The 317th Infantry Regiment was reactivated on July 15, 1942 as a subordinate element of the 80th Infantry Division. The regiment trained for two years in Tennessee, Kansas, Arizona, California, and finally New Jersey before departing for England in June 1944. Entering the European continent after D-Day, the regiment experienced its first combat in August 1944 when it assisted in closing the gap at Falaise and spearheaded Third Army's attack on Nancy. The 317th sat through the logistics shortfall that stopped the Third Army's advance during the "October Pause" in the fall of 1944. But then in November the regiment moved through the Maginot Line and prepared to attack Hitler's West Wall. In mid-December, German forces launched the famous Battle of the Bulge with a surprise attack in the Ardennes forest with twenty-five divisions. The 317th was one of the first units to begin the movement north to relieve the beleaguered American troops in the Ardennes.
The regiment continued fighting through January 1945 until some units were exhausted. When Third Army resumed the offensive in February, so did the regiment. On Valentine's Day, 1945, it entered the Reich, moved rapidly through the Eifel and Palatinate regions, and crossed the Rhine River. During this time, the 317th overran some of the concentration camps that were Hitler's answer to the "Jewish question." The regiment moved through Nuremberg and into Austria, where, as it prepared for what loomed as a ferocious battle, the war ended. After serving as an occupation force, the unit officially deactivated in January 1946, after three and a half yearsof valiant service. The 317th had fought its way from Evron, France to Kirchdorf, Austria,participants in the horror and glory of war. It left behind on the battlefields of Europe 312 officers and 7392 enlisted men - fallen comrades in the struggle to free Europe from Nazi tyranny.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-0710103-051947 |
| Date | 10 July 2003 |
| Creators | Dominique, Dean James |
| Contributors | William A. Clark, Stanley E. Hilton, Karl Roider |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-0710103-051947/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University Libraries in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. |
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