The US 25th Armored Division was a 'phantom division' created in 1944 as part of

Fortitude South II Fortitude meaning courage or bravery is the ability and willingness to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. It is one of the four cardinal virtues that Aristotle proposed. Fortitude is the most important virtue since other vi ...

to replace the real US 5th Armored Division when that unit was deployed to

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

World War II

As depicted to the Germans the division was formed at Pine Camp,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1941, but did not deploy to England until June 1944 when it joined US XXXIII Corps, US 14th Army. The division was initially based around a headquarters at Wincanton, in

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, but moved to the vicinity of

East Dereham Dereham (), also known as East Dereham, is a town and civil parish in the Breckland District of the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the A47 road, about 15 miles (25 km) west of the city of Norwich and 25 miles (40&nb ...

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in July 1944. In the deception invasion plan for the Pas de Calais, it would have formed with the British 58th Infantry Division the second wave of the invasion, landing on the US 17th Infantry Division beachhead. In the aftermath of Fortitude South II it was depicted as moving to the area around Tidworth Camp in

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during August 1944 where, during September 1944 it was transferred to the command of US XXXVII Corps. The division was disposed of by announcing that it had departed the United Kingdom via

Southampton Southampton () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire, S ...

in October 1944 along with the other units of the US XXXVII Corps.

Composition

In addition to the usual divisional support units the 25th Armored Division was composed of: *72nd Tank Battalion *73rd Tank Battalion *74th Tank Battalion *498th Armored Infantry Battalion *499th Armored Infantry Battalion *500th Armored Infantry Battalion

In popular culture

In the 1988 techno-thriller "Sword Point" by

Harold Coyle Harold William "H.W." Coyle (born February 16, 1952) is an American writer and author of historical and speculative fiction and of war novels including '' Team Yankee'', a ''New York Times'' bestseller. He graduated from the Virginia Military In ...

, the 25th Armored Division is the designation given to one of the formations mobilized to counter a

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invasion of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

References

;Footnotes ;Bibliography * * * {{Allied Military Deception in World War II Operation Quicksilver (deception plan) formations