History Of The 398th Infantry Regiment In World War II

Bernard Boston, Robert M Williams

• Publisher: Paeroa House
• Year: 2026
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781779799234
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

History of the 398th Infantry Regiment in World War II They marched into some of the most savage fighting of the European Theater, ordinary American men transformed by extraordinary circumstances into warriors who refused to yield. From the bloodied fields of France to the frozen ridgelines of the Vosges Mountains and beyond, the soldiers of the 398th Infantry Regiment carved their story in sacrifice, courage, and sheer human endurance. This remarkable volume, written by veterans Bernard Boston and Robert M. Williams and published in 1947 while the memories were still raw and vivid, captures that story with an intimacy and authenticity that no later historian could replicate. This is not a sanitized account composed at comfortable distance. This is the testimony of men who were there, written for the men who survived and for the families who needed to understand what their loved ones had endured and what those who did not return had given. Boston and Williams take the reader deep into the regiment's journey, tracing the arc of its formation, its brutal combat baptism, and the grinding campaigns that tested every soldier to his absolute limit. The Vosges campaign alone stands as one of the war's most punishing and overlooked chapters, with terrain and weather conspiring alongside enemy resistance to break units that were not unbreakable. The 398th proved otherwise. Through meticulous unit histories, personal accounts, and operational detail, the authors reconstruct the atmosphere of exhaustion, fear, dark humor, and fierce brotherhood that defined life at the front. Readers feel the weight of wet wool uniforms, the tension of night patrols, and the devastating grief of losing men who had become closer than brothers. This is military history at its most human and its most honest. For collectors of World War II regimental histories, military history enthusiasts, and descendants of the men who served, this volume is an irreplaceable document. It preserves voices and experiences that would otherwise be lost entirely to time, offering a ground-level perspective on a conflict that reshaped the world. Whether you are tracing a family connection to the 398th or seeking to understand the true human texture of the American infantry experience in Europe, this book delivers something no broad strategic history can provide: the faces, names, and souls behind the statistics. It stands as a permanent tribute to uncommon valor and a testament to what American soldiers were asked to bear.

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• MAPS
• DEDICATION
• FOREWORD
• 1: MARSEILLE
• 2: TO THE BATTLE AREA
• 3: THE VOSGES MOUNTAINS
• 4: PUSHING THROUGH THE VOSGES
• 5: CROSSING THE LA PLAINE
• 6: PURSUIT THROUGH THE VOSGES
• 7: DRIVE TOWARD BITCHE
• 8: REYERSVILLER
• 9: BITCHE—AND THE FORMIDABLE MAGINOT
• 10: READJUSTMENT
• 11: CAPTURE OF BITCHE
• 12: CROSSING THE RHINE
• 13: HEILBRONN AND THE NECKAR
• 14: BRIDGEHEAD ACROSS THE NECKAR
• 15: CROSSING THE JAGST
• 16: ODHEIM
• 17: PURSUIT
• APPENDIX—AWARDS AND DECORATIONS