You will never have any trouble addressing a soldier of the 3d Armored Division.
“Call me Spearhead” is his favorite phrase.
The speedy outfit that led the First Army out of Normandy and across France, closed the Falaise Gap, crashed the Siegfried Line, and took Cologne, claimed a lot of “firsts” for itself. It even announced that one of its men was first to swim in the Rhine.
The Spearhead Division liked to be out front, and that led to tragedy in Germany when its own commander, Major General Maurice Rose, got out in front of even his own men, was captured by a German tank, and was killed by the tank commander during the surrender.
From the breakthrough west of St.Lô to the final surrender of the Nazis, the 3d Armored was in the thick of things. After unwieldy tank fighting in the hedgerows, the Spearhead broke out at Marigny, with the 1st Infantry Division, and headed due south to Mayenne. In mid-August, the 3d Armored was ordered to close the Falaise-Argentan pocket in which the German Seventh Army was caught, and the Division finished the job near Putanges on August 18. By August 24, the Spearhead had rolled through Courville and Chartres and was poised at the banks of the Seine.
The next evening the 3d Armored began to jump the river, and, once over, it began a mad dash across France that brought it clear up to the Siegfried Line in just 18 days. Soissons, Mons, Namur, and Liège were among the dozens of places in the swath cut by the Spearhead. At Mons alone, the 3d Armored cut off 40,000 Germans and captured three generals among 8,000 prisoners. And then the Spearhead set forth on the first invasion of Germany since the days of Napoleon:
September 10: It fired the first American artillery shell to land on German soil.
September 12: It became the first unit to pass the German border.
September 13: It became the first to take a German town ( Roetgen ) and first to breach the Siegfried Line.
September 15: It became the first division completely to pierce the Siegfried Line.
September 18 ( as the final touch ) : Its antiaircraft gunners became the first Americans to shoot down a German plane from German soil.
Driving on, the Spearhead was halted only by the Ardennes counteroffensive, when it swung into the fray near Houffalize and cut an important highway leading to St.Vith.
The 3d Armored Division took Cologne and Paderbom, helped the 2d Armored shut tight the back door to the Ruhr, crossed the Saale, and, with other American units converging on Berlin, raced to the Elbe near Dessau, where it saw its last action. It had many an achievement behind it: the liberation of political prisoners of the Gestapo from a prison at Cologne, the seizure of a trainload of V-2s near Bromskirchen, and even the surrender of a weird band of 200 members of the Hitler Jugend, led by a 16-year-old boy, who formally handed over their weapons (small-sized dress daggers) to representatives of the 3d Armored at the end of the war.
From Fighting Divisions, Kahn & McLemore, Infantry Journal Press, 1945-1946.
"Spearhead"
Activated 15 Apr 41
Arrived ETO 15 Sep 43
Arrived Continent (D/18) 24 Jun 44
Entered Combat:
First Element 29 Jun 44
Entire Division 9 Jul 44
Days in Combat 231
Normandy
Northern France
Ardennes
Rhineland
Central Europe
DSC: 17
Legion of Merit: 23
Silver Star: 885
Soldiers Medal: 32
Bronze Star: 3,884
Air Medal: 138
DFC: 3
Headquarters Company
Service Company
Combat Command A
Combat Command B
36th Armored Inf Regiment
32d Armored Regiment
33d Armored Regiment
23d Armored Eng Bn
83d Armored Rcn Bn
143d Armored Sig Co
391st Armored Field Artillery Battalion
67th Armored Field Artillery Battalion
54th Armored Field Artillery Battalion
3rd Ordnance Maintenance Battalion
Supply Battalion
45th Armored Medical Battalion
Military Police Platoon
15 Sep 1943 Maj Gen Leroy H. Watson
7 Aug 1944 Brig Gen Maurice Rose
5 Sep 1944 Maj Gen Maurice Rose
21 Mar 1945 Brig Gen Doyle O. Hickey
15 Sep 1943 Col Frederic G. Brown
15 Sep 1943 Col John A. Smith
15 Sep 1943 Lt Col Jack A. Boulger
1 Apr 1945 Maj George G. Otis
15 Sep 1943 Lt Col Andrew Barr
15 Sep 1943 Lt Col Howard M. Snyder
28 Aug 1943 Lt Col Wesley A. Sweat
1 Apr 1945 Maj James A Alexander
25 Apr 1945 Lt Col Wesley A Sweat
15 Sep 1943 Lt Col Eugene C Orth
22 Feb 1944 Lt Col William E Dahl
20 Apr 1945 Maj George F Cake
15 Sep 1943 Lt Col Robert M Gant
15 Sep 1943 Brig Gen Doyle O Hickey
31 Mar 1945 Col Leander L Doan
15 Sep 1943 Brig Gen John J Bohn
15 Jul 1944 Col Truman Everett Boudinot
4 Sep 1944 Brig Gen Truman Everett Boudinot
15 Sep 1943 Col Graeme G Parks
19 Jul 1944 Col William W Cornog Jr
15 Aug 1944 Col Louis P Leone
6 Sep 1944 Col Carl J Rohsenberger
24 Sep 1944 Col Robert L Howze Jr
486th AAA AW Bn (SP) 25 Jun 44-9 May 45
413th AAA Gun Bn (Mbl) 7 Jul 44-16 Jul 44
Co A 738th Tk Bn (Mine Explorer) 6 Dec 44-15 Jan 45
1st & 3d Plats Co B 738th Tk Bn (Mine Explorer) 12 Jan 45-17 Jan 45
113th Cav Gp 8 Jul 44-10 Aug 44
4th Cav Gp 28 Feb 45-1 Mar 45
4th Cav Gp 3 Mar 45-8 Mar 45
Cos A & C 87th Cml Bn 24 Dec 44-31 Dec 44
294th Engr C Bn 25 Oct 44-9 Nov 44
1st Plat Co B 15th Engr C Bn (9th Div) 27 Oct 44-11 Nov 44
298th Engr C Bn 9 Nov 44-10 Nov 44
Co B 15th Engr C Bn (9th Div) 11 Nov 44-1 Dec 44
298th Engr C Bn 27 Dec 44-30 Dec 44
Co B 297th Engr C Bn 27 Dec 44-30 Dec 44
967th FA Bn (155 How) 29 Jun 44-30 Jun 44
58th Armd FA Bn 3 Jul 44-10 Aug 44
963d FA Bn (155 How) 7 Jul 44-9 Jul 44
258th FA Bn (155 Gun) 8 Jul 44-10 Aug 44
87th Armd FA Bn 9 Jul 44-28 Aug 44
258th FA Bn (155 Gun) 10 Aug 44-14 Aug 44
991st FA Bn (155 Gun) 12 Aug 44-20 Sep 44
60th FA Bn (9th Div) (105 How) 13 Aug 44-15 Aug 44
58th Armd FA Bn 18 Aug 44-1 Oct 44
84th FA Bn (9th Div) (105 How) 27 Oct 44-11 Nov 44
83d Armd FA Bn 20 Dec 44-31 Dec 44
991st FA Bn (-2 btrys) (155 Gun) 21 Dec 44-31 Dec 44
188th FA Bn (155 How) 23 Dec 44-31 Dec 44
75th Div Arty 24 Dec 44-7 Jan 45
991st FA Bn (155 Gun) 2 Jan 45-11 Jan 45
183d FA Bn (155 How) 2 Jan 45-11 Jan 45
83d Armd FA Bn 2 Jan 45-9 May 45
183d FA Bn (155 How) 12 Jan 45-20 Jan 45
Btry A 991st FA Bn (155 Gun) 17 Jan 45-19 Jan 45
991st FA Bn (155 Gun) 25 Feb 45-9 Mar 45
183d FA Bn (155 How) 25 Feb 45-24 Apr 45
991st FA Bn (155 Gun) 29 Mar 45-1 Apr 45
138th FA Bn (155 How) 29 Mar 45-8 Apr 45
991st FA Bn (155 Gun) 6 Apr 45-13 May 45
Btry A 13th FA Obsn Bn 17 Apr 45-23 Apr 45
1st Bn 60th Inf (9th Div) 9 Jul 44-11 Jul 44
2d Bn 60th Inf (9th Div) 10 Jul 44-11 Jul 44
3d Bn 60th Inf (9th Div) 13 Aug 44-15 Aug 44
2d & 3d Bns 60th Inf (9th Div) 17 Aug 44-19 Aug 44
1st Bn 26th Inf (1st Div) 6 Sep 44-23 Sep 44
47th Inf (9th Div) 8 Sep 44-10 Sep 44
47th CT (9th Div) 25 Oct 44-10 Nov 44
84th FA Bn (9th Div) (105 How) 25 Oct 44-10 Nov 44
1 Plat Co B 15th Engr C Bn (9th Div) 25 Oct 44-10 Nov 44
Co A 746th Tk Bn 25 Oct 44-10 Nov 44
Co C 899th TD Bn (SP) 25 Oct 44-10 Nov 44
Btry D 376th AAA AW Bn (Mbl) 25 Oct 44-10 Nov 44
2d Bn 47th Inf (9th Div) 24 Nov 44-26 Nov 44
1st Bn 60th Inf (9th Div) 11 Dec 44-12 Dec 44
1st Bn 517th Prcht Inf (Non-Div) 22 Dec 44-26 Dec 44
509th Prcht Inf Bn (Non-Div) 23 Dec 44-29 Dec 44
290th CT (75th Div) 23 Dec 44-31 Dec 44
898th CT (75th Div) 23 Dec 44-31 Dec 44
1 plat Co B 275th Engr C Bn (75th Div) 23 Dec 44-31 Dec 44
Btry A 440th AAA AW Bn (Mbl) 23 Dec 44-31 Dec 44
289th CT (75th Div) 24 Dec 44-29 Dec 44
897th FA Bn (75th Div) (105 How) 24 Dec 44-29 Dec 44
730th FA Bn (155 How) (75th Div) 24 Dec 44-29 Dec 44
Btry A 440th AAA AW Bn (Mbl) 24 Dec 44-29 Dec 44
331st Inf (83d Div) 29 Dec 44-31 Dec 44
330th Inf (83d Div) 1 Jan 45-7 Jan 45
2d & 3d Bns 330th Inf (83d Div) 7 Jan 45-19 Jan 45
1st Bn 330th Inf (83d Div) 11 Jan 45-19 Jan 45
335th Inf (84th Div) 18 Jan 45-21 Jan 45
13th Inf (8th Div) 26 Feb 45-17 Mar 45
395th CT (99th Div) 28 Feb 45-2 Mar 45
924th FA Bn (99th Div) (105 How) 28 Feb 45-2 Mar 45
Co C 629th Tk Bn 28 Feb 45-2 Mar 45
Co C 786th Tk Bn 28 Feb 45-2 Mar 45
3d Bn 13th Inf (8th Div) 17 Mar 45-19 Mar 45
414th Inf (104th Div) 23 Mar 45-12 Apr 45
3d Bn 47th Inf (9th Div) 11 Apr 45-24 Apr 45
1st Bn 18th Inf (1st Div) 11 Apr 45-25 Apr 45
2d Bn 414th Inf (104th Div) 12 Apr 445-22 Apr 45
60th Inf (9th Div) 22 Apr 45-24 Apr 45
803d TD Bn (SP) 25 Jun 44-2 Jul 44
703d TD Bn (SP) 25 Jun 44-17 Dec 44
643d TD Bn (SP) 22 Dec 44-26 Dec 44
703d TD Bn (SP) 2 Jan 45- 9 May 45
2d Plat Co B 635th TD Bn (T) 15 Jan 45-20 Jan 45
There are 100 soldiers of the 3rd Armored Division World War II still listed as missing in action.
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