US Armored Units in the North African and Italian Campaigns 1942-45 (attached) o , y················································r··· II m II I STEVEN J ZALOGA, born in 1952, received his SA in history from Union College, and his MA from Columbia University He has published numerous books and articles dealing with modern military technology, especially armored vehicle development His main area of interest is the US Army in the European Theater of Operations in World War II Battle Orders • 21 US Armored Units in the North African and Italian Campaigns 1942-45 Steven J Zaloga Consultant editor Dr Duncan Anderson • Series editors Marcus Cowper and Nikolai Bogdanovic Author's note First published in 2006 by Osprey Publishing Midland House, West Way, Botley, Oxford OX2 OPH, UK 443 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016, USA E-mail: info@ospreypublishing.com © 2006 Osprey Publishing Limited All rights reserved Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner Enquiries should be addressed to the Publishers ISBN-IO: 1841769665 The author would especially like to thank Peter Brown for help in locating documents dealing with the Ist Armored Division in Tunisia at the National Archives, UK The photos in this book are primarily from the wartime US Army's Signal Corps collections at the US National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) in College Park, MD Other Signal Corps photos were located at other army facilities including the US Army Military History Institute at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, the Patton Museum at Ft Knox, Kentucky, and the US Military Academy (USMA) West Point ISBN-13: 978 I 84176 966 Design: Bounford.com, Cambridge, UK Maps by Bounford.com, Cambridge, UK Typeset in Monotype Gill Sans and ITC Stone Serif Index by Alison Worthington Originated by PPS Grasmere Ltd, Leeds, UK Printed and bound in China by Bookbuilders 06 07 08 09 10 10 A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library FOR A CATALOG OF ALL BOOKS PUBLISHED BY OSPREY MILITARY AND AVIATION PLEASE CONTACT: NORTH AMERICA Osprey Direct, c/o Random House Distribution Center, 400 Hahn Road, Westminster, MD 21157, USA E-mail: info@ospreydirect.com ALL OTHER REGIONS Osprey Direct UK, P.O Box 140, Wellingborough, Northants, NN8 2FA, UK E-mail: info@ospreydirect.co.uk www.ospreypublishing.com Key to military symbols XXXXX Army Group I XXXX Army ••• XXX XX 0 0 Regiment Battalion G EJ I Corps Division Brigade/Combat Command 0 C8J [Q] Infantry Armor bJ 00 EE EJ ~ [ZSJ ~ IT] Company Supply Maintenance Platoon Transportation Signal II III X Cavalry/ Reconnaissance Anti-tank Medical Assault Gun Artillery Military Police Engineer CHAP Headquarters I Chaplin rn Band Mortar Key to unit identification G Machine gun [Z] @] Radio Ordnance Unit identifier ~ Parent unit Commander Contents Introduction The mission Preparations for war 17 The Armored Force in 1942 • The Tank Destroyer Force in 1942 Unit organization 23 Tank unit equipment • Tank destroyer reorganization • Tank destroyer equipment Command and control 5I Tactics 54 Tanks in amphibious operations • Tank tactics in Tunisia • Tank destroyers in Tunisia Operation Husky: Sicily July 1943 • Salerno • Armor on the Volturno Armor at Anzio • The campaign in Northern Italy Lessons learned 84 Unit status 86 Ist Armored Division • 2nd Armored Division Separate tank battalions • Tank destroyer battalions Further reading 93 us Army studies • Published works Index 95 Introduction When Combat Command B departed for North Africa in the autumn of 1942, the remainder of the I st Armored Division remained in the United Kingdom for training Here, a battalion of M3 medium tanks is seen on exercise near Perham Downs on December 6, 1942 (NARA) The first major commitment of US tank units during World War II took place in North Africa in November 1942 Two of the new armored divisions were deployed along with several tank battalions and tank destroyer battalions The defeat of a combat command of the 1st Armored Division during the Faid-Kasserine battles in February 1943 demonstrated significant flaws in US armored organization, training, tactics and equipment This led to extensive reorganization in the summer of 1943 that largely shaped the tank arm for the upcoming campaigns in Italy and France US commitment of armored units in subsequent campaigns in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO), beginning with Operation Husky on Sicily in July 1943, saw the significant use of armored formations But the US Army regarded Italy as a peripheral theater, and less than 20 percent of the army's tank strength was deployed in the subsequent campaigns in Italy in 1944-45 In spite of the relatively small commitment of armored forces in the MTO, the campaigns of 1943-44 were vital in maturing US army organization and tactics for the forthcoming campaign in France and Germany in 1944-45 The US Army's attitudes to its tank force were in a state of considerable flux from World War I through to the 1942 landings in North Africa During these formative years, American tank policy was heavily dependent on trends in Europe, and this would remain the case through the beginning of World War II The US Army Tank Service, later called the Tank Corps, was formed in January 1918 to support the American Expeditionary Force in France There had been little military-industrial preparation prior to America's late entry into World War I, so the Tank Corps was entirely dependent on France and Britain for its first tanks At first, US tank organization did not precisely follow either French or British practices The original plans in July 1917 were to deploy a light tank company in each division for close support, plus a number of heavy tank companies at army level for use on specific missions This plan was superseded in September 1917 by a decision to concentrate the tanks under General Headquarters (GHQ) as a strategic asset that would be used as occasion warranted This change followed the lessons learned by the French and British armies that the early tanks were not particularly robust and were complicated to operate It was much simpler to concentrate the tanks in larger formations, such as battalions, with adequate technical support than in small, dispersed companies, which, by their very nature, would have less extensive service elements Furthermore, early combat experiences with tanks suggested that attacks by concentrated forces of tanks had greater tactical potential than occasional, dispersed use Under the new scheme, a tank brigade consisting of two light tank battalions and a heavy tank battalion, along with associated support elements, would support each field army As a first step, the US Army in 1918 began forming two tank brigades to support the two field armies that were intended for deployment in France Brigadier General Samuel D Rockenbach commanded the AEF Tank Corps in France Curiously enough, two young officers who would earn greater fame in World War II were intimately involved in the early tank force Capt George S Patton was assigned to create and train the first US light tank troops and would later lead the light tank battalions of the 1st Tank Brigade in their initial combat foray in September 1918 The new US tank training center at Camp Colt in Pennsylvania was commanded by Dwight Eisenhower The AEF's two light tank battalions with French Renault FT light tanks and one heavy tank battalion with British tanks saw extensive combat use in the concluding months of the war In addition, US divisions were often supported by French and British tank units, further impressing US officers with the value of tanks on the modern battlefield Although tanks had proven themselves to be an important ingredient in the new tactics of European warfare, the US Army Tank Corps was short lived In the postwar demobilization, it was disbanded under the National Defense Act of 1920 and the tanks handed over to the infantry branch as a support weapon, much like light machine guns and other innovations The demise of the Tank Corps was part of a larger shift in US Army policy forced on it by national priorities and a retreat into isolationism World War I was "the war to end all wars" and national leaders were hopeful that the American-inspired League of Nations would make future wars unthinkable The Army budget was heavily cut, and its interwar orientation shifted from the conduct of high-intensity combat in Europe to more traditional missions such as policing the frontier and overseas possessions, where tanks were a wasteful indulgence There was little money spent on new tank design since the army possessed over a thousand tanks left over from World War I, far in excess of the needs of its actual order of battle Through most of the 1920s, the US tank units consisted of scattered companies of M.1917 light tanks, a US-built copy of the Renault FT The US Marine Corps deployed a few M.1917 tanks on missions in China in the 1920s, but for the most part the tanks remained rusting away in garrisons except for the occasional summer maneuver Again, it was Europe that enervated American developments In 1927, Secretary of War Dwight Davis witnessed the British Mechanized Force at Aldershot He was so impressed by the display that he ordered the creation of a similar test force The Experimental Mechanized Force was assembled at Camp Meade, Maryland, in the summer of 1930 and conducted maneuvers for three months It consisted of two tank battalions, an infantry battalion, a cavalry armored car troop, an artillery battalion and supporting troops It was temporary in nature and its component units returned to their garrisons in the autumn The army chief-of-staff, Gen Charles Summerall, concluded that the tank might someday be used to constitute a new offensive combat force but that the maneuvers had not proven the maturity of the concept Summerall recognized that obsolete equipment was to blame for the shortcomings of the experimental force and urged further funding for equipment modernization The more far-sighted army officers realized that the meager peacetime budget precluded any extensive mechanization of the army, but they hoped that the judicious expenditure of the limited funds could form a seed from which a mass army would grow if the need arose Although senior infantry officers opposed efforts to take away their control of the tanks, a Mechanization Board was formed in 1930 to study army needs In October 1930, Summerall ordered the creation of a new mechanized force at Ft Eustis, Virginia, as a permanent organization to study mechanization needs However, congressional funding for the force was pitifully small, about $250,000 or roughly the cost of a platoon of tanks The force was hardly in place when the new chief-of-staff, Douglas MacArthur, disbanded it in late 1931 MacArthur preferred to let the existing combat arms choose their own path to mechanization rather than to create a new organization The important consequence of the mechanization debate was that it opened up tactical and technical competition between the infantry and cavalry branches Although the cavalry was forbidden from procuring tanks under the 1920 Defense Act, MacArthur's support for broader mechanization opened the door for the cavalry to experiment with its own tanks under the linguistic subterfuge that they were "combat cars." The cavalry branch eventually showed enthusiasm for tanks with the durability and speed suitable for their missions, overcoming the infantry's complacent acceptance of the poor technical performance of existing tanks The cavalry inherited the Mechanized Force mission from the Ft Eustis group, and the 1st Cavalry Regiment was moved to Ft Knox to begin the process of mechanization Cavalry efforts were expanded in 1936 by moving the 13th Cavalry Regiment to Ft Knox due to the acquisition of more combat cars, and these two regiments were used to create the mechanized 7th Cavalry Brigade, commanded by Col Adna Chaffee The advent of the Great Depression undermined efforts to buy any significant number of new tanks or cavalry cars in the early 1930s, but MacArthur supported the allocation of funds to continue to develop more modern designs until funding could support serial manufacture Rather than spend the little money available on the manufacture of obsolete tanks, the army preferred to hoard as much as possible for tank development and the construction of small numbers of pilot tanks In the five years from 1930 to 1934, the US Army funded the production of only nine tanks The late 1930s saw a continued deterioration in the international situation with Japanese military operations in China, the German reoccupation of the Rhineland under Hitler's aggressive new Nazi government, the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and a civil war in Spain aggravated by the thinly concealed involvement of the Great Powers The rise in tension was reflected in worldwide tank production, especially in Europe In 1934, the tank production of Britain, France and Germany was only about 150 vehicles, but by 1937 this had climbed ten-fold to about 1,535 tanks With the US economy beginning to recover from the Depression and with war brewing in Europe and the Pacific, the US Army began a slow program to mechanize, funding 62 tanks and combat cars in the 1936 fiscal year budget and 186 in 1937 Between 1930 and 1939, the US Army obtained 321 light tanks and 148 combat cars But the US Army remained behind by European standards By way of comparison, in 1939 the Polish Army fielded two mechanized cavalry brigades and three tank battalions while the US Army had a single mechanized cavalry regiment and three operational tank battalions In spite of its own meager resources, the US Army stayed abreast of developments in Europe by a thorough reporting system undertaken by military attaches and disseminated by the Military Intelligence Division; reports on German, French, and British mechanization efforts were extremely detailed and timely The start of the war in Europe in September 1939 led to a substantial increase in US defense spending but a consensus over the place of the tank on the modern battlefield remained elusive Even after the Polish campaign, US cavalry advocates still claimed that the horse cavalry had a future on the modern battlefield and many infantry officers still wanted the tank to remain subordinate to the foot soldier But the tide was turning in favor of more visionary officers such as Gen Adna Chaffee, the cavalry's prime advocate of mechanization The infantry gathered together its scattered divisional tank companies into the 68th Infantry Regiment (Tank) at Ft Benning and in the winter of 1939-40 began to organize a Provisional Tank Brigade, which included nearly all its tank units By the spring of 1940, the US Army deployed two mechanized cavalry regiments, five light tank battalions in the 67th and 68th Infantry (Tanks), one medium tank company and 13 National Guard divisional tank companies Frustrated by the continuing bickering, the War Department ordered the branches to cooperate in testing a provisional mechanized force in the May 1940 maneuvers, including the 6th Infantry (Motorized), the Provisional Tank Brigade and 7th Cavalry Brigade Various combinations of units were employed during the course of the wargames At one point, this embryonic armored division trounced the 1st Cavalry Division In a post-maneuver conference headed by the War Department's chief of operations, Brig Gen Frank Andrews, the conclusion of the officers present was that the future of army mechanization should be taken out of the recalcitrant hands of the infantry and cavalry branch chiefs and placed under the control of a new "non-sectarian" organization The issue was conclusively settled by developments in Europe the same month, the astonishing defeat of the French Army From a contemporary perspective, it is difficult to explain how great a shock the French defeat caused among the leaders of the US Army It is commonplace today to speak about a "special relationship" between the United States and Britain But in 1940, if any such relationship existed, it was between the US and French armies There had been ties dating back to the American Revolution, and in World War I the French Army had been instrumental in equipping the US Army and guiding its training and doctrine In the interwar years, many US officers attended advanced courses in French military schools, including future tank commanders like George S Patton The French Army was widely viewed in Washington as one of the best in the world, and amongst the best equipped Its sudden defeat at the hands of the German panzer divisions ended the debate about army mechanization in the United States With the lessons of the Louisiana maneuvers fresh in his mind and the startling developments in France providing the rationale, Gen Andrews pushed the Army chief-of-staff, Gen George Marshall, to create a new force to organize and train the army's new mechanized elements The Armored Force was created at Ft Knox on]uly 10,1940, hardly a month after the French defeat The name was chosen as a compromise-the infantry didn't want the cavalry term "mechanized" used and the cavalry felt the same way about the term "tank," which its officers associated with the infantry The new force absorbed all of the infantry's tank units, and the cavalry's various mechanized units as well The initial organization planned the formation of two armored divisions, the 1st based around the cavalry's 1st and 13th Cavalry Regiments, and the 2nd based around the infantry's 67th and 68th Infantry Regiments A separate 70th GHQ Reserve Tank Battalion was created at Ft George Meade, Maryland, and an Armored Force Board was established to direct the development of new equipment Command of the Armored Force was handed over to Gen Adna Chaffee, long one of the most forceful advocates of army mechanization • • The mission "The Green Hornet," as George S Patton was nicknamed by his troops at the time, is seen here in Manchester, Tennessee, on June 19, 1941, during the summer wargames Lt Col R W Grow from his staff obtains a bit of impromptu intelligence from a local resident Patton is wearing a tanker's helmet of his own design based on a football helmet His nickname stemmed from his habit for mounting sirens on his command car, an M3A I scout car in this case, and racing around with the sirens wailing (NARA) World War I marked a stage in industrial-age warfare where innovations in firepower favored the defense The widespread introduction of light machine guns, the improved range and accuracy of modern rifles, and the long range and high rate of fire of artillery crushed attempts by the infantry and cavalry to advance across open ground The tank emerged in 1917-18 as a tactical means to restore balance on the battlefield by providing the infantry with a means to overcome machine-gun positions and entrenchments There was very little controversy through the interwar years over the desirability of tanks for this limited but important tactical mission The controversy emerged over whether tank units, or a combination of tank and motorized infantry units, might constitute a large mobile force capable of offensive operational action in the face of contemporary firepower For much of the interwar period, the issue was muddied by the poor reliability of early tanks But by the mid-1930s, the technical maturity of tanks was improving to the point that mechanized operations were beginning to seem more plausible The German victories in Lessons learned Gen Sir Harold Alexander, commander of the 15th Army Group, reviews troops of the Ist Armored Division shortly after the conclusion of the war in Italy in 1945 The tanks are the newer M4A3 (76mm), which began to be issued to the division in the late summer of 1944 (NARA) 84 Most of the critical lessons learned in the Mediterranean theater took place as a result of the initial campaigns in Tunisia and on Sicily The Tunisian campaign resulted in a major reorganization of the Armored Force and also precipitated vital changes in training and tactical preparations The subsequent landings on Sicily and at Salerno were also instrumental in perfecting techniques for landing armor to support amphibious assaults This was of vital importance to the later landings at Normandy in June 1944 It is worth noting that the lessons of the Mediterranean Theater also had unanticipated consequences for the later D-Day landings German tactical doctrine did not favor linear coastal defense and preferred instead to counter an amphibious landing with a vigorous counterattack This pattern was repeated over and over again at Sicily, Salerno and Anzio As a result, US planning for Normandy presumed a similar tactical pattern Unfortunately, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was present in Italy at the time of Salerno and concluded from these failed counter-offensives that a more vigorous defense of the beachhead itself was necessary to defeat the Allied tactics As a result, when Rommel took command of the Normandy area in late 1943, he began preparations for a different response to Allied amphibious landings The reinforced German beach defenses did not become manifest in lower Normandy, the sites for Omaha and Utah Beaches, until April 1944 The US Army had not anticipated landing on a heavily defended beach, and the hasty changes in plan in the late spring of 1944 were not well suited to overcoming the extensive German beach defenses at Omaha Beach, leading to heavy casualties Curiously enough, the engineer units of the 1st Armored Division made the most extensive efforts anywhere in the US Army to develop armored engineer equipment to speed offensive operations This included bridge-laying equipment, mine-clearing equipment and other specialized armor The Seventh Army, which landed in southern France, was a beneficiary of this experimentation when the division's special mine-clearing company was reassigned to southern France in the autumn of 1944 Once the Allies landed in Normandy in June 1944, the Italian Theater became a backwater so far as tactical development was concerned The mountainous terrain in Italy did not favor the massed use of armor, and Gen Mark Clark's handling of the 1st Armored Division was not particularly adept, frequently breaking the division into smaller components and disregarding doctrine, as at Anzio The 1st Armored Division was pulled back into corps reserve for much of the winter and early spring of 1944-45, but enjoyed a last moment of glory in its rapid advance through the Po Valley in April 1945 It was the separate tank battalions and tank destroyer battalions that bore the brunt of the fighting alongside the infantry along the Winter Line in the autumn and winter of 1944-45 85 Unit Status Ist Armored Division Commanders Maj Gen Bruce Magruder Maj Gen Orlando Ward Maj Gen Ernest Harmon Maj Gen Vernon Prichard July 1940 March 1942 April 1943 July 1944 The 1st Armored Division was formed on July IS, 1940, at Ft Knox by reorganizing the 7th Cavalry Brigade with its 1st and 13th Cavalry becoming the 1st and 13th Armored Regiments After participating in the Arkansas, Louisiana and Carolina maneuvers (August 1941 to October 1941), the division was moved to Ft Dix, New Jersey, as a staging area for its deployment to Northern Ireland in May 1942 The division's Combat Command B under Col Paul Robinett took part in the Operation Torch landings with the Center Task Force at Oran on November 8, 1942 In late November, CCB took part with the British First Army in the race for Tunis It first saw action against Axis forces at Djedeida airfield on November 25, 1943 After suffering heavy equipment losses in mid-December, it was placed in reserve until mid-January 1943 when it was committed to the fighting in the Ousseltia Valley The remainder of the division arrived in North Africa in January 1943 and was committed piecemeal to the Tunisian front CCA was deployed to the Faid Pass area in late January and was badly beaten up by the German offensive near Sidi-bou-Zid CCB was moved to the area and both combat commands fought at Sbeitla and Kasserine Pass After being reequipped in early March 1943, the division took part in the fighting by the US II Corps at Gafsa, Gabes in central Tunisia and the later fighting in northern Tunisia in April 1943 pushing out of the "Mousetrap" near Mateur towards the coast near Ferryville The division conducted training and re-equipment in Morocco through the summer and autumn of 1943, and began transferring to the Naples area in late October CCB was committed to fighting on the Volturno front, based mainly around the 6th Armored Infantry The division, minus CCB, was transferred to the Anzio beachhead in late January 1944 where it took part in beating back the three German offensives The division's CCB began to be moved into the Anzio beachhead starting on April 28 in order to finally reunite the division in preparation for the breakout from Anzio in late May 1944 The division took part in the breakout, initially taking part in the advance northward towards Cisterna, and after the shift in focus to the northwest, along the main Rome-Anzio road The division began entering Rome on June 4, 1944, but was directed to circumvent the city and pursue the retreating German forces beyond Rome After a short reprieve for maintenance, the division took part in the advance towards the Arno River through July For the next month, the division underwent a major reorganization, shifting from the "heavy" 1942 TO&E to the 1943 "light" TO&E The reorganization forced the disbandment of a number of battalions The reorganization is summarized below 86 Reorganization of the Ist Armored Division, July 1944 Original unit New assignment Ist Armored Division Ist Armored Division Combat Command A HQ and HQ Detachment Combat Command A HQ and HQ Company Combat Command B HQ and HQ Detachment Combat Command B HQ and HQ Company Service Company HQ Battery, Divisional Artillery HQ Divisional Artillery Command HQ, Divisional Artillery Maintenance Battalion 123rd Ordnance Maintenance Battalion 47th Medical Battalion 47th Medical Battalion (Armored) 81 st Armored Reconnaissance Battalion 81 st Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron Company A, 81 st Armored Reconnaissance Troop A Company B, 81 st Armored Reconnaissance Troop B Company C, 81 st Armored Reconnaissance Troop C Reconnaissance Company, 13th Armored Troop D Reconnaissance Company, Ist Armored Troop E Company D, 81 st Armored Reconnaissance Troop F Ist Armored Regiment Ist Tank Battalion HQ and HQ Company HQ and HQ Company Maintenance Company Service Company Service Company Service Company, I Ith Armored Infantry Battalion Reconnaissance Company Troop E, 81 st Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron 1st Battalion HQ and HQ Company Service Company, 14th Armored Infantry Battalion Company A, 1/1 st Armored Company D, 4th Tank Battalion Company B, 1/1 st Armored Company D, 13th Tank Battalion Company C, 1/1 st Armored Company D, Ist Tank Battalion Company G, 3/ Ist Armored Company A, Ist Tank Battalion Company H, 3/ Ist Armored Company B, Ist Tank Battalion Company I, 3/ Ist Armored Company C, Ist Tank Battalion 13th Armored Regiment 13th Tank Battalion HQ and HQ Company HQ and HQ Company Service Company Service Company Company D, 2/ 13th Armored Company A Company E, 2/ 13th Armored Company B Company F, 2/ 13th Armored Company C Company B, 1/ Ist Armored Company D Maintenance Company Service Company, 4th Tank Battalion Reconnaissance Company Troop D, 81 st Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (continues on page 88) 87 (none) 4th Tank Battalion HQ and HQ Company, 31 13th Armored HQ and HQ Company Maintenance Company, 13th Armored Service Company Company G, 31 13th Armored Company A Company H, 31 13th Armored Company B Company I, 31 13th Armored Company C Company A, III st Armored Company 6th Armored Infantry Regiment 6th Armored Infantry Battalion HQ and HQ Company HQ and HQ Company Service Company Service Company Company A Company A Company B Company B Company C Company C (none) I Ith Armored Infantry Battalion HQ and HQ Company, 2/6th Armored Infantry HQ and HQ Company Service Company, Ist Armored Service Company Company 0, 2/6th Armored Infantry Company A Company E, 2/6th Armored Infantry Company B Company F, 2/6th Armored Infantry Company C (none) 14th Armored Infantry Battalion HQ and HQ Company, 3/6th Armored Infantry HQ and HQ Company HQ and HQ Company, III st Armored Service Company Company G, 3/6th Armored Infantry Company A Company H, 3/6th Armored Infantry Company B Company I, 3/6th Armored Infantry Company C Following the reorganization, the division was redeployed to the Arno front on August 20, 1944, and took part in the fighting along the Gothic Line north of Florence through September 1944 It took part in the attempts to reach Bologna in October 1944 before the winter stalemate set in later in the month Aside from patrol and raiding, the division was not heavily committed to combat again until April 6, 1944, with the assault to reach the Po Valley Once the Po River was crossed on April 23, 1945, the division took part in the rapid advance through the Po Valley towards the Alps and reached the Milan area before the war ended in May 2nd Armored Division 88 Commanders Maj Gen Charles Scott Maj Gen George S Patton Jr Maj Gen Willis Crittenberger Maj Gen Ernest Harmon Maj Gen Hugh Gaffey July 1940 January 1941 February 1942 July 1942 May 1943 Divisional organization, July 1943, Operation Husky Headquarters Company Service Company Combat Command A Combat Command B 82nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion 66th Armored Regiment 67th Armored Regiment 41 st Armored Infantry Regiment 2nd Armored Division Artillery 14th Armored Field Artillery Battalion 78th Armored Field Artillery Battalion 92nd Armored Field Artillery Battalion 17th Armored Engineer Battalion 142nd Armored Signal Company 2nd Armored Division Trains 2nd Ordnance Maintenance Battalion Supply Battalion 48th Armored Medical Battalion Military Police Platoon The 2nd Armored Division was activated on July 15, 1940, by consolidating the infantry's tank battalions at Ft Benning The division took part in the autumn 1941 maneuvers, including the Tennessee maneuvers in June 1941 as well as the later Louisiana and Carolina maneuvers The division shifted to Ft Dix in November 1942 prior to deployment to North Africa Elements of the 66th and 67th Armored took part in the November 8, 1942, landings at Mehdia and Fedala/Safi The division remained as the primary element of Patton's I Armored Corps in Algeria and as a whole was not committed to the fighting in Tunisia Some battalions did take part in the fighting and numerous troops from the division were reassigned to make up for losses by II Corps troops Elements of the division took part in the July 1943 Operation Husky landings on Sicily, and the division as a whole was committed to the advance on Palermo on July 22, 1943 Following the Sicily operation, the division was shifted to the ETO on November 24, 1943, taking part in the subsequent Normandy campaign as part of US First Army Separate tank battalions 70th Tank Battalion This was the first separate tank battalion created by the new Armored Force on July 15, 1940, and was based on the former 1/67th Infantry (Tank) It was configured as a light tank battalion and was re-equipped with M5 light tanks prior to landing in North Africa, the first US unit to see combat with the new type The battalion's Company A took part in the landings in North Africa on November 8, 1942, and the rest of the battalion arrived in North Africa on January 26, 1943 The orphaned Co A was used to support French troops in the Ousseltia Valley fighting in December 1942-January 1943 and remained in action under II Corps in Tunisia while the remainder of the battalion was under I Armored Corps in Algeria The battalion took part in the landings at Sicily, supporting the 1st Infantry Division It arrived in England on November 28, 1943, and spearheaded the landings on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944 89 191st Tank Battalion This was part of the group of tank battalions formed at Ft George Meade on February 20, 1941, by consolidating the tank companies from four National Guard divisions (New York, Massachusetts, Virginia and Connecticut) It was configured as a medium tank battalion and first operated M3 medium tanks before converting to M4 medium tanks after training at the Desert Training Center The battalion landed at Port Lyautey on March 9, 1943, serving in the Port Lyautey area as part of the 2nd Tank Group It first went into combat on September 9, 1943, landing at Salerno It took part in the subsequent Volturno River and Cassino campaigns before being directed to the US Seventh Army in the summer of 1944 for participation in the landings in southern France on August 15, 1944 It was one of the longest serving US tank battalions and suffered higher casualties than any other US tank battalion during the war 7S1st Tank Battalion This battalion was formed on June 1, 1941, at Ft Benning as a medium tank battalion and equipped with M3 medium tanks It arrived in England on August 17, 1942, and deployed to North Africa on January 17, 1943 In late February 1943 it was ordered to Tunisia to support the 34th Division, the only separate tank battalion to see extensive combat in the campaign It entered combat in March and took part in the capture of Bizerte in May 1943 After being re-equipped with M4 medium tanks, it was landed at Salerno on September 9, 1943, and was one of the few tank battalions to see combat through the entire Italian campaign 7S2nd Tank Battalion It was formed at Ft Lewis on June 1, 1941, as a medium tank battalion It deployed to England in August 1942 and arrived in North Africa starting in mid-January 1943 It saw no combat in Tunisia, but was reorganized as the 2642nd Armored Replacement Battalion on March 21, 1943, and reconstituted as the 752nd Tank Battalion prior to being deployed to Italy in mid-January 1944 It served in Italy through the remainder of the campaign 7SSth Tank Battalion It was formed on June 1, 1941, at Camp Bowie as a medium tank battalion and was deployed to England on August 17, 1942 It arrived in Oran in January 1943, remained in Algeria through April 26, 1943, and was transferred to Port Lyautey, French Morocco, on May 27, 1943 The battalion arrived in Italy on November 3, 1944, and served in the theater through the end of the war 7S6th Tank Battalion It was formed on June 1,1941, at Ft Ord as a light tank battalion and two of its companies (A, C) were landed in North Africa during Operation Torch on November 8, 1942 The remainder of the battalion arrived at Casablanca on January 25, 1943, and the unit congregated at St Leu Algeria by April 14, 1943 The battalion was first deployed in combat at Salerno on 90 Lt Gen Willis Crittenberger, commander of IV Corps, reviews the tankers of the 758th Light Tank Battalion This battalion was the only segregated African-American tank battalion in the Italian campaign, and also the only one based on the light tank battalion organization, using M5 light tanks instead of a mixture of medium and light tank battalions The battalion was deployed in Italy in November 1944 and usually fought alongside the 92nd Division, the other African-American unit in Italy (MHI) September 17, 1943 The battalion was reorganized under the new tank battalion tables in December 1943 near Agata, Italy It remained in combat in Italy until the summer of 1944 when it was transferred to the Seventh Army, taking part in the August 15, 1944, landings in southern France 757th Tank Battalion It was formed on June 1, 1941 at Ft Ord as a light tank battalion and deployed to Casablanca on March 18, 1943, serving in the Port Lyautey area as part of the 2nd Tank Group It was first committed to combat in Italy on October 28, 1943, and in early January 1944 was reorganized under the new tables It remained in Italy through the end of the campaign 758th Tank Battalion (Colored) This segregated African-American battalion was formed on June 1, 1941, as a light tank battalion at Ft Knox and remained under a light tank battalion organization even after the September 1943 changes It was deployed to Italy on September 25, 1944, attached to the 92nd Infantry Division (Colored), and served in Italy through the remainder of the Italian campaign It was the only African-American tank battalion to see combat in the Mediterranean Theater 760th Tank Battalion It was formed on June 1, 1941, at Camp Bowie as a light tank battalion, was redesignated as a medium tank battalion on November 27, 1941, and arrived in Casablanca on January 25, 1943, to serve as part of the 2nd Tank Group It moved to Rabat on February 25, 1943, where it was re-equipped with M4A1 medium tanks It was first deployed to the Italian Theater on October 30, 1943, and remained in Italy through the end of the war Tank destroyer battalions 60lst Tank Destroyer Battalion This unit was formed on December 16, 1941, at Ft Devins, Massachusetts, and deployed to Scotland in August 1942 This battalion was the first tank destroyer unit deployed into combat and began arriving in North Africa on November 8, 1942 The battalion took part in the initial Tunisian fighting, and played a distinguished role in the fighting at EI Guettar in March 1943 The battalion did not take part in combat operations in Sicily but some of its troops arrived in late July 1943 and were used for secondary missions such as guard duty The battalion was re-equipped with M10 tank destroyers in July 1943 and took part in the Salerno operation starting on September 9, 1943 The battalion continued to take part in combat operations in Italy until the summer of 1944 when it was assigned to the US Seventh Army, taking part in the landings in southern France on August 15, 1944 636th Tank Destroyer Battalion This unit was formed on December 16, 1941, at Camp Bowie, Texas It arrived late in North Africa on April 13, 1943, and was not committed to combat until September 12, 1943, when it was deployed to Salerno The battalion continued to take part in combat operations in Italy until the summer of 1944 when it was assigned to the US Seventh Army, taking part in the landings in southern France on August 15, 1944 645th Tank Destroyer Battalion This unit was formed on December 15, 1941, at Camp Barkeley, Texas It arrived in North Africa after the fighting on May 26, 1943, and was first committed to combat on September 9, 1943, at Salerno The battalion continued to take part in combat operations in Italy until the summer of 1944 when it was assigned to the US Seventh Army, taking part in the landings in southern France on August 15, 1944 70lst Tank Destroyer Battalion This unit was formed on December 15, 1941, at Ft Knox and was one of the first heavy self-propelled battalions organized After being deployed to Ireland in June 1942, it became the second tank destroyer battalion deployed into combat, arriving in North Africa on December 10, 1942 It was involved in the early fighting in Tunisia including the first skirmishes around Medjez-el-Bab, and it was decorated with the French Croix de Guerre After participating in the North African campaign it 91 was re-equipped with M10 tank destroyers and it was again deployed on October 29, 1943, to the Volturno front, first seeing extensive combat at Mount Camino The battalion was moved to the Anzio beachhead on February 9, 1944, and used extensively for fire support, firing some 55,000 rounds It was one of the few tank destroyer battalions to remain in the Italian Theater for the duration of the war, taking part in the liberation of Rome, the advance to the Arno River and the Gothic Line fighting 776th Tank Destroyer Battalion This unit was formed on December 20, 1941, at Ft Lewis, Washington This battalion arrived at Casablanca in North Africa on January 26, 1943, and was one of the first into combat with the new M10 3in GMC It was committed to action in February 1943 and became known for pioneering the use of tank destroyers to provide indirect artillery fire during the final stages of the campaign near Bizerte The battalion was deployed to Salerno on September 19, 1943, supporting the 34th Division The battalion continued to take part in combat operations in Italy including the Volturno River, San Pietro and Cassino In the late summer of 1944 it was assigned to the US Seventh Army, landing in France on October 4, 1944 804th Tank Destroyer Battalion This unit was formed on December IS, 1941, at Camp San Luis Obispo, California, from the 104th Infantry AT Battalion It arrived in North Africa on March 31,1943, too late to see combat It first went into action on February 8, 1944, and remained in Italy for the duration of the war 80Sth Tank Destroyer Battalion This unit was formed at Ft George Meade, Maryland, on December IS, 1941, from the 105th Infantry AT Battalion It arrived in North Africa on January 17, 1943, and was rushed into action, being decimated in the Kasserine Pass fighting It was subsequently reorganized under the new towed tank destroyer configuration and dispatched to the Volturno front in October 1943 The towed configuration proved poorly suited to the mission and the battalion was reorganized again as a self-propelled battalion, the only one in Italy to be fully equipped with the M18 76mm GMC It remained in Italy for the duration of the campaign 813th Tank Destroyer Battalion This unit was formed on December IS, 1941, at Ft Bragg, North Carolina, and deployed to England in August 1942 It was one of the early arrivals in North Africa, landing on December 14, 1942 Elements of the battalion landed on Sicily on July IS, 1943, without their tank destroyers, and were used for secondary missions such as guard duty The battalion was transferred to the ETO and first deployed with the 79th Division in Normandy on July I, 1944 894th Tank Destroyer Battalion This unit was formed on December IS, 1941, at Ft Benning, Georgia, from the 94th AT Battalion It arrived in North Africa on January 17, 1943, and saw combat at Kasserine Pass After being reorganized with M10 tank destroyers, it was deployed to Salerno in September 1943 The battalion remained in action in the Italian Theater for the duration of the war 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion This battalion was formed at Ft Lewis, Washington, on December IS, 1941, from the 99th AT Battalion It was one of the first two equipped with the new M10 3in GMC to arrive in North Africa, deploying on January 26, 1943 It saw combat in Tunisia in February-May 1943, and deployed to Italy in June 1944, remaining in Italy for the duration of the war 92 Further reading Readers of this book are encouraged to read two other volumes of the Battle Orders series for complementary material on US armored units in World War II BTO covers US Armored Divisions in the ETO, while BTO 10 covers separate tank battalions and tank destroyer battalions in the ETO Rather than repeat material between the three volumes, each volume contains material of relevance to the others For example, BTO contains more material about communications at the divisional level, while BTO 10 has additional details on tactical-level communications, especially the development of tank-infantry radios In addition, these volumes also provide more detail on some of the later tables of organization that would not fit in this volume For readers more interested in the armored equipment of these units, the Osprey New Vanguard series has extensive coverage including: M5Al light tank (NVG 33); M3 medium tank (NVG 113); M4 (76mm) medium tank (NVG 73); MI0 and M36 tank destroyer (NVG 57); M18 tank destroyer (NVG 97); M3 infantry half-track (NVG 11); and towed anti-tank guns (NVG 107) The origins of the US armored force have been the subject of numerous books and studies Besides the published works, there are an extensive collection of documents and internal army studies that can be found in several archives including the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in College Park, Maryland, and the US Army Military History Institute (MHI) at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania MHI has a particularly useful collection of tables of organization and equipment, and US army field manuals The main collection of tank unit after-action reports can be found in RG 407 at NARA The list below is by no means exhaustive but covers some of the more relevant studies and unit accounts US Army studies Armored Force Replacement Center, Tankers in Tunisia Guly 1943) Armored School, Ft Knox, A Critical Analysis of the History of Armor in World War II (April 1953) Armored School, Ft Knox, American Armor at Anzio (May 1949) Armored School, Ft Knox, American Armor at Faid-Kasserine (September 1949) General Board, US Forces, European Theater, Tank Gunnery (Study No 53) General Board, US Forces, European Theater, The Armored Group (Study No 51) Historical Section, Army Ground Forces, Tank Destroyer History (Study No 29) Historical Section, Army Ground Forces, History of the Armored Force, Command, and Center (Study No 27) Tank Destroyer School, TD Combat in Tunisia Ganuary 1944) War Department, Lessons from the Tunisian Campaign (15 October 1943) Published works Bellis, Malcom, US Tank Destroyers of World War Two (self-published) Chase, Patrick, Seek, Strike, Destroy: The History of the 894th Tank Destroyer Battalion in World War II (Gateway: 1995) Fazendin, Roger, The 756th Tank Battalion in the Battle of Cassino 1944 (iUniverse: 1991) Gabel, Christopher, Seek, Strike, and Destroy: US Army Tank Destroyer Doctrine in World War II (US Army CGSC, 1985) 93 Gabel, Christopher, The US Army GHQ Maneuvers of 1941 (GPO: 1991) Gill, Lonnie, Tank Destroyer Forces-WWII (Turner: 1992) Gillie, Mildred, Forging the Thunderbolt: A History of the Development of the Armored Force (Military Service Publishing: 1947) Hays,].]., United States Army Ground Forces Tables of Organization and Equipment in World War II: The Armored Division 1940-45 Vol 2/1; 2/11 (Military Press: 2003) Houston, Donald, Hell on Wheels: The 2nd Armored Division (Presidio: 1977) Howe, George, The Battle History of the 1st Armored Division "Old Ironsides!! (Battery Press: 1979) Jensen, Marvin, Strike Swiftly: The 70th Tank Battalion from North Africa to Normandy to Germany (Presidio: 1997) Johnson, David, Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers: Innovation in the US Army 1917-1945 (Cornell: 1998) Krebs, John, To Rome and Beyond: B Company 760th Tank Battalion Italy 1943-1945 (self-published: 1981) Montgomery, Jim, B Company! 776 Tank Destroyer Battalion in Combat (Gateway: 1983) 94 US Armored Units in the North African and Italian Campaigns 1942-45 Command, deployment, organization and evolution of forces in battle, describing elements of doctrine, training, tactics and equipment The Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) saw the first operational deployment of US armored divisions in World War II, and the experience proved chastening for the 1st Armored Division when it was defeated at the battle of Full color maps Kasserine Pass This title covers the organization of these early US armored divisions, as well as the independent tank and tank destroyer battalions that accompanied them It details the evolution of US armored warfare tactics and doctrine, learned from the difficult experiences of North Africa, and illustrates how they were used elsewhere in the Mediterranean, particularly Organization charts in Italy Photographs $23.95 I $33.95 CAN ISBN 1-84176-966-5 OSPREY PUBLISHING www.ospreypublishing.com 781841769660 ... development His main area of interest is the US Army in the European Theater of Operations in World War II Battle Orders • 21 US Armored Units in the North African and Italian Campaigns 1942- 45 Steven... innovations in armored force training during 1942 was the establishment of the Desert Training Center in the Mojave Desert in southern California in April 1942 The importance of the center to armored. .. be deployed to Europe, beginning the movement in April 1942 and arriving in Northern Ireland in May and June 1942 Training the new force posed special problems, as there was a general lack of