U.S. Third Army
Witnessing Patton’s Failure: A Prisoner’s View of the Task Force Baum Raid
By Eric NiderostIn December 1944 the vaunted Third Reich was in its death throes, crushed by Allied forces on all sides. Read more
U.S. Third Army
The U.S. Third Army gained fame during World War II while under the command of Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr. Deployed to the Western Front in the summer of 1944, Third Army executed an impressive offensive drive across France, and during the Battle of the Bulge that winter elements of Third Army disengaged from an existing fight, pivoted northward, and relieved the besieged garrison at the Belgian crossroads town of Bastogne.
U.S. Third Army
Voices of the Bulge, Part I
By Michael Collins & Martin KingBACKSTORY: Unternehmen Wacht-am-Rhein (Operation Watch on the Rhine), better known in the West as the Battle of the Bulge, had its beginnings following the failed assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler’s life by Colonel Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg and a group of other high-level plotters who felt that their Führer was not only leading Germany to defeat but also its doom, and thus had to be eliminated. Read more
U.S. Third Army
The Falaise Gap: Ike vs. Monty and a Failure of Command
By William WeidnerWith the exceptions of the Normandy invasion and the Battle of the Bulge, few other World War II battles in the European Theater have received more historical scrutiny than the Battle of the Falaise Gap. Read more
U.S. Third Army
Patton in Lorraine: Breaking the Moselle Line
By William E. WelshBy mid-September 1944, the U.S. Third Army was poised to strike at the soft underbelly of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich along a fabled corridor in northeastern France used for centuries by armies tramping across Europe. Read more
U.S. Third Army
The Saar Offensive: Patton Breaks Through the Western Wall
By William E. WelshThe portion of the Siegfried Line guarding the Saar industrial region of Germany proved a sinister gateway into western Germany for Lt. Read more
U.S. Third Army
The Battle of Arracourt: Patton’s Third Army vs Manteuffel’s Panzers
By Leo BarronLieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr., the commander of the newly constituted U.S. Third Army, had one simple order that late summer of 1944: “Go east and go like Hell.” Read more
U.S. Third Army
Fort Driant: General George S. Patton Jr’s Only Lost Battle
By Duane E. ShafferThe road to Fort Driant began for the United States Third Army when it landed on Utah Beach at 3 pm on August 5, 1944. Read more
U.S. Third Army
The 90th Division Comes of Age
By Kevin M. HymelLieutenant General Omar Bradley, commander of the U.S. First Army, considered his 90th Infantry Division a problem unit. Read more
U.S. Third Army
Red Ball Express: The Legendary Lifeline
By Michael D. HullAugust 1944 saw a rosy mood of optimism and self-deception sweep through the Allied high command in France as a result of the sudden, dramatic end to the campaign in Normandy. Read more
U.S. Third Army
Leclerc and Liberation
By Michael D. HullAfter the humiliating fall of France in June 1940, two impassioned patriots—a general and an infantry captain—refused to accept defeat and determined, against all odds, to exact retribution from the German invaders. Read more
U.S. Third Army
The Magnificent Jeep
By Michael D. HullGeneral of the Army George C. Marshall called it America’s greatest contribution to modern warfare. General Dwight D. Read more
U.S. Third Army
“Is Paris Burning?” Liberating the City of Light
By Kelly BellBy the late summer of 1944, the Third Reich was almost surrounded. Two years earlier Adolf Hitler had ground 10 European countries under his heel along with vast expanses of North Africa and Soviet Russia. Read more
U.S. Third Army
The Trains That Fueled the Normandy Breakout
By Kerry SkidmoreHistorian Christian Wolmar concludes that the two world wars could not have been fought to such devastation without military railways, in his book Engines of War. Read more
U.S. Third Army
Segregation in the U.S. Military: Ruben Rivers
By Michael HaskewOn July 26, 1948, President Harry Truman issued Executive Order No. 9981, which stated in part, “It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin.” Read more
U.S. Third Army
George S. Patton’s End Run: The Story of His Final Days
By Major General Michael ReynoldsBy early 1945, less than a year before General George S. Patton’s mysterious death, Adolf Hitler’s armies were almost exhausted. Read more
U.S. Third Army
Tale of the Biscuit Bomber: The C-47 in WWII
By Sam McGowanEven though, technically at least, it was not a combat airplane, the performance of the Douglas C-47 transport led General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower to label it as one of the most important weapons of World War II. Read more
U.S. Third Army
Third Army Crosses the Rhine
Although the U.S. First Army had already captured an intact bridge over the river at Remagen, there was still a rivalry between Patton and British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery to cross next. Read more
U.S. Third Army
Driant: Fighting on the Face of the Moon
By Kevin M. HymelBefore retreating from Fort Driant, Private Tom Tucker lit the fuse on 6,000 pounds of explosives. “We pulled the fuse lighter and took off,” recalled Tucker. Read more
U.S. Third Army
Armored Blitz to Avranches
By Kevin M. HymelLieutenant General Omar Bradley had reason to be pleased by the last week of July 1944. His First Army had scratched out a substantial foothold on the Normandy coast, capturing three times more French territory than his British allies. Read more
U.S. Third Army
American Drive to the Moselle
By Allyn VannoyOn September 5, 1944, American intelligence estimates of German forces in the sector of the 80th Infantry Division, between Nancy and Metz in northeastern France, described scattered units and limited defenses along the east bank of the Moselle River. Read more
