The 6th Armored Division landed at Utah Beach on July 19, 1944, and entered combat during the COBRA breakout. Its first elements went through the 8th Infantry Division near Le Bingard on July 27, and Combat Command A secured a Sienne bridgehead near Pont de la Roche two days later. Combat Command R overran Granville on July 31; the division then relieved the 4th Armored around Avranches, secured the bridges there, and swung into Brittany on August 1. By August 7 it had closed on Brest, destroying a German force at Plouvien on August 8-9 while CCA invested Brest and the other combat commands later covered Vannes and Lorient.

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World War II Campaign Map of the 6th Armored Division. Map courtesy of HistoryShots.

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The division shifted east in September, screening the south flank between Orleans and Auxerre and then joining the Lorraine fighting. Combat Command B relieved the 4th Armored at Luneville on September 19. In November the division fought through mud, mines, and craters: it crossed the Seille, mopped up the Nomeny area, established hard-won bridgeheads over the Nied Francaise at Sanry, and cleared Arraincourt. Its advance toward the Maderbach and the Foret de Puttlange was checked by terrain and resistance, but by early December the division had helped bring XII Corps to the Saar, assisting the 35th Infantry Division at Sarreguemines before taking defensive positions near Saarbruecken.

The Ardennes counteroffensive pulled the division north to the Bastogne sector. From December 27 it held the area south of the Sauer between Ettelbruck and Mostroff, then became heavily engaged east of Bastogne around Mageret and Wardin. German attacks forced withdrawals until the division counterattacked on January 8, 1945. It then fought through Bras, Wardin, Mageret, Oubourcy, Moinet, Hill 510, Weiler, and Kalborn before shifting west of the Our. On February 7 it attacked across the Our at Kalborn and Dahnen, held the bridgehead, and renewed the offensive into the West Wall, taking Ober Eisenach and Muxerath before moving to the Pruem-Nims sector.

In March the division attacked from Homburg, reached the Rhine at Rhein-Durkheim, crossed at Oppenheim on March 25, and pushed through the Main bridgehead north of Frankfurt. It crossed the Fulda at Malsfeld, encircled Muhlhausen, took Langensalza, crossed the Saale southwest of Naumburg, and reached the Zwickau Mulde at Rochlitz on April 14. After turning its bridgehead over to the 76th Infantry Division, the 6th Armored held defensive positions along the Mulde until hostilities ended on May 7.