What the subordinate units of the us seventh army during World War 2?

Answer 1

A US field army, such as the 7th, had no permanent subordinate units. An army usually consisted of at least two corps, and a corps usually consisted of at least two divisions. The organization of the WWII US Army was such that these corps could be shifted around, from army to army, and divisions could be shifted from corps to corps, as the situation demanded.

The first campaign of the 7th Army was Sicily. George S. Patton, Jr. commanded the army, which consisted of the II Corps, under Omar Bradley. Later Patton reorganized and created an additional "provisional corps" under Geoffrey Keyes. II Corps consisted of the 1st, 3rd and 45th Infantry Divisions. The 2nd Armored Division was a "floating reserve" kept aboard ship, to be landed if needed. The 9th Infantry Division was a reserve, kept in North Africa until entering the battle in its later stages. Part of the 82nd Airborne Division made a combat drop the night before the landings, and three of the army's four Ranger battalions were among the first ashore.

The US 7th Army has been slighted by history, in my opinion. This Army entered the fighting in France by way of the Riviera, the Mediterranean coast of southern France, in the "second D-Day" landings of August 15, 1944. Its commander now was the very able and experienced Alexander "Sandy" Patch, who had commanded the last half of the Guadalcanal campaign in the Pacific. The 7th Army, along with the French First Army, made up the 6th Army Group, commanded by another extremely capable officer, Jacob Devers. Neither Devers nor Patch were selected for these commands by Eisenhower, who got to select all other high-level commanders in France. This is one reason the 7th Army has suffered neglect in historical accounts - neither Devers nor Patch were "Eisenhower men". Another factor was that this southernmost Allied Army Group in France had little promise of getting anywhere important. Even if they fought their way to the Rhine and across, on the other side was the Black Forest, and no objectives of great value.

When the 7th Army landed in France it consisted of only the VI Corps. But the VI Corps had three very tough, veteran divisions, among the very best of the WWII US Army. VI Corps was commanded by Lucian K. Truscott, who had moved up from commanding the 3rd Infantry Division. Truscott would go on to command the US 5th Army. Probably the best US combat division, army or Marine, was the 3rd Infantry Division, which hit the beach along with the 36th and 45th Infantry Divisions as part of VI Corps. Also participating in the Operation Dragoon landings was the 1st Airborne Task Force, which was of near division strength, under Robert T. Frederick. Frederick had commanded the "Devil's Brigade" of movie fame in Italy, which was the First Special Service Force, a hand-picked, all volunteer outfit of Americans and Canadians. The Forcemen were the nucleus of this Airborne Task Force, and there were several US parachute battalions, a glider battalion, an airborne artillery battalion and some British paratroopers as well.

The 7th Army drove north for about 400 miles in a month, up the Valley of the Rhone River, and linked up with the 3rd Army coming from Normandy near Dijon, France, about September 13. After this linkup the VI Corps got two additional infantry divisions, the 100th and 103rd, and the 14th Armored Division, all brand new. Truscott departed for army command and Ned Brooks moved up from 2nd Armored Division to command VI Corps. 7th Army also got another Corps, the XV, under Wade Hampton Haislip. XV Corps had the 44th and 79th Infantry Divisions, and soon the 12th Armored Division.

In December the 42nd, 63rd and 70th Infantry Divisions were assigned to 7th Army.

In January the 7th Army got a third Corps, the XXI, under Frank W. Milburn. The XXI Corps had a new Division, the 75th, the veteran 3rd was moved in from VI Corps, and the 28th Infantry Division, refitted after being overrun the first morning of the Battle of the Bulge up north in Belgium. Later the 12th Armored Division was moved into XXI Corps from XV Corps.

In March the 13th Airborne Division was assigned to 7th Army, and the 10th Armored also was assigned, joining Brook's VI Corps.

The 14th Armored Division was switched to Patton's 3rd Army, just north of 7th Army, in late April. The 20th Armored Division was assigned to 7th Army at around the same time.

In addition to these divisions, the 7th Army and its Corps would have had what were called "army troops" or "corps troops". Many of these were "independent battalions", independent because they were not an organic permanent part of any larger formation. They were assigned to a corps or army, to be moved around to support the divisions as needed. There were a LOT of artillery battalions in this status, as well as engineers and signals, and so on. The Army also had a large number of independent tank battalions and tank destroyer battalions. Tank destroyers were tracked vehicles mounting a large gun (larger than US tanks), but were unarmored. They were intended to destroy enemy tanks, but the idea is obviously a poor one. Tank destroyers were better employed as self-propelled artillery. There was usually a tank battalion "attached" to each infantry division, sometimes more or less permanently. This gave tank support to the infantry and left the armored divisions free for exploitation of breakthroughs.

If youre interested in another type of unit or one of the independent battalions, you might want to search for an Order of Battle. This is a list of all units within a command at a certain time. So, say, search for "Order of Battle 7th Army Operation Dragoon" for instance.

Answer 2

I own a copy of the unit history of XII Corps, US Army during WW 2.