Fifth United States Army

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fifth United States Army

5th US Army shoulder badge

5th US Army shoulder badge
active January 4, 1943 to October 1945
since June 1946
Country United States
Armed forces US armed forces
Armed forces Army
Type army
headquarters Fort Sam Houston , Texas
motto In Peace Prepare For War
Wars Second World War
commander
Current
commander
Lieutenant General Guy C. Swan
Important
commanders

Mark W. Clark

insignia
Distinctive Unit Insignia DUI

The Fifth United States Army ( German  5th US Army ) was a major unit of the United States Army in World War II . As US Army North , it is currently a sub- command of the United States Northern Command with responsibility for North America.

history

Second World War

General Mark W. Clark

The army was deployed in Morocco on January 3, 1943 after the Allied landing in North Africa ( Operation Torch ) . This made it the first army to be formed outside of the United States in the history of the US armed forces . Its first in command was Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark .

Her first combat mission was Operation Avalanche during the Allied invasion of Italy in September 1943. For this she was awarded the VI. US Corps and the British X Corps.

During the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944, the army was reinforced by the II. US Corps and the Free French Expeditionary Corps (General Juin ). The VI. Corps then landed at Anzio ( Operation Shingle ). On June 4, 1944, units of the 5th Army took Rome . Shortly afterwards the VI. Corps surrendered to the 7th US Army in preparation for the invasion of southern France ( Operation Dragoon ) and replaced by the IV US Corps. The French expeditionary force was founded by the British XIII. Corps and used to build up the French 1st Army .

The struggle for the position of the Goths at Pisa and Florence followed. In December 1944, General Clark took command of the 15th Army Group and was replaced as Commander of the 5th Army by General Lucian K. Truscott . In the spring of 1945, the 5th Army liberated western northern Italy as far as Genoa and the Brenner Pass . In October 1945 the army in Italy was deactivated.

post war period

In June 1946 the reactivation took place in Chicago. The army was then part of the Army Reserve and responsible for training and recruiting. In 1971 the army was merged with the then disbanded 4th US Army and the headquarters were moved from Fort Sheridan ( Illinois ) to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio / Texas . Reserve units of the 5th Army were deployed in Iraq and Somalia in the early 1990s. In 1995, the 21 states west of the Mississippi with the exception of Minnesota were reassigned as the Area of ​​Responsibility (AOR) in the course of a reallocation of responsibilities in the army's home defense .

In 2002, the Army Command was subordinated to the newly formed United States Northern Command under the name US Army North (ARNORTH). Her duties include home defense and civil assistance, and security cooperation for the continental United States, including Alaska, as well as Canada and Mexico. The current commanding general is Lieutenant General Guy C. Swan.

List of commanders (selection)

Beginning of the appointment End of appointment Commanding general
1943 1944 Mark W. Clark
1944 1945 Lucian K. Truscott
1978 1980 William B. Caldwell III
2006 2010 Thomas R. Turner II
2010 2011 Guy C. Swan III
2011 2013 William B. Caldwell
2013 2016 Perry L. Wiggins

References

See also

Web links