US Army Training Center - Yearbook (Fort Leonard Wood, MO)

Page 16 text:

H uper Sixth U . -. wwf- . Dfw.,-. -, ,-,, L, S 501 Aslfggffwgig , ?1 . wi -1 if The Division was activated 15 February 1942 at Fort Knox, Kentucky and was given the name, 'LSuper Sixthu. A month later found it at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas where it began training. It took part in the famous Louisiana maneuvers in the summer of 1942 and went to Camp Young, California for desert training. Later the Division went to Camp Cooke, California where it came under the H Armored Corps. The 6th Armored Division left the United States in Febru- ary 1944 from the New York Port of Embarkation. It landed in England and began intensive training in preparation for the invasion of Europe. On the 24th ofjuly 1944 the Division landed at f'Utah beach and headed across the Cherbourg Peninsula for Brit- tany. Two weeks later the 6th Armored had trapped 40,000 Germans in Brest. During this spectacular dash the Division averaged 25 miles per day and during one 24 hour period covered 48 miles. During the advance, the Division Com- mander, Major General Robert W. Grow exclaimed to one of his staff, Wfhese maps are too small. Give me a map large enough so I won't run off it today.

Page 15 text:

Maior General FRANK O. BOWMAN Commanding General 6th Armored Division Fort Leonard Wood k Ott Bowman was born in Mesille Park N M July 1896. He was graduated from the U. S. Military Academy 1 Fran 0 1 . , . ., November 1918. His branch of service was the Corps of Engineers. After a course at the Engineer School at Camp Humphrey, Va., he joined the Second Engineers at Camp Travis, Texas, in 1920. The following year he returned to the Engineer School and in June 1921 he was assigned to Scholfield Barrack, Hawaii with the Third Engineers. In May 1924 he returned for assignment to the First Engineers at Fort Dupont, Maryland and soon became a member of the Engineers Rifle team at Camp Perry, Ohio. XVhen the National Matches were over for that year General Bowman was assigned to the 29th Engineers at Fort Humphrey. The following summer he was at Perry again firing for the Engineer Rifle Team. Again in 1929 he was at Perry and in the fall of that year he became Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Alabama Polytechnic Institute at Auburn. The summer of 1931 saw General Bowman back at Camp Perry as a member and Assistant Coach of the Engineer Rifle Team. He resumed his duties at Alabama Polytechnic Institute until May 1933 when he was named District Engineer at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana. The following August he returned to Alabama Polytechnic Institute. General Bowman became assistant to the District Engineer, United States Engineers Oflice, Washington, D. C., with additional duty as Recorder for the Beach Erosion and Shore Protection Boards in June 1934. In August 1938 he became a Company Commander in the Fourth Engineer Battalion at Fort Benning, Georgia and in 1940 he became Battalion Commander of that unit as well as being Engineer Officer for the Fourth Motorized Division. In 1941 General Bowman was named Engineer Officer of the Second Corps which moved to the European Theater of Operations in 1942. He was named Engineer of the Allied Force Headquarters, North African Theater of Operations, and when the Fifth Army was activated on 5 Januar 1943 he became the Engineer Oflicer. He landed in Italy in October 1943, and saw service with the Fifth Army until the war endled in 1945. After two months in the United States General Bowman went to Japan where he became Engineer of the Northem Japan Service Command until March 1946 when he assumed command of Army Ground Forces in the Ryukus with Headquarters on Okinawa. He returned to the United States in June to become Chief of Staff, G-4, of the Army Ground Forces at Fort Monroe, Va. In 1949 he was appointed Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander at Fort Belvoir, Va. In 1953 he went to Japan to become Engineer for Army Forces Far East. In April 1955 General Bowman became Commanding General of the 6th Armored Division and Fort Leonard VVood, Missouri.

Page 17 text:

,. . L A - N., -, R ,gs t. .iggs ll Q i , kt gg -tx th in X , SW Nj' .41 .A Q5 A .4 ... .. E75,3JQ. Ag' 4 -7,1 '1 7- ', ,W -' Q'- 'Q . f t - 'ff 1 ,Q-my .sign , ,..,Ns.hng4, RlGll'l' UP FRONT? .Xn ollicer of Hezxclqnarters. 2131511 Armored Field Artillery, fith Armored Di- vision. rcalcls the Articles ol' War to men ol' his organization in Nia- gerct. livlginni. tt short tiigggnqg front the lront lines. The date , , , -ljilllllllff' 20, 1945. tL'. S, A1-mv l hotoj ' liiigiiit-ws ol' the tith Armored Division, Li. S. Third Army, clear the debris li-ont a road in Dasburg, iit'1'1i1,itiy. The town was tht' target oli t'ont't'nt1'ztted bonibcr attacks. ss ,m . A '-,, 'A' an Q. ti all M f 'vhi ,L I 5 EJ 73 lg li li A i L h E . V. . . . fE.,, F ,A A Anicrittin vvliiclcs in tht- town ol' Lurka, fit'I'Ill21I1y2llill'I' its capture by the bth Artnorecl Division, lf. S. Third Arniy. l.uc'ka, Gt-rtitatly. lil April 1411.3 ll Illll IN WUHIH WHH II Leaving Brest, the tanks ofthe 'gSuper Sixth turned south to rumble past Lorient, then east and through Urleans, south of Paris and to the Fortress city of Metz. lt was assigned to the Seventh Army which had landed in Southern France. As the 6th Armored came within sight of Germany the winter counter-offensive began. The Division was sent north to relieve the 10th Armored Division. Then for more than 3 weeks the tankers and infantrymen of the Division fought in the Battle ofthe Bulge. It fought in the winter hell north of Bastogne. The Germans threw everything they had at them. The freezing cold froze the mechanical parts of tanks, ma- chine guns and rifles. For five days the Division was pushed back slowly but soon the tide of battle reversed and the men ofthe 6th Armored slowly began pushing the Germans back into their own country, across the Our River. Then the tanks began to roll once more. The Division thundered on to Saarbrucken, crossed the Rhine River near Manheim, rumbled through Frankfurt and continued to- wards central Germany. The Division passed the historic city of Wfeimar and as the WVar came to an end, the men ofthe now famed 6th Armored Division had reached Rochlitz. The Division was brought back to the United States and was deactivated at Gamp Shanks, New York on September 18, 1945.