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11th Armored Division
11th Armored Division shoulder sleeve insignia
Active	1942 - 1945
Country	United States of America
Branch	AUS
Size	Division
Nickname	Thunderbolt
Colors	Red, Blue and Yellow
Engagements	World War II *Battle of the Bulge
Commanders
Notable commanders	Edward H. Brooks

The US 11th Armored Division (11-AD) was a division of the United States Army in World War II. It was activated on August 15 1942 at Camp Polk, Louisiana and moved on June 24 1943 for the Third Army #3 Louisiana Maneuvers. Transferred then to Camp Barkeley, Texas on September 5 1943, the 11-AD participated, October 29 1943, in the Desert Training Center #4 California Maneuvers and arrived at Camp Cooke California on February 11 1944, staged at Camp Kilmer New Jersey September 16 1944 until departed New York Port of Embarkation on September 29 1944 and arrived in England on October 11 1944.

The 11-AD landed in France on December 17 1944, crossed into Belgium on December 29 1944 and entered Germany on March 5 1945. The 11th Armored Division was inactivated on August 1945.

History

The division was activated on 15 August 1942. It arrived in England 12 November 1944 and prepared for combat with two months' training on the Salisbury Plain. The division landed in Normandy, 16 December 1944, assigned to contain the enemy in the Lorient Pocket, but the Von Rundstedt offensive resulted in a forced march to the Meuse and the defense of a 30-mile sector from Givet to Sedan, 23 December. Launching an attack from Neufchâteau, Belgium, 30 December, the 11th defended the highway to Bastogne against fierce assault.

The division acted as spearhead of a wedge into the enemy line, and its junction with the First Army at Houffalize, 16 January 1945, created a huge trap. After the liquidation of the Bulge, the Siegfried Line was pierced, Lützkampen falling 7 February, Grosskampenberg on the 17th, and the key point, Roscheid, 20 February.

After a brief rest, the division crossed the Prum and Kyll Rivers, taking Gerolstein and Nieder Bettingen against violent opposition. Andernach and Brohl fell 9 March, in the sweep to the Rhine. In the swing southward to clear the Saar-Moselle-Rhine pocket, the Moselle River was crossed at Bullay and the Worms Airport captured, 21 March.

Tanks of 11th Division entering the Mauthausen concentration camp

After rest and maintenance, the division drove across the Rhine at Oppenheim, took Hanau and Fulda, and headed for the Thuringian Forest, reaching Oberhof, 3 April. The offensive raced through Bavaria, Coburg falling on the 10th, Bayreuth on the 14th.

In the final drive, the division crossed the Regen river, 24 April, overran Grafenau and Freyung, and plunged toward the Danube, seizing Rohrbach, Neufelden, and Zwettl. The enemy put up its last fanatical resistance along the approaches to Linz, Austria, but the 11th entered that city, 5 May. Pushing onward, elements contacted Soviet forces, 8 May, the first unit of the Third Army, to meet the Russian armies. The war in Europe officially ended 9 May, and the division was placed on occupational duty until inactivation on 31 August.

External links

• European Center of Military History Order of Battle 11th Armd Division
• Thunderbolt: The Story of the 11th Armored Division (WWII unit history booklet)
• The 11th Armored Division Association
• Fact Sheet of the 11th Armored Division from http://www.battleofthebulge.org