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. In addition, the USAAF's Ninth Air Force (not included in the 1.3 million soldiers figure) was attached to support the field armies of the Twelfth Army Group.[2]
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.[3]
Twelfth Army Group was inactivated on 12 July 1945 upon Bradley's departure to become Director of the Veterans Administration. Its subordinate elements then became directly subordinate to United States Army Europe.
Staff
Headquarters Twelfth United States Army Group Commanding General and Chiefs of Staff Sections[2]
1 2 Landon, Charles R., ed. (31 July 1945). Report of Operations (Final After Action Report) 12th Army Group (Report). Vol.I Summary. pp.1, 4. OCLC4520568. Retrieved 29 April 2022. [page 1] 12th Army Group "Eagle" [w/talons holding shoulder sleeve insignias of the four numbered armies and the one numbered air force]; [page 4 - table of the headquarters: commander and personal staff; coordinating assistant chiefs of staff; coordinating special staff]
↑ 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 1985
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