Twelfth United States Army Group

The Twelfth United States Army Group was the largest and most powerful United States Army formation ever to take to the field, commanding four field armies at its peak in 1945: First United States Army, Third United States Army, Ninth United States Army and Fifteenth United States Army. Formed eight days after the Normandy landings, it initially controlled the First and the Third US Armies. Through various configurations in 1944 and 1945, the Twelfth US Army Group controlled the majority of American forces on the Western Front. It was commanded by General Omar Bradley with its headquarters established in London on 14 July 1944.

During the first week of the Normandy landings and the Battle of Normandy, Bradley's First US Army formed the right wing of the Allied lines. They were joined during July by the Third US Army, under the command of General George S. Patton, to form the Twelfth Army Group. Twelfth Army Group became operational in France on 1 August 1944. With General Omar Bradley assuming command of the Twelfth Army Group, Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges assumed command of the First Army.

Until 1 September 1944, when General Eisenhower assumed overall command of the Allied land forces in Northwest Europe, the U.S. forces in Normandy were included with the British Second Army and the First Canadian Army in the British headquarters formation 21st Army Group, commanded by General Montgomery.

After the breakout from the beach-head at Normandy, the Twelfth Army Group formed the center of the Allied forces on the Western Front. To the north was the British 21st Army Group (the First Canadian and British Second)) and, to the south, advancing from their landing on the Mediterranean coast, was the Sixth United States Army Group ( Seventh United States Army and French First Army).

As the Twelfth advanced through Germany in 1945, it grew to control four United States field armies: the First, the Third, the Ninth and the Fifteenth. By V-E Day, the Twelfth Army Group was a force that numbered over 1.3 million men.CSI REPORT No. 6, Larger units: Theater Army – Army Group – Field Army, Combat Studies Institute, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, January 198

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Twelfth Army Group was disbanded on 12 July 1945 upon the departure of General Bradley to become Director of the Veterans Administration. Its subordinate elements then became directly subordinate to United States Army Europe.

Order of Battle – 8 May 1945

* 12th Army Group – General Omar N. Bradley
** First Army – General Courtney H. Hodges
*** 78th Infantry Division – Major General Edwin P. Parker Jr.
*** VII Corps – Lieutenant General J. Lawton Collins
**** 9th Infantry Division – Major General Louis A. Craig
**** 9th Armored Division – Major General John W. Leonard
**** 69th Infantry Division – Major General Emil F. Reinhardt
**** 104th Infantry Division – Major General Terry de la Mesa Allen Sr.
** Third Army – General George S. Patton, Jr.
*** 1st Infantry Division – Major General Clift Andrus
*** 2nd Infantry Division – Major General Walter M. Robertson
*** 70th Infantry Division – Major General Allison J. Barnett
*** 97th Infantry Division – Brigadier General Milton B. Halsey
*** III Corps – Major General James Van Fleet
**** 4th Infantry Division – Major General Harold W. Blakeley
**** 14th Armored Division – Major General Albert C. Smith
**** 99th Infantry Division – Major General Walter E. Lauer
*** V Corps – Major General Clarence R. Huebner
**** 16th Armored Division – Brigadier General John L. Pierce
*** XII Corps – Major General Stafford LeRoy Irwin
**** 4th Armored Division – Major General William M. Hoge
**** 5th Infantry Division – Major General Albert E. Brown
**** 11th Armored Division – Major General Holmes E. Dager
**** 26th Infantry Division – Major General Willard S. Paul
**** 90th Infantry Division – Major General Herbert L. Earnest
*** XX Corps – Major General Walton H. Walker
**** 13th Armored Division – Major General John Millikin
**** 65th Infantry Division – Major General Stanley E. Reinhart
**** 71st Infantry Division – Major General Willard G. Wyman
**** 80th Infantry Division – Major General Horace L. McBride
** Ninth Army – Lieutenant General William H. Simpson
*** 2nd Armored Division – Major General Isaac D. White
*** VIII Corps – Major General Troy H. Middleton
**** 6th Armored Division – Major General Robert W. Grow
**** 76th Infantry Division – Major General William R. Schmidt
**** 87th Infantry Division – Major General Frank L. Culin Jr.
**** 89th Infantry Division – Major General Thomas D. Finley
*** XIII Corps – Major General Alvan C. Gillem, Jr.
**** 30th Infantry Division – Major General Leland S. Hobbs
**** 35th Infantry Division – Major General Paul W. Baade
**** 83rd Infantry Division – Major General Robert C. Macon
**** 84th Infantry Division – Major General Alexander R. Bolling
**** 102nd Infantry Division – Major General Frank A. Keating
*** XVI Corps – Major General John B. Anderson
**** 29th Infantry Division – Major General Charles H. Gerhardt
**** 75th Infantry Division – Major General Ray E. Porter
**** 79th Infantry Division – Major General Ira T. Wyche
**** 95th Infantry Division – Major General Harry L. Twaddle
*** XIX Corps – Major General Raymond S. McLain
**** 3rd Armored Division – Brigadier General Doyle O. Hickey
**** 8th Armored Division – Major General John M. Devine
** Fifteenth Army – Lieutenant General Leonard T. Gerow
*** 66th Infantry Division – Major General Herman F. Kramer
*** 106th Infantry Division – Major General Donald A. Stroh
*** XVIII Airborne Corps – Major General Matthew B. Ridgway
**** 5th Armored Division – Major General Lunsford E. Oliver
**** 7th Armored Division – Major General Robert W. Hasbrouck
**** 8th Infantry Division – Major General Bryant E. Moore
**** 82nd Airborne Division – Major General James M. Gavin
**** 101st Airborne Division – Major General William C. Lee
*** XXII Corps – Major General Ernest N. Harmon
**** 17th Airborne Division – Major General William M. Miley
**** 94th Infantry Division – Major General Harry J. Malony
*** XXIII Corps – Major General Hugh J. Gaffey
**** 28th Infantry Division – Major General Norman D. Cota

Source: Bradley, Omar, ''A Soldier's Story'', New York: Henry Holt and Company (1950), pp. 557–561

References and notes

External links

Military situation maps produced by the Engineering Section of the 12th Army Group
– Library of Congress

Omar Nelson Bradley, Lt. General FUSAG 12TH AG
– Omar Bradley's D-Day June 6, 1944 Maps restored, preserved and displayed at Historical Registry

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Military units and formations established in 1944
Military units and formations disestablished in 1945