United States Army Central
The United States Army Central, formerly the Third United States Army, commonly referred to as the Third Army and as ARCENT, is a military formation of the United States Army that saw service in World War I and World War II, in the 1991 Gulf War, and in the coalition occupation of Iraq. It is best known for its campaigns in World War II under the command of General George S. Patton.
The Third Army is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina with a forward element at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. It serves as the echelon above corps for the Army component of CENTCOM, whose area of responsibility includes Southwest Asia, around 20 countries of the world, in Africa, Asia, and the Persian Gulf.
World War I
The Third United States Army was first activated during the First World War on 7 November 1918, at Chaumont, France, when the General Headquarters of the American Expeditionary Forces issued General Order 198 organizing the Third Army and announcing its headquarters staff. On the 15th, four days after the Armistice with Germany, Major General Joseph T. Dickman assumed command and issued Third Army General Order No. 1. The Third Army consisted of three corps and seven divisions.First mission
On 15 November 1918, Major General Dickman was given the mission to move quickly and by any means into the Rhineland on occupation duties. He was to disarm and disband German forces as ordered by General John J. Pershing, commander of the AEF.The march into the Rhineland for occupation duty was begun on 17 November 1918. By 15 December the Third Army Headquarters at Mayen opened at Koblenz. Two days later, on 17 December 1918, the Koblenz bridgehead, consisting of a pontoon bridge and three railroad bridges across the Rhine, had been established.
Third Army troops had encountered no hostile act of any sort. In the occupied area, both food and coal supplies were sufficient. The crossing of the Rhine by the front line divisions was effected in good time and without confusion. Troops, upon crossing the Rhine and reaching their assigned areas, were billeted preparatory to occupying selected positions for defense. The strength of the Third Army as of 19 December, the date the bridgehead occupation was completed, was 9,638 officers and 221,070 enlisted men.
Third Army advance
On 12 December, Field Order No. 11 issued, directed the Third Army to occupy the northern sector of the Coblenz bridgehead, with the advance elements to cross the Rhine river at seven o'clock, 13 December. The northern boundary remained unchanged. The southern boundary was as has been previously mentioned.Before the advance, the 1st Division passed to the command of the III Corps. With three divisions, the 1st, 2d, and 32d, the III Corps occupied the American sector of the Coblenz bridgehead, the movement of the troops into position beginning at the scheduled hour, 13 December. The four bridges available for crossing the river within the Coblenz bridgehead were the pontoon bridge and railroad bridge at Coblenz, the railroad bridges at Engers and Remagen. On 13 December the advance began with the American khaki crossing the Rhine into advanced positions. On the same day the 42d Division passed to the command of the IV Corps, which, in support of the III Corps, continued its march to occupy the Kreise of Mayen, Ahrweiler, Adenau, and Cochem.
The VII Corps occupied under the same order that portion of the Regierungsbezirk of Trier within army limits.
On 15 December, Third Army Headquarters at Mayen opened at Coblenz: III Corps Headquarters at Polch opened at Neuwied and IV Corps Headquarters remained at Cochem, with the VII Corps at Grevenmacher. In crossing the Rhine on the shortened front—from Rolandseck to Rhens on the west bank—the Third
Army encountered no hostile act of any sort. In the occupied area both food and coal supplies were sufficient.
By the night of 14 December, Third Army troops had occupied their positions on the perimeter of the Coblenz bridgehead.
Army of Occupation
During January 1919, the Third Army was engaged in training and preparing the troops under its command for any contingency. A letter of instruction was circulated to lower commanders prescribing a plan of action in case hostilities were resumed. Installations were set up throughout the Army area to facilitate command.In February, military schools were opened through the Third Army area; a quartermaster depot was organized; 2,000 officers and enlisted men left to take courses in British and French universities; better leave facilities were created; and plans for sending American divisions to the United States were made. On 4 February, the military control of the Stadtkreis of Trier was transferred from GHQ to the Third Army.
In March, routine duties of occupation and training were carried on; an Army horse show was held; Army, corps, and divisional educational centers were established in the Third Army Zone; the Coblenz port commander took over the duties of the Coblenz regulating officer; and the 42d Division was released from IV Corps and was placed in Army Reserve.
In April, the exodus of American divisions from Third Army to the United States began. During the month, motor transport parks were established; an Army motor show was held; the Army area was reorganized; and the centralization of military property was initiated in anticipation of returning it to the United States. On 20 April 1919, Third Army command changed from Maj. Gen. Dickman to Lt. Gen. Hunter Liggett.
Preparations to advance
On 14 May 1919, Marshal Ferdinand Foch, General-in-Chief of the Allied Armies, submitted plans of operations to the Third Army commander to be used in the event that Germany should refuse to sign the peace treaty. On 20 May, Marshal Foch directed allied commanders to dispatch troops toward Weimar and Berlin in the event the peace treaty was not signed. On 22 May, the Third Army issued its plan of advance, effective 30 May, in view of the impending emergency. On 27 May, Foch informed Pershing that the Supreme War Council desired that allied armies be made ready immediately to resume active operations against the Germans.On 1 June, the advance GHQ, AEF, at Trier was discontinued. On 16 June, Foch notified Pershing that the allied armies must be ready after 20 June to resume offensive operations, and that preliminary movements were to begin 17 June. On 19 June, Pershing notified Foch that beginning 23 June, the Third Army would occupy the towns of Limburg, Westerburg, Hachenburg, and Altenkirchen, and that III Corps would seize the railroad connecting these towns. On 23 June, the Germans signified their intention to sign the peace treaty, and the contemplated military operations were suspended. On 30 June, Foch and Pershing conferred about the American troops to be left on the Rhine.
A separate peace
On 1 July, General Pershing notified the War Department that upon Germany's compliance with military conditions imposed upon her, the American forces in Europe would be reduced to a single regiment of infantry supplemented by necessary auxiliaries. Accordingly, the Third Army was disbanded on 2 July 1919. Its headquarters and all personnel and units under it were thereafter designated American Forces in Germany. This force would remain in Germany, as part of the Occupation of the Rhineland, for over three years. This was due, at least in part, to the fact that the United States, having rejected the Treaty of Versailles, was therefore still "de jure" at war with Germany. This situation remained unresolved until the summer of 1921 when a separate peace treaty was signed.Reactivation and the interwar period
Third Army (I)
On 15 October 1921, the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Third Army, was constituted in the Organized Reserve as one of six field armies to control Army units stationed on home soil. The Third Army was to control forces, primarily Regular Army and National Guard units, in the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Corps Areas, comprising the Midwest, Southwest, and Western United States. The Army headquarters was initiated on 25 February 1922 in Omaha, Nebraska, while the Headquarters Company was initiated in April 1924 in St. Louis, Missouri; the Headquarters Company was concurrently relocated to Omaha. On 18 August 1933, the Headquarters Company was withdrawn from the Organized Reserve and allotted to the Regular Army, and the Headquarters was demobilized.Third Army (II) (present Third Army)
In a reorganization of field forces in the United States, the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Third Army, was reconstituted in the Regular Army as one of four field armies to control the units of the U.S. Army that were stationed on home soil. The Headquarters was organized on 15 September 1932 in Houston, Texas, although the Headquarters Company was not activated until 23 November 1940. The responsibility of the Third Army was overseeing the training and mobilization plans of its assigned units, and developing contingency defense plans for the Southern United States.Commanders
- Major General Edwin B. Winans, 15 September 1932-30 September 1933
- Major General Johnson Hagood, 3 October 1933–27 February 1936
- Major General Frank Parker, 8 April-30 September 1936
- Major General George Van Horn Moseley, 1 October 1936–30 September 1938
- Lieutenant General Stanley D. Embick, 7 October 1938–28 September 1940
- Lieutenant General Herbert J. Brees, 28 September 1940–15 May 1941
- Lieutenant General Walter Krueger, 16 May 1941–16 February 1943
World War II
Third Army did not take part in the initial stages of Operation Overlord. However, when it did take the field, it was led by George S. Patton. When Third Army was moved to France, it was just after formations under the command of Omar Bradley had achieved the breakout from Normandy. Third Army followed up on that success and began a great dash across France, ultimately out-running its supply lines which halted it near the German border.
After a period of consolidation, Third Army was ready to go on the offensive again. However, the Germans then launched their last great offensive of the war – the Battle of the Bulge. This battle was an attempt to repeat the decisive breakthrough of 1940. However, in 1944, the Germans were doomed to failure. Their own logistical problems surfaced, and they ground to a halt. Nevertheless, they had broken the U.S. front, and it took a great effort to reduce the resulting salient. In one of the great moves of the war, Patton heeded the advice of his Intelligence Officer, Oscar Koch, and planned to aid First Army if required. When the German offensive commenced, Patton was prepared to turn Third Army's axis of advance ninety degrees and advance north to the southern flank of the German forces. The German salient was reduced by the end of January 1945, and the remainder of the process of closing up to the Rhine could be completed. Some vicious fighting took place, but by April there was but one great natural barrier between Third Army and the heart of Germany. Unlike in 1918, the crossing of the Rhine was opposed. However, the bridgehead was won, and Third Army embarked on another great eastward dash. It reached Austria and in May liberated the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camps complex. Its forces ended up in Czechoslovakia, the furthest east of any American units.
The Third Army After Action of May 1945 states that the Third Army captured 765,483 prisoners of war, with an additional 515,205 of the enemy already held in corps and divisional level POW camps processed between 9 May and 13 May 1945, for a total of 1,280,688 POWs, and that, additionally, Third Army forces killed 144,500 enemy soldiers and wounded 386,200, for a total of 1,811,388 in enemy losses. Fuller's review of Third Army records differs only in the number of enemy killed and wounded, stating that between 1 August 1944 and 9 May 1945, 47,500 of the enemy were killed, 115,700 wounded, and 1,280,688 captured. Fuller's combined total of enemy losses is 1,443,888 enemy killed, wounded, or captured by the Third Army. The Third Army suffered 16,596 killed, 96,241 wounded, and 26,809 missing in action for a total of 139,646 casualties according to the aforementioned After Action Report of May 1945. According to Fuller, the Third Army lost 27,104 killed and 86,267 wounded. There were 18,957 injuries of all kinds and 28,237 men listed as missing in action. Including 127 men captured by the enemy, total casualties of the Third Army were 160,692 in 281 continuous days of operations. Fuller points out that the ratio of German troop deaths to American deaths in the Third Army operating area was 1.75:1.