10th Armored Division Quick Facts
Activated
Jul 5, 1942
Entered Combat
Nov 2, 1944 at Ardennes
Days in Combat
124
Battle Casualties
4,031
Division Type
Armored
Theaters
10th Armored Division Combat History

The 10th Armored Division entered France in the autumn of 1944 and saw its first major action in Lorraine, fighting near the Moselle and in the battles around Fort Driant — the heavily fortified German position whose reduction consumed weeks of American effort.

In December 1944, the division was rushed north in response to the Ardennes counteroffensive. Combat Command B entered Bastogne before the German encirclement closed, its three teams — deployed at Noville, Longvilly, and the southern approaches — fighting holding actions that bought critical hours for the 101st Airborne Division to organize the town's defenses. These teams suffered severely but disrupted the German assault on Bastogne's perimeter during the battle's opening days.

After the Ardennes, the division returned to the offensive in the Saar-Moselle Triangle, and in March 1945 its elements seized a bridge at Trier intact before the division crossed the Rhine at Mannheim and drove south through Württemberg. An overextended thrust to Crailsheim in April was met by German counterattacks that forced a temporary withdrawal, but the advance resumed as resistance collapsed. Crossing the Danube, the division entered Austria and reached Innsbruck — where the 103rd Infantry Division was simultaneously accepting the city's surrender — in the war's final days.

Division Organization 1944/1945
Armor
3rd Tank Battalion
11th Tank Battalion
21st Tank Battalion
Armored Infantry
20th Armored Infantry Battalion
54th Armored Infantry Battalion
61st Armored Infantry Battalion
Field Artillery
419th Armored Field Artillery Battalion
420th Armored Field Artillery Battalion
423rd Armored Field Artillery Battalion
Support Units
90th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron
55th Armored Engineer Battalion
150th Armored Signal Company
80th Armored Medical Battalion
132nd Armored Ordnance Maintenance Battalion
Military Police Platoon
510th CIC Detachment
Sources and Notes

Sources and notes can be found on the Sources page.