U.S. 14th Armored Division

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U.S. 14th Armored Division

Shoulder sleeve patch of the United States Army 14th Armored Division
Active 1942-1945
Country United States
Branch U.S. Army
Type Armored Division (Light)
Nickname LIBERATORS

The 14th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army in World War II. It remains on the permanent rolls of the Regular Army as an inactive division, and is eligible for reactivation should the need ever arise. The division is officially nicknamed the LIBERATORS.

[edit] History

The division was activated on 15 November 1942.

The 14th Armored Division landed at Marseille, France, 29 October 1944. Within 2 weeks some of its elements were in combat, maintaining defensive positions along the Franco-Italian frontier. The division was assigned to U.S. 6th Army Group on 1 November. On 10 November, the division was assigned to U.S. Seventh Army. On 12 November Combat Command Reserve was detached, and ordered to the Maritime Alps by 6th Army Group to relieve units in defensive positions there. On 15 November, Combat Command A moved north from the area of Marseilles to Epinal to take part in the VI Corps drive through the Vosges Mountains, and was followed by Combat Command B five days later. Hard fighting at Gertwiller, Benfeld, and Barr helped VI Corps crack the German defenses, and the division was on the Alsatian Plain early in December. Attacking across the Lauter River, 12 December, it took Haguenau, moved across the Moder River and entered the Haguenau woods. On 25 December 1944 elements of the 14th as well as the 117th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron and the 1st Battalion, 540th Combat Engineers were organized into are regimental size force known as Task Force Hudleson. The small Task Force was assigned defensive positions covering a 10 mile section of the Seventh Army line, in the Vosges Mountains in the area of Banstein, southeast of Bitche. Just before midnight on New Year's Eve, 1944 the German Army Group G launched Operation Nordwind, the last major German counter-offensive of the war. During the night and day of 1 January, TF Hudleson found itself engaged by elements of 5 enemy divisions, but managed to delay and slow the German advance until substantial reinforcements could arrive and stem the German advance. The major fighting between 1 January and 8 January occurred in the Vosges Mountains, and two combat commands of the division were in almost continuous action defending against the German attacks. With the failure of his attack in the Vosges, the enemy attempted to break through to Hagenau and threaten Strausburg and the Saverne Gap by attacks at Hatten and Rittershoffen, two small villages located side by side on the Alsacian Plain. However, this, the strongest attack of Operation Nordwind, was halted by the 14th Armored in the fierce defensive Battle of Hatten-Rittershoffen which raged from 9 January to 21 January 1945. On 21 January, after the rest of Seventh Army had withdrawn to new defensive positions on the south bank of the Moder River, the 14th and its supporting units withdrew from Hatten and Rittershoffen and moved south to join the rest of the army.

After rest, rehabilitation, and defensive missions during February and early March, the division returned to the offensive, 15 March 1945, drove across the Moder River, cracked through the Siegfried Line, and by the end of the month, had captured Germersheim on the Rhine. On Easter Sunday, 1 April 1945, the 14th moved across the Rhine near Worms and continued pursuit of the retreating enemy through Lohr, Gemunden, Neustadt, and Hammelburg where Combat Command B liberated Stalag XIIIC and Oflag XIII-B. In its final thrust, the division raced to the Danube, crossed at Ingolstadt, and pushed on across the Isar River to Moosburg, where over 130,000 Allied prisoners were liberated from Stalag VII-A, the largest prisoner of war camp in Germany. The division fired its last rounds, 2 May 1945, and was processing prisoners of war as the war in Europe ended.

"LIBERATORS" is the official nickname of the U.S.14th Armored Division. The division became known by its nickname during the last days of WWII when it liberated some 200,000 Allied prisoners of war from German prison camps. Among those liberated were approximately 20,000 American soldiers, sailors, and airmen, as well as an estimated 40,000 troops from the UK and Commonwealth. The division's nickname is officially recognized by the U.S. Army and the division is carried on the permanent rolls of the Army as the "LIBERATORS."

The 14th Armored Division was inactivated on 16 September 1945.

[edit] External links and Further Reading

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