Researching
World War II
Unit
Histories, Documents
Monographs, Books and Reports on CD
PDF Remastered and Keyword Searchable
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9th
Infantry
Division
"Old Reliables"
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39th Infantry
"Fighting Falcons"
Regiment
History |

47th Infantry
"Raiders"
Regiment
History |

60th Infantry
"Go Devils"
Regiment
History |
Order of Battle
39th
Infantry Regiment
47th Infantry Regimemt
60th Infantry Regiment
9th Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized)
15th Engineer Combat Battalion
9th Medical Battalion
9th Division Artillery
26th Field Artillery Battalion
(105 mm Howitzer)
60th Field Artillery Battalion
(105 mm Howitzer)
84th Field Artillery Battalion
(105 mm Howitzer)
34th Field Artillery Battalion
(155 mm Howitzer)
Special Troops
709th Ordnance Light Maintenance
Company
9th Quartermaster Company
9th Signal Company
Military Police Platoon
Headquarters Company
Band
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Casualties
Killed in Action: 3,856
Wounded in Action: 17,416
Died of Wounds: 648
Commanders
Col
. Charles B. Elliott
|
Aug
40 |
Brig.
Gen. Francis W. Honeycutt
|
Sep 40 |
Maj.
Gen. Jacob L. Devers |
Oct 40 – Jul
41 |
Maj.
Gen. Rene E. DeR.
Hoyle |
Aug 41 – Jul
42 |
Maj.
Gen. Manton S. Eddy
|
Aug
42 – Aug 44 |
Maj.
Gen. Louis A. Craig
|
Aug
44 – May 45 |
Brig.
Gen. Jesse A. Ladd |
May 45 – Feb
46 |
Maj.
Gen. Horace L. McBride
|
Mar 46 to inactivation |
Campaigns
Algeria
- French Morocco |
8
- 11 Nov 42 |
Tunisia |
17
Nov 42 - 13 May
43 |
Sicily |
9
July - 17 Aug 43
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Normandy |
6
Jun – 24 Jul
44 |
Northern
France |
15
Sep 44 – 21
Mar 45
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Rhineland |
15
Sep 44 - 21 Mar
45 |
Ardennes
- Alsace |
16
Dec 44 - 25 Jan
45 |
Central
Europe |
22
Mar - 11 May 45 |
Medals |
Distinguished
Unit Citations |
24 |
Medal
of Honor |
4 |
Distinguished
Service Cross |
76 |
Distinguished
Service Medal |
3 |
Silver
Star |
2,282 |
Legionaires
of Merit
|
19 |
Soldiers
Medal |
100 |
Bronze
Star Medal |
6,593 |
Air
Medal |
129 |
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1940 |
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1
Aug- |
Activated at
Ft. Briggs, North Carolina. |
1941 |
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Oct-
|
Participated
in the Carolina Maneuvers and
amphibious-training. |
1942 |
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1
Aug- |
Redesignated
9th Infantry Division. |
1
Aug- |
Left Ft. Braggs,
North Carolina. |
8
Nov- |
Elements of the
division landed at Algiers, Safi,
and Port Lyautey. The 3rd Battalion
of the 47th Infantry Regiment
took Safi as the first liberation
of a city from Axis control in
World War II. |
11
Nov- |
French border
collapses and the division patrolled
the Spanish Moroccan border. |
25
Nov- |
The division
arrived Ft. Dix, NJ. |
11
Dec- |
The division
departed New York P/E. |
25
Dec- |
The division
landed North Africa. |
1943 |
|
26
Mar- |
The division
entered combat. |
Feb-
|
The 9th returned
to Tunisia in February and engaged
in small defensive actions and
patrol activity. |
28 Mar- |
The division
launched an attack in southern
Tunisia. |
7 May- |
The division
fought its way north into Bizerte. |
9 Aug- |
The division
landed at Palermo, Sicily and
took part in the capture of Randazzo
and Messina. |
25
Nov- |
The division
was sent to England. |
27 Nov- |
Arrived England
for further training. |
1944 |
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10 Jun- |
The division
hit Utah Beach and drove on to
Cherbourg |
14
Jun- |
Entered Combat.
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Jul-
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After a brief
rest in July the division took
part in the St. Lo break-through. |
Aug- |
The division
helped close the Falaise Gap. |
8
Aug- |
The 9th crossed
the Marne. |
28
Aug- |
The division
swept through Saarlautern. |
2
Sep- |
Entrered into
Belgium. |
14
Sep- |
Entered Germany. |
Nov-Dec- |
The division
held defensive positions from
Monschau to Losheim. |
10
Dec- |
The division
moved north to Bergrath, Germany
and launched an attack toward
the Roer taking Echtz and Schlich. |
Dec-
|
The division
held defensive positions from
Kalterherberg to Elsenborn through
January 1945. |
1945 |
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30
Jan- |
The division
jumped off from Monschau in a
drive across the Roer and to the
Rhine. |
7
Mar- |
The division
crossed at Remagen. After breaking
out of the Remagen bridgehead,
the 9th assisted in the sealing
and clearing of the Ruhr Pocket. |
14
Apr- |
The division
moved 150 miles east to Nordhausen
and attacked in the Harz Mountains. |
21
Apr- |
The division
relieved the 3d Armored Division
along the Mulde River near Dessau
and held that line until VE-day. |
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9th Infantry Division
in World War II
CD
1
Open all files from
the folders on the CDs
Install Adobe
Acrobat PDF Reader from CD 1 |
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9th Infantry
Division
"Old Reliables" |
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9th Infantry Division History
The
9th Infantry Division was among
the first U.S. combat units to engage
in offensive ground operations during
World War II. (The others were the
32nd and the 41st in the Pacific
on New Guinea, Carlson's Raiders
on Makin Island, the 1st Marine
and the Americal on the Guadalcanal,
and, alongside the 9th in North
Africa, were the 3rd Infantry and
the 2nd Armored Divisions.) The
9th saw its first combat on 8 November
1942, when its elements landed at
Algiers, Safi, and Port Lyautey,
with the taking of Safi by the 3rd
Battalion of the 47th Infantry Regiment
standing as the first liberation
of a city from Axis control in World
War II.
With the collapse of French resistance
on 11 November 1942, the division
patrolled the Spanish Moroccan border.
The 9th returned to Tunisia in February
and engaged in small defensive actions
and patrol activity. On 28 March
1943 it launched an attack in southern
Tunisia and fought its way north
into Bizerte, 7 May. In August the
9th landed at Palermo, Sicily, and
took part in the capture of Randazzo
and Messina. After returning to
England for further training, the
division hit Utah Beach on 10 June
1944 (D plus 4), cut off the Cotentin
Peninsula, drove on to Cherbourg
and penetrated the port's heavy
defenses.
After a brief rest in July, the
division took part in the St. Lo
break-through and in August helped
close the Falaise Gap. Turning east,
the 9th crossed the Marne, 28 August,
swept through Saarlautern, and in
November and December held defensive
positions from Monschau to Losheim.
Moving north to Bergrath, Germany,
it launched an attack toward the
Roer, 10 December, taking Echtz
and Schlich. From mid-December through
January 1945, the division held
defensive positions from Kalterherberg
to Elsenborn. On 30 January the
division jumped off from Monschau
in a drive across the Roer and to
the Rhine, crossing at Remagen,
7 March.
After breaking out of the Remagen
bridgehead, the 9th assisted in
the sealing and clearing of the
Ruhr Pocket, then moved 150 miles
(240 km) east to Nordhausen and
attacked in the Harz Mountains,
14–20 April. On 21 April the
Division relieved the 3d Armored
Division along the Mulde River,
near Dessau, and held that line
until VE-day. |
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39th
Infantry
Regiment
"Fighting
Falcons" |
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39th Infantry Regiment History
1942
--- Nov
- The division stormed the beaches
of Algiers
1943
- 31 Jul - The 39th first serious
reverse at the battle of Troina.
1944
- 10 Jun - The 39th landed at
Utah Beach, joined the 47th
-----
Infantry Regiment in capturing
Roetgen, fought valiantly
------through
the Battle of the Bulge and helped
secure the
-----
Remagen bridgehead.
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During World War II the regiment fought as part
of the 9th Infantry Division.
The Fighting Falcons of the 39th
became the first unit of United
States combat troops to set foot
on foreign soil when they stormed
the beaches of Algiers in November
1942. During fighting in Sicily,
Italy, the regiment came under
the command of the legendary Colonel
Harry A. "Paddy" Flint
who gave the regiment its triple
A- Bar Nothing slogan …Anything,
Anywhere, Anytime - Bar Nothing.
The regiment took great pride
in the AAA-O slogan, displaying
it on their helmets and vehicles,
even in combat. When questioned
about the soundness of the practice,
Colonel Flint confidently declared,
"The enemy who sees our regiment
in combat, if they live through
the battle, will know to run the
next time they see us coming."
General George Patton commented
upon Colonel Flint in the following
manner: "Paddy Flint is clearly
nuts, but he fights well."
On 31 July 1943, while temporarily
attached to the 1st Infantry Division),
the 39th suffered its first serious
reverse at the battle of Troina,
when entrenched and heavily-armed
German forces repelled an assault
by the 39th Infantry Regiment
with heavy casualties.
Later in the war, the 39th landed
at Utah Beach on 10 June 1944
(D+4) with other reinforcing units
and then fought through the rugged
French countryside. Colonel Flint
was killed six weeks after the
regiment entered combat. The Fighting
Falcons joined the 47th Infantry
Regiment in capturing Roetgen,
the first German town to fall
in World War II. The 39th fought
valiantly through the Battle of
the Bulge, helped secure the Remagen
bridgehead and roared across Germany
as the allied forces finished
off the last of the German resistance.
When the dust settled following
VE day, the 39th Regiment held
campaign streamers from some of
the bloodiest and most hard fought
battles of the war - Algeria,
Tunisia, Sicily, Normandy, Northern
France, The Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace,
and Central Europe. It was cited
twice by the Belgians for valorous
actions and awarded the Belgian
Fourragère. It also received
two French Croix de Guerre with
Palm, the French Fourragère,
and three Presidential Unit Citations.
According to Col Wm Whitesel,
USA Ret., the slogan is AAA Bar
None. Col Whitesel was a 1LT with
the H Company in the Regiment
at the Huertgen/Ardennes in 1944. |
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47th Infantry
Regiment
"Raiders" |
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47th Infantry Regiment History
1940
- 1 Aug - The 47th Infantry Regiment
was reactivated at Fort
-------
- - Bragg, North Carolina.
1941
1942
- Nov - The 47th Regimental Combat
Team stormed the
---------
beaches of Safi, Morocco
and continued across
---------
North Africa.
1943
-- 1
Aug - The 47th landed at Palermo,
Sicily.-
- 26 Aug - Sicily was declared
in the hands of the Allies.
1944
- 10 Jun - The 47th Regiment landed
on Utah Beach,
------------
Normandy.
- 14 Jun - Combat patrols were
in contact with the Germans.
- 16 Jun - The 47th Regiment blocked
the last escape route
------------
for the Germans in the
Contentin Peninsula.
- 25 Jun - Cherbourg captured.
- 28 Jun - The Regiments 2nd Battalion
became the first
------------
Allied troops to enter
the city. Stiff resistance was
------------
encountered.
------
Jul - The division halted for
necessary rest and
-------------
re-supply.
----
9 Jul - The 47th was in the "Battle
of the Hedgerows",
-------------
one of the bloodiest battles
and toughest
--------------
encountersof the French campaign.
---- Aug
- The 47th crossed the Seine River.
- 14 Sep - The invasion of Germany
begins.
- 17 Sep - The 47th became the
first Allied unit to pierce the
-----------------
Siegfried Line.
----- Dec
- The 47th ripped open the way
to the German
-------------
counter-offensive at the
Battle of the Bulge.
1945
------ Apr
- Elements of the 47th Infantry
Regiment and the
-------------
337th Russian Rifle Regiment
joined ranks. |
The 47th Infantry Regiment was reactivated again
on August 1st, 1940 at Fort Bragg,
North Carolina.
In early November, 1942, in the
campaign to secure the northern
coast of Africa, the 47th Regimental
Combat Team stormed the beaches
of Safi, Morocco. The 47th continued
across North Africa with the Allies
in their successful campaign to
drive the German armies from that
continent.
Landing at Palermo, Sicily
on August 1st, 1943, the Raiders
swung into action one week later.
On August 26th, Sicily was officially
declared in the hands of the
Allies.
On D-Day plus 4, June 10th,
1944, the 47th Regiment landed
on Utah Beach, Normandy. By
June 14th, 1944, combat patrols
were in contact with the Germans
and by nightfall of the 16th
the 47th Regiment blocked the
last escape route for the Germans
in the Contentin Peninsula.
The famous port of Cherbourg
was next and its capture is
one of the brightest chapters
in the 9th Division history.
With the help of sister regiments
the 47th laid siege to the city.
Stubborn opposition greeted
the Raiders, for the enemy held
the high ground and other strategic
positions. However, just after
noon on June 25th, 1944, the
Regiments 2nd Battalion became
the first Allied troops to enter
the city. Stiff resistance was
encountered until the 28th of
June, the day Cherbourg fell.
The 2nd and 3rd Battalions
received Distinguished Unit
Citations for their gallantry
and heroism in the seizure of
the city. For a few days 9th
Division operations halted for
necessary rest and re-supply.
The order to resume combat came
on July 9th and soon elements
of the 47th were in the midst
of the "Battle of the Hedgerows",
one of the bloodiest battles
and toughest encounters of the
French campaign.
With the breakthrough at St.
Lo the rush was on. Innumerable
Allied units raced across France
in pursuit of the retreating
Germans. By August 1944, the
47th had forded the Seine River
and headed for the Vesles and
a memorable anniversary. It
was in August 1918 that the
47th Regiment battled over the
Vesles in a bloody crossing.
Twenty-six years later the
regiment crossed the river unopposed
at the same point. In crossing
they passed a monument erected
to commemorate their heroic
efforts in World War I. Belgium
was next for the 47th and they
gained another first - this
time they were the first Allied
troops to set foot on Belgium
soil in the drive for Germany.
Then the long awaited invasion
of Germany began. On September
14th, 1944, the Raiders breached
the mighty Siegfried Line. Three
days later the 47th became the
first Allied unit to pierce
the Siegfried Line.
Following the battle of the
Hurtgen Forest, the regiment
was directed to shift north
and drive to the city of Frenz,
where they fought to capture
Frenzerburg Castle. Despite
staggering U.S. losses, the
city and castle fell. The 1st
Battalion and Medical Detachement
received the Distinguished Unit
Citation for their action in
the battle which punctuated
145 continuous days of combat
for the Raiders.
The German counter-offensive
known as the Battle of the Bulge
in December 1944, hit the 47th
full force but it repulsed the
attacks and soon ripped open
the way to the center of Germany.
The famous Rhine River was
now in sight and one of the
most glorious chapters in the
history of the U.S. Army was
about to take place at the Ludendorff
Bridge near Remagen.This key
span marked the spot where the
first Infantry Regiment since
the Napoleonic Wars battled
across the Rhine. The 47th was
forced to earn this distinction
by engaging in some of the most
savage warfare of World War
II. The Germans showered the
Ludendorff Bridge with shrapnel
and shells. Through this wall
of death, the 47th pushed forward,
and in March 1945 it established
a bridgehead and held it against
all attempts to dislodge them.
Finally, in the last week of
April, 1945, elements of the
47th Infantry Regiment and the
337th Russian Rifle Regiment
joined ranks. The once mighty
Third Reich had been defeated
and among its conquerors stood
the Raiders of the 47th Infantry
Regiment.
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60th
Infantry
Regiment
"Go
Devils"
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60th
Infantry Regiment History
1940
--
1 Aug - Assigned to the 9th
Division.
- 10 Aug - Activated at Fort
Bragg, North Carolina. Moved
to
------------
Chester, South Carolina
for maneuvers, and returned
-------------
to Fort Bragg.
1942
- 18 Sep - Transferred to Norfolk,
Virginia for Amphibious
-------------Training.
- 27 Oct - Departed Hampton
Roads Port of Embarkation for
------------
North Africa.
--
8 Nov - Assaulted North Africa.
1943
- 31 Jul - Landed in Sicily.
- 25 Nov - Arrived in England
on.
1944
- 11 Jun - Landed in France.
---
2 Sep - Crossed into Belgium.
- 15 Sep - Entered Germany.
- 18 Dec - Attached to 104th
Infantry Division.
- 22 Dec - Attached to 2nd Armored
Division.
1945
--- 4
Mar - Attached to 9th Armored
Division.
---
8 Mar - Attached to 7th Armored
Division.
- 22 Apr - Attached to 3rd Armored
Division.
- 30 Nov - 28 Dec 1946 On Occupation
Duty at Geisenfeld,
-----
Germany on VJ Day. Inactivated
in Germany.
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After
the First World War the 60th Infantry
was inactivated in South Carolina
in 1921. A generation later, in
August 1940, war in Europe resulted
in a rapid expansion of the US
Army. The 60th Infantry was reactivated
and assigned to the 9th Infantry
Division.
The 60th Infantry spearheaded
the November 1942, invasion of
French Morocco at Port Lyautey
in Operation Torch, winning the
arrowhead assault landing device
in an action which laid the basis
for its nickname 'Scouts Out'.
At the time of
the invasion, there was great
confusion among the Navy coxswains
about the landing sites. They
either placed their units in the
wrong sector, or put them on the
beaches very late. The 60th, for
example, landed at 05:30, 40 minutes
late, giving the defending Vichy
French time to organize. The 1st
Battalion landed 2,800 yards north
of their assigned beach, and were
engaged by French light tanks
once ashore.
The 2nd and 3rd
Battalions were strafed by French
planes. Company E, 2nd Battalion,
was stopped completely at a strongpoint,
the Port Lyautey lighthouse. The
2nd Battalion's eventual objective
was to take an ancient fortress,
the Kasba. Once the landing points
were completely secured, engagements
were fought between small units
and opposing batteries. The regiment
culminated its successful North
African campaigns with a defense
on 18 April 1943 (Easter Sunday)
against a massive German attack,
and earned a Presidential Unit
Citation.
The Germans hit
the "Go Devils" from
all four sides with 2 full battalions
of infantry supported by artillery.
After a four hours attack that
failed, the Germans threw in the
towel, leaving 116 dead, 48 wounded,
and many prisoners in American
hands.
In 1943 during the battle of Sedjenane
Valley along the Tunisia-Algeria
border, it was during the fanatical
drive by the 60th Regiment that
a captured German general's diary
gave the regiment its nickname.
In his account of American actions
against the Germans, he wrote
"Look at those devils go!"
Thereafter, the 60th Infantry
Regiment became known as the "Go
Devils".
In Sicily the regiment continued
its winning ways, culminating
in the famous "Ghost March,"
where the unit infiltrated enemy
lines and broke open the last
of the German resistance. The
Regiment landed at Palermo, Sicily
on 5 August. Their first combat
action was the first of the infiltrations
they would make in Sicily. The
Regiment flanked the city of Troina,
which forced the German artillery
protecting the Infantry in the
city to withdraw, allowing other
U.S. divisions to easily swallow
up the Germans in the city.
Next, the Go Devils
chased the retreating Germans
east towards Randazzo. The pursuit
was hindered by a number booby
traps, demolitions, anti-tank
and personnel mines, craters and
blown bridges. Regardless, the
60th completed its flanking movement
around Randazzo, which allowed
its sister regiment, the 39th
Infantry, to take the city. With
Randazzo taken the road to Messina
was open; and the city was taken
on 17 August. Rest and further
training followed for some two
months. On 11 November 1943, the
60th embarked for Winchester,
England.
On 11 June 1944, the 60th Regiment
debarked at Utah Beach on the
Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy,
France. On the 12th, driving hard
toward the St. Colombe in France,
the 2nd Battalion, 60th Regiment
completely outdistanced the rest
of the 9th Division. For a time,
the unit was even believed to
be lost. Actually, the battalion
had overrun the German defenses
in the face of murderous fire
and had cut the main highway to
the northwest.
Instead of withdrawing,
the battalion set up a bridgehead
on the Douve River and held the
position for seven hours until
the rest of the division caught
up to them, thus facilitating
the cutting of the peninsula.
Due to this demonstration of rapid
penetration and maneuver, the
"Scouts Out" motto originated
for the Second Battalion. "Scouts
Out" is the official greeting
of the battalion.
In France during the heroic days
of June 1944, the Regiment once
again led the way for the 9th
Division as it spearheaded the
American advance out of the beachhead
that cut the Contentin Peninsula.
While the 39th and 47th Infantry
Regiments secured the vital Port
of Cherburg, the 60th cleared
Cape La Hague, northwest of Cherbourg,
where John E. Butts was killed.
At the pivotal crossing of the
Douve River, 1LT John Butts earned
the Medal of Honor and the Battalion
earned its second Presidential
Unit Citation.
Following the
breakout at St. Lo, the regiment
rushed south in Operation Cobra
and helped relieve the battered
30th Infantry Division, that had
been surrounded by the Germans
in their own counterattack (Operation
Luttich). Next, the regiment turned
east and helped in the closure
and clearing of the Falaise Pocket.
Continuing east, the regiment
crossed the Marne, Aisne, and
the Seine Rivers in a matter of
days. Next the regiment entered
Belgium and made its second combat
crossing of the Meuse River. Here,
LTC Matt Urban earned his Medal
of Honor, having gone AWOL from
a hospital to rejoin his troops
and lead them in combat.
After the bitter and bloody struggle
in the Huertegen Forest, the Regiment
fell back to the Monschau area
where its efforts won it a third
Presidential Unit Citation in
the snow and bitter cold of the
Battle of the Bulge. The 60th
then was the first to capture
the Schwammanuel Dam on the Roer
River. Continuing south, the Regiment
was one of the first to cross
the Rhine at Remagen.
After expanding
the bridgehead, the Go Devils
shot northeast, where they helped
seal and destroy the Ruhr Pocket.
Continuing northeast, the Regiment
advanced toward the Harz Mountains,
where for the first time the 60th
had attached to them a platoon
of black volunteers. While destroying
a German roadblock, one black
soldier, Pfc. Jack Thomas, won
the Distinguished Service Cross
for his actions.
After relieving
the 3rd Armored Division, the
Regiment held that line until
VE day, and met up with Russian
soldiers soon after. For their
actions in Central Europe, the
regiment won a fourth Presidential
Unit Citation. The Regiment was
inactivated in November 1946 while
on occupation duty in Germany.
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Campaigns
of World War II
Algeria
- French Morocco |
8
- 11 Nov 42 |
Tunisia |
17
Nov 42 - 13 May 43 |
Sicily |
9
July - 17 Aug 43 |
Normandy |
6
Jun – 24 Jul 44
|
Northern
France |
15
Sep 44 – 21 Mar
45 |
Rhineland |
15
Sep 44 - 21 Mar 45 |
Ardennes
- Alsace |
16
Dec 44 - 25 Jan 45 |
Central
Europe |
22
Mar - 11 May 45 |
Algeria–French Morocco
8 to 11 November 1942
Events bringing
the United States Army to North
Africa had begun more than a year
before the Japanese attacked Pearl
Harbor. For both the Axis and
the Allies, the Mediterranean
Sea area was one of uncertain
priority. On the Axis side, the
location of Italy made obvious
Rome’s interest in the region.
But the stronger German partner
pursued interests hundreds of
miles north. A similar division
of emphasis characterized the
Allies. To the British the Mediterranean
Sea was the vital link between
the home islands and long-held
Asian possessions as well as Middle
Eastern oil fields. To the Americans,
however, the area had never been
one of vital national interest
and was not seen as the best route
to Berlin. But the fall of France
in June 1940 had also brought
a new dimension to the region.
The surrender of Paris left 120,000
French troops in West and North
Africa and much of the French
fleet in Atlantic and Mediterranean
ports. Both the Axis and Allies
saw overseas French forces as
the decisive advantage that would
allow them to achieve their contradictory
objectives in the Mediterranean.
Tunisia
17 November 1942 –
13 May 1943
Victory at Casablanca,
Oran, and Algiers gave the United
States Army and its British ally
solid toeholds in the western
Mediterranean Theater of Operations.
But it offered no guarantee of
easy access to Italy or southern
Europe, or even to the eastern
end of the Mediterranean, where
the British desperately needed
assistance to secure Egypt and
strategic resources in the Near
East. The sudden entrance of American
forces during 8–11 November
1942 created an awkward deployment
in which two pairs of opposing
armies fought in North Africa,
one in Tunisia, the other in Libya.
Neither Axis nor Allies found
any satisfaction in the situation;
much fighting remained before
either adversary could consider
North Africa secure.
If American commanders
and troops thought their brief
combat experience in French Morocco
and Algeria in November 1942 was
adequate preparation to face hardened
Axis units in a lengthy campaign,
the fighting in Tunisia brought
about a harsh reappraisal. With
few exceptions, French units in
North Africa had been more intent
on upholding national honor than
inflicting casualties and damage;
those that offered determined
resistance were at a marked disadvantage
in terms of weapons, equipment,
supplies, and numbers. In Tunisia,
however, American soldiers found
themselves faced with well-trained,
battle-tested units skillfully
using the most advanced weapons
and innovative combined arms tactics
repeatedly to frustrate Allied
plans. The result was painful
to Army units involved and a shock
to the American public: five months
of almost continuous setbacks
with commensurably high casualties.
Sicily
Campaign
9
July to 17 August 1943
On the night of
9–10 July 1943, an Allied
armada of 2,590 vessels launched
one of the largest combined operations
of World War II—the invasion
of Sicily. Over the next thirty-eight
days, half a million Allied soldiers,
sailors, and airmen grappled with
their German and Italian counterparts
for control of this rocky outwork
of Hitler’s “Fortress
Europe.” When the struggle
was over, Sicily became the first
piece of the Axis homeland to
fall to Allied forces during World
War II. More important, it served
as both a base for the invasion
of Italy and as a training ground
for many of the officers and enlisted
men who eleven months later landed
on the beaches of Normandy.
Normandy
6 June – 24 July 1944
A great
invasion force stood off the
Normandy coast of France as
dawn broke on 6 June 1944: 9
battleships, 23 cruisers, 104
destroyers, and 71 large landing
craft of various descriptions
as well as troop transports,
mine sweepers, and merchantmen—in
all, nearly 5,000 ships of every
type, the largest armada ever
assembled. The naval bombardment
that began at 0550 that morning
detonated large minefields along
the shoreline and destroyed
a number of the enemy’s
defensive positions. To one
correspondent, reporting from
the deck of the cruiser HMS
Hillary, it sounded like “the
rhythmic beating of a gigantic
drum” all along the coast.
In the hours following the bombardment,
more than 100,000 fighting men
swept ashore to begin one of
the epic assaults of history,
a “mighty endeavor,”
as President Franklin D. Roosevelt
described it to the American
people, “to preserve.
. . our civilization and to
set free a suffering humanity.”
Nothern
France
25 July–14
September 1944
As July
1944 entered its final week,
Allied forces in Normandy faced,
at least on the surface, a most
discouraging situation. In the
east, near Caen, the British
and Canadians were making little
progress against fierce German
resistance. In the west, American
troops were bogged down in the
Norman hedgerows. These massive,
square walls of earth, five
feet high and topped by hedges,
had been used by local farmers
over the centuries to divide
their fields and protect their
crops and cattle from strong
ocean winds. The Germans had
turned these embankments into
fortresses, canalizing the American
advance into narrow channels,
which were easily covered by
antitank weapons and machine
guns. The stubborn defenders
were also aided by some of the
worst weather seen in Normandy
since the turn of the century,
as incessant downpours turned
country lanes into rivers of
mud. By 25 July, the size of
the Allied beachhead had not
even come close to the dimensions
that pre–D-day planners
had anticipated, and the slow
progress revived fears in the
Allied camp of a return to the
static warfare of World War
I. Few would have believed that,
in the space of a month and
a half, Allied armies would
stand triumphant at the German
border.
Rhineland
15 September 1944 –
21 March 1945
The Rhineland
Campaign, although costly for
the Allies, had clearly been ruinous
for the Germans. The Germans suffered
some 300,000 casualties and lost
vast amounts of irreplaceable
equipment. Hitler, having demanded
the defense of all of the German
homeland, enabled the Allies to
destroy the Wehrmacht in the West
between the Siegfried Line and
the Rhine River. Now, the Third
Reich lay virtually prostrate
before Eisenhower’s massed
armies.
Ardennes
- Alsace Campaign
16 December 1944 – 25 January
1945
In August 1944,
while his armies were being destroyed
in Normandy, Hitler secretly put
in motion actions to build a large
reserve force, forbidding its
use to bolster Germany’s beleaguered
defenses. To provide the needed
manpower, he trimmed existing
military forces and conscripted
youths, the unfit, and old men
previously untouched for military
service during World War II.
In September Hitler
named the port of Antwerp, Belgium,
as the objective. Selecting the
Eifel region as a staging area,
Hitler intended to mass twenty-five
divisions for an attack through
the thinly held Ardennes Forest
area of southern Belgium and Luxembourg.
Once the Meuse River was reached
and crossed, these forces would
swing northwest some 60 miles
to envelop the port of Antwerp.
The maneuver was designed to sever
the already stretched Allied supply
lines in the north and to encircle
and destroy a third of the Allies’
ground forces. If successful,
Hitler believed that the offensive
could smash the Allied coalition,
or at least greatly cripple its
ground combat capabilities, leaving
him free to focus on the Russians
at his back door.
Central
Europe Campaign
22 March – 11 May 1945
By the beginning
of the Central Europe Campaign of
World War II, Allied victory in
Europe was inevitable. Having gambled
his future ability to defend Germany
on the Ardennes offensive and lost,
Hitler had no real strength left
to stop the powerful Allied armies.
Yet Hitler forced the Allies to
fight, often bitterly, for final
victory. Even when the hopelessness
of the German situation became obvious
to his most loyal subordinates,
Hitler refused to admit defeat.
Only when Soviet artillery was falling
around his Berlin headquarters bunker
did the German Fuehrer begin to
perceive the final outcome of his
megalomaniacal crusade. |
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