under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement with the United Kingdom. In 1942 the regiment deployed to Iceland and remained there for 15 months until the regiment, and the division, moved to England. The regiment landed in Normandy on 10 July 1944 and fought its way across France as part of the 5th Infantry Division, which was assigned to General Patton's famed Third Army. The 11th Infantry was awarded the Croix de Guerre for its daring crossing of the Seine river at Fontainebleau following Operation Cobra. During an attempted crossing of the Moselle river at Dornot, the 2nd Battalion of the 11th Infantry sustained 363 killed and wounded in 26 counterattacks by German tanks and infantry before abandoning the bridgehead. The 11th Infantry played a prominent role in the reduction of the fortified city of Metz in the fall of 1944, particularly during the costly Battle of Fort Driant where the 2nd Battalion of the 11th Infantry was nearly destroyed again. After taking extreme casualties, Patton ordered the assault to be abandoned until Metz could be first encircled. With the allied victory during the Battle of Metz, the German garrison at Fort Driant promptly surrendered before another attack could be mounted. During the Battle of the Bulge, the 11th counter-attacked into the southern portion of the Bulge, engaging the Germans in bitter winter fighting. On 22 March 1945, the 1st Battalion made a night river assault across the Rhine River at Oppenheim, giving General Patton a division bridgehead over the Rhine two days ahead of Field Marshal Montgomery's famous crossing. The 11th Infantry ended the war in Czechoslovakia. Shortly after its return from the European Theater of Operations, the regiment was retired. In 1948 the 11th was an Infantry Training Regiment, a unit of the 5th Infantry Division, stationed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. It was reactivated in June 1954 in Germany, the 11th returned to Fort Ord, California and became an Infantry Training Unit. On 14 June 1958, the 1st Battle Group, 11th Infantry, was reactivated as part of the 2d Infantry Division at Fort Benning, Georgia where it remained until February 1962 when it was redesignated as the 1st Battalion, 11th Infantry and assigned as an organic element of the 5th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado. Vietnam War In July 1968, the 11th deployed for action in Vietnam and operated in Cam Lộ, Đông Hà, Quảng Trị, and