4th Armored Division (United States)

The division was organized as a full Armored Division in May and June 1942 under the command of Major General John Shirley Wood. It left Pine Camp for Camp Forrest for the Tennessee maneuvers in the Cumberland Mountains held in September and October. In mid-November, it was transferred to the Camp Ibis Desert Training Center (DTC) in the California-Arizona maneuver area and was the first Armored Division to occupy Camp Ibis near Needles, California in the Mojave Desert, which was close to the Arizona and Nevada borders. On 3 June, the 4th AD arrived at Camp Bowie, Texas, an armored training center located in central Texas near Brownwood, for more maneuvers until about December when it departed for Camp Myles Standish in Massachusetts for winter training. On 29 December, the 4th AD departed Boston to conduct training in England in preparation for the invasion of Normandy.

After training in England from January to July 1944, the 4th Armored Division landed at Utah Beach, on 11 July, over a month after the initial Normandy landings, and first entered combat on 17 July; on 28 July, battle action as part of the VIII Corps exploitation force for Operation Cobra, the 4th AD secured the Coutances area. The 4th AD then swung south to take Nantes, cutting off the Brittany Peninsula, 12 August 1944. Turning east, it drove swiftly across France north of the Loire, smashed across the Moselle 11–13 September, flanked Nancy and captured Lunéville, 16 September. The 4th AD fought several German panzergrenadier brigades in the Lorraine area including the SS Panzergrenadier Brigade 49 and SS Panzergrenadier Brigade 51 at this time, defeating a larger German force through superior tactics and training.[6]

After maintaining a defensive line, Chambrey to Xanrey to Hénaménil, from 27 September to 11 October, the 4th AD rested briefly before returning to combat 9 November with an attack in the vicinity of Viviers. The 4th AD cleared Bois de Serres, 12 November, advanced through Dieuze and crossed the Saar River, 21–22 November, to establish and expand bridgehead and took Singling and Bining, then Baerendorf[7] 24 November, before being relieved 8 December.

The 4th Armored Division received the following unit awards from France: Croix de Guerre with Palm (27–29 July 1944), Croix de Guerre with Palm (12–29 September 1944), and French Fourragere in the colors of the Croix de Guerre.

Two days after the Germans launched their Ardennes Offensive, the 4th AD entered the fight (18 December 1944), racing northwest into Belgium, covering 150 miles in 19 hours.[6] The 4th AD, spearheading Patton's Third Army, attacked the Germans at Bastogne and, on 26 December, was the first unit (Company C, 37th Tank Battalion led the 4th Armored Division column that relieved Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge)[8] to break through at Bastogne and relieve the besieged 101st Airborne Division. Six weeks later the 4th AD jumped off from Luxembourg City in an eastward plunge that carried it across the Moselle River at Trier, south, and east to Worms, and across the Rhine, 24–25 March 1945. Advancing all night, the 4th AD crossed the Main River the next day, south of Hanau, and continued to push on. Lauterbach fell 29 March, Creuzburg across the Werra on 1 April, Gotha on 4 April – where the 4th AD liberated Ohrdruf concentration camp, the first Nazi camp liberated by U.S. troops.[9] By 12 April the 4th AD was across the Saale River. Pursuit of the enemy continued, and by 6 May the division had crossed into Czechoslovakia and established a bridgehead across the Otava River at Strakonice, with forwarding elements at Písek. The 4th AD was reassigned to the XII Corps on 30 April 1945.[10] The 4th AD received the following Letter of Commendation:[11]

To: Maj. Gen. Hugh J. Gaffey The outstanding celerity of your movement and the unremitting, vicious and skillful manner in which you pushed the attack, terminating at the end of four days and nights of incessant battle in the relief of Bastogne, constitutes one of the finest chapters in the glorious history of the United States Army. You and the officers and men of your command are hereby commended for a superior performance.

Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., Commander, Third U.S. Army

The 4th AD's second commander, Major General John Shirley Wood, (known as "P" Wood to his contemporaries, the "P" standing for "Professor", and "Tiger Jack" to his men) who took over the division officially on 18 June 1942, trained the 4th Armored Division for two years before he personally led it into combat in France, on 28 July 1944, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. On 1 August, Gen. George Patton's U.S. Third Army became operational and the 4th AD became the spearhead of the Third Army. The British military armor theorist and historian, Capt. Basil Henry Liddell Hart, once referred to General Wood as "the Rommel of the American armored forces." Like Rommel, Wood commanded from the front, and preferred staying on the offensive, using speed and envelopment tactics to confuse the enemy. General Wood often utilized a light Piper Cub liaison aircraft flown by his personal pilot, Maj. Charles "Bazooka Charlie" Carpenter, to keep up with his rapidly moving division, sometimes personally carrying corps orders from headquarters directly to his advancing armored columns.[12]

On 3 December 1944, General Wood was relieved as division commander. The division was then led by Major General Hugh Gaffey through the Battle of the Bulge until March 23, when Brigadier General William M. Hoge was awarded command. Major General Fay B. Prickett commanded during the occupation period. Major General Archibald R. Kennedy commanded the division after the war.

Among the most famous members of the 4th AD during World War II was Creighton Abrams, who commanded the 37th Tank Battalion. Abrams later rose to command all U.S. forces in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War and served as Army Chief of Staff in the 1970s. The M-1 tank is named after him.[13] Abrams' friend, Harold Cohen, commanded the 10th Armored Infantry Battalion and fought in concert with Abrams' tanks.[14]

The division was composed of the following units:[15]

• Headquarters
• Headquarters Company
• Combat Command A
• Combat Command B
• Combat Command Reserve
• 8th Tank Battalion
• 35th Tank Battalion
• 37th Tank Battalion
• 10th Armored Infantry Battalion
• 51st Armored Infantry Battalion
• 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion
• Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Armored Division Artillery
  • 22nd Armored Field Artillery Battalion
  • 66th Armored Field Artillery Battalion
  • 94th Armored Field Artillery Battalion
• 25th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized)
• 24th Armored Engineer Battalion
• 144th Armored Signal Company
• 4th Armored Division Train Headquarters and Headquarters Company
  • 126th Ordnance Maintenance Battalion
  • 4th Armored Medical Battalion
  • Military Police Platoon
  • Band

After a tour of occupation duty in Germany, the 4th AD returned to the United States for inactivation. Most of its elements, however, remained as occupation forces in Germany after redesignation as the First Constabulary Brigade.[16] In 1949, it was redesignated the 4th Armored Division and inactivated on 20 May 1949.[17]

The 4th AD was reactivated on 15 June 1954 at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas with the name 4th Armored "Breakthrough" Division[18] ("Breakthrough" was discontinued some years afterwards) and was deployed to West Germany in 1957 with headquarters at Cooke Barracks in Göppingen. The division appears to have been part of VII Corps for most of this period.

On 30 June 1958, Combat Command "A" was at Wiley Barracks, New Ulm, It comprised 2d Medium Tank Battalion (MTB), 66th Armor (Leipheim); 2d Armored Rifle Battalion (ARB), 41st Infantry (Neu Ulm); and 2d Armored Rifle Battalion, 51st Infantry. Combat Command "B" was at Ferris Barracks, Erlangen, comprising the 1st MTB, 35th Armor (Ferris Barracks); 2d MTB, 67th Armor (Fürth); 2d ARB, 50th Infantry (Ferris Barracks); and 2d Reconnaissance Squadron, 15th Cavalry.[19] Combat Command "C" was at McKee Barracks, Crailsheim.[20] It comprised 1st MTB, 37th Armor (McKee Barracks) and 1st ARB, 54th Infantry.[21]

The 4th AD remained in Germany until final inactivation in May 1971, when it was reflagged as the 1st Armored Division.

In Harold Coyle's 1993 techno-thriller "The Ten Thousand", the 4th Armored Division forms part of the US Army Tenth Corps, and much of the novel's action is depicted from the point of view of members of the division.[22]