14th Armored Division (United States)

14th Armored Division
Badge of the 14th US Armored Division
Lineup	1942-1945
Country	United States
Armed forces	United States Armed Forces
Armed forces	United States Army
Branch of service	tank
Type	Armored Division

The 14th Armored Division ( German  14th US Armored Division ) is a major unit of the US Army that has been officially inactive since 1945. She wore the nickname "the liberators" (the end of the war Liberators ) because they participated in the liberation of three POW camps and satellite camps Ampfing of the Dachau concentration camp was involved. As a single association, it was able to get the largest number of “own boys” out of captivity.

Division badge

As with the other US armored divisions, the badge of the 14th Armored Division is in the distinctive colors yellow, blue and red and in triangular form: the different colors represent the branches of service within the division: cavalry , infantry and artillery . The armored chain symbolizes mobility and protection through armor, the cannon the firepower and the lightning the speed of operations. The Arabic numeral at the top of the triangle indicates the division number.

history

Commissioned: November 15, 1942 at Camp Chaffee , Arkansas .

Combat missions in World War II

• Southern France (after landing in Marseille on October 29, 1944, she had largely defensive tasks on the Franco-Italian border)
• Rhineland, Ardennes / Alsace (On December 17, she advanced over the Lauter . At Operation Nordwind she succeeded in slowing down the German attack against five divisions. This included the Battle of Hatten-Rittershoffen from January 9 to 21, 1945 In March 1945 the Moder was crossed and at the end of the month the Rhine near Germersheim and Worms .)
• Central Europe:
  • After Neustadt / Main , many prisoners of war were freed in Hammelburg on April 6th in Stalag XIII C and Oflag XIII B.
  • Likewise in Moosburg , where over 130,000 Allied prisoners of war were liberated on April 29th ( Stalag VII A , of which around 20,000 were Americans).
  • Ampfing Concentration Camp - In the Mühldorf am Inn area , the unit took part in the last fighting of the war on May 2, 1945.

It was named for a total of two Presidential Unit Citations .

Decommissioning

It was set to zero strength on September 16, 1945, but not deactivated.

Commanders

Major General Vernon E. Prichard	November 1942 to July 1944
Brigadier General Albert C. Smith	July 1944 to September 1945

Web links

• Division website