“What They Said,” is a book compiling various magazine articles
and newspaper stories that have been written about the Fourth Armored
Division since it entered combat.
To print everything that has been written about the division would
require several volumes. Therefore, we have tried to make a
representative selection that will give you a general idea of what
“They”, the war correspondents, the home town newspapers, and the
radios all over the country thought and said about the Fourth Armored
Division.
Some of these stories you may have already read. Others you may be
reading for the first time. Although you might have already read
everything that lies between the covers of this little book, it will
still be prized in years to come--years when you can lean back with
the satisfaction of knowing that you shared in a great victory, and be
reminded of “What They Said”
For those who are new to the division, this book will help you
understand what it means to be a member of the Fourth Armored.
Something of what the Fourth Armored is and has done is related in
this book by impartial people outside the division whose job it was to
report the news as they saw it. _(Public Relations Section.)_
_FDR CITATION TO_
_FOURTH ARMORED_
_SHAEF, March 28--The War Department, by direction of the President,
has cited the entire 4th Armored Division for “extraordinary
tactical accomplishment during the period from December 22 to March
27, inclusive,” it was announced here today._
_This made the 4th Armored the second complete U. S. Army division in
history to be so cited. The 101st Airborne was presented with a
Presidential Citation by General Eisenhower on March 15._
_Referred to by the Nazis as “America’s elite 4th Panzer
Division,” the infantry and tank teams of the 4th spearheaded the 3d
Army’s race across France._
_The 4th has been commanded by Major General John S. Wood and Major
General Hugh J. Gaffey, and is now operating under Major General
William M. Hoge, of Lexington, Mo._
_The 4th Armored’s most recent accomplishments include its move from
Sarreguemines to Arlon; its great drive to relieve the 101st Airborne
at Bastogne; the history-making 60-mile dash to the Rhine River; the
move to Mainz, and the current drive on into Germany._
_Stars and Stripes, March 29, 1945_
[Illustration: General Wood]
Major General John S. Wood
_Division Commander_
_18 June 1942-3 December 1944_
[Illustration: General Clarke]
Brigadier General Bruce C. Clarke
_Division Commander, 20 June 1945-5 July 1945_
_CCA Commander, 1 Nov. 1943-1 Nov. 1944_
NAZIS BLINK IN FATEFUL GLOW
OF SHINIEST HELMET IN E.T.O.
By Roelif Loveland
(Cleveland Plain Dealer)
When Patton came to Third Army briefings his boots were shining
And his helmet was shining, and campaign bars were thick.
Somebody said: “The Germans will see them, general.”
“Hell,” replied Patton, “I want the Germans to see ’em
“And send word back that Patton is on the job.”
That was in Normandy, and a lot has happened since Normandy.
The American Third Army has taken its place in history.
The American Third Army, tanks and tank destroyers and bloody infantry--
The American Third Army, which swept across France, and kept going.
It has gone a long way since that apple orchard in Normandy.
Where Patton gave his first press conference
And talked about his chances of getting to Paris first,
Before any of the other American generals,
Told of a little bet he had made, but that’s his business.
They let the French enter Paris, for obvious reasons,
And Patton and his army kept on fighting.
Third Army correspondents went to Paris en masse; that was
the story,
But the Old Man with the burnished helmet kept on fighting--
Patton and his boys.
They kept going until gasoline and ammunition ran out.
It had been told.
And they sat by the Moselle for nervous weeks.
And when they got the stuff to go with, they went.
And they brought the war home to the German people,
Who had always fought past wars in other people’s back yards.
And the Germans didn’t like it, damn them!
They could dish it out, but they couldn’t take it--
At least not the way other people had taken it for weary years
and years.
I can remember the Fourth Armored Division.
The last time I saw them they were sitting in a field of mud,
And the wind was cold and the rain drenching,
“They dropped some in this morning,” a captain said, “but
hit nothing.”
By one of the tanks the lads had constructed a sort of lean-to.
They were sitting there, on boxes which had contained rations.
The colonel of the outfit, guests being present, broke out cigars.
“German cigars,” he said. “Not too bad, either.”
They weren’t too bad, and they weren’t too good.
There was always one nice thing about an armored outfit--
They got there first, and they corralled most of the wet goods.
They were generous lads, these boys who rode in the stinking tanks.
It was always nice to go and see an armored outfit.
Yesterday the paper said: “The Third Army’s Fourth Armored Division,
“Plunging 19 miles eastward, raced into the outskirts of Gotha,
“Reaching a point three-fourths the way across the Reich
from Czechoslovakia
“And 140 miles from Berlin.”
A lot of the tanks which were in the rain-soaked October mud,
And a lot of the men who were sitting on boxes by the tanks,
And a lot of the infantrymen who were slogging in wet shoes
Very probably never got to Germany at all.
Some of them went to hospitals, and some of them died,
For of such is the institution of war.
But I cannot help feeling proud when I read of Third Army.
I cannot help but feel proud when I think of Third Army.
I cannot forget Patton, with the shiniest helmet in the E. T. O.
Who wanted the Germans to know he was there,
And who, by God, made ’em regret it.
[Illustration: Liberty magazine]
“TIGER JACK’S” SPEARHEADS