The 14th Armored is not known as the “Liberator” Division for nothing.
It has earned that name.
In its more than 500 miles of ranging over Germany and Nazi- held territory the men and machines of the 14th Armored freed more than 20,000 Allied prisoners of war.
And it was poison to the German war machine.
The 14th Armored took upward of 50,000 German prisoners. It captured or destroyed 500 or more German tanks. It captured 100 self-propelled guns. It put 500 Nazi artillery pieces out of action. It overran and crushed 400 ack-ack guns. It captured or destroyed more than 1.000,000 small arms. More than 400 aircraft bearing the swastika fell to its antiaircraft guns, and it destroyed 50,000 tons of enemy munitions.
Nothing German was safe from the hurtling 14th. It captured 2,000 railroad cars and took intact 100 locomotives. It seized 200 factories and before the Nazi collapse it had liberated or captured 1,000 citics, towns and villages.
Activated at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas, in 1942, the 14th Armored Division was destined to fight with two armies in the liberation of Europe—the Seventh and Third.
The 14th Armored saw its first combat in the Vosges Mountains. TTere it breached the Nazi defenses and poured out into the broad Alsatian plain, where it launched a drive from Hagenau that culminated in tlie capture of Wissembourg and tlie crossing of the German frontier.
No armored division played a bigger part in thwarting Rundstedts counteroffensive than did the 14th. It was largely due to die 14th’s do-or-die stand that the Nazis’ hope for overrunning Alsace and recapturing Strasbourg was foiled. For days the 14ih Armored fought a terrific defensive battle against vastly superior strength.
At Hatten and Rittershofen the Germans threw three dissions—two panzer and one panzergrenadier—at the 14th Armored. The Division came out maulea and bloody, but Strasbourg, which hung in the balance during the melee, was not recap tured by the Nazis.
The 14th Armored again went on the offensive when it cracked the Siegfried Line at two places and drove to the Rhine at Cermershcim. It rolled across the Rhine at Worms and captured Lohr, Bad Bruckenau, Neustadt and other towns. Then it swung south and liberated 5,000 prisoners at Hammelburg, and outflanked Bayreuth and Nürnberg. The 14th Armored then was transferred to Patton's Third Army. Teamed with the 86th Infantry' Division, the 14th took Augsburg and drove to the infamous prison camp at Moosburg where 110,000 Allied prisoners were held.
The Americans gave the German garrison five hours in which to make an imconditional surrender. SS troops opened fire on the Yanks. Ninety minutes later the tanks of the 14th Armored were rolling through the prison camp.
In its last long dash the Liberators crossed the Danube and pushed to the Isar River. They were still rolling, still flattening the Nazis when the war ended.
From Fighting Divisions, Kahn & McLemore, Infantry Journal Press, 1945-1946.
Activated 15 November 1942
Arrived ETO 29 October 1944
Arrived Continent (D+75) 29 October 1944
Entered Combat
First Elements 14 November 1944
Entire Division 20 November 1944
Days in Combat 133
Rhineland
Central Europe
Headquarters Company
Combat Command A
Combat Command B
Reserve Command
25th Tank Battalion
47th Tank Battalion
48th Tank Battalion
19th Armored Infantry Battalion
62d Armored Infantry Battalion
68th Armored Infantry Battalion
94th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized)
125th Armored Engineer Battalion
154th Armored Signal Company
14th Armored Division Artillery
499th Armored Field Artillery Battalion
500th Armored Field Artillery Battalion
501st Armored Field Artillery Battalion
14th Armored Division Trains
136th Ordnance Maintenance Battalion
84th Armored Medical Battalion
Military Police Platoon
Band
1 Nov 44 Brig. Gen. Albert C. Smith
19 Mar 45 Maj. Gen. Albert C. Smith
1 Nov 44 Col. Maurice K. Kurtz
1 Nov 44 Col. James P. Hill
1 Nov 44 Maj. Albert W. Stephens
1 Dec 44 Lt. Col. Albert W. Stephens
1 Nov 44 Maj. Harold E. Miller
1 Dec 44 Lt. Col. Harold E. Miller
1 Nov 44 Lt. Col. Joe C. Lambert
1 May 45 Col. Joe C. Lambert
1 Nov 44 Maj. George P. Seneff, Jr.
1 Dec 44 Lt. Col. George P. Seneff, Jr.
1 Nov 44 Lt. Col. William C. Golden
1 Nov 44 Col. Charles H. Karlstad
19 Mar 45 Brig. Gen. Charles H. Karlstad
1 Nov 44 Col. Francis J. Gillespie
1 Nov 44 Col. Daniel H. Hudelsch
398th AAA AW Bn (SP) 15 Nov 44-12 May 45
117th Cav Rcn Sq 2 Jan 45-10 Jan 45
300th E ngr C Bn 28 Apr 45-2 May 45
93d Armd FA Bn 3 Jan 45-9 Jan 45
69th Armd FA Bn 2 Apr 45-19 Apr 45
975th FA Bn (155mm How) 2 Apr 45-24 Apr 45
250th FA Bn (105mm How) 21 Apr 45-24 Apr 45
173d FA Gp 21 Apr 45-24 Apr 45
220th FA Gp 25 Apr 45-9 May 45
315th Inf (- 1st Bn) (79th Div) 13 Jan 45-21 Jan 45
1st Bn, 315th Inf (79th Div) 17 Jan 45-21 Jan 45
636th TD Bn (SP) 28 Mar 45-23 Apr 45
There are 18 soldiers of the 14th Armored Division World War II still listed as missing in action.
Technician Fifth Grade Charlie Bates 125th Engineer Battalion 01/01/1945 |
Private Maurice Bunde 47th Tank Battalion 01/07/1945 |
Private James W. Chambers 47th Tank Battalion 01/07/1945 |
Technician Fourth Grade Mylett E. Chambers 47th Tank Battalion 01/15/1945 |
Sergeant Angelo R. Corino 94th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron 03/26/1946 |
Technician Fourth Grade Henry E. Drake 19th Infantry Battalion 01/19/1945 |
Private First Class William R. Frazier 47th Tank Battalion 01/07/1945 |
First Lieutenant Edward J. Gosselin 68th Infantry Battalion 01/13/1945 |
Staff Sergeant James E. Knight 25th Tank Battalion 01/13/1945 |
Technician Fifth Grade Dominick F. Marinaro 125th Engineer Battalion 01/15/1945 |
Sergeant Everett E. Robling 47th Tank Battalion 01/15/1945 |
Private Henry Schwartzman 48th Tank Battalion 04/17/1945 |
Private Arthur W. Sherry 19th Infantry Battalion 01/20/1945 |
Technician Fifth Grade George W. Sluty 94th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron 01/01/1945 |
Corporal William M. Thompson 47th Tank Battalion 01/07/1945 |
Sergeant Fred P. Tinsley 47th Tank Battalion 01/17/1945 |
Private First Class Stanley H. Weinberg 19th Infantry Battalion 01/19/1945 |
Private First Class George G. Wygal 48th Tank Battalion 01/13/1945 |
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