IV Corps was a
corps-sized formation of the
United States Army that saw service in both
World War I and
World War II.
World War I
The corps was first organized on 20 June 1918, during
World War I as part of the
American Expeditionary Forces. Under Major General
Charles H. Muir serving on the
Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to:
Military frontiers
*Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...
, as ''Headquarters IV Army Corps''. It participated in the offensives
of St. Mihiel and Lorraine, being demobilized in
Weimar Republic, 11 May 1919.
World War II
Formerly reactivated without interruptions since October 1939, during
World War II, the IV Corps was reconstituted on 27 June 1944, replacing the
VI Corps in the
U.S. Fifth Army
The United States Army North (ARNORTH) is a formation of the United States Army. An Army Service Component Command (ASCC) subordinate to United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM), ARNORTH is the joint force land component of NORTHCOM. 's
order of battle in the
Italian campaign, after
Allied forces liberated the Italian capital of
Rome in the summer of 1944 when VI Corps was withdrawn to take part in
Operation Dragoon
Operation Dragoon (initially Operation Anvil) was the code name for the landing operation of the Allied invasion of Provence (Southern France) on 15August 1944. Despite initially designed to be executed in conjunction with Operation Overlord, th ...
, the Allied invasion of southern France. Initially the corps had two divisions—the
U.S. 1st and
South African 6th Armoured Division
The 6th South African Armoured Division was the second armoured division of the South African Army and was formed during World War II. Established in early 1943, it was based on a nucleus of men from the former 1st South African Infantry Div ...
s—but was reinforced with the
U.S. 92nd Infantry Division from August, the
1st Brazilian Infantry Division from September, and the
U.S. 10th Mountain Division
The 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) is a light infantry division in the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. Formerly designated as a mountain warfare unit, the division was the only one of its size in the US military to rec ...
in February 1945, as well as the
U.S. 85th Infantry Division in April.
Under command of
Major General Willis D. Crittenberger
Lieutenant General Willis Dale Crittenberger (December 2, 1890 – August 4, 1980) was a senior officer of the United States Army. He was a career soldier who served with distinction during the Italian campaign of World War II
Early life and mi ...
, the IV Corps took part in the fighting through the summer of 1944 as the Fifth Army, under the command of
Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, and the
British Eighth Army, commanded by
Lieutenant General Sir Oliver W. H. Leese, advanced north to the
River Arno
The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber.
Source and route
The river originates on Monte Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a sou ...
. In the autumn and winter of 1944 the IV Corps formed the central wing of the Fifth Army's sector, taking the major role in the Fifth Army's assault on the
Gothic Line
The Gothic Line (german: Gotenstellung; it, Linea Gotica) was a German Defense line, defensive line of the Italian Campaign (World War II), Italian Campaign of World War II. It formed Generalfeldmarschall, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring's la ...
in the central
Apennine Mountains
The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...
, fighting to break through to the Lombardy plains beyond.
Inactivation
In the spring of 1945 the corps, still in the Fifth Army's central sector, took part in the successful
Italian spring offensive, breaking out of the Apennines to outflank the units of the
German Tenth and
Fourteenth Armies defending
Bologna and forming a pincer with the British Eighth Army on the right to surround them, and then driving on to the
River Po and finally
Verona and
Brescia.
The corps was inactivated on 13 October 1945, at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, it was reactivated again at Birmingham, Alabama, in 1958 and inactivated at Birmingham in 1968.
[Ibidem Wilson, 1999.]
Bibliography
*
Clark, Mark Wayne. ''Calculated Risk''. New York: Enigma Books, 1950, republished 2007.
*
Moraes, Mascarenhas de, ''The Brazilian Expeditionary Force, By Its Commander'' US Government Printing Office, 1966. ASIN B000PIBXCG
*
Crittenberger, Willis D., "The final campaign across Italy"; (1st Print 1952) (of 1997 printing )
*Wilson, John B. "Armies, Corps, Divisions, and Separate Brigades , Army Lineage Series" U.S. Government Printing Office, 1999. CMH Pub 60-7-1.
Notes
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Military units and formations established in 1918
Military units and formations disestablished in 1968