United States 3rd Armored Division

United States 3rd Armored Division
 by Steve "Mad Russian" Overton

The 3rd Armored Division was one of the two "heavy" armored divisions in the US Army. Being one of "heavy" armored divisions, meant that they were under an old table of organization and, possessed three regiments instead of two, 232 Medium tanks instead of the 168 allotted a light armored division, and with attached units numbered over 16,000 men, instead of the normal 12,000, now found in the lighter armored divisions.

The 3rd Armored Division led attacks so often, that they earned the nickname, "Spearhead".
 
The 3rd Armored Division set many records during the war:
* The first Allied unit to fire Artillery into Germany.
* The first Allied unit to cross the German border.
* The first ground invasion of Germany since Napoleon in 1810.
* The first Allied unit to capture a German town.
* The first Allied unit to breach the Seigfried Line.
* The first Allied unit to shot down a German plane from German soil.
* The first Allied unit to capture a major German city.
* The longest single day advance in the war by any unit of any nation. This was for a single day advance, of 101 miles, through central Germany on, 29 March 1945.

The division's major accomplishments include:
* taking part in Operation Cobra during the breakout.
* helping to stop the German counterattack at Mortain.
* defeating a German corps near Mons, Belgium.
* helping to blunt the German offensive in the Ardennes.
* Forging more than half of the ring in the encirclement of the Ruhr Pocket in Central Germany, which resulted in the largest single capture of enemy forces in all of WWII (Europe & Pacific) - 374,000 German Army soldiers.
* played a key role in the forced shutdown and evacuation of Germany's primary V1 and V2 rocket manufacturing facility at Nordhausen, Germany.
* was the first Allied force to liberate a German slave labor camp (the equivalent of a concentration camp) - Nordhausen, Germany.

Throughout the war, the division was a part of First Army. Combat Command A at Villiers Fossard was briefly under V Corps, and Combat Command B was, west of the Vire, under XIX Corps. But, from the Normandy breakout on, except for a brief period during The Battle of the Bulge, they were under command of VII Corps, which was commanded by General J. Lawton Collins.

The division was only commanded by three men during the war; Major General Leroy H. Watson, Brigadier General Maurice Rose and Brigadier General Doyle O. Hickey.

An idea of how involved in the liberation of North Western Europe the 3rd Armored Division was can be found in the individual awards earned by it's men.

* Distinguished Service Cross - 17
* Legion of Merit - 23
* Silver Star - 885
* Soldiers Medal - 32
* Bronze Star - 3,884
* Purple Heart - in excess of 10,500
* Air medal - 138
* Distinguished Flying Cross - 3

The 3rd Armored Division lost more tanks in combat than any other US Division, and CCA lost more tanks than any other unit in the 3rd Armored Division.

Personnel Losses to the Division:

1,810 Killed in Action and 6,963 Wounded in Action


PRIMARY SOURCES:

"Order of Battle U.S. Army, World War II" by Shelby L. Stanton