XIII Corps (United States)

Last updated

XIII Corps
USA - XIII Corps.png
Shoulder sleeve insignia of XIII Corps
Active1933–45
1958–70
Country Flag of the United States.svg United States
BranchFlag of the United States Army.svg  United States Army
Engagements World War II
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Emil F. Reinhardt
Alvan Cullom Gillem, Jr.

History

Interwar period

XIII Corps (I)

The XIII Corps was authorized by the National Defense Act of 1920, and was to be composed of units of the Organized Reserve located primarily in the Third Corps Area. The Headquarters and Headquarters Company were constituted on 29 July 1921 in the Regular Army, allotted to the Third Corps Area, and assigned to the Fourth Army. The Headquarters was organized about November 1921 with Reserve personnel at Fort Howard, Maryland. The Headquarters Company was organized with Reserve personnel in February 1923 at York, Pennsylvania. Though there seems to be no definitive information available, the corps headquarters appears to have been inactivated sometime in 1925. The Headquarters Company was inactivated on 19 July 1929 at Fort Howard. The Headquarters was withdrawn from the Regular Army on 1 October 1933 and demobilized.

Contents

XIII Corps (II)

The second iteration of the XIII Corps was constituted in the Organized Reserve on 1 October 1933, allotted to the Third Corps Area, and assigned to the First Army. This new corps’ designated headquarters location for organization purposes was Fort Howard. In the event of mobilization, it was to be organized with Regular Army officers from the Third Corps Area and with Reserve personnel already assigned to the corps headquarters and headquarters company in peacetime. The designated mobilization station was Camp George G. Meade, Maryland, where the corps headquarters would assume command and control of its subordinate corps troops, which would then be mobilizing throughout the Third Corps Area. It was redesignated on 1 January 1941 as Headquarters, XIII Army Corps. The XIII Corps was not initiated nor activated prior to World War II. [1]

World War II

The XIII Corps was activated on 7 December 1942 at Providence, Rhode Island, the XIII Corps fought for 180 days in the European Theater of Operations, from the Netherlands to the Elbe River. It was first activated under the command of then-Major General Emil F. Reinhardt, but would be commanded in combat by Major General (later Lieutenant General) Alvan C. Gillem, Jr. as a subordinate unit to Ninth U.S. Army, it under the command of the Allied 21st Army Group. In November 1944, the XIII Corps pierced the Siegfried Line and pushed to the Roer River. On 23 February 1945, the corps routed Third Reich forces in the Cologne Plain and made a dash for the Rhine on 31 March of that year. In 180 days of combat, the corps had progressed as far as the Elbe River to the vicinity of Tangermunde, bringing it to approximately 50 miles from Berlin, the closest American forces would come to the enemy capital before V-E Day.

In total, the corps fought across more than 300 miles of enemy territory and captured more than 247,000 prisoners, as well as taking key cities, such as Viersen, Krefeld, Moers, Homburg, Münster, and Hannover. In the month following V-E Day, units from the corps were redeployed. Corps headquarters would eventually find its way to Camp Cooke, California, where on 25 September 1945, XIII Corps was inactivated.

The corps was subsequently active as part of the Regular Army from 1958 until 1970 at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. [2]

Order of battle

During operations in Europe the corps major units included:

  • the 84th, 102nd, 29th and 35th infantry divisions
  • the 5th Armored Division
  • the 17th Airborne Division
  • the 11th Cavalry Group
  • the 19th Anti-aircraft Artillery Group.
  • Corps Field Artillery Groups included the 196th, the 202nd, the 411th, the 422nd or the 472nd with the 2d, 70th, 83rd armored, 252nd, 280th, 349th, 695th armored, 753rd, 754th, 755th, 774th, 777th, 787th and 808th artillery battalions.

Other units included: the 3rd and 92nd Chemical Mortar Battalions, 226th Searchlight Battalion, the 135th AAA Gun Battalion, the 556th AAA Automatic Weapons Battalion, the 125th Liaison Squadron (flying Cubs and L-5s), 21st Weather Squadron, 40th Mobile Communications Squadron, 669th Engineer Topographical Company (Corps), 3258th Signal Services Company, 232nd Army Postal Unit, 213th Counter-intelligence Corps Detachment, the 167th and 168th Signal Photo Companies, 1st platoon/278th Signal Pigeon Company, the 184th Medical Battalion (with the 446th and 448th Medical Collecting Companies and the 625th Medical Clearing Company), 822nd Military Police Company, the 80th Quartermaster Battalion (663rd and 648th Quartermaster Truck Companies), the 866th Quartermaster Fumigation and Bath Company, the 102nd, 103rd and 104th Interrogation of Prisoners of War teams, the 457th and 458th Military Intelligence Interpreters teams, the 46th Order of Battle team and the 70th and 101st Photo Interpretation teams. [3]

The corps officially met with the Soviet troops in Gartow where General Gillem met with Lieutenant General Oslikowski of the 3rd Cavalry Corps of the Red Army.

Commanders

Artillery commanders

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VII Corps (United States)</span> Military unit

The VII Army Corps of the United States Army was one of the two principal corps of the United States Army Europe during the Cold War. Activated in 1918 for World War I, it was reactivated for World War II and again during the Cold War. During both World War II and the Cold War it was subordinate to the Seventh Army, or USAREUR and was headquartered at Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart, West Germany, from 1951 until it was redeployed to the US after significant success in the Gulf War in 1991, then inactivated in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">14th Armored Division (United States)</span> Military unit

The 14th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army assigned to the Seventh Army of the Sixth Army Group during World War II. It remains on the permanent roll of the Regular Army as an inactive division, and is eligible for reactivation. The division is officially nicknamed the "Liberators".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">5th Infantry Division (United States)</span> Inactive US Army formation

The 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized)—nicknamed the "Red Diamond", or the "Red Devils" —was an infantry division of the United States Army that served in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War, and with NATO and the U.S. Army III Corps. It was deactivated on 24 November 1992 and reflagged as the 2nd Armored Division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">35th Infantry Division (United States)</span> U.S. Army National Guard formation

The 35th Infantry Division, formerly known as the 35th Division, is an infantry formation of the United States Army National Guard headquartered at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">84th Division (United States)</span> Military unit

The 84th Training Command ("Railsplitters") is a formation of the United States Army. During World War I it was designated the 84th Division, American Expeditionary Forces; during World War II it was known as the 84th Infantry Division. From 1946 to 1952, the division was a part of the United States Army Reserve as the 84th Airborne Division. In 1959, the division was reorganized and redesignated once more as the 84th Division. The division was headquartered in Milwaukee in command of over 4,100 soldiers divided into eight brigades—including an ROTC brigade—spread throughout seven states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">80th Division (United States)</span> US Army formation

The 80th Training Command is a formation of the United States Army Reserve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">100th Infantry Division (United States)</span> US Army formation

The 100th Training Division (Leader Development) (formerly the 100th Infantry Division) is a division of the United States Army headquartered at Fort Knox, Kentucky. It currently serves as a major training command of the United States Army Reserve. It has been known as the "Century Division" owing to its "100th" designation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">102nd Infantry Division (United States)</span> US Army training formation

The 102nd Infantry Division ("Ozark") was a unit of the United States Army in World War II. The unit is currently active as the 102nd Training Division (Maneuver Support).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">103rd Infantry Division (United States)</span> Military unit

The 103rd Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army that served in the U.S. Seventh Army of the 6th Army Group during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">79th Infantry Division (United States)</span> Military unit

The 79th Infantry Division was an infantry formation of the United States Army Reserve in World Wars I and II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">94th Infantry Division (United States)</span> Military unit

The 94th Division was a unit of the United States Army in World War I, and of the Organized Reserve Corps in 1921 until 1942.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">96th Infantry Division (United States)</span> Military unit

The 96th Infantry Division was an infantry division (military) of the United States Army. It was formed in 1918 and served in World War I and in the Pacific War during World War II. It was reformed after the war and was part of the United States Army Reserve until 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">98th Infantry Division (United States)</span> Military unit

The 98th Infantry Division ("Iroquois") was a unit of the United States Army in the closing months of World War I and during World War II. The unit is now one of the U.S. Army Reserve's training divisions, officially known as the 98th Training Division. Its primary mission is to conduct Initial Entry Training (IET) for new soldiers. It is one of three training divisions subordinate to the 108th Training Command (IET) and handles command and control of units throughout the eastern United States and in Puerto Rico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">76th Infantry Division (United States)</span> Military unit

The 76th Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army in World War I, World War II and the Cold War. The division was inactivated in 1996 and has been reconstituted as the 76th US Army Reserve Operational Response Command in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">70th Infantry Division (United States)</span> Military unit

The 70th Infantry Division ("Trailblazers") was a unit of the United States Army in World War II, spearheading the Seventh United States Army's drive into Germany, south of Saarbrücken.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">9th Infantry Division (United States)</span> Military unit

The 9th Infantry Division is an inactive infantry division of the United States Army. It was formed as the 9th Division during World War I, but never deployed overseas. In later years it was an important unit of the U.S. Army during World War II and the Vietnam War. It was also activated as a peacetime readiness unit from 1947 to 1962 at Fort Dix, New Jersey as a Training Division, West Germany, and Fort Carson, Colorado as a Full Combat Status Division, and from 1972 to 1991 as an active-duty infantry division at Fort Lewis, Washington. The division was inactivated in December 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2nd Cavalry Division (United States)</span> Military unit

The 2nd Cavalry Division was a cavalry division of the United States Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">199th Infantry Brigade (United States)</span> Military unit

The 199th Infantry Brigade (Light) is a unit of the United States Army which served in the Army Reserve from 1921 to 1940, in the active army from 1966 to 1970 (serving in the Vietnam War), briefly in 1991–1992 at Fort Lewis, and from 2007 as an active army training formation at Fort Moore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">50th Armored Division (United States)</span> Inactive US Army National Guard formation

The 50th Armored Division was a division of the Army National Guard from July 1946 until 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alvan Cullom Gillem Jr.</span> United States Army general (1888–1973)

Lieutenant General Alvan Cullom Gillem Jr. was a United States Army officer who came from a family with a long military tradition and served in World War I, the Russian Civil War, and World War II. Gillem commanded the XIII Corps, Ninth United States Army in the European Theater of Operations from September 1944 to September 1945.

References

  1. Clay, Steven E. (2010). U.S. Army Order of Battle, 1919-1941, Volume 1. The Arms: Major Commands and Infantry Organizations, 1919-41. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press. pp. 173–174.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  2. John B. Wilson, Armies, Corps, Divisions, and Separate Brigades, Center of Military History, Washington DC, 1999. pp. 83–84
  3. Captain Gardner A. Dean, 180 days: XIII Corps, Public Relations Office of the XIII Corps, Peine, Germany, June 1945. pp. 40–42