78th Infantry Division Campaign Map

Difficult ground along the German frontier shaped the 78th Infantry Division's route from the start. After arriving in Europe in late 1944, the Lightning Division moved into the Schnee Eifel and began fighting through the West Wall. Its early operations included attacks near Simmerath, Kesternich, and other fortified villages that guarded the approaches to the Roer.

In February 1945, the division became tied to the Roer dam campaign. Elements fought toward Schmidt and the Schwammenauel Dam, helping secure the water-control system that had delayed the Allied crossing of the Roer. Once the river line was crossed, the 78th advanced to the Rhine and sent elements through the Remagen bridgehead.

East of the Rhine, the division fought along the Ahr and the heights overlooking the river, then moved toward the Sieg River. In April, it attacked across the Sieg as part of the reduction of the Ruhr Pocket, battling through Waldbrol, Lichtenberg, Freudenberg, and Wuppertal before its drive ended. This is a campaign defined less by sweeping movement than by hard advances through dams, ridges, fortified towns, and industrial terrain.

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