Today in Guard History

March 19, 1945

Wattweiler, Germany — Colorado's 157th Infantry, an element of the 45th Infantry Division (AZ, CO, NM, OK), seizes this town after breaching the Nazi defense barrier known as the "Siegfried Line." The 45th Division entered combat in July 1943 when it took part in the invasion of Sicily. It later made assault landings at Salerno and Anzio in Italy and on the Rivera in Southern France. By war's end it captured Nuremberg, the symbolic home of the Nazi movement, and Munich where Adolf Hitler got his start leading the Nazi Party.

--National Guard Bureau