[Twelfth Armored Division, Scrapbook 5] Page: 3 of 243
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fjN ’ ' ’ , " '
I the HELLCATS IN ACTIDNI
Wh„m! A German 88 answers from direction of pillbox; the shell landed UP “ '^-and one more pillbox falls under the attack of the Hellcats
| I only three yards from the Sherman—but the smart Hellcat tanker was
already down the hatch.
A HISTORY OF THE 12TH ARMORED
DIVISION
Speed and devastating striking power, coupled
with the gallant deeds and heroism of its person-
nel, wrote a glorious history for the 12th Armored
I “Hellcat” Division during its five months of con-
stant combat against the enemy in Europe in World
j War II. “Speed” was its password to Fortress
Europe.
Its activation on September 15, 1942, maneuvers,
I camp training, the boat trip over, the cold days of
j England, and the first hectic days of France—dur-
ing those days the Hellcats gradually acquired the
j fighting spirit and esprit de corps that were to make
the 12th one of the fastest striking, most feared
divisions on the Western Front.
Highlights of the Hellcats’ brilliant record, es-
tablished during 151 fighting days when elements
of the Division were in action continuously, were:
"Bloody Herrlisheim,” a little town north of
Strasbourg, where the Hellcats paid a terrific price
for combat Seasoning, being pitted against a nu-
j merically superior and well entrenched enemy, who I
eventually withdrew still puzzled by the tenacity
l of what he called the “Suicide Division.”
Colmar, where the swiftness and adroitness of the
12th enabled it to snap the steel trap on the Colmar
pocket, routing the Germans from their last strong-
hold in French territory.
Rhineland, when the Hellcats, as the “Mystery
Division” in General Patton’s Third Army, made
their sensational dash from Trier to the Rhine
j across the Saar Palatinate in three days and nights.
Crossing the Rhine, when the Hellcats, after main-
taining a blistering pace and catching the Germans
flat-footed, crossed the historic river March 28,1945.
Dillingen, where an armored force swept into the
town with guns blazing, routed more than 1,000
disorganized defenders, shot up a retreating mech- j
anized column, surged onto an all-important bridge, '
captured a handful of demolition men, and drove
other Nazis away before the span could be blown.
Stamberg to Pfraundorf, when the 17th Armored
Infantry Battalion established what is believed to
be a ground force record for movement through
enemy territory as it traveled the 60 miles between
these two towns in less than nine hours.
Austria, which saw the end of a lightning thrust
that carried the Hellcats from the Rhine to the
Austrian border in 37 days in their last combat
movement of the war.
While those are the highlights of the Hellcats’
record, there were many other heroic deeds and
daring accomplishments of both units and indiv-
iduals in the 12th Armored Division. All combined,
they stamped the Hellcats as an outfit that nothing
could stop, a truly great fighting division.
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United States. Army. Armored Division, 12th. [Twelfth Armored Division, Scrapbook 5], book, Date Unknown; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth639081/m1/3/: accessed June 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The 12th Armored Division Memorial Museum.