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The U.S. 45th Infantry Division was a National Guard Division that
fought in some of the most important campaigns during the Second
World War. Arriving in North Africa during June of 1943 and fighting
exclusively in the European Theater of Operations the 45th Infantry
Division was almost immediately thrust into combat; playing a key role
in the invasion of Sicily. Immediately following the Sicilian campaign,
the 45th Infantry Division participated in the Allied landings at Salerno
in September of 1943 and ground its way up the Italian peninsula in
almost continuous combat through June of 1944.

After being withdrawn from the frontlines in Italy, the 45th Infantry
Division rested and refitted before serving as one of the primary
assault units in the Allies' August 1944 invasion of Southern France,
named Operation Dragoon. After rapidly pushing through much of
France, Allied supply difficulties left the Seventh Army's advance, of
which the 45th Infantry Division was a part, slowing considerably in
September of 1944.

When this picture was taken, these men, from the 45th Infantry
Division's 157th Infantry Regiment, were approaching the Moselle River
in eastern France. Much hard fighting awaited the 45th Infantry
Division; its men would play an important role in the invasion of Nazi
Germany; including liberating the surviving victims interned at the
infamous Dachau Concentration Camp.

Picture Courtesy of David Kerr (United States National Archives and
Records Administration Photo ID: III-SC 329879, Box 693.)