1. obrněná divize [1940-1946]

1. armored division was formed 15. July 1940 in kentuckém Fort Knox the renaming and reorganisation of the 7. cavalry brigade (mechanized). The division conducted the training in the Fort Knox and provided the cadre to create 4. the armored division. Task 1. the division has been to build the self-contained armored formations, the creation and verification of the doctrine, the introduction of new techniques and other tasks associated with the training. In the Fort Knox along with the armored division there was also a School of armored forces, which allow the mutual transfer of experience. In August 1941 the division participated in maneuvers VII. the corps and in September 1941, went to Louisiana for the big maneuvers 2. the army, followed by maneuvers 1. the army in North and South Carolina. Fort Knox returned 7. December 1941, the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The division has stepped up training and began to prepare for departure to the Uk. In April 1942, the division embarked on the road to Fort Dix in New Jersey. 11. may 1942, the division in the New York aboard the RMS Queen Mary and 16. may has arrived in Northern Ireland. In October 1942, then moved to England. In the Uk division primarily to continued training.


Fighting the baptism of the division had 8. November 1942 in north Africa during operation Torch. Parts of the division were part of the Northern task force. For the invasion were zpohotoveny 1. battalion 1. armored regiment, 1. and 2. battalion 13. armored regiment, almost the entire 6. armored infantry regiment, 27. armored field artillery battalion, company B and C 701. a battalion of tank destroyers and the component 16. the armored engineer battalion. Further, a supply battalion, a battalion, a medical battalion, and the connecting company. Combat command B (CCB) have landed east and west of Oran and 10. November entered the city. Headquarters then continued through the Tafaroui and Bedžu to Džedeidy, whose airport was attacked by 25. November. CCB all Džedeidu occupied 28. November. Subsequently, the CCB issued to Tebourbě and attacked the German position on the heights of El Guessa. But the germans managed to repel the attack and caused the Americans heavy losses. They therefore pulled back to Bedže. CCB has taken another operation until the end of January 1943, and that in the valley of Ousseltia. From there it shot across the Bou Čebku to Maktaru, which arrived 14. February 1943. Combat command A (CCA) at the end of January, has undergone the fight in the pass Faíd and went to Sidi Bou Zid, where it hit the stiff German resistance and heavy casualties pushed back. Combat command C (CCC) was established 23. January 1943 and carried out a strike at the station Dreamed, progressed towards the Sbeitu and supported APPROXIMATELY in the area of Sidi Bou Zid, but it was also after sustaining significant losses pushed. Division 16. February withdrew from Sbeity, but 21. February the CCB attacked the Germans during the sortie on the Tebessu. When the German retreat enabled the division to occupy 26. February Kasserinský pass. 13. march division released to the northeast and occupied the Zannouch, then Maknassy and in the days of 22.-25. march through the battle of Jebel Naemia. Followed by attempts to puncture zátarů on the road to Gabès. The division chased the retreating German troops and 3. may after heavy fighting occupied Mateur. Between 5.-11. may went through the battle of Jebel Achtel and occupied during Ferryville. It has already occurred to the surrender of German forces in Tunisia. 1. armored division then passed in French Morocco reorganisation and supplementing of the forces.

1. armored division was part of the forces, which ... occupy Italy after the landings at Salerno. The division was part of the advances of the american 5. army. Nevylodila therefore 9. September at Salerno, but up to 28. October in the already liberated Naples. In November she was deployed against the different components of the so-called winter line. In the context of the landing at Anzio formed the division part of the second echelon. The division participated in the repulse of a series of German counter-attack, subsequently led a sortie on Rome and the continued persecution of German troops further north. After the liberation of Rome has undergone a reorganization according to the new systematization. The result was numerically weaker, but much more flexible and vybalancovanější formation. In the Italian mountain areas came to a larger proportion of the infantry in very handy. The division fought in the po valley, where it caught the surrender of German forces in Italy. Then in June moved to Germany, where it formed part of the occupation forces.

Division 24. April 1946 returned to New York and the next day it was deactivated in the Camp Kilmer. However, part of the division remained in Germany and performed tasks associated with ensuring the security and public order in the occupied territory.



Sources:
en.wikipedia.org
Clay, Steven E.: In.With. Army Order of Battle 1919-1941. Volume 2. The Arms: Cavalry, Field Artillery, and Coast Artillery, 1919-1941, Combat Studies Institute Press, US Army Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, KS, 2010
www.globalsecurity.org
www.militaryvetshop.com.

Tunisko, 1943 a M3 Lee 1. obrněné divize