The 13th Armored Division arrived in France in January 1945 and moved into the line during the war's final weeks. It entered combat in April during the reduction of the Ruhr Pocket, its combat commands crossing the Sieg and Agger rivers and pushing into the industrial encirclement from the south. The Ruhr Pocket collapsed on April 18 with the surrender of more than 300,000 German troops — the largest encirclement of German forces on the Western Front.

Campaign map image

World War II Campaign Map of the 13th Armored Division. Map courtesy of HistoryShots.

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Released from Ruhr operations, the division drove rapidly south through Frankfurt and into Bavaria, crossing the Main and advancing past Nuremberg as German resistance dissolved. It crossed the Isar south of Munich and reached the Inn River and the town of Braunau am Inn — Hitler's birthplace — near the Austrian border. The campaign lasted barely three weeks of active combat, but the division covered hundreds of miles of exploitation in that span. Its brief service reflected the character of the war's final phase: rapid movement through collapsing opposition, punctuated by the specific weight of the objectives being secured.