14th Tank Battalion, CCA, 9th Armored Division, after Remagen, Ludendorf Bridge and the breakout at Erpel "On the 23rd of March during the breakout from the bridgehead area, the 14th Tank Battalion was attached to Combat Command "A" Headquarters. In total the United States raised 16 armored division in World War 2. It was the first German division to reach the Atlantic and the first to reach the Swiss frontier. The Clerf crossings lay only about 17 road miles from Bastogne. Once in Neufchateau, DeRoche located Captain Walter M. Meier, who was busy gathering and regrouping retreating CCR men and armor. Clervaux was only a scant five miles from this junction and only about 13 road miles from Bastogne. The sound of battle had not been lost on the Allerborn defenders, and when the tanks of Task Force Rose showed up with the disturbing news of the desperate fight just up the road, Major Dalton immediately dispatched an assault gun platoon and a platoon of Shermans under the command of Captain Baird, the Battalion’s S-3. Middleton, believing that he would eventually be granted the two reserve divisions, still had one major problem: how to slow down the German advance long enough to allow for the arrival and deployment of the paratroopers. An M5A1 light tank from Company D, 37th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division, leads a column of trucks into Bastogne on 27 December during Patton's drive to relieve the town. The second roadblock near Allerborn, under the command of Lt. Col. Ralph S. Harper (Task Force Harper), consisted of a company and a half of Sherman tanks (C and D Companies, 2nd Tank Battalion), one company of armored infantry (B Company, 52nd AIB), and a platoon of armored engineers. 9th Armored Division shoulder sleeve insignia, Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, Armored divisions of the United States Army, United States Army divisions during World War II, Military units and formations established in 1942, http://www.ljmilitaria.com/armygroundforcespatches/civil_war__spanish_american_war__indian_wars__wwi.htm#divisions, The 9th: The Story of the 9th Armored Division, "Official 3d Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Homepage", https://military.wikia.org/wiki/9th_Armored_Division_(United_States)?oldid=4685722, Pages using infobox military unit with unknown parameters, 89th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, Mechanized, 509th Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment, Headquarters Company, 9th Armored Division, 131st Armored Ordnance Maintenance Battalion, 656th Tank Destroyer Battalion (attached 22 February 1945 past 9 May 1945), 811th Tank Destroyer Battalion (attached 14 November 1944 to 8 January 1945), 482nd AAA Automatic Weapons Battalion (attached 22 November 1945 to 9 January 1945; 22 February 1945 to 9 May 1945). The sounds of enemy tanks could be heard to Task Force Rose’s right, and since the armored infantry’s antitank platoon could not cover the task force’s right flank, a platoon of Shermans was dispatched. The Division was shifting south to Czechoslovakia when the war in Europe ended on 9 May 1945. After World War II, the unit returned state-side and was inactivated until 15 July 1963, when it was reassigned from the 9th Armored Division, and converted and redesignated as HHC, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. Rose (Task Force Rose), consisted of a company of Sherman tanks (A Company, 2d Tank Battalion), one armored infantry company (C Company, 52nd AIB), and a platoon of armored engineers. The first and northernmost was at the intersection near the village of Lullange where the road from Clervaux entered Highway N-12. CCR, under the command of Colonel Joseph H. Gilbreth, was stationed at Trois Vierges, roughly 20 miles northeast of the crossroads town of Bastogne, Belgium, in support of VIII Corps’ left and center. The 9th Armored Division traced its origins back to the 2nd Cavalry Division stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. The reason for the reprieve was that the 2nd Panzer Division, in keeping with the XLVII Panzer Corps operational plan, turned off the main road, bypassing Bastogne to the north and heading for the Meuse River. This left only one tank platoon to defend to the north. These retreating soldiers and tankers were not, despite some postwar accounts, a bunch of dispirited, demoralized, and undisciplined panic mongers. In honor of their World War II service, the 9th was officially nicknamed the "Phantom Division." 9th Infantry Division In WWII - The Archival Film Footage Collection - 9th Infantry Division in WWII - Archival Film Footage Belgium - September 1944 3 September 1944 Tanks of the 746th Tank Battalion in support of the 60th Infantry Regiment, fire from a roadside at the Belgium town of Philippeville. CCR would be treated as a true reserve force from which units and men could be drawn as needed, a holding unit for a heterogeneous collection of troops and equipment. Also at about 2 pm, Colonel Gilbreth called General Middleton to request permission to withdraw Task Force Rose from the Lullange roadblock and move it back to the Allerborn roadblock. However, prior to Middleton’s roadblock order, desperate fighting on the morning of the 16th by elements of the 28th Infantry Division had already drawn off portions of Colonel Gilbreth’s command. The two Task Force Rose Shermans would be able to lead reinforcements back and guide them into position. It consisted of a company of armored infantry (minus one platoon), one platoon of tank destroyers, and one platoon of light tanks and had the mission of protecting the left flank and rear of Task Force Harper. One Sherman became bogged down in the mud and had to be evacuated. Although the 116th Panzer Division was making progress against stiff and unexpected opposition, its corps headquarters was unhappy with its slow progress and the commanding general of the 116th Panzer was instructed to assume personal leadership of his advance elements. Control of Bastogne would not only ensure an easier and swifter advance toward the River Meuse but would also ensure firmer control of the entire southern Ardennes region. The area of the Ardennes designated for the XLVII Panzer Corps’ breakthrough was held by the 28th Infantry Division’s 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 110th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Colonel Hurley F. Fuller. The decisions about where to place CCR’s individual components were to be made elsewhere— some by Maj. Gen. Norman Cota, commanding the 28th Infantry Division, some by his regimental or battalion commanders, and some even by the corps commander himself. 68th Tank Battalion 69th Tank Battalion 9th Armored Infantry Battalion 44th Armored Infantry Battalion 50th Armored Infantry Battalion 86th Cavalry Rcn Sq (Mecz) 25th Armored Engineer Battalion 146th Armored Signal Co 6th Armored Division Artillery 128th Armored Field Artillery Battalion 212th Armored Field Artillery Battalion 231st Armored Field Artillery Battalion 6th Armored Division … Manteuffel’s instructions to Luttwitz were direct: “Panzer Lehr Division holds itself ready to advance by order of the corps following behind the 26th VGD by way of Gemund-Drauffeld toward Bastogne and the Meuse in the sector of Namur-Dinant. The devastating successes of the German armored units in Poland and France underscored America's need for an effective armored force. The corps commander informed his division commander that the order came down from the highest level of command. Four of the 9th Armored Division's M-26 Pershing tanks from A Company, 14th Tank Battalion were first to the bridge. Since the primary mission of the Fifth Panzer Army was to reach and cross the Meuse River by day three of the offensive in flank support of Sixth SS Panzer Army’s drive to capture Antwerp, the 2nd Panzer and the Panzer Lehr Divisions were to rapidly move beyond Bastogne regardless of who held it. This M4A1 76w is from A Company, 20th Tank Battalion , 20 Armored Division. In September 1943 fourteen of those were reorganized, these are sometimes called the „light“ armored divisions, although this name is a bit misleading, because the main difference was in size and not the equipped tanks. History of the 811th Tank Destroyer Battalion - Pages 42 to 80. 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