4th armored division in cobra

7/30/2019 4th Armored Division in Cobra

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-1US 4th Armored Division in Cobra


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US 4th Armored Division in Normandy and Brittany

By Merle Delinger

While the US 1st Armored Division (Old Ironsides) was slugging its way through Italy, five othearmoured divisions were fighting their way onto the beaches at Normandy and then through the b

country. Two of these divisions have become the most well known over the course of time, that b

Armored Division (Hell On Wheels) and 3rd Armored Division (Spearhead) as featured in Cobrathree other divisions played an integral role as well. Lets take a brief look at the 4th Armored Div


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4th Armored Division was activated 15 April 1941 at Pine Camp, New York. The 4th Armored Divistrained in New York for 16 months before reaching the Tennessee manoeuvres in the CumberlandMountains. In mid-November 1942 the division moved to the Mojave Desert Training Center. After s

months of rugged desert training, The 4th Armored Division arrived at Camp Bowie, Texas in June 1

and manoeuvred during a broiling summer and fall until alerted for overseas duty in November. The body of troops sailed for England from Boston harbour in December 1943 and finally landed in

Normandy on Utah Beach on 11 July 1944.

4th Armored Division Normandy and Cobra

On the morning of 25 July 1944, the German forces opposing the US 12th Army Group in and aroun

L surely felt that Armageddon was upon them.


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The Allied Air Forces sent over 1800 bombers and fighter-bombers to wreak havoc on the Germans a

punch a hole in their lines. Although there were some serious losses from friendly bombs (an oxymif there ever was one!), the bombing worked. The infantry formations then drove a wedge through

resulting the hole that allowed the armoured divisions poured through like water though a sieve. The 12th Army Group finally had its breakthrough and the five armoured divisions rolled through the Gerpositions like thunder.

The 4th Armored Division was commanded by Major General John S. Wood.

Wood steadfastly refused any sort of nickname for his division, insisting the divisions actions an

record would be plenty name enough for the men of his division. He was absolutely correct, the 4

enough. Nonetheless, the 4th Armored Divisions exploits as one of General Pattons Third Armydivisions would earn the division the unofficial nickname as the Breakthrough division.

Once all the divisions assets were off loaded on the beach and organized, the units of 4th Armore

Division moved into the line and were bloodied in battle on 18 July.

As plans for Operation Cobra solidified, the division was pulled back out of the line in anticipation. OCobra began and the 83rd and 90th Infantry divisions had driven a wedge in the German lines to the

of the tanks, the 4th Armored Division was off and running!

The division moved out at 0500, 28 July. Combat Command B (CCB) was the point for the combat

command columns. Despite mines and road blocks, the tanks lurched through the rubble of Periers an

swarmed into Coutances, first city to fall to CCB and the division. From Coutances, the 4th Armored

Division swept southward in three columns, overrunning La Haye Pesnel and approaching AvranchesCCB's headquarters, bivouacked just north of Avranches and 200 yards from the main road, was almo

run down during the night by a long German column withdrawing south.


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As the German retreating forces attempted to pull out, men like machine gunner Pvt. William "Red"

Whitson of B Company, 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion, made them pay dearly. Whitson had his M

57mm anti-tank gun set up at a bend in the road. As a retreating column pulled up before him, he fireand knocked out 25 vehicles and left 50 Germans sprawling on the road in a tangle of plunging horse

With the column confused and in total disarray by the deadly fire, more than 500 Germans eventually

surrendered to B Company.


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The Distinguished Service Cross awarded to Whitson was the first to an enlisted man in the division.

Disorganized and terrified by 4th Armored Division s relentless advances, the Huns began a wholesaflight. The race was on!

Slashing armoured columns littered roads with burning vehicles and German casualties. More than 20prisoners were taken at Avranches alone. Parts of the Wehrmacht escaped the tankers, cavalry and

armoured infantry, only to surrender to following artillery battalions, or to medics-or anyone jusget safely out of the way. Column after column of disarmed prisoners, led by their own NCOs, march

back without guards to POW enclosures. By 31 July, all dams and bridges across the Selune River to

southeast as far as Ducey were secured. The division's prisoners of war numbered more than 3000.

In just five days, the 4th had smashed the German 77., 91. and 243. Infanterie divisions, wiped ou

Fallschirmjger Regiment and dealt severe losses to the 5. Fallschirmjger Division. This last uni

from the ground up, was to confront the 4th Armored Division again at Bastogne. Elements of thePanzerdivision also took a beating.

"Who are you guys? recon men of another armoured division shouted as a company of the 4th's Sherman tanks swept along in the swirling dust. Georgie's boys!" the tank commanders yelled b

they were. On 1 August, General Patton's Third Army, classified top secret to that point, became

operational. VIII Corps and 4th Armored Division became part of Third Army as the division roaBrittany.

With Combat Command A (CCA) leading, the division plunged 54 miles to Rennes, the ancient Bcapital. Smashing nests of emplaced anti-tank and aircraft guns north of the city, tanks wheeled w

west and south. CCA raced through Bain de Bretagne while CCB struck Redon. Roads and

communications from the Rennes nerve centre were cut and the enemy thrown into panic. The Gefeld-grau hordes withdrew. A combat team including 8th Infantry Division doughboys occupied t

3 August.

The next thrust severed the Brittany peninsula. At 1400, 5 August, CCA moved from Bain de Bre

Seven hours and 70 miles later, the 4th Armored Division had routed the enemy's 56th Security Rguarding Vannes and had taken the city and the airfield to the northeast. From this port, the tanke

glimpsed the ocean.


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The Brittany peninsula was cut through and was teaming with thousands of armour-stunned enemy. Tdivision, which had outraced the infantry support, was an armoured island in a sea of enemy. Tanks a

armoured cars shepherded supply columns over long, empty stretches of road.

Remnants of a French paratrooper battalion, which had dropped in Brittany with jeeps on D-Day, jointhe tankers. The FFI (Forces Franaises de l'Intrieur) enthusiastically offered its support. Then, both

combat commands moved on the U-boat base of Lorient, 30 miles west. After a race for the bridges athe Blavet, tanks contained the big port on 7 Aug. On the way, they wiped out a horse cavalry outfit, 281. Ost Cavalry Battalion.

German army and navy forces in the heavily fortified city outnumbered tankers four to one, so the 4th

Armored Division tried to bluff them into surrender. Although unsuccessful in this, the division did ta4653 prisoners in 12 days and nailed down the escape door. In March, 1945, nine months later, dwind

German troops still held on, hopelessly surrounded.


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From here the tankers of 4th Armored Division wheeled east. Nantes, on the Loire, was taken 10 Augby CCA after an 80-mile march from Lorient. Four days later CCA had pushed 153 miles to St. Calai

refuelled, and six hours later stood before Orleans. By nightfall CCA had reached Ormes and capture

airport. The next morning the combat command pushed into Orleans and then turned it over to the 35Infantry Division. When the 4th Armored Division came under XII Corps control on 15 August, Lori

was left to the 6th Armored Division. CCB began its longest continuous march, driving east 264 mile

34 hours before halting at Prunay, south of Vendome.4th Armored Division, as south flank and spearhead of Third Army, was now far east and south of Pa

Tankers had outflanked the French capital and sealed off German forces south of the Loire.


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Historic river barriers, the moats of France, were falling quickly to the armoured forces. CCB capture

Courtenay, and then moved on Montargis from the east. Evacuation of the city was forced on 23 AugWithout pausing, the division secured a bridgehead across the Seine at Troyes three days later after a

savage fight. Armoured vehicles spread in open desert formation and charged down a three and a halslope under heavy fire. A Waffen-SS brigade and supporting troops, totalling 3000 Germans, were ro

and a Nazi general captured.

Three days later, CCA stormed across the Marne River to capture Vitry Le Francois. Chalons-sur-Ma

St. Dizier and Ligny fell soon after. Light tanks racing through torrential rain led an attack into Commcaptured the bridge across the Meuse and the high ground opposite the river. This country meant mor

trouble for engineers. The 24th Armored Engineer Battalion fought hard to keep the columns rolling.

The 4th Armored Division finally stoppednot for blown bridges or 88sbut for gasoline. The

Army was burning 350,000 gallons of gasoline a day and the division had been burning captured

gasoline delivered by transport planes. Maps and ammunition also had to be flown in. When the ogasoline supply problem became critical, higher headquarters halted the drive. The division had r

marathon at sprint speed. In the seven weeks since Normandy, the 4th Armored Division had thro

mile right hook across the heart of France.

The 4th Armored Division went on to play an important role in the Lorraine campaign (SeptembeDecember 1944) and an even greater publicized role in the relief of Bastogne.

At Bastogne, Lieutenant-Colonel Creighton Abrams (namesake of todays modern M1A1 Main Battl

Tank) and his 37th Tank Battalion relieved the siege of Bastogne and the 101st Airborne. From Bastothe 4th Armored Division drove through the Siegfried line, on to the Rhine and Main rivers south ofFrankfurt and finally into Czechoslovakia. Some of the divisions units remained in Germany and ch

to constabulary duties, while the remainder of the 4th Armored Division returned to Camp Kilmer, N

Jersey where it was deactivated on 26 April 1946.


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Order of battle

4th Armoured Division

Headquarters Company (Major-General John

Wood)

Reserve Command (Chief of Staff: ColonelWalter A Bigby)

Combat Command A (Colonel B C Clarke)

Combat Command B (Brigadier-GeneralHolmes E Dager)

8th Tank Battalion35th Tank Battalion

37th Tank Battalion

10th Armored Infantry Battalion

51st Armored Infantry Battalion53rd Armored Infantry Battalion

25th Cavalry Recon Squadron (Mechanized)

24th Armored Engineer Battalion

4th Armored Division Artillery (Colonel Ernest

Bixby)22nd Armored Field Artillery Battalion

66th Armored Field Artillery Battalion

94th Armored Field Artillery Battalion

Attachments during Operation Cobra

Antiaircraft Artillery489th AAA AW Battalion (SP)

Engineer

995th Engineer Treadway Bridging Company

Field Artillery28th Field Artillery Battalion (8th Division) (155m

Howitzers)

177th Field Artillery Battalion (155mm Howitzer696th Armored Field Artillery Battalion

5th Field Artillery Group695th Armored Field Artillery Battalion219th Field Artillery Battalion (35th Division) (10

Howitzers)

177th Field Artillery Group

191st Field Artillery Battalion (155mm Howitzer253rd Armored Field Artillery Battalion

179th Field Artillery Battalion (155mm Howitzer

Infantry13th Infantry Regiment (8th Division)

137th Infantry Regiment (35th Division)

Tank Destroyer704th Tank Destroyer Battalion


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In Flames Of War

The 4th Armored Divisions was not as heavily equipped as the 2nd and 3rd Armored divisions featurCobra. To field a company from the 4th Armored Division simply use the rules and Intelligence Brief

for the US Tank Company, Armoured Rifle Company or Cavalry Recon Troop as found in FestungEuropa. You may also like to use the revised version of the Cavalry Recon Platoon. The 4th ArmourDivision was used aggressively and you may use the Spearhead special rule from Cobra (page 54).

4th Armored Division Equipment

The 4th Armoured Division was one of the first units to receive the M18 Hellcat GMC tank destroy

The Tank Destroyer Platoons of a 4th Armored Division company must be armed with M18 Hellcat G

Tank destroyers.

The Tank Platoons cannot be upgraded to M4A1 (76mm) Sherman tanks.

The Assault Gun Platoon of a Tank Company must be armed with M4 (105mm) Sherman tanks. The

Assault Gun Platoon of an Armored Rifle Company must be armed with M8 Scott HMC.
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6th Armored Division in Operation Cobra...

Operation Cobra...
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4th armored division in cobra

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