The vividly detailed story of how the U.S. 30th Infantry Division—from the hill country of Tennessee and the Carolinas and nicknamed “Old Hickory” after Andrew Jackson—cemented its reputation as the best American infantry division of WW II with hard fighting in every major U.S. campaign in the European theater, from Normandy to Germany's surrender.

The best U.S. division at war, from Normandy to the Bulge and beyond The 30th Infantry Division, drawn from the hill country of Tennessee and the Carolinas, was regarded during World War II as the cream of the crop of U.S. fighting units. The Germans agreed, calling the division “Roosevelt’s SS” for its tenacity and skill. The 30th fought in Normandy, along the Siegfried Line (where it conducted “the perfect infantry attack”), at the Battle of the Bulge, and in the final operations inside Germany. Baumer relies on primary sources to tell the story of this remarkable unit and its men in what is sure to become a classic World War II division history.