60th Infantry Regiment (United States) - World War II

World War II

After the First World War the 60th Infantry was inactivated in South Carolina in 1921. A generation later, in August 1940, war in Europe resulted in a rapid expansion of the US Army. The 60th Infantry was reactivated and assigned to the 9th Infantry Division.

The 60th Infantry spearheaded the November 1942, invasion of French Morocco at Port Lyautey in Operation Torch, winning the arrowhead assault landing device in an action which laid the basis for its nickname 'Scouts Out'. At the time of the invasion, there was great confusion of the coxswains of where the landing sights, either placing their units in the wrong sector, or being very late. The 60th for example landed at 05:30, 40 minutes late, giving the defending Vichy-French time to organize. The 1st battalion landed 2,800 yards north of their assigned beach, and were engaged by light tank once ashore. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions were strafed by French planes. Company E, 2nd Battalion, was stopped completely at a strong-point, the Port Lyautey lighthouse. The 2nd battalion's eventual objective was to take an ancient fortress; the Kasba. Once the landing points were secured completely, engagements were fought between small units and opposing batteries. The regiment culminated its successful North African campaigns with a defense on 18 April 1943 (Easter Sunday) against a massive German attack, and earned a Presidential Unit Citation. The Germans hit the GO Devils from all four sides with 2 full Battalions of Infantry supported by artillery. After four hours of attacking, the Germans threw in the towel, leaving 116 dead, 48 wounded, and a good deal of prisoners.

In 1943 during the battle of Sedjenane Valley along the Tunisia-Algeria border, it was during the fanatical drive by the 60th Regiment that a captured German General's diary was to give the regiment its nickname. In a German General's account of American actions against the Germans, he wrote "Look at those devils go", and thus the 60th Infantry Regiment became the "Go Devils".

In Sicily the regiment continued its winning ways, culminating in the famous Ghost March where the unit infiltrated enemy lines and broke open the last of the German resistance. The Regiment landed at Palermo, Sicily on 5 August. Their first actions were the first of the infiltrations they would make Sicily. The Regiment shot North, flanking the city of Troina, which forced the German artillery protecting the Infantry in the city to withdraw, and allowing other U.S. divisions to easily swallow up the Germans in the city. Next the "Go Devils" chased the retreating Germans east towards Randazzo. The pursuit was hindered by a number booby traps, demolitions, anti-tank and personnel mines, craters and blown bridges. Regardless, the 60th completed another flanking movement around Randazzo with allowed its sister regiment, the 39th, to take the city. With Randazzo taken, the road to Messina was open, and was taken on 17 August. Rest and further training followed for some two months, until on 11 November 1943 the 60th was bound for Winchester England.

On 11 June 1944, the 60th Regiment debarked at Utah Beach on the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy, France. On 12 June 1944, driving hard toward the St. Colombe in France, the 2nd Battalion, 60th Regiment completely outdistanced the rest of the 9th Division. For a time, the unit was even believed to be lost, but actually the battalion had overrun the German defenses in the face of murderous fire and had cut the main highway to the northwest. Instead of withdrawing, the battalion set up a bridgehead on the Douve River and held the position for seven hours until the rest of the division caught up to them, facilitating the cutting of the peninsula. Due to this demonstration of rapid penetration and maneuver, the "Scouts Out" motto originated for the battalion. "Scouts Out" is the official greeting of the battalion.

In France during the heroic days of June 1944, the regiment once again led the way for the division as it spearheaded the American advance out of the beachhead that cut the Contentin Peninsula and while the 39th and 47th Infantry Regiments secured the vital Port of Cherburg, the 60th cleared Cape La Hague, Northwest of Cherbourg, where John E. Butts was eventually killed. At the pivotal crossing of the Douve River, 1LT John Butts won the Medal of Honor and the Battalion gained another Presidential Unit Citation. Following the breakout at St. Lo, the regiment rushed south in Operation Cobra, and helped relieve the battered 30th Infantry Division, that had been surrounded by the Germans in their own counterattack: Operation Luttich. Next, the regiment turned east, and helped in the sealing, and clearing of the Falaise Pocket. Continuing east, the regiment crossed the Marne, Aisne and the Seine Rivers in a matter of days. Next the regiment entered Belgium, and made its second combat crossing of the Meuse River. Here, LTC Matt Urban won his Medal of Honor having gone AWOL from a hospital to rejoin his comrades and lead them in combat.

After the bitter and bloody struggle in the Huertegen Forest, the regiment fell back to the Monschau area where its efforts won it a Presidential Unit Citation in the snow and bitter cold of the Battle of the Bulge. The regiment then was the first to capture the Schwammanuel Dam on the Roer River. Continuing south, the regiment was one of the first to cross the Rhine, which they did at Remagen. After expanding the bridgehead, the regiment shot northeast where they helped seal and destroy the Ruhr Pocket. Continuing northeast, the regiment advanced toward the Harz Mountains, where for the first time, the 60th had attached to them a platoon of black volunteers. While destroying a German roadblock, one black soldier, Pfc. Jack Thomas, won the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions. After relieving the 3rd Armored Division, the regiment held that line until VE day, and met up with Russian soldiers soon after. For their actions in Central Europe, the regiment won another Presidential Unit Citation and the regiment was inactivated in November 1946 while in Germany.