The division had just completed the reduction of Bayreuth on April 15^th 1945. Prior to that time and after a brief, uneventful attachment to the 7^th US Army it came under the operational control of XII Corps and crossed the Rhine River at Oppenheim  on the 30^th of  March 1945 in a purely administrative move. The 71^st Infantry Division was then ordered southeast from its assembly area in the vicinity of Hanau to follow behind the 26^th Infantry Division which was trying to keep pace with the 11^th Armored Division in its drive southeast.

The rapid advance of the 3^rd Army had brought its forward elements well in advance of the 7^th Army and the right flank of XII Corps was exposed. The 71^st Iwas given the mission of protecting this exposed flank. While staging forward prior to assuming designated positions, the division was notified of an unknown number of German troops operating in the rear of the XII Corps zone which had been bypassed in the rapid advance southeast. The 71^st Reconnaissance Troop was sent to investigate and became involved with superior numbers. The 66^th Infantry Regiment was then committed. It too reported numerous enemies and upon identification of the 6^th SS Mountain Division as the opposition, the entire outfit was committed and in a brief but intense fight 4000 prisoners  were captured and the 6^th SS Mountain Division eliminated from the German Order of Battle.

Priosners were careful to keep their hands up

While in position as right flank guard for XII Corps it received the mission of relieving the 11th Armored Division on the outskirts of Bayreuth. The enemy put up merely token resistance in front of the city. The 14^th Infantry Regiment passed through the 11^th Armored Division and entered the city on April 14^th . The town was securely in the hands of the 71^st Infantry Division on  the 15^th of  April and the autobahn north of Bayreuth had been out. Considerable confusion then ensued caused by a change of Corps assignments and a sudden shift in directions of attack for the 3^rd and 7^th Armies.

On April 17^th, the division was transfered into the XX Corps. XX Corps had just completed an administrative move south to Bamberg from Weimar with the 80^th Infantry Division where it had left the 76^th Inf and the 4^th and 6^th Armored Division around Chemnitz. The new plan of 3^rd Army called for an advance southeast on an axis of  Regensberg-Linz to make contact with the Russians advancing from Vienna. The 3^rd Army would advance with three Corps abreast, the XII on the left, XX Corps in the centre and III Corps on the right. The XX Corps with the 71^st  and the 65^th Infantry Divisions, the 80^th Infantry Divisions and the 13^th Armored Division planned to advance on the designated axis of advance with the 71^st on the left and the 65^th Infantry Division on the right and keep the 80^th and 13^th Armored Division in reserve. This attack was to be undertaken when Nuremberg  had fallen to XV Corps of the 7^th Army.

XX Corps would then assume command of the zone of advance previously held by XV Corps and the line of departure was established as the road from Ambrg to Nuremberg. Until Nuremberg fell XV Corps would retain operational control over the area and the movement of troops would be on XV Corps orders. The XV Corps became involved in bitter fighting in Nuremberg and was forced to concentrate its divisions in and around the city. The 14^th Armored Division, which was at the northeast  of the city, was withdrawn on the 7^th Army order and thus left a gap in depth existing between the embattled divisions of XV Corps and XII Corps on the north.

The dining room of Goering's castle near Neuhaus

The 71^st which was in position behind the 14^th Armored was the logical one to take over the closing of this gap. Accordingly, the 71^st Infantry Division initially received orders from XII Corps on the  17^th of  April to attack southeast, destroy all enemy in zone and cut the Sulzzbach-Nuremberg highway. As it was to operate in XV Corps zone until Nuremberg had fallen and thereafter come under the control of XX Corps, no boundaries were assigned.

The plan was therefore conceived to initially commit two regiments, the 14^th and 66^th Infantry Regiments  and as the zone widened the 5^th Infantry Regiment would be committed in the centre until it took Amberg where again the zone narrowed down. The line of departure for XX Corps would then have been secured and the 65^th Infantry Division would be committed on the right. At this point the 14th Infantry Regiment would be squeezed out by the 5^th Regiment. A plan for relieving regiments on the line so that one regiment would get some rest periodically was devised in advance of the coming operation which was anticipated to be lengthy and arduous involving a pursuit over mountainous and heavily wooded terrain as well as crossing the Isar, Danube, Vili, Inn, Traunn and Enns Rivers.

Scenes of the Danube crossings

The 5^th Infantry Regiment accordingly pivoted on Bayreuth and extended itself along the left flank of the division while the 14^th on the left and the 66^th on the right or south flank took over positions of the 14^th Armored in the general vicinity of  the town of Trockau on April 17^th.

The Red Circle route in its smsh from Bayreuth across the Danube River

On the 18^th of April the two regiments cleared the heavy woods to their front. The 5^th was then committed in the centre and as it had no wooded area to clear, was able to push ahead of the two flanks and reach Nasnitz by nightfall on the 19^th of  April while the 14^th on its left advanced to the towns of Thurndorf and Troschnreuthwith the aid of the 2^nd Battalion of the  5^th Infantry Regiment which helped it in the mall arms fight around the outskirts of the latter town. The 66^th Infantry Regiment on the right had cleared the heavily wooded areas in its zone and was extended from Brona to Nemshenreuth  along the edge of another forest.

Written by Pierre Fallet