Although D-day gave the western Allies a beachhead in northern France, it took them almost two months of bitter fighting to break out of the Normandy hedgerows. After the breakout, Allied armies raced across France, liberated Paris, and headed toward the German frontier. The rapid pace of the advance placed a severe strain on Allied logistics, which, along with bad weather and stiffening German resistance, slowed the offensive. By mid-December, American armies had reached the Roer River inside Germany and the West Wall along the Saar River in eastern France. Between these two fronts lay the Ardenne, a hilly, densely forested area of Belgium. The Germans had attacked France through this supposedly impassable region in 1940. In early December 1944, five American divisions and a cavalry group held the 85-mile-long Ardenne front. The difficult terrain of the region and the belief that the German army was near exhaustion had convinced the Allied commanders that the Ardenne sector was relatively safe. Thus, three of the divisions were new, full of green soldiers who had only recently arrived on the continent; the other two were recuperating from heavy losses suffered in the bitter fighting in the Huertgen forest farther north. In addition, the heavy demand for American troops in some sectors had forced Allied commanders to lightly man other portions of the front .
Continue Reading >>>
Sep
01
2009
Feb
12
2009
Activated on Jun 1 1940 as the 4th Division at Fort Benning, Georgia the Division was reorganized as 4th Division (Motorized) on Aug 1 1940 then as 4th Motorized Division in Jul 11 1941. It moved then to Dry Prong Louisiana, on Aug 1 1941 for IV Corps Louisiana Maneuvers and returned to Fort Benning Aug 27 1941. It moved then to Fort Jackson South Carolina Oct 30 1941 for the First Army Carolina Maneuvers and arrived back to Fort Benning on Dec 3 1941. On Dec 29, the 4th Division arrived at Camp Gordon, Georgia and, finally, went to Carolina Maneuver Area on Jul 7 1942. The 4th Division returned to Camp Gordon on Aug 31 1942 and moved to Fort Dix, New Jersey on Apr 12 1943 where it was re-designated to 4th Infantry Division on Aug 4 1943. Sent, then, to Camp Gordon Johnston, Florida on Sept 19 1943 for the III Corps Carrabelle Maneuvers the 4th was sent to Fort Jackson South Carolina on Dec 1 1943 and staged at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey on Jan 4 1944 until departed New York POE on Jan 18 1944. The Division landed in England on Jan 26 1944 and was ready to start fighting
Feb
07
2009
Activated at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, Jul 1 1940, the 8th D was redesignated there as 8th Infantry Division Jul 31 1941.
It moved then to the Carolina Maneuver Area on Sept 25 1941, participated in both Oct and Nov 1941 Carolina Maneuvers; arrived Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Nov 30 where it was redesignated 8th Motorized Division on Apr 9 1942.
The 8th Motorized Division participated then in 1st Corps Tennessee Maneuvers Oct-Nov 1942 and moved to Camp Forrest Tennessee on Nov 7 1942 then was transfered to Fort Leonard Wood Missouri Nov 29 1942. It moved then to Camp Young California on Mar 20 1943 for IX Corps Desert Training Maneuvers #2 where redesignated 8th Infantry Division on May 15 1943
The 8th ID returned to Camp Forrest Tennessee on Aug 15 1943 then staged at Camp Kilmer New Jersey on Nov 22 1943 until departed New York POE on Dec 5 1943.
The 8th ID arrived in England on Dec 15 1943 and landed in France on Jul 3 1944. It crossed into Luxembourg Nov 20 1944 and into Germany on same day.
The 8th ID was sent to Hampton Roads POE on Jul 10 1945 and moved back to Fort Leonard Wood Missouri on Jul 13 1945 where it was inactivated on Nov 20 1945.
Continue Reading >>>
Feb
05
2009
After Action Report
7th Armored Division
Period : 1st December 1944 -31st December, 1944
Area : St-Vith & Vicinity
Country : Belgium
Revised & Corrected : Gunter G. Gillot Jr
The 7th AD was activated on March 1 1942, reorganized on Sept 20 1943 and arrived in the United Kingdom in Jun 1944. The division landed on Omaha and Utah Beaches, on Aug 13-14 1944, and was assigned to Third (3rd) US Army.
The 7th AD drove through Nogent le Rotrou in an attack on Chartres which fell Aug 18. From Chartres, the Division advanced to liberate Dreux, then Melun, where they crossed the Seine River, on Aug 24.
The 7th AD then pushed on to bypass Reims and liberate Chateau-Thierry and Verdun, Aug 31, then halted briefly for refueling until Sept 6, when it drove toward to the Moselle and made a crossing near Dornot. This crossing had to be withdrawn in the face of the heavy fortifications around Metz.
Continue Reading >>>
Feb
04
2009
Category : 082nd Airborne Division
In late March, 1945, the 82nd Airborne Division was engaged in training activities at its base camps at Sissone, Suippes and Laon, France. Reorganization under the new Table of Organization was under way and a schedule of intensive airborne training was being carried out. Experiments also were being conducted with new equipment, including the new recoilless 57-MM gun. Several tentative airborne missions were in the planning stage at the Division’s Headquarters at Camp Sissone. Late in the afternoon of March 30 1945, the Division CO, Maj Gen James M. Gavin was called to XVIII Corps (Airborne) Headquarters at Epernay France.
Here he received instructions to the effect that the 82nd A/B Div and the 101st A/B Div were to concentrate southwest of Bonn in Germany.
On Mar 31 1945, at 1400-H, the 82nd was attached to the Fifteenth US Army and given the mission to patrol a section of the West bank of the Rhine River. This river was the Western boundary of a hugh pocket of German resistance in the Ruhr area. Aside from patrols the Division probably would not cross the river and movement of the Division to the new area would begin on or about Apr 3 1945.
Continue Reading >>>
