heavy fighting at Bitche. After further attacks stalled and the Germans began to withdraw, the sector was generally quiet and the division prepared to resume its offensive east. On 15 March 1945, the attack jumped off and on 16 March, Bitche fell to the 100th Infantry Division. The unit was then relieved from assignment to XV Corps, and transferred to XXI Corps on 22 March 1945. Taking Neustadt and Ludwigshafen, the division reached the Rhine River on 24 March. On 25 March 1945, the unit was returned from XXI Corps back to VI Corps. On 31 March 1945, the 100th Infantry Division crossed the Rhine and moved south in the wake of the 10th Armored Division and then east across the Neckar River, establishing and enlarging a bridgehead from 4 to 11 April. Heilbronn fell after nine days of house-to-house combat on 12 April and the division resumed its rapid pursuit of the enemy, reaching Stuttgart by 21 April. The 100th was mopping up along the Neckar, southeast of Stuttgart on 23 April, when it was removed from VI Corps and assigned directly to the Seventh United States Army as an Echelon Above Corps Asset. The division was then assigned primarily to patrolling the sector east of Stuttgart. Shifting to Göppingen on 30 April, the Division engaged in occupational duties as the war in Europe came to an end on V-E Day. The division had spent 163 days in combat. The division took 13,351 enemy prisoners of war on its own. Members of the division won three Medals of Honor, seven Distinguished Service Crosses, five Legions of Merit, 492 Silver Star Medals, 23 Soldier's Medals, 5,156 Bronze Star Medals, and 90 Air Medals. The division itself was awarded three campaign streamers for participation in the campaign. 100th Infantry Division returned to the United States via the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation on 10 January 1946, and was released from active duty at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia that day. The division then began the process of demobilization, before inactivating on 26 January. Casualties Total battle casualties: 5,038 Killed in action: 883 Wounded in action: 3,539 Missing in action: 483 Prisoner of war: 491 Post War Cold War In fall of 1946, the division was reactivated in the U.S. Army Reserve as the 100th Airborne Division in Louisville, Kentucky. This distinction as one of the few airborne divisions within the U.S. Army