first on the list.

The incidents relative to the downfall of an entire nation only punctuated the fact that the fighting was finished. As men who have been living in constant apprehension of physical injury for the better portion of two and a half years, veterans of the 3d's total campaigning were almost skeptical, at first, of the fact that the war,. indeed, was over. The ultimate goal of every soldier who had ever fought, the end had seemed like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It had been wonderful to dwell upon, but it would never materialize. Then, suddenly, it was upon them all and the impact of the fact was a thing that failed to register,like the sudden death of a loved one-an idea, like some involved bit of philosophical reasoning that had to be taken again and again, in small doses. The sure knowledge of the fact was there, but the full implication of it needed much time and serious consideration to sink in.

Only after the connotations of the word "peace" began to manifest themselves in such realities as the absence of shot and shell, enough food to eat and enough time to sleep, did the end of hostilities effect the fullest benefit on the minds of all men.

Then, and only then, did the transition reach full cycle. It was sad that so many thousands of 3d Division men slept in places so far from the scenes of rejoicing.

It is with pride that the men of the 3d Infantry Division point to their record of combat, of campaigns, of landings, of victories [said the Division Front Line]. The route from Casablanca to Berchtesgaden is strewn with the wreckage of the shattered Wehrmacht. Never did the 3d Infantry Division falter or fall back in its thirty months of combat.

All of this is indeed glorious and in Army language can be said to be, "in keeping with the highest traditions of the service."

But there is another side to the picture. Now that the active campaigning is over in Europe we must look back and tally the cost of all this glory.

The Division has its heroes, its Footsie Britts. It has its thousands of unsung heroes, the infantry and engineers, the artillerymen, the medics, signalmen and QM, its ordnance and tankers, its pencil-pushers and staff officers,. From the privates to the generals they are heroes, all of them. They did their job. Some of them never saw the Germans; some of them saw too many. But it was teamwork that made the 3d what it was and is.

But the cost of the reputation-it cannot be tallied. The cost cannot be added in terms of cash, materiel, time. Nor can it be a statistical report of so many killed, injured, missing, prisoners. For the cost has too personal a significance to each of us to permit it to be summarized as a statistical report. All of us have lost someone in this war; a friend, a brother, a son, someone whom we loved.

It is to these men that we look back today in our moment of triumph. We cannot look back to them if we do not look forward to the future for which they fought-and died.

The cost has been great-almost at times, it seemed, too great. It is now our task to build the future on the solid foundation laid by those who have left us forever. That future may keep us in Europe, for a time, send us home, send us to the Pacific. No one knows. But we are still the 3d Division-the Division that has never failed. We shall go forward, in our traditional way, never forgetting those who march with us in memory.