30th Infantry Division

30th Infantry Division patch

Activation: September 16, 1940

Departure for Europe: February 11, 1944

Combat days: 282

Deactivation: November 25, 1945

The unit arrived in England on February 22, 1944 and landed on Omaha Beach on June 11, crossing the Vire on July 7. 2 It then participated in Operation Cobra intended to break through the German lines but suffered losses due to poorly calibrated bombings by English and American bombers on July 24 and 25. At the beginning of August, it opposed the counterattack of Mortain led by the Germans and fought the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte-SS-Adolf Hitler, an elite unit, managing to contain its advance. With the breakthrough of the German lines in Normandy, it advanced rapidly through France to reach Belgium, crossing the Meuse on September 10 at Visé and Liège. On September 11, it was one of the three divisions that liberated Aubel, the other two being the 1st and 99th Infantry Divisions. On September 13, it captured Maastricht before returning to Germany and playing a decisive role in the Battle of Aachen, as it joined up with the 1st Division on October 16, effectively encircling the city which was taken. The unit was rested for a while before eliminating a German salient northeast of Aachen. It then continued its advance to the Inde River, which it reached on November 28. In December, it was mobilized to reestablish the American front during the Battle of the Bulge. It again opposed the 1st SS Panzer Division and managed to block its progress before launching a counterattack on 13 January 1945 towards Saint-Vith, which it approached three kilometres to the south on 26 January before being withdrawn from the front. It was then reorganised and prepared for an attack towards the Roer, which it crossed on 23 February near Juliers. After a further period of rest, it crossed the Rhine on 24 March and set out to conquer the heart of the Reich, while the enemy resistance gradually collapsed. It took Hamelin on 7 April, Braunschweig on 12 April and took part in the conquest of Magdeburg on 17 April, before meeting the Red Army on the Elbe at Grunewald. It briefly took part in the occupation of Germany and returned to American soil on August 19, 1945. In just under three hundred days of combat, the division suffered 3,003 combat deaths and 13,376 wounded.

source wikipedia