The 2d Armored Division liked to be where the fighting was tough, and when the Germans broke through the American lines in the Ardennes counteroffensive, that was where the 2d Armored went. On June 12,1945, the whole outfit was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre- marking the first time that Belgium had ever conferred that decoration on a foreign division. Its powerful machines roamed far and wide across the European countryside, striking into France, Germany, Holland and Belgium.
Early in June 1944, Hell on Wheels charged into Normandy. While the 1st Armored moved into Italy with the Fifth Army, the other of these two veteran tank units was shifted back to England to train for the invasion of France. But the 2nd Armored none-theless contributed materially to the quick defeat of the enemy, fighting at Campobello, Palermo, and other hot spots. The twisting trails of that mountainous island didn’t provide the sort of terrain conditions the tankers were used to, and were a far cry from the flat plains of North Africa. In July 1943, Hell on Wheels struck again, this time at Gela, Sicily.
Elements of the division took part in the Tunisian fighting, in conjunction with the 1st Armored. In the Western Assault Force that had the job of taking Casablanca, back then, was part of the 2nd Armored Division- the outfit that, in later fighting in Sicily, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany, fully established its right to the proud name “Hell on Wheels.” And when the American Army began rolling into Berlin, 32 months after the African landings, the 2d Armored rode at the head of the procession, our first division to enter the enemy capital.Īfter French resistance ceased in North Africa, the 2nd Armored trained with the Fifth Army along the Spanish Morocco frontier. In November 1942, when the Allies landed in North Africa, the ultimate goal of every unit and every soldier in the invasion was Berlin.
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