stoffel
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Location: Eemnes The Netherlands
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« on: 17 March 2016, 09:45:32 » |
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The division was activated on August 15 1942 in the US at Camp Polk, Louisiana. It arrived in England October 11 1944 and received two months training on the Salisbury Plain. The division set off for France on December 16 1944, assigned to contain the enemy in the Lorient Pocket, but the Von Rundstedt offensive resulted in a forced march to the Meuse and the defense of a 30-mile sector from Givet to Sedan, December 23. Launching an attack from Neufchâteau, Belgium, December 30, the 11th defended the highway to Bastogne against fierce assault. The division acted as spearhead of a wedge into the enemy line, and its junction with the First Army at Houffalize, January 16 1945, created a huge trap. After the liquidation of the Bulge, the Siegfried Line was pierced, Lützkampen falling February 7, Grosskampenberg on the 17th, and the key point, Roscheid, February 20. After a brief rest, the division crossed the Prum and Kyll Rivers, taking Gerolstein and Nieder Bettingen. Andernach and Brohl fell March 9, during the advance to the Rhine. In the swing southward to clear the Saar-Moselle-Rhine pocket, the Moselle River was crossed at Bullay and the Worms Airport captured on March 21. After rest and maintenance, the division drove across the Rhine at Oppenheim, took Hanau and Fulda, and headed for the Thuringian Forest, reaching Oberhof, April 3. The offensive raced through Bavaria, Coburg falling on the 10th, Bayreuth on the 14th. Elements of the 11 Armored Division advance into Wernberg, Germany on 22 April 1945.In the final drive, the division crossed the Regen river, April 24, overran Grafenau and Freyung, and plunged toward the Danube, seizing Rohrbach, Neufelden, and Zwettl. The enemy put up its last fanatical resistance along the approaches to Linz, Austria, but the 11th entered that city, May 5. Pushing onward, elements contacted Soviet forces, May 8, the first unit of the Third Army, to meet the Russian armies. Tanks of 11th Division entering the Mauthausen concentration camp, Austria on 5 May 1945. On May 5 1945, elements of the US 11th Armored Division liberated the Mauthausen concentration camp. The war in Europe officially ended May 9, and the division was placed on occupational duty until inactivation on August 31 1945.
Commanders: october 1944, Brig. Gen. Charles S. Kilburn followed by Brig. Gen. Holmes E. Dager in march 1945.
OOB Headquarters Company
Combat Command A Combat Command B
Reserve Command
22d Tank Battalion 41st Tank Battalion 42d Tank Battalion 21st Armored Infantry Battalion 55th Armored Infantry Battalion 63d Armored Infantry Battalion 41st Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized) 56th Armored Engineer Battalion 151st Armored Signal Company 11th Armored Division Artillery 490th Armored Field Artillery Battalion 491st Armored Field Artillery Battalion 492d Armored Field Artillery Battalion 11th Armored Division Trains 133d Ordnance Maintenance Battalion 81st Armored Medical Battalion
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