WWII United States Army 79th Infantry Division Patch - Cross of Lorraine

A good period 79th Division Patch in near mint condition.

The division arrived in Liverpool on April 17 1944. The 79th Infantry Division landed on Utah Beach, Normandy, 12–14 June with an attack on the high ground west and northwest of Valognes and south of Cherbourg. It held a defensive line at the Ollonde River until 2 July 1944 and then returned to the offensive, taking La Haye du Puits in house-to-house fighting, 8 July. On 26 July, attacked across the Ay River, took Lessay, crossed the Sarthe River and entered Le Mans. Therain River, 31 August. Moving swiftly near St. Amand the division was then moved to XV Corps in eastern France, where it encountered heavy resistance in taking Charmes in street fighting, 12 September. The 79th cut across the Moselle and Meurthe Rivers cleared the Forêt de Parroy in a severe engagement, 28 September–9 October, and attacked to gain high ground east of Emberménil.

13 November 1944, which carried it across the Vezouse and Moder Rivers, through Haguenau in spite of determined enemy resistance, and into the Siegfried Line. The division held a defensive line along the Lauter River, at Wissembourg. The German attempt to establish a bridgehead west of the Rhine at Gambsheim resulted in furious fighting. The 79th beat off German attacks at Hatten and Rittershoffen, south of Haguenau on the Moder River, 19 January 1945. The division remained on the defensive along the Moder February 1945. During February and March 1945, the division mopped up German resistance, returned to offensive combat, 24 March 1945, crossed the Rhine, drove across the Rhine-Herne Canal, 7 April, secured the north bank of the Ruhr clearing the Ruhr Pocket. The division then went on occupation duty, in the Dortmund.

Throughout its 248 days of the World War II campaign, the division suffered 15,203 total casualties. The division took 35,466 prisoners of war.

Code: 53297