3rd Armored Division History

First to fire onto German soil; first to enter Germany; first to capture a German city; first to pierce completely the Siegfried line; and first to enter Cologne. That is part of the history of the 1st Army's hard-hitting 3d Armored Division, commanded by Major General Maurice Rose, better known because of its "firsts" as the "Spearhead Division."

The achievements of the 3d Armored Division were veiled by a security censorship blackout and it wasn't until long afterwards that the history of its role in making possible the lightning-like drive across France compiled and finally sent to relatives of the men who had fought the Germans all the way from Normandy to Hitler's Reich.

Engineers of the 3d designed the "rhino" arrangement which was fitted to tanks to breach the hedgerows of Normandy. It was the 3d which, in the first stages of the St. Lo break-through, spearheaded the attack of the 1st Infantry Division at Marigny. It was the 3d which helped repel the German attempt to cut off the American forces at Avranches after the break-through. It was the 3d which finally closed the Falaise Gap after advancing as much as fifty miles in one day to effect a junction with British armor advancing from the north.

From that point on began the hectic race across France. The division threw bridges across the Seine and the Marne, sent the first detachments into Chateau Thierry and Soissons, shot up supply trains and engaged Mark VI Tiger tanks loaded on flat cars, and headed for Belgium. At Mons it cut off an estimated 40,000 German troops and captured three generals. Then it bridged the Sambre and the Meuse Rivers and outflanked the southeast side of Liege so successfully that the Germans, surprised by the move, had their guns pointing the wrong way. Two more German generals were accounted for during this time, one killed while attempting to drive through a road block in a sporty convertible cabriolet, the other captured.

There were few flowers, shouts of "Vive l'Amerique" or kisses as the men of the 3d took Eupen, the last stop in Belgium, with many German civilians. Reconnaissance elements were sent out to pick the best route into Germany, and by 2:51PM on Sept. 12, 1944, a task force of the 3d had completed the first invasion of Germany in force since the time of Napoleon. Soon thereafter the first town, Roetgen, had been captured. Three days later the first and second lines of the Siegfried line had been breached. It had taken eighteen days from the Seine to the Siegfried line.

The march through northern France was a nightmare without benefit of sleep. The entire pursuit of disorganized remnants of a Nazi army was a test to determine which had more stamina: men or machines. Spearhead men, trained to care for their machines first, served the iron monsters with the deference due to pagan gods. In the headlong dash, supply trains accomplished marvels of movement. Often these 'rear echelon' troops were forced to fight a path through enemy-held territory to deliver their important cargoes of gas, ammo and rations. At one time the trucks were hauling gas two hundred miles overland.

As a matter of fact, the 3d's advance was so rapid in some instances that it by-passed many German units. As a result, almost every element of the division became a combat unit, fighting the Nazis who had been left behind.

The division was activated April 15, 1941, at Camp Beauregard, La., but not until Sept. 5, 1943, did it embark for Europe. In the mean time it had passed a year at Camp Polk, La., before moving to the desert training center in southern California. There followed further training and maneuvers at Camp Pickett, Va., and Indiantown Gap Military Reservation, Pa., before the trip to England. After maneuvers on Salisbury Plain, the 3d moved out of barracks into the field. On D Day plus eighteen it landed in Normandy. Before long it had been transformed from a green unit into the crack fighting division which became the spearhead of the 1st Army.

The New York Times (1944)