Fact Sheet of the 11th Armored Division

TYPE OF DIVISION:  Army of the United States

NICKNAME:  Thunderbolt

SHOULDER PATCH:  Triangular design divided into three areas:  red (representing Field

Artillery), blue (representing Infantry), and yellow (representing Cavalry).  Superimposed on three areas, in black, are a cannon and the track of a tank.  A bolt of lightning, in red, is superimposed on these.  The Division's number appears in the upper portion of the triangle.

ACTIVATION DATE:  15 August 1942

INACTIVATION DATE:  31 August 1945, in European Theater of Operations (Austria).

COMPONENT UNITS:  Hq. Co., Reserve Command, Combat Command A; Combat

Command B; 22, 41 and 42 Tank Bns.; 21, 55 and 63 Armd. Inf. Bns.; 41 Cav. Rcn. Sq. (Mecz); 56 Armd. Engr. Bn.; 151 Armd. Sig. Co.   Division Artillery:  490, 491 and 492 Armd. F. A. Bns.  Division Trains:  81 Armd. Med. Bn., 133 Ord. Maint. Bn., MP Plat. and Band.

TRAINING UNDER ARMY GROUND FORCES:  Upon activation the Division was

assigned for training at Camp Polk, La.  In October it trained under III Corps, and from June to August 1943, participated in Louisiana maneuvers.  It was assigned to Camp Barkeley, Texas, in September for training under the VIII Corps, Third Army.  In October it was ordered to the California - Arizona Maneuver Area and after a month's maneuvers was stationed at Camp Cook, Calif., under the III Corps.

DEPARTED U.S. FOR FOREIGN DUTY:  29 Sept 1944 from New York Port of

Embarkation.

DATE ENTERED COMBAT:  DIVISION:  23 December 1944

COMBAT DAYS:  96

BATTLE CREDITS:  (Division)  Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe.

SUCCESSIVE COMMANDING GENERALS:  Major General Edward H. Brooks, August

1942 to March 1944; Brig. Gen. Charles S. Kilburn, March 1944 to March 1945; Maj. Gen. Holmes E. Dager from March 1945 until inactivation.

CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR WINNER:  Pfc. Herbert H. Burr, Company C,

41st Tank Battalion for 19 March 1945 action near Dorrmoschel, Germany.

COMBAT HIGHLIGHTS:  The 11th Armored Division was crossing the English Channel to France

when the Nazis' desperate "Bulge" drive began in December.  Debarking on the Normandy beaches, the 11th began a forced march that speeded them to Neufchateau, Belgium by midnight of the day it landed.  The following day the Division launched an attack which saved the vital highway linking Bastogne to Neufchateau.  In January the Division battled into Belgium, helping to clear that country of Nazis.  The next month the 11th flanked the 6th Armored Division in its drive on Trois Vierges and captured Goedange just east of that point.  It then spearheaded the drive across northern Luxembourg.  The Division crossed the Kyll River and headed for the Rhine in a column parallel to the 4th Armored Division.  It overran Kirschweiler, Dochweiler, Winnweiler and joined other Armored elements to catch hundreds of Germans in a trap.  The unit wheeled south and participated in the pocketing of the First and Seventh German Armies west of Kaiserslauntern.  In March it crossed the Rhine River a few hours after the 4th Armored Division had punched through.  Driving into Germany, the 11th swung toward the vital transportation and communications center of Leipzig.  Driving into Austria, the Thunderbolt Division sent twin columns racing into Bavaria.  These columns joined at Cham, 26 miles northeast of Regensburg and 1200 feet up into the Alps.  The Austrian entrance was made near the juncture of the German, Austrian and Czechoslovakian borders.  The major city of Linz, located on the Danube, fell to the outfit soon afterward.  Shortly thereafter the Division was placed on occupational duty.  In only a few months of combat the Division had taken 76, 229 prisoners, an average of 600 per day. Although originally scheduled to return to the U.S., the Division was inactivated overseas.
 

These Army Ground Forces Fact Sheets were prepared at the end of the war (1 March 1947) by The Information Section, Analysis Branch, Headquarters Army Ground Forces on each division.  They may be found in Record Group 407, Unit Records, for each division, under the file number 3 (Division #) - 0 at the National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Rd., College Park, MD.