Misplaced Pages

#322677

37-777: The VI Corps was activated as VI Army Corps in August 1918 at Neufchâteau , France, serving in the Lorraine Campaign. Constituted in the Organized Reserves in 1921, it was allotted to the Regular Army in 1933 and activated on 1 August 1940 at Fort Sheridan, Illinois . VI Corps took part in some of the most high-profile operations in World War II . By war's end it was part of the Seventh Army of

74-525: A grinding advance against firm German resistance in the Vosges Mountains of eastern France. VI Corps liberated Epinal on 25 September 1944 and pushed on to Bruyères in mid-October 1944. The drive on Saint-Dié ensued but required a month of agonizingly slow advances in the rough terrain of the Vosges. On 25 October 1944, Major General Edward H. Brooks assumed command of the corps when Truscott

111-477: A harsh nine-day house-to-house battle, with Heilbronn being taken by the corps on 12 April 1945. Concurrently, armored units of the VI Corps were stopped and almost cut off during a heavily-fought four-day battle against SS Troops for Crailsheim that ended in a minor defeat for elements of the corps on 10 April 1945. On 17 April 1945, the corps was ordered to move SE to the border of Switzerland. Within ten days,

148-480: Is a temporary line created when a military unit reaches a landing beach by sea and begins to defend the area as other reinforcements arrive. Once a large enough unit is assembled, the invading force can begin advancing inland. The term is sometimes used interchangeably (both correctly and incorrectly) with bridgehead and lodgement . Beachheads were important in many military actions; examples include operations such as Operation Neptune during World War II ,

185-882: The 6th Army Group . In early May 1945 its 103d Infantry Division, which had raced south through Bavaria into Innsbruck , Austria, met up with troops of the 349th Infantry, 88th Division in Vipiteno in the Italian Alps. The VI Corps was activated as VI Army Corps on 1 August 1918 at Neufchâteau , France. It served in the Lorraine Campaign (campaign streamer awarded). VI Corps commanders during World War I were Major General Omar Bundy , from 26 August through 12 September 1918; Major General Charles C. Ballou , from 23 October 1918 through 10 November 1918; Major General Charles T. Menoher , from 10 November 1918 (commanding corps at termination of hostilities). Major General Adelbert Cronkhite commanded from January to April, 1919. The corps

222-579: The Allies had established a firm foothold in Normandy. Operation Overlord also began on D-Day, and continued until Allied forces crossed the River Seine on 19 August 1944. Once an amphibious assault starts, victory tends to go to the side which can reinforce the beachhead most quickly. Occasionally, the amphibious forces do not expand their beachheads quickly enough to create a lodgement area before

259-598: The Battle of Montelimar ended on 28 August 1944, the Germans had suffered 2,100 battle casualties plus 8,000 POWs, while the Americans had 1,575 casualties. The liberation of southern France occurred rapidly, with the corps taking Besançon on 7 September 1944, and fighting its way into Vesoul less than one week later. In mid-September, the character of the fighting changed from the pursuit operations of southern France to

296-679: The Brenner Pass into Italy, and made contact with its old comrades of the U.S. Fifth Army. Within two days, all German forces in the region surrendered unconditionally, ending the war for VI Corps. VI Corps is credited with service in the Lorraine campaign (World War I) and with service in the Naples-Foggia (with arrowhead), Anzio (with arrowhead), Rome-Arno, Southern France (with arrowhead), Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe campaigns of World War II. Headquarters, VI Corps,

333-608: The British Army during its time at Anzio, the British 1st Infantry Division , from 20 January until 21 May, and the British 2nd Commando Brigade and later, in mid-February, the British 56th Infantry Division and, from late March until 22 May, the British 5th Infantry Division . When the corps broke out during Operation Diadem , it was ordered by the Fifth Army commander, Lieutenant General Mark Clark , northwest up

370-463: The British X Corps , under the command of the U.S. Fifth Army as part of Operation Avalanche. The stiffness of the German defences sorely tested the VI Corps and it suffered heavy casualties before German attempts to throw the Americans back into the sea were thwarted by the artillery of the 45th "Thunderbird" and 36th" Arrowhead" Infantry Divisions , strongly supported by naval gunfire, bombing and

407-529: The Korean War (especially at Inchon ), and the Vietnam War . Although many references state that Operation Neptune refers to the naval operations in support of Operation Overlord , the most reliable references make it clear that Overlord referred to the establishment of a large-scale lodgement in Normandy, and that Neptune referred to the landing phase which created the beachhead; Neptune

SECTION 10

#1732772260323

444-594: The Second World War . During the final decades of the nineteenth century and the early ones of the twentieth, Neufchâteau was home to an equestrian Republican Guard (France) brigade. On 19 June 1940 around 100 French soldiers, most of them members of the Twelfth Regiment of Senegalese Fusiliers were shot by German troops in a barn near to Neufchâteau. In 1965 the commune merged with those of adjacent Noncourt and of Rouceux . More recently

481-609: The Ardennes, and like the rest of the U.S. Seventh Army, the VI Corps assumed a defensive stance. At this time, the corps held the front between Bitche and the Rhine River . During the German's Operation Nordwind ( Unternehmen Nordwind ), VI Corps was assaulted by elements of four German corps in the first week of January 1945, and the corps was forced to give ground in bitter winter fighting until 25 January 1945. While fighting

518-715: The German border for the second time. By the end of March, 1945, the corps had assaulted and pierced the Siegfried Line in the Wissembourg Gap and the Bienwald Forest , and driven to the Rhine River north of Karlsruhe . After crossing the Rhine, the corps moved toward Heilbronn in early April, 1945. Bitter resistance by Waffen SS troops, Nazi party auxiliary forces, and other German troops forced

555-518: The Germans began a strategic retreat toward the north. Wishing to avoid a repeat of the Anzio landings, elements of VI Corps moved north rapidly while the beachhead was consolidated. These units established a commanding position over the main route of German retreat near the town of Montelimar . Combat raged for a week over control of the main road through Montelimar with the Germans bent on escape but taking significant losses from U.S. artillery fire. When

592-531: The Regular Army. The corps was activated on 1 August 1940 at Fort Sheridan , Illinois . The future- Abwehr agent Oscar C. Pfaus served in VI corps during the 1920s. The VI Corps took part in some of the most high-profile operations in World War II . The corps, commanded by Major General Ernest J. Dawley , first saw combat during the Allied invasion of Italy when it landed at Salerno on 9 September 1943, along with

629-541: The Vosges arrondissement. Such was its importance that at the height of the revolutionary fervour it lost its name, mutating from Neufchâteau to Mouzon-Meuse. The town regained its former name as the political temperature cooled, but during the ensuing two centuries it found itself occupied by foreign troops during the Napoleonic Wars , during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, and more recently during

666-483: The approach of British Eighth Army from the south. Major General Dawley was replaced after the battle, as he was judged to be worn out. He was replaced by Major General John Lucas . From October to December 1943 VI Corps was involved in a bruising and bloody slog advancing from Naples up the Italian peninsula against the determined rearguard defence of the German 10th Army which skillfully took great advantage of

703-429: The assault troops, coming under Seventh Army . The landing, on 15 August 1944, was not opposed with much fervor, with allied casualties estimated at 95 killed and 385 wounded for the first day. German forces, by comparison, lost over 2,000 men, with the bulk taken prisoner. Fearing their forces in southern France would be caught in a squeeze between the U.S. Seventh Army and allied forces advancing eastward from Normandy ,

740-501: The coast towards Rome instead of advancing northeast to block the German line of retreat from Cassino on the Gustav Line, leading to prolonged and bloody combat before it was taken by a combination of American, British, Canadian , French , and Polish troops . By disobeying his orders Clark received the glory of capturing the vacant Italian capital–abandoned without resistance by the Germans and left an open city –but

777-812: The confluence of the rivers Meuse and Mouzon , the little town dominates the Vosges Plain. It is at the centre of the various communications channels in the south-west of Grand Est , connecting with the région of Champagne to the west. The A31 Autoroute loops around the east side of Neufchâteau, approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) away at its closest point. Four junctions are available according to subsequent destination, these being numbered 8.1, 9, 10 and 11 and being located respectively at Robécourt , Bulgnéville , Châtenois and Colombey-les-Belles . National Road RN74 (in parts downgraded following autoroute network development to Departmental Road RD674) passes through Neufchâteau en route from Nancy in

SECTION 20

#1732772260323

814-453: The corps almost being driven back into the sea for the second time in Italy, again being rescued by naval and air power. When the stalemate was finally broken in the spring of 1944, the corps had lost another commander; Lucas was sacked for his poor performance and replaced by Major General Lucian Truscott , previously the commander of the 3rd Infantry Division . VI Corps also commanded units of

851-544: The corps had conquered Schwäbisch Hall , Kirchheim unter Teck , Schwäbisch Gmünd , Ulm (crossing the Danube River there), Memmingen , and Kempten . On 28 April 1945, the corps crossed into Austria near Füssen . Despite the obvious collapse of Nazi Germany, German forces continued to oppose the corps, forcing it to fight for the Fern Pass during 1–2 May 1945. On 4 May 1945, the corps occupied Innsbruck , crossed

888-406: The fall of Burgundy, French influence over Lorraine turned into control. Richelieu saw to the destruction of the town walls at Neufchâteau, which became formally French along with the rest of Lorraine in 1766 with the death of Duke Stanislas . Three decades later, with the new administrative structure introduced across France in the aftermath of the revolution , the town found itself the capital of

925-470: The favorable terrain in organising successive lines of prepared defenses ( Volturno Line , Barbara Line and Bernhardt Line ). At the end of December, after heavy fighting on the Bernhardt Line (the forward defenses of the formidable Winter Line defenses) without a breakthrough, VI Corps was taken out of the line in an attempt to find a solution to the problem. In its second amphibious assault of

962-516: The ingredients necessary for a good time, including musicians, jugglers and actors. In 1231 Neufchâteau was the first town in Lorraine to receive town privileges . Duke Matthew II granted Neufchâteau a charter which included the right to appoint thirteen people to undertake the functions of a jury, and to elect a mayor. The town was regularly chosen to host conferences convened in order to settle differences arising between Lorraine and France . It

999-508: The north-east to Dijon further to the south-west. The town is on a main railway line connecting with Metz , Nancy , Dijon , Lyon and the south. For a year, in 2006/07, it also found itself a stop on the TGV line to Nice , though the opening of a more direct line put an end to that. One of the oldest towns in Lorraine, Neufchâteau was known as Noviomagus during the Roman period, when it

1036-473: The town hit the headlines when it became the first French commune to renounce its water treatment contract with a large multinational organisation, and take water management back into municipal control. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Current (left) and former (right) coats of arms of Neufchâteau. Inhabitants are called Néocastriens . Neufchâteau was part of the 1998 summit of worldwide cities named "New Castle" with: Beachhead A beachhead

1073-558: The war, it came ashore at Anzio , south of Rome in Operation Shingle in January 1944 which was planned to threaten the rear lines of supply and communication of the German 10th Army. At first German resistance was negligible. However, Major General Lucas felt he needed to consolidate his beachhead before breaking out. This gave the Germans critical time to concentrate forces against him. Another bloody stalemate ensued, with

1110-651: Was a market town along the Pretorian road connecting Lyon with Trier . Other names from this period include Noviomagus and Neomagus, which had mutated to Novum Castrum by 1094 when Thierry , son of the Duke Gérard I constructed a castle here. Writing in the twelfth century, Hugues Metellus described the town in his poem "Garin le Lohérain" as "large and well populated, with a large fortress and abundant wealth" ( « grande et bien peuplée, ayant un chastel principal, des biens en abondance » ). It contained all

1147-572: Was also to Neufchâteau that the Duchess of Lorraine , at this time the regent on behalf of her infant son , called a meeting of the Estates General in 1545. The final decades of the neighbouring Duchy of Burgundy had been a particularly troubled period for Lorraine, and as a principal administrative centre, Neufchâteau had been badly hit by the fighting, being invaded and occupied by a Burgundian garrison in 1436 and again in 1476. After

VI Corps (United States) - Misplaced Pages Continue

1184-416: Was castigated by his peers and superiors for failing to trap and destroy the German forces. This, along with the poor performance at Anzio, would cast a shadow over the reputation of the corps. Following the capture of Rome, VI Corps again left the line, and again prepared for an amphibious assault, its third and last of the war. Operation Dragoon was aimed at capturing southern France, and VI Corps provided

1221-538: Was demobilized on 11 April 1919, at Villerupt , France. (Army Almanac, Stackpole, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 1958, p. 645) The VI Corps was reconstituted in the Organized Reserves on 29 July 1921, and was organized in March 1922 at Chicago, Illinois, in the Sixth Corps Area , responsible for the 6th , 32nd, and 33rd Divisions. It was withdrawn from the Organized Reserves on 1 October 1933 and allotted to

1258-504: Was heavy all through the corps' front, the units of the corps took especially heavy losses in and around the Bas-Rhin towns of Herrlisheim and Drusenheim . The U.S. Seventh Army counter-attacked in the last week of January, 1945, and VI Corps recaptured lost ground north of Strasbourg until its attacks were halted by flooded ground near the Rhine River in mid-February, 1945. The VI Corps resumed its advance in mid-March, 1945, reaching

1295-469: Was promoted to take command of U.S. 5th Army in Italy. VI Corps completed its fight through the Vosges at the end of November, 1944, and moved onto the plains of Alsace . In the first two weeks of December, 1944, the corps liberated Sélestat and Hagenau and advanced to the German border. The German offensive into the Ardennes on 16 December 1944, forced a major redeployment of allied armies south of

1332-723: Was redesignated Headquarters, United States Constabulary , on 1 May 1946. The corps was inactivated on 24 November 1950 in Germany. It was activated and redesignated VI Corps at Camp Atterbury , Indiana on 22 January 1951. It was inactivated on 1 April 1953 at Camp Atterbury , Indiana . Activated 22 November 1957 at Fort Benjamin Harrison , Indiana, part of the U.S. Army Reserve . Moved to Battle Creek in July 1962. The last inactivation occurred on 29 February 1968 at Battle Creek , Michigan . Neufch%C3%A2teau, France Positioned at

1369-548: Was therefore the first part of Overlord . According to the D-Day Museum: The armed forces use codenames to refer to the planning and execution of specific military operations. Operation Overlord was the codename for the Allied invasion of north-west Europe. The assault phase of Operation Overlord was known as Operation Neptune. (...) Operation Neptune began on D-Day (6 June 1944) and ended on 30 June 1944. By this time,

#322677