 Front page |
 Table of Contents |
 The Brittany Campaign |
Front page |
Table of Contents |
The Brittany Campaign |
Division Commander (Maj. General Robert W. Grow)
[Web editor's notes: The handwritten text reads "To the men of the Super Sixth...In the campaigns in Europe, you have shown an exceptional pride in our Division and a high sense of duty that have overcome every hardship of nature and every form of enemy resistance. Our Division has never failed. R W Grow, Maj. Gen. USA, Commanding."
Click on the image above to display a high resolution version of the photo.
Historical footnote: Did General Grow, one of the best armored division commanders
in Europe, and one who played a major role in defeating Germany, return
home to glory and a rewarding retirement? No; in 1952, a Soviet agent
photocopied Grow's personal diary while Grow was a diplomatic attache
in Moscow, and portions of it appeared distorted and
out of context in Communist newspapers, "proving" the warmongering intentions
of the United States. He was court martialed and found guilty of "failing
to safeguard classified information". The entire affair is documented
in meticulous detail by military historian George F. Hofmann in COLD WAR
CASUALTY, The Court-Martial of Major General Robert W. Grow, Kent State
University Press, and available through the 6th Armored Division Association.
Hofmann's research shows Grow to be an honorable, wrongly-persecuted
man, and his Pentagon accusers to be self-serving, politically-motivated
opportunists. Maj. Gen. Robert Grow died in November, 1985.
]
FOREWORD
The primary purpose in publishing this combat history of the 212th Armored Field Artillery Battalion is to render a service to all its members past and present. The book is a lasting, accurate story of the battalion's great achievements in the war in the European Theatre. Wherever we go on our separate ways, we shall have this book as concrete evidence of the close camaraderie, cooperation, teamwork, and sacrifices that made us a great fighting organization.
We had spent years in training, and our staff and personnel were all any commander could ask for. Facing war's realities, we learned lessons not taught in training; we gained battlefield knowledge, we learned the necessity to change the habits of our lives and minds. We emerged from the war the keenest and best of all artillery battalions.
For setting down the facts of this history and arranging for its publication, we are greatly indebted to 1st Lt. Elmer J. Gruber, who has painstakingly sought out from the battle records and operational reports all that is contained in the following pages.
It was my great honor to command the 212th Armored Field Artillery Battalion from January 11,
1943, until June 1, 1945. It is to my regret that I was not able to accompany the battalion home to
the states. No commander was ever privileged to lead a finer group of officers and men: no commander
ever was more proud of the splendid performance of his troops.
Battalion Commander (Lt. Colonel Phillip H.Pope)
[Web editor's note: This black-and-white copy of the 6th Armored's campaign map was bound into the front of the History, and was accompanied by some battalion-specific text. A full-size, color version of the map was folded and bound into the back cover of the History.
Click on the black-and-white image below to display the color version, along with
a reproduction of the text at the bottom of the map that cannot be read at this
resolution.]
21 -- Utah Beach
22 -- Les Mesnils
29 -- Gratot
30 -- Brehal
31 -- Avranches
7 -- Brin-sur-Seille
8 -- Armaucourt
9 -- Leyr
15 -- Montenoy
28 -- Atton
1 -- Luzery
5 -- Isle-le-Pre
15 -- Mont
20 -- Bizory
21 -- Moinet
22 -- Weiler
27 -- Clervaux
7 -- Breidfeld
11 -- Bockholz
24 -- Dasburg. Daleiden, Arzfeld
1 -- Auschaffenburg
VITAL STATISTICS
Killed: 9 Died of wounds: 2 Wounded or injured: 91Number of replacements: 90
Officers: 15 Enlisted men: 75Number of vehicle casualties: 21
A month later the battalion began its armored training in earnest when it moved with the division
to the Mojave Desert in California for 5 months of desert training and maneuvers. Camp Cooke,
California, became the training ground in March 1943, and the division remained there until January,
1944, when it moved to Camp Shanks, New York, preparatory to sailing for Europe. On February 10, 1944,
the battalion embarked from New York Harbor, and on February 24 landed at
Glasgow, Scotland. The final period of training then followed at Ramsden Heath and Stow-on-the-Wold,
England, until July 15th, when the division began its migration to the European Continent,
via the port of Southampton.
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Last updated: August 9, 1997.