71st Infantry Division

71st Infantry Division. . , 71st Infantry Division (side one) , Major General Willard G. Wyman Commander , Activated 15 July, 1943, Camp Carson, Colorado. , Inactivated 11 March, 1946, Camp Kilmer, New Jersey , Organized as a light division with 8,800 personnel, utilizing animal transport for mountain warfare. , Maneuvered against the 89th Light Division in spring of 1944 in California mountains. , Moved to Ft. Benning, Georgia in May, 1944, and reorganized as a standard triangular infantry division. with 14,300 personnel. , Moved to Normandy, France in Europe in January 1945. The division consisted of: the Division Headquarters Co. The 5th, 14th, 66th, Infantry Regiments: 564th, 607th, 608th. 609th. Field Artillery Battalions: 71st Cavalry Recon Troop 749th 761st Tank Battalions. 635th Tank Destroyer Battalions, 530th AAA Battalion, 271st Eng. Combat Battalion, 371st Med Battalion, HDQ Special Troops, 771st Ordnance Light Maint Co., 251st Quartermaster, Co., 571st Signal Co. , The division entered combat with the U.S. Seventh Army at Ratzwiller France, 11 March, 1945, and later transferred to the U.S. Third Army. , Major Battles: Germany: Maginot and Siegfried lines, Lingenfield, Frankfurt, Nurnberg, Coburg, Bayreuth, Amberg, Regensburg. Straubing. , Austria: Reid, Lambach, Wels, Steyr , Rivers Crossed: Main, Naab, Rhine, Danube, Regen, Isar, Inn, Enns. , Concentration Camps Liberated: Strubing, Gunskirchen Lager. , The division moved farther east than any other U.S. combat unit, and met Russian forces at the Enns River in Steyr, Austria. It accepted the surrender of the German Army Group Douth on May 7, and the war in Europe ended with VE Day on May 8, 1945., 71st Infantry Division Memorial (side 2) This memorial is dedicated to the men who served in the 71st Infantry Division and especially to those who lost their lives on the battlefields of Europe during World War II.