The 4th Infantry Division (4ID) was the Utah Beach assault division at H-Hour, D-Day, June 6, 1944; a liberator of the port city of Cherbourg on June 25, 1944; part of the St. Lo breakout on July 25, 1944; and a liberator of Paris on August 25, 1944. On September 11, 1944, 4ID troops were the first to breach the “impenetrable” Siegfried Line. In November 1944, they slugged it out with the Germans in the Hurtgen Forest, their toughest fight of the war. December found them holding the southern shoulder of the Battle of the Bulge. January through early May 1945 saw their second penetration of the Siegfried Line, the battle of Prum, and a constant pursuit of the retreating German army into their homeland.
The 4ID was a key unit in winning the European theater of World War II, as were many other units. Included are their training days, their fighting days, and their return home to become the “Greatest Generation.”
Told from the daily after action reports, excerpts from books written by 4ID Soldiers and historians, personal stories written by 4ID veterans, and other sources make this the all-inclusive history of the 4th Infantry Division in World War II – from June 1940 to March 1946.
