U.S. Fifteenth Army
Encyclopedia
The Fifteenth United States Army was the last field army
to see service in northwest Europe during World War II
and was the final command of General George S. Patton
. The Fifteenth Army served two separate missions while assigned to the area. During the later stages of World War II its mission was training and rehabilitating units and acting as a defensive line against counterattacks. After the war its mission was to carry out occupation duties and to gather historical information related to the European Theater of Operations
, or ETO. The Fifteenth Army was deactivated in 1946 and has not been activated since.
, Texas, by a transfer of a group of personnel from the Fourth United States Army. No general officer was included in the transfer. Major General John P. Lucas
was commanding general designate of the new Fifteenth Army in addition to his other duties. Headquarters, Fifteenth Army was then assigned to the Fourth Army.
On 18 October 1944 an advanced detachment was directed to report to the New York Port of Embarkation. From 2 November 1944 until 2 January 1945 at such time as Fifteenth Army left Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, bound for movement overseas, Colonel Louis Compton was designated commander of Fifteenth Army. From New York, on 3 November, they sailed bound for Greenock
, Scotland on the Queen Mary
, arriving 10 November 1944. The detachment proceeded to an estate called Doddington Hall
in Cheshire, England, where they were billeted with XXII Corps which later came under operational control of Fifteenth Army.
The main body of the Fifteenth Army sailed from New York aboard the Aquitania
on 15 November 1944 and dropped anchor in the Firth of Clyde
off Gourock
, Scotland on 22 November. On 24 November, the temporary Fifteenth Army Headquarters began operations at Doddington Hall.
On 25 November 1944 orders were given to place Fifteenth Army under 12th Army Group. Organization continued with a command post established at Chateau d'Ardennes although the main components of the Fifteenth remained in England. As the German offensive now known as the Battle of the Bulge
began, the CP was in danger and the headquarters evacuated to Cerfontaine, Belgium. The headquarters moved again on 24 December 1944 to Fme de Suippes in France.
On 25 December 1944 the main body left Doddington Hall for a staging area in Southampton, England and boarded the British Landing ship
Empire Javelin the next afternoon. The Fifteenth Army group consisted of 208 officers and 624 enlisted men. An additional 652 men plus the British crew were on board. Crossing the English Channel
a few days later, on 28 December 1944, the ship was struck by a torpedo from the German submarine U-772. A French frigate, L'Escarmouche, and some smaller vessels came to the rescue. L'Escarmouche was attached to the side of the Empire Javelin and many of the men jumped from the deck of the Empire Javelin to L'Escarmouche. Some men were rescued from life rafts and one life boat and some were pulled out of the water. About 10 minutes after a second explosion, the Empire Javelin sank at about 5:25 pm. Thirteen men were missing in action and 20 men were injured in this incident.
assumed command of the Fifteenth Army on 2 January 1945. No staff accompanied him and he directed the Acting Chief of Staff, Colonel Donegan, to retain his duties. The next day General Porter called together all section chiefs of the Fifteenth and outlined the mission of the Fifteenth and explained its assignment to Twelfth Army Group and Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
(SHAEF).
On 16 January 1945 Major General (then Lieutenant General) Leonard T. Gerow
assumed command of the Fifteenth Army.
From mid-January 1945 until March the Fifteenth U.S. Army was charged with rehabilitating, re-equipping and training various units of the 12th Army Group that had suffered heavy losses during the Ardennes campaign. It processed all new units which arrived at northern European ports through the staging areas until their 12th Army Group assignment.
General Eisenhower inserted the Fifteenth Army (under U.S. 12th Army Group
) to hold the Ruhr Pocket along the Rhine. Ninth United States Army and First United States Army were to pressure the German defenders from the north, east, and south. 18 days later First and Ninth met at Paderborn, with Fifteenth holding the western side of the encirclement.
On 15 March 1945 Fifteenth Army assumed command of the forces that were bottling up the German forces left behind in the French Atlantic ports. Fifteenth Army also turned east and assumed a defensive position (using XXII Corps) on the west bank of the Rhine from Bonn to Hamburg.
Fifteenth Army never entered the main line of battle. However, its formations did see some action, when it contained and then reduced the enormous Ruhr Pocket
from the west during April 1945 in conjunction with elements of Ninth Army. This resulted in the capture of 325,000 German prisoners. Fifteenth Army would take over occupation duties in the region as Ninth Army and First Army pushed farther into Germany.
In April 1945 the Fifteenth Army crossed the Rhine, 2–3 weeks behind the other Allied Field Armies. It took over responsibility for the Hesse, Saarland, Pfalz, and Rhine provinces, where it processed many German POW's and Displaced Persons.
After V-E Day, Fifteenth Army's task was to organize the Theater General Board whose purpose was to study, analyze and document past operations in the European Theater.
Some intelligence gathering interviews were also conducted by divisions of the Fifteenth U.S. Army.
, the Rhineland-Palatinate
and Saarland
. However, in the summer of 1945, the occupation mission in this sector was assumed in the north by the British Army and in the south by the French Army.
Subsequently, the Fifteenth U.S. Army consisted solely of a small staff quartered at Bad Nauheim
in the interior of Germany. It consisted of a headquarters and special troops assigned to gather historical data on Allied operations during the war.
During the Occupation, on 2 May 1945 the Fifteenth Army received for safekeeping the Crown of St. Stephen
. It was transferred for storage at Fort Knox
, Kentucky and returned to the Hungarian Government 5 January 1978.
in October 1945. Gen. Patton was appointed Commander, Fifteenth United States Army, and President of the European Theater General Board on 14 October 1945. This appointment was a transfer from Third United States Army; a move which has been characterized as Patton being "kicked upstairs." In actuality the move took away much of the power Patton had in Bavaria in post-War Germany while attempting to maintain some respect for his accomplishments in the war. By this point the Fifteenth was a small organization concerned with documentation of tactical lessons to be learned from the war. Patton was unhappy with the transfer from Third Army but actually told friends the transfer was in line with what was his favorite mental occupation since he was seven years old: the study of war.
Coincidentally, John Eisenhower
, son of General Dwight D. Eisenhower
, had only recently (September, 1945) been assigned to Fifteenth U.S. Army. In his book General Ike: A Personal Reminiscence he writes that one day in October 1945 'Ike' told him I had to fire George Patton today. John Eisenhower then served under Patton for a short time.
Continuing as commander of Fifteenth U.S. Army, in November 1945 Patton replaced Gen. Eisenhower as commander of U.S. Forces in Europe. He was very conflicted during this time, and even considered resigning from the Army (instead of retiring, which would leave him still subject to Army regulations). Saying that a hunting trip might be a good outing to take his mind off his present difficulties, he set out by car to go pheasant hunting. On the way Gen. Patton's limousine was involved in a collision and he died later from his injuries, on 21 December 1945.
Major General Hobart R. Gay
became commander of the Fifteenth Army in January 1946. Gay had been Chief of Staff of Third U.S. Army from February 1944 to October 1945, and then Chief of Staff of Fifteenth Army. He remained commander of Fifteenth Army for only about a month, becoming commander of the 1st Armored Division
in February 1946.
The Headquarters at Bad Nauheim
, Germany was inactivated 31 January 1946.
(list is incomplete)
Field army
A Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
to see service in northwest Europe during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and was the final command of General George S. Patton
George S. Patton
George Smith Patton, Jr. was a United States Army officer best known for his leadership while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War II. He was also well known for his eccentricity and controversial outspokenness.Patton was commissioned in the U.S. Army after his graduation from...
. The Fifteenth Army served two separate missions while assigned to the area. During the later stages of World War II its mission was training and rehabilitating units and acting as a defensive line against counterattacks. After the war its mission was to carry out occupation duties and to gather historical information related to the European Theater of Operations
European Theater of Operations
The European Theater of Operations, United States Army was a United States Army formation which directed U.S. Army operations in parts of Europe from 1942 to 1945. It referred to Army Ground Forces, United States Army Air Forces, and Army Service Forces operations north of Italy and the...
, or ETO. The Fifteenth Army was deactivated in 1946 and has not been activated since.
Early formation
Fifteenth Army was first activated 21 August 1944 at Fort Sam HoustonFort Sam Houston
Fort Sam Houston is a U.S. Army post in San Antonio, Texas.Known colloquially as "Fort Sam," it is named for the first President of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston....
, Texas, by a transfer of a group of personnel from the Fourth United States Army. No general officer was included in the transfer. Major General John P. Lucas
John P. Lucas
John Porter Lucas was an American Major General and one of the commanders of VI Corps during the Italian Campaign of the Mediterranean Theater of World War II.-Early career:...
was commanding general designate of the new Fifteenth Army in addition to his other duties. Headquarters, Fifteenth Army was then assigned to the Fourth Army.
On 18 October 1944 an advanced detachment was directed to report to the New York Port of Embarkation. From 2 November 1944 until 2 January 1945 at such time as Fifteenth Army left Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, bound for movement overseas, Colonel Louis Compton was designated commander of Fifteenth Army. From New York, on 3 November, they sailed bound for Greenock
Greenock
Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in United Kingdom, and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland...
, Scotland on the Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily in the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line...
, arriving 10 November 1944. The detachment proceeded to an estate called Doddington Hall
Doddington, Cheshire
Doddington is a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, which lies to the north east of Audlem and to the south of Crewe. Nearby villages include Blakenhall, Bridgemere, Checkley, Hatherton, Walgherton and Wybunbury...
in Cheshire, England, where they were billeted with XXII Corps which later came under operational control of Fifteenth Army.
The main body of the Fifteenth Army sailed from New York aboard the Aquitania
RMS Aquitania
RMS Aquitania was a Cunard Line ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland. She was launched on 21 April 1913 and sailed on her maiden voyage to New York on 30 May 1914...
on 15 November 1944 and dropped anchor in the Firth of Clyde
Firth of Clyde
The Firth of Clyde forms a large area of coastal water, sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre peninsula which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire, Scotland. The Kilbrannan Sound is a large arm of the Firth of Clyde, separating the Kintyre Peninsula from the Isle of Arran.At...
off Gourock
Gourock
Gourock is a town falling within the Inverclyde council area and formerly forming a burgh of the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It has in the past functioned as a seaside resort on the Firth of Clyde...
, Scotland on 22 November. On 24 November, the temporary Fifteenth Army Headquarters began operations at Doddington Hall.
On 25 November 1944 orders were given to place Fifteenth Army under 12th Army Group. Organization continued with a command post established at Chateau d'Ardennes although the main components of the Fifteenth remained in England. As the German offensive now known as the Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...
began, the CP was in danger and the headquarters evacuated to Cerfontaine, Belgium. The headquarters moved again on 24 December 1944 to Fme de Suippes in France.
On 25 December 1944 the main body left Doddington Hall for a staging area in Southampton, England and boarded the British Landing ship
Landing Ship, Infantry
Landing Ship, Infantry was a British term for a type of ship used to transport infantry in amphibious warfare during the Second World War...
Empire Javelin the next afternoon. The Fifteenth Army group consisted of 208 officers and 624 enlisted men. An additional 652 men plus the British crew were on board. Crossing the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
a few days later, on 28 December 1944, the ship was struck by a torpedo from the German submarine U-772. A French frigate, L'Escarmouche, and some smaller vessels came to the rescue. L'Escarmouche was attached to the side of the Empire Javelin and many of the men jumped from the deck of the Empire Javelin to L'Escarmouche. Some men were rescued from life rafts and one life boat and some were pulled out of the water. About 10 minutes after a second explosion, the Empire Javelin sank at about 5:25 pm. Thirteen men were missing in action and 20 men were injured in this incident.
Entering operational status
General Ray Edison PorterRay E. Porter
Ray Edison Porter was a U.S. Army Major General from Arkansas. In World War II he worked on the Africa campaign, in the War Department, and then led the 75th Infantry Division. Dwight D. Eisenhower named him as one of fifty who took over the ASF's Project Planning Division, the Special Planning...
assumed command of the Fifteenth Army on 2 January 1945. No staff accompanied him and he directed the Acting Chief of Staff, Colonel Donegan, to retain his duties. The next day General Porter called together all section chiefs of the Fifteenth and outlined the mission of the Fifteenth and explained its assignment to Twelfth Army Group and Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force , was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was in command of SHAEF throughout its existence...
(SHAEF).
On 16 January 1945 Major General (then Lieutenant General) Leonard T. Gerow
Leonard T. Gerow
Leonard Townsend Gerow was a United States Army general.-Early life:Gerow was born in Petersburg, Virginia. The name Gerow is derived from the French name "Giraud". Gerow attended high school in Petersburg and then attended the Virginia Military Institute. He was three times elected class...
assumed command of the Fifteenth Army.
From mid-January 1945 until March the Fifteenth U.S. Army was charged with rehabilitating, re-equipping and training various units of the 12th Army Group that had suffered heavy losses during the Ardennes campaign. It processed all new units which arrived at northern European ports through the staging areas until their 12th Army Group assignment.
General Eisenhower inserted the Fifteenth Army (under U.S. 12th Army Group
U.S. 12th Army Group
The Twelfth United States Army Group was the largest and most powerful United States Army formation ever to take to the field. It controlled the majority of American forces on the Western Front in 1944 and 1945...
) to hold the Ruhr Pocket along the Rhine. Ninth United States Army and First United States Army were to pressure the German defenders from the north, east, and south. 18 days later First and Ninth met at Paderborn, with Fifteenth holding the western side of the encirclement.
On 15 March 1945 Fifteenth Army assumed command of the forces that were bottling up the German forces left behind in the French Atlantic ports. Fifteenth Army also turned east and assumed a defensive position (using XXII Corps) on the west bank of the Rhine from Bonn to Hamburg.
Fifteenth Army never entered the main line of battle. However, its formations did see some action, when it contained and then reduced the enormous Ruhr Pocket
Ruhr Pocket
The Ruhr Pocket was a battle of encirclement that took place in late March and early April 1945, near the end of World War II, in the Ruhr Area of Germany. For all intents and purposes, it marked the end of major organized resistance on Nazi Germany's Western Front, as more than 300,000 troops were...
from the west during April 1945 in conjunction with elements of Ninth Army. This resulted in the capture of 325,000 German prisoners. Fifteenth Army would take over occupation duties in the region as Ninth Army and First Army pushed farther into Germany.
In April 1945 the Fifteenth Army crossed the Rhine, 2–3 weeks behind the other Allied Field Armies. It took over responsibility for the Hesse, Saarland, Pfalz, and Rhine provinces, where it processed many German POW's and Displaced Persons.
After V-E Day, Fifteenth Army's task was to organize the Theater General Board whose purpose was to study, analyze and document past operations in the European Theater.
Some intelligence gathering interviews were also conducted by divisions of the Fifteenth U.S. Army.
Occupation
The Fifteenth Army was originally intended to command occupation forces in the Rhine Province, Saarland, Palatinate (Pfalz), and part of Hesse, areas now primarily parts of the German states of North Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
, the Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
and Saarland
Saarland
Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...
. However, in the summer of 1945, the occupation mission in this sector was assumed in the north by the British Army and in the south by the French Army.
Subsequently, the Fifteenth U.S. Army consisted solely of a small staff quartered at Bad Nauheim
Bad Nauheim
Bad Nauheim is a town in the Wetteraukreis district of Hesse state of Germany. , Bad Nauheim has a population of 30,365. The town is located approximately 35 kilometers north of Frankfurt am Main, on the east edge of the Taunus mountain range. It is a world-famous resort, noted for its salt...
in the interior of Germany. It consisted of a headquarters and special troops assigned to gather historical data on Allied operations during the war.
During the Occupation, on 2 May 1945 the Fifteenth Army received for safekeeping the Crown of St. Stephen
Crown of St. Stephen
The Holy Crown of Hungary , also known as the Crown of Saint Stephen, was the coronation crown used by the Kingdom of Hungary for most of its existence.The Crown was bound to the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, The Holy Crown of Hungary (Hungarian: Magyar Szent Korona, German: Stephanskrone,...
. It was transferred for storage at Fort Knox
Fort Knox
Fort Knox is a United States Army post in Kentucky south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. The base covers parts of Bullitt, Hardin, and Meade counties. It currently holds the Army Human Resources Center of Excellence to include the Army Human Resources Command, United States Army Cadet...
, Kentucky and returned to the Hungarian Government 5 January 1978.
Patton
General Gerow remained in command of Fifteenth Army until he was succeeded by General George S. PattonGeorge S. Patton
George Smith Patton, Jr. was a United States Army officer best known for his leadership while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War II. He was also well known for his eccentricity and controversial outspokenness.Patton was commissioned in the U.S. Army after his graduation from...
in October 1945. Gen. Patton was appointed Commander, Fifteenth United States Army, and President of the European Theater General Board on 14 October 1945. This appointment was a transfer from Third United States Army; a move which has been characterized as Patton being "kicked upstairs." In actuality the move took away much of the power Patton had in Bavaria in post-War Germany while attempting to maintain some respect for his accomplishments in the war. By this point the Fifteenth was a small organization concerned with documentation of tactical lessons to be learned from the war. Patton was unhappy with the transfer from Third Army but actually told friends the transfer was in line with what was his favorite mental occupation since he was seven years old: the study of war.
Coincidentally, John Eisenhower
John Eisenhower
John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower is the son of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his wife Mamie. He is a retired United States Army officer and the author of several books of military history. He served as the U.S...
, son of General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
, had only recently (September, 1945) been assigned to Fifteenth U.S. Army. In his book General Ike: A Personal Reminiscence he writes that one day in October 1945 'Ike' told him I had to fire George Patton today. John Eisenhower then served under Patton for a short time.
Continuing as commander of Fifteenth U.S. Army, in November 1945 Patton replaced Gen. Eisenhower as commander of U.S. Forces in Europe. He was very conflicted during this time, and even considered resigning from the Army (instead of retiring, which would leave him still subject to Army regulations). Saying that a hunting trip might be a good outing to take his mind off his present difficulties, he set out by car to go pheasant hunting. On the way Gen. Patton's limousine was involved in a collision and he died later from his injuries, on 21 December 1945.
Major General Hobart R. Gay
Hobart R. Gay
Lieutenant General Hobart Raymond Gay , nicknamed "Hap", was a United States Army general.-Early military career:...
became commander of the Fifteenth Army in January 1946. Gay had been Chief of Staff of Third U.S. Army from February 1944 to October 1945, and then Chief of Staff of Fifteenth Army. He remained commander of Fifteenth Army for only about a month, becoming commander of the 1st Armored Division
1st Armored Division (United States)
The 1st Armored Division—nicknamed "Old Ironsides"—is a standing armored division of the United States Army with base of operations in Fort Bliss, Texas. It was the first armored division of the U.S...
in February 1946.
The Headquarters at Bad Nauheim
Bad Nauheim
Bad Nauheim is a town in the Wetteraukreis district of Hesse state of Germany. , Bad Nauheim has a population of 30,365. The town is located approximately 35 kilometers north of Frankfurt am Main, on the east edge of the Taunus mountain range. It is a world-famous resort, noted for its salt...
, Germany was inactivated 31 January 1946.
Subordinate units
- 13th Armored Division (from 21 January 1945 to 30 March 1945)
- 20th Armored Division (from 29 January 1945 to 11 April 1945)
- 28th Infantry Division (from 10 April 1945 to VE Day)
- 82nd Airborne Division, XXII Corps (from 31 March 1945 to 29 April 1945)
- 86th Infantry Division (from 30 January 1945 to 5 April 1945)
- 94th Infantry Division, XXII Corps (from 29 March 1945 to 14 June 1945)
- 95th Infantry Division, XXII Corps (from 31 March 1945 to 1 April 1945)
- 106th Infantry Division (from 10 March 1945; after 15 April 1945 remained in Fifteenth Army attached to ADSECADSECADSEC or ADSEC/COMZ represents "The Advance Section, Communications Zone", European Theater of Operations, United States Army, which was formally activated at Bristol in February 1944. It is commonly referred to as simply 'ADSEC'. This was a U.S. Army logistical agency, the first on the...
) - 54th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade
- 55th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade
- 332nd Engineer General Service Regiment332nd Engineer General Service Regiment332nd Engineer General Service Regiment or 332nd Engineer Regiment was activated as a Special Service Regiment in May 1942, as a unit in the United States Army. Later this unit was redesignated a General Service Regiment. The unit was formed from some regular Army officers and enlisted men, trained...
- 97th Chemical Mortar Battalion
- 351st Field Artillery Battalion (from 21 December 1944 to 7 April 1945)
- 508th Military Police Battalion (from January 1945)
- 606th Engineer Camouflage Battalion (from 29 January 1945)
- 1700th Engineer Combat Battalion (from February 1945)
(list is incomplete)