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"Spearhead"
 (Updated 7-10-08)
The 3d Armored Division is a heavy mechanized division of the
United States Army that served in World War Two, the Cold War defense of
Western Europe, and the Persian Gulf War. The 3rd Armor Division was reduced to
zero strength in 1992, but not inactivated.
The Third Armored Division was activated on April 15, 1941 at
Camp Beauregard, Louisiana, and by June had moved to Camp Polk to begin
training. The 3rd AD arrived in England on September 15, 1943 and conducted
training in the Liverpool and Bristol Areas. By June 29th the first elements of
the 3rd Armored Division entered combat in the Normandy area of France. The
Spearhead Division was assigned to First Army for the duration of its WWII
European service.
The 3d Armored Division entered combat as a whole on June 29,
1944, taking part in the hedgerow fighting. The Division broke out at Marigny
and with the 1st Infantry Division swung south in an exploitation of the St. Lo
break-through. In August 1944, the Division participated in the heavy fighting
involved in closing the Falaise Gap, pocketing the German Seventh Army. Six
days later, on August 25, 1944 the Spearhead Division had cut across the Seine
River, and was streaking through Meaux, Soissons, Laon, Mons, Namur, and Liege.
The 3rd Armored Division breached the Siegfried Line with the capture of
Rotgen, on September 12, 1944 and continued a slow advance against heavy
resistance to the vicinity of Langerwehe.
At the start of the Battle of the Bulge, the 3rd Armor was
shifted to Houffalize, Belgium, where it severed a vital highway leading to St.
Vith, and in January, 1945, participated in the reduction of the German salient
west of Houffalize. After a brief rest, the Division returned to the front,
crossed the Roer River into Duren, broke out of the Duren bridgehead, and drove
on to capture Koln, Germany on March 6, 1945.
The Division began a thrust into the Rhineland of Germany on
February 7, 1945. On March 31, 1945 the commander of the division, Major
General Maurice Rose, famed as one of few commanding generals to frequent the
front lines during combat, rounded a corner in his jeep and came face to face
with a German tank. As he withdrew his pistol to surrender, the young German
tank commander, apparently misunderstanding Rose's intentions, shot and killed
the general.
The Division took Paderborn, assisted in mopping up the Ruhr
pocket, crossed the Saale River, and after overcoming stiff resistance took
Dessau. On April 11, 1945, the 3rd Armored discovered the Dora-Mittelbau
concentration camp. The Division was first to arrive on the scene, reporting
back to headquarters that it had uncovered a large concentration camp near the
town of Nordhausen. Requesting help from the 104th Infantry Division, the 3rd
A.D. immediately began transporting some 250 ill and starving prisoners to
nearby hospital facilities.
As the war drew to a close in May of 1945, the 3d Armored
Division consolidated near Dessau. The 3rd Armor performed occupation duty near
Langen until it was inactivated on November 10, 1945. During the war, the 3d
Armored Division participated in 231 days of combat. They had lost more tanks
in combat than any other U.S. division. The Division's casualties included a
total of 2,540 killed, 7,331 wounded, 95 missing, and 139 captured. Total
battle and non-battle casualties came to 16,122.
With the Cold War starting to heat up, the 3rd Armored
Division was reactivated on July 15, 1947 at Fort Knox, Kentucky as a training
unit. In 1955 it was reorganized for combat and the next year shipped out to
Germany once again. In the event of war in Europe, the 3d Armored Division's
primary mission, along with other V Corps units, was to defend the well known
Fulda Gap between East and West Germany against numerically superior Warsaw
Pact forces. At the peak of East/West tensions during the 1980s, as many as
nineteen Soviet and East German divisions faced off against V Corps units in
West Germany.
To prepare their defenses against an invasion, the Division's
units frequently conducted field training at Hohenfels, Wildflecken, and
Grafenwöhr training areas. The 3d Armored Division would also frequently
take to the German countryside for training maneuvers, including what became an
annually staged war game, REFORGER, which simulated an invasion of Western
Europe by Warsaw Pact forces.
The most famous soldier in the 3rd Armored Division during the
1950s was Elvis Presley, assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 32nd Armor
Regiment, Combat Command C at Ray Barracks in Friedberg. After his time in
service, Elvis made the movie G.I. Blues, in which he portrays a 3rd Armored
Division tank crewman with a singing career. Former Secretary of State, General
Colin Powell also served in the 3d Armored Division and went on to command V
Corps in Germany.
By 1990, the Iron Curtain over Eastern Europe collapsed, East
and West Germany would soon be reunited, and the Soviet Army was being
withdrawn back to the Soviet Union. With these events, the Cold War came to a
peaceful conclusion, freeing U.S. army units in Europe for other
deployments.
In November of 1990, VII Corps departed West Germany for Saudi
Arabia to take part in Operation DESERT SHIELD and, later, in Operation DESERT
STORM. Because the 3rd Armored Division was more advanced on its modernization
process, and well equipped with Abrams Tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles,
they deployed with VII Corps to Southwest Asia.
On February 23, 1991 the 3d Armored Division crossed the Line
of Departure into Iraq with the 1st Armored Division on their left and the 2nd
Armored Cavalry on their right. The Iraqi Army was taken by surprise by VII
Corps end run into Iraq. Most of the enemy forces were focused on defending the
Kuwait border with Saudi Arabia. By the fourth day of the war, the Spearhead
had advanced over 50 miles into Iraq and defeated all enemy forces they
encountered, including divisions of the Iraqi Republican Guard. In the 100-hour
Gulf War, 3AD destroyed hundreds of Iraqi tanks and vehicles, and captured more
than 2,400 Iraqi prisoners, with 15 division troops killed between December
1990 and late February 1991.
Following Operation Desert Storm and the liberation of Kuwait,
the Spearhead Division returned to Germany. Camp Doha emerged as the focal
point for U.S. Armed Forces in Kuwait. The threat of future aggression
necessitated a presence of U.S. forces to maintain security and stability in
the Gulf region. U.S. military forces began rotating into Kuwait to provide
security assistance, conduct training exercises and perform necessary
contingency planning. Among the first U.S. Army units deployed to Camp Doha
after the Persian Gulf War were the 3d Armored Division, 11th Armored Cavalry
Regiment and the 8th Infantry Division.
On January 17, 1992, the 3rd Armored Division officially
ceased operations in Germany, with a ceremony in Frankfurt at Division
Headquarters, Drake Kaserne. The division colors were then returned to the
United States, with the 3d AD still officially active, since Army Regulations
state that Divisional "Casing of Colors" cannot occur on foreign soil. Official
retirement took place at Fort Knox, on October 17, 1992. At that time, the 3rd
Armored Division was removed from the official force structure of the U.S.
Army.
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