III Armored Corps
III Armored Corps is a corps of the United States Army headquartered at Fort Hood, Texas. It is a major formation of United States Army Europe and Africa.
Activated in World War I in France, III Corps oversaw US Army divisions as they repelled several major German offensives and led them into Germany. The corps was deactivated following the end of the war.
Reactivated in the interwar years, III Corps trained US Army formations for combat before and during World War II, before itself being deployed to the European Theater where it participated in several key engagements, including the Battle of the Bulge where it relieved the surrounded 101st Airborne Division.
For the next 50 years, the corps was a key training element for the US Army as it sent troops overseas in support of the Cold War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. While all of the major units of III Corps were deployed for Desert Shield/Desert Storm, the corps itself saw no combat deployments, until Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003., III Corps includes some of the oldest formations of their type in the US Army: 1st Infantry Division, 1st Cavalry Division, 1st Armored Division and 1st Medical Brigade.
History
World War I
III Corps was first organized on 16 May 1918 in France. It was designed as three of the four newly activated corps of the American Expeditionary Force, which at that time numbered over one million men in 23 divisions. The corps took command of US forces training with the French Seventh Army at the same time that IV Corps took command of US forces training with the French Eighth Army.Aisne-Marne campaign
In July, the corps was rushed to the Villers-Cotterêts area in preparation for the Third Battle of the Aisne, the first major Allied counteroffensive of the year. There, it was put under the French Tenth Army and given administrative command of the 1st Division and the 2nd Division which were previously under command of the French XX Corps. However, the command group arrived in the area too late to exercise tactical command, and it was instead attached to the French XX Corps. On 18 July, the attack was launched, with the force spearheading the French Tenth Army's assault on the high ground south of Soissons. During this attack, the Corps also cut rail lines supplying the German Army.The first day of the attack was a success, but on the second day, the Germans were reinforced with heavier weapons and were able to blunt the attack, inflicting high casualties. The force was successful despite heavy casualties, and German forces were forced to retreat. On 1 August, the corps arrived in the Vesle area near the Marne River, where it assumed command of the 3rd Division, 28th Division, and 32nd Division from the French XXXVIII Corps, placing side by side with the U.S. I Corps for a few days. Troops continued to advance until September when they withdrew to form the new First United States Army.
Meuse-Argonne campaign
First Army formed up in preparation to advance in the Meuse-Argonne campaign. It consisted of over 600,000 men in I Corps, III Corps, and V Corps. III Corps took the Army's east flank, protecting it as the Army advanced to Montfaucon, then Cunel and Romagne-sous-Montfaucon. The offensive was slow and hampered by inexperience of many of the divisions under the Army's command, though III Corps was effective in protecting its sector. They advanced through September and October, taking a few weeks for rest after the formation of Second United States Army. On 1 November, the First Army went on a general offensive, pushing north to the Meuse River and the Barricourt Ridge. It was successful, pushing German forces back and advancing to the river until the end of the war. Around that time, III Corps received its shoulder sleeve insignia, approved it by telegram, though the insignia would not be officially authorized until 1922.The corps was demobilized in Neuwied, Germany at the close of hostilities. Following the end of World War I, III Corps remained in Europe for several months before it returned to the United States. It was demobilized at Camp Sherman, Ohio.
Interwar period
III Corps (I)
The first iteration of the III Corps was constituted in the Organized Reserve on 29 July 1921, allotted to the Third Corps Area, and assigned to the First Army. The corps headquarters was initiated on 15 December 1921 at Baltimore, Maryland, with Reserve personnel. The corps headquarters was activated about 10 April 1922 at the Dauphin Building, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with Regular Army personnel. The corps headquarters was responsible for providing and planning administration, organization, supply, and training for army, corps, and other nondivisional Reserve units, less field and coast artillery, in the Third Corps Area. The Headquarters Company was initiated in April 1923 with Reserve personnel at Norristown, Pennsylvania. The corps headquarters was relieved from active duty in early 1925 and all Regular Army personnel were reassigned to the Headquarters, Non-Divisional Group, Third Corps Area, which assumed the responsibilities previously held by the III Corps. Both the headquarters and the Headquarters Company remained active in the Organized Reserve.Army reorganization
As part of an Army reorganization beginning in August 1927 that grouped the new XX, XXI, and XXII Corps, organized in the Regular Army, under the new Seventh Army, also a Regular formation and the successor of the old First Army, as a contingency force staffed by professional soldiers rather than reservists that could immediately take control of forces and respond to any emergency, the III Corps HHC were withdrawn from the Organized Reserve and demobilized on 15 August 1927. Concurrently, all Reserve personnel were relieved from assignment. Less than two months later, however, the Seventh Army was redesignated the new First Army, and the XX, XXI, and XXII Corps as the new I, II, and III Corps, respectively.III Corps (II)
The second iteration of the III Corps was constituted in the Regular Army as HHC, XXII Corps, allotted to the Third Corps Area, and assigned to the Seventh Army. Redesignated HHC, III Corps on 13 October 1927 and concurrently assigned to the First Army. The designated headquarters location for peacetime organization purposes was Baltimore, Maryland. On 1 October 1933, the corps headquarters was partially activated at Baltimore with Regular personnel from Headquarters, Third Corps Area and Reserve personnel from the corps area at large. Though a "Regular Army Inactive" unit from 1933 to 1940, the corps headquarters was occasionally organized provisionally for short periods using its assigned Reserve officers and staff officers from Headquarters, Third Corps Area. These periods of provisional active auty were generally for CPXs and major maneuvers such as the First Army maneuvers in 1935, 1939, and 1940. The designated mobilization station for the corps headquarters was Camp George G. Meade, Maryland, where it would assume command and control of its assigned subordinate corps troops which would then be mobilizing primarily in the Third Corps Area. However, the III Corps was fully activated on 18 December 1940, less Reserve personnel, at the Presidio of Monterey, California, and concurrently relieved from the First Army and assigned to the Fourth Army. Upon activation, the 8th, 28th, and 29th Divisions were relieved from the troop list and the corps assumed command and control of the 7th and 40th Divisions. The corps Headquarters Company was activated on 10 February 1941 at Fort Ord. The corps participated in the Fourth Army maneuvers in August 1941. After the maneuver, the corps returned to Monterey where it was located on 7 December 1941.World War II
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor bringing America into World War II, III Corps remained in the United States, where it was assigned to organize defenses of the West Coast, specifically California, against the threat of attack from Japan. During this time III Corps operated at Monterey, California.The corps was moved to Fort McPherson, Georgia in early 1942 for training. After a short period, the corps returned to Monterey and on 19 August 1942, it was designated a separate corps, capable of deployment. During the next two years, III Corps would train thousands of troops for combat, including 33 division-sized units, and participate in four corps-level maneuvers, including the Louisiana Maneuvers.
Europe
On 23 August 1944, the corps headquarters departed California for Camp Myles Standish in Massachusetts. It deployed for the European Theater of Operations on 5 September 1944. Upon arrival at Cherbourg, France, III Corps, under the command of Major General John Millikin, was assigned to the Ninth Army, part of Lieutenant General Omar Bradley's U.S. 12th Army Group, and given the code name "CENTURY" which it retained throughout the war. The corps headquarters was established at Carteret, in Normandy, and for six weeks, the corps received and processed all the troops of the 12th Army Group arriving over the Normandy beaches during that period. The corps also participated in the "Red Ball Express" by organizing 45 provisional truck companies to carry fuel and ammunition for the units on the front lines.The corps was assigned to Lieutenant General George S. Patton's Third Army on 10 October 1944, and moved to Etain, near Verdun, and into combat. The corps' first fighting was for the Metz region, as it was moved to attack Fort Jeanne d'Arc, one of the last forts holding out in the region. That fort fell on 13 December 1944.
Later that month on 16 December came the last German counteroffensive in the Battle of the Bulge, as over 250,000 German troops, supported by over 1,000 tanks and assault guns assaulted the lines of VIII Corps, some 40 miles to the north of III Corps. The next day Patton, the Third Army commander, warned III Corps that it would likely be ordered to assist. At that time the corps consisted of the 26th and 80th Infantry Divisions and the 4th Armored Division. III Corps was moved north to assist in the relief of Bastogne, Belgium, with the attack commencing at 04:00 on 22 December 1944. The corps advanced north, catching the German forces by surprise on their south flank, cutting them off. The 4th Armored Division was eventually able to reach Bastogne, where the 101st Airborne Division had been surrounded by German forces, and relieve it. During the first 10 days of this action, III Corps liberated more than 100 towns, including Bastogne. This operation was key in halting the German offensive and the eventual drive to the Rhine River.
During the first four months of 1945, III Corps moved quickly to the offensive. On 25 February, the corps, now as part of the First Army, established a bridgehead over the Roer River, which, in turn, led to the capture of the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen, on the Rhine River, on 7 March. On 30 March, the Edersee Dam was captured intact by Task Force Wolfe of the 7th Armored Division, and the corps, now commanded by Major General James Van Fleet after Millikin's relief, continued the attack to seize the Ruhr Pocket on 5 April 1945. In late April, III Corps reformed and launched a drive through Bavaria towards Austria. On 2 May 1945, III Corps was ordered to halt at the Inn River on the Austrian border, just days before V-E Day, when the German forces surrendered, bringing an end of World War II in Europe.