US Army Training Center - Armor Yearbook (Fort Knox, KY)

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3d ARMORED mvlslon uSpearhead in Peace as in Warn THE 3D ARMORED DIVISION won its nickname of the Spearhead Division while leading the attacking American forces across Europe in World War II. The term came from the oft-used expression of General J. Lawton Collins, VII Corps Commander, You will spearhead the attack, in giving his orders to Major General Maurice Rose, who was then Division Commander. SPEARHEADERS were the first Americans to enter Belgium, the first to fire an artillery shell at German soil, the first to break through the Siegfried Line and the first to capture a German city. First has always been a 3d Armored Division precedent, both in its combat history and its training mission. THE 3d Armored Division was activated at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana, in 1941. After initial training at Beauregard, the Division moved to Camp Polk, Louisiana, and then to the Mojave Desert Training Center in California. There were later moves to Camp Pickett, Virginia, and then to Indiantown Gap Military Reservation, Pennsylvania, and on September 5, 194-3, the Division was on the high seas headed for Europe. TRAINING continued in England at a feverish pitch, and on I une 23, 1944, forward elements of the Division landed on Omaha White Beach, below Isigny, France. On June 29, Combat Command An was committed at Villiers Fossard near St. Lo. For the Spearheaders, it was their baptism of fire, their introduction to combat. AFTER a slow fight through the Normandy hedgerows, the Spearhead's advance began to gain momentum rapidly. Within two months, the Division had crossed the Seine River, taking only an additional 18 days to sweep through Belgium. NEXT came the cracking of the 'gimpenetrablen Siegfried Line and the crossing to German soil. The once green Spearheader Division was now one of the most feared striking units in the entire United States Army. DURING the Battle of the Bulge progress was temporarily halted, but as the German advance fizzled, the Spearhead began rolling again, picking up speed as it moved deeper and deeper into Germany. One of the Division's most famous accomplishments was a one-day advance of 101 miles-the longest in military history. The Spearhead's drive continued until VE-Day was officially proclaimed. AFTER brief occupation duty the 3d Armored Division was inactivated on November 9, 19415, at Aalen, Germany, but this was not to be the end of the brilliant record of the Spearhead Division. THE 3d Armored Division was reactivated on July 15, 194-7. Its re-creation stemmed from a decision by Department of the Army in 1947 to give to the Replacement Training Centers, as they were then called, the names of wartime divisions with outstanding combat records. Military officials saw this as a means of encourag- ing enlistments and building up morale and esprit de corps for both trainees and permanent party. IT WAS natural that the 3d Armored Division should be one of the units chosen for reactivation, for the World War II record of the Spearhead Division was indeed outstanding. During 221 days of frontline combat, the Division spearheaded nearly every major attack by the United States First Army in Europe. IN ITS present training mission, the 3d Armored Division is maintaining its Spearhead precedent. III the summer of 1953 it trained the first lirrht infnntrv ur-nrripr nnmnnnvll r-nmnnan.-I ni fn...-,man L....1,J.,

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