Fact Sheet of the 3rd Armored Division

TYPE OF DIVISION:   Army of the United States

NICKNAME:  Spearhead Division

SHOULDER PATCH:  Triangular design divided into three areas: red (representing Field Artillery), blue (representing Infantry), and yellow (representing Cavalry).  Superimposed on three area, in black, are the track of a tank and a cannon.  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 April 1941

INACTIVATION DATE:   19 November 1945, in European Theater of Operations.

COMPONENT UNITS:   Hq Co; Service Co; Combat Command A; Combat Command B; 36 Armd Inf Regt; 32 and 33 Armored regiments; 23 Armored Engineer Bn; 83 Armored Rcn Bn; 143 Armored Signal Co; Division Artillery: 54, 67, and 391 Armored FA Bns; Division Trains: 3d Ordnance Maintenance Bn, 45th Armored Medical Bn, Supply Bn and MP Platoon.

TRAINING:   The Division was activated at Camp Beauregard, LA, and was assigned to the Armored Force.  In June 1941, it moved to Camp Polk LA and on 9 March 1942, it came under Army Ground Forces and was assigned to the II Armored Corps.  In July 1942, it was transferred to Camp Young CA and from August to October 1942, took part in maneuvers at the Desert Training Center.  It left Camp Young in Jan 1943 and moved to the Indiantown Gap Military Reservation PA.

OVERSEAS TRAINING:   While in England the 3d used many of the better known tank and artillery ranges in that country for maneuvers and training.  It maneuvers widely on the Salisbury Plain and played host to many ranking Allied Generals who watched the pre-invasion practice.

DATE ENTERED COMBAT:   DIVISION 9 July 1944.  FIRST ELEMENTS 29 June  1944.

COMBAT DAYS (DIV):   231.

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

SUCCESSIVE COMMANDING GENERALS:   Major General Andrew C Gillem from Apr 1941 to Jan 1942; MG Walton H Walker from Jan to Aug 1942; MG Leroy R Watson from Aug 1942 to Aug 1944; MG Maurice Rose from Aug 1944 to Mar 1945; BG Doyle O Hickey from Mar to Jun 1945; BG Truman E Beidinot Jun & Jul 1945; BG Frank A Allen, Jr. Jul 1945; MG Robert W Grow in Jul 1945 until inactivation.  MG Maurice Rose killed in action while leading the division on 31 March 1945, was born on 26 Nov 1899 at Middletown CT.

DISTINGUISHED UNIT CITATIONS:    Hq Fwd Ech & Hq Co for 26 Aug – 4 Sep 44 action in France & Belgium; 32nd Armd Regt, 1st Bn Med Svc for 14-17 Aug 44 action in Normandy; 32 Armd Regt, 2nd Bn for 11-13 Sep 44 action in Belgium & Germany; 32nd Armd Regt, Rcn Co for 3-4 Sep 44 action in Belgium; 33rd Armd Regt, Co I for 16-19 Nov 44 action in Germany; 33rd Armd Regt (less Co B & Co C, 3rd Plat, Co A), 1st Bn for 16-19 Nov 44 action in Germany.

FOREIGN AWARDS:    Awarded Belgian Fourragere for 3-13 Sep action at Mons, Belgium and for 25 Dec 44 to 31 Jan 45 action in the Ardennes, per Belgian Decree # 1330 dated 7 Nov 1945.

COMBAT HIGHLIGHTS:.    Rightfully proud of its “Spear head” nickname, the 3rd Armd Div lays claim to many major “firsts,” among them, first to capture a German City and first to enter Cologne.  The Division’s trek across Europe started in Normandy on 28 Jun 1944, as it began to lead the First US Army out of that province and across France.  After unwieldy fighting in the hedgerows, the unit broke out at Marigny, with the 1st Inf Div, and swung south to Mayenne.  Ordered to help close the Falaise-Argentan pocket which contained the German Seventh Army, the Division finished the job near Putanges by 18 Aug.  Six days later the outfit had sped through Courville and Chartres and was located at the banks of the Seine.  On the night of 25 Aug, the crossing of the Seine by the division started;  once over, the 3rd streaked across France to the Siegfried Line.  Toppled in the path of the Division were Meaux, Seissons, Laon, Marle, Mons, Charleroi, Namur and Liege.  It was at Mons that the Division cut off 40,000 Nazis and captured 8,000 prisoners.  Then the Division began the first invasion of Germany since the days of Napoleon.  On 10 Sep, the Spearhead Division sent what it claimed was the first American Field Artillery  shell onto German soil.  Two days later it passed the German border and soon breached the Siegfried Line. The 3rd was temporarily halted during the Von Runstedt counteroffensive in the Ardennes but it jumped into the vital battle at Houffalize, Belgium, and severed an important highway leading to St Vith.  In January, the Division hit the road again , pushing its way deeper into Germany.  Advancing at a little better than half a mile a day against stiff resistance, the 3rd captured ten towns in Jan 1945, took 2,149 prisoners and destroyed  61 armored vehicles.  It went on next month to crack the Roer River line and swept on into the key city of Cologne in march 1945.  Besides Cologne the Division swept  up Paderborn in its advance, to shut the back door to the Ruhr.  But the joy of taking Cologne was mitigated by the death of the 3rd’s commanding general at the time, MG Maurice Rose.  The General, leading a drive to take an important road junction near Paderborn, suddenly ran into a group of Tiger tanks which had infiltrated American lines.  Surrendering to a Nazi tank commander, General Rose stood with hands aloft as the German spoke a torrent of instructions.  The General apparently thought his captor was asking for his gun, but when he reached for it he was slain.  In April the 3rd crossed the Saale River, north of Halle, and sped on toward the Elbe River.  At war’s end it pulled up near Dessau.  Occupational duty near Langen was given the Division following V-E Day, a role it filled until inactivation.
 

  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.