2nd Armored Division - Hell on Wheels

Activated 15 Jul 1940  •  Entered Combat 8 Nov 1942  •  Days of Combat 443  •  Casualties 20,659 

Division Chronicle

Elements of the Division first saw action in North Africa, landing at Casablanca, 8 November 1942, and later taking part in the fighting at Beja, Tunisia, but the Division as a whole did not enter combat until the invasion of Sicily, when it made an assault landing at Gela, 10 July 1943. The Division saw action at Butera, Campobello,-and Palermo. After the Sicilian campaign, the Division trained in England for the cross-Channel invasion, landed in Normandy D plus 3, 9 June 1944, and went into action in the vicinity of Carentan; ; the Division raced across France in July and August, drove through Belgium and attacked across the Albert Canal 13 September 1944, crossing the German border at Schimmert, 18 September to take up defensive positions near Geilenkirchen. On 3 October, the Division launched an attack on the Siegfried Line from Marienberg, broke through, crossed the Wurm River and seized Puffendorf 16 November and Barmen 28 November. The Division was holding positions on the Roer when it was ordered to help contain the German Ardennes offensive. The Division fought in eastern Belgium, blunting the German Fifth Panzer Army's penetration of American lines. The Division helped reduce the Bulge in January, fighting in the Ardennes forest in deep snow, and cleared the area from Houffalize to the Ourthe River of the enemy. After a rest in February, the Division drove on across the Rhine 27 March, and was the first American Division to reach the Elbe at Schonebeck on 11 April. It was halted on the Elbe, 20 April, on orders. In July the Division entered Berlin-the first American unit to enter the German capital city.