Twelfth United States Army Group

The 12th Army Group was a major unit ( army group commander ) of the Western Allies during the Second World War, which was active in the years 1944 and 1945. He was under U.S. leadership and was up to 1.3 million soldiers from the Army 's largest association in American history.

History

During the preparation for Operation Overlord was decided by the Allies, the participating armies of the U.S. armed forces after the first phase of operations ( carried out by the British 21st Army Group) to insinuate on the continent an American high command. For this, the 1st U.S. Army Group ( FUSAG ) was formed under General Omar N. Bradley in October 1943, which also led the 1st U.S. Army. Was then on 14 July 1944, the 12th Army Group under Bradley activated in the UK, which replaced the FUSAG and their subordinate organizations took a few exceptions. This measure (Operation Quicksilver ) the existence of a further U.S. Army Group in the UK should faked and the German leadership to be left on the continent in the dark about a possible second landing.

The 12th Army Group took over the further course on 1 August 1944 in France control of the first ( Courtney Hicks Hodges ) and U.S. 3rd Army ( George S. Patton ). Your commander Bradley was initially the head of ground operations of Operation Overlord, the British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery assumed in operational matters, until the beginning of September, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force took over the management of the operations on the continent under Dwight D. Eisenhower. The 12th Army Group was formed at that time the center of the Allied army groups on the western front after the middle of August the 6th Army Group ( Jacob L. Devers ) was landed in Operation Dragoon in Southern France. North of the 21st Army Group under Montgomery joined. The 12th Army Group was later reinforced by the 9th U.S. Army ( William Hood Simpson), which was previously used in Brittany. The armies of Army Group participated in the period up to the German Ardennes offensive in winter 1944/45, in the fighting in and around the run-up to the Western Wall in part (including the Battle of the Hurtgenwald, Battle of Aachen, fighting in Lorraine).

As part of the defenses of the Ardennes offensive, the 9th U.S. Army has been temporarily placed under the 21st Army Group. In January 1945, the 15th U.S. Army ( Leonard T. Gerow ) of the 12th Army Group was assigned. In February 1945, the troops of Army Group broke through the Western Wall, put on in March for the crossing of the Rhine and closed in early April the Ruhr pocket. By the end of the war the troops of Army Group of the Elbe and occupied parts of Austria and Czechoslovakia reached.

On July 31, the control of the U.S. forces in Europe was the newly formed Headquarters U.S. Forces, European Theater ( USFET ) transferred and the 12th Army Group resolved the next day.

Breakdown in May 1945

  • III Corps ( James Van Fleet )
  • XX Corps ( Walton Walker)
  • XIII Corps ( Alvan C. Gillem, Jr. )
  • XVI Corps ( John B. Anderson)
  • XIX Corps ( Raymond S. McLain )
  • XVIII Airborne Corps ( Matthew B. Ridgway )
  • XXII Corps ( Ernest N. Harmon )
  • XXIII Corps ( Hugh J. Gaffey )
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