The 16th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army in World War II. In its one and only combat operation, the 16th Armored Division liberated the city of Plzeň in western Czechoslovakia (today the Czech Republic), an operation that influenced the landscape of post-war Europe.

History

The division was activated on 15 July 1943 at Camp Chaffee in Arkansas. They performed all of their training at Camp Chaffee until they received their staging orders. They staged at Camp Shanks at Orangeburg, New York on 28 January 1945, until got their port call. They sailed from the New York Port of Embarkation on 5 February 1945. General Patton ordered elements of the 16th AD to move towards Prague, where the German commander was waiting to surrender to US forces, but the troops were recalled to Plzeň per the agreement with the Soviet Union.

Three months later, the 16th AD was still located in Czechoslovakia, in Stříbro (west of Plzeň), on VJ Day.

The division returned to the New York Port of Embarkation on 13 October 1945 and was inactivated at Camp Kilmer in New Jersey on 15 October 1945.

Casualties

  • Total battle casualties: 32
  • Killed in action: 4
  • Headquarters Company
  • Combat Command A
  • Combat Command B
  • Reserve Command
  • 5th Tank Battalion
  • 16th Tank Battalion
  • 26th Tank Battalion
  • 18th Armored Infantry Battalion
  • 64th Armored Infantry Battalion
  • 69th Armored Infantry Battalion
  • 23rd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized)
  • 216th Armored Engineer Battalion
  • 156th Armored Signal Company
  • 16th Armored Division Artillery
  • 393rd Armored Field Artillery Battalion
  • 396th Armored Field Artillery Battalion
  • 397th Armored Field Artillery Battalion
  • 16th Armored Division Trains
  • 137th Armored Ordnance Maintenance Battalion
  • 216th Armored Medical Battalion
  • Military Police Platoon
  • Band

Attachments to the 16th AD

  • 633rd Tank Destroyer Battalion (Self-propelled) 1 May 1945 – 14 June 1945
  • 571st Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion 20 April 1945 – 19 May 1945

I 1st Platoon, 994th Engineer Treadway Bridge Company 6 May 1945 – 10 May 1945

  • B Battery, 987th Field Artillery Battalion (155mm Gun) 6 May 1945 – 15 May 1945

Assignments in the European Theater of Operations

  • 29 January 1945: Fifteenth Army, Twelfth Army Group
  • 17 April 1945: Third Army, Twelfth Army Group
  • 6 May 1945: V Corps, Third Army

See also

  • Prague Offensive
  • United States Third Army
  • Twelfth United States Army Group

References

Bibliography

  • Stanton, Shelby L. (1984) ORDER OF BATTLE: US Army in World War II; Presidio Press:Novato, CA.
  • McGaw, E. J., The Army Almanac: A Book of Facts Concerning the Army of the United States, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1950, pp. 510–592
  • U.S. Army Center of Military History - 16th Armored Division - World War II Divisional Combat Chronicles access date = 3 October 2015