13th Armored Division (United States)

The 13th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army in World War II.

History

The division was activated on 15 October 1942 at Camp Beale, east of Marysville, California.

The 13th Armored, known as the Black Cats, landed at Le Havre, France, 29 January 1945. After performing occupation duties, the Division moved to Homberg near Kassel to prepare for combat under the Third Army, 5 April. At Altenkirchen, it was attached to the XVIII Corps and prepared for the Ruhr Pocket operation. The attack jumped off at Honnef, 10 April. After crossing the Sieg River at Siegburg, the 13th pushed north to Bergisch-Gladbach, then toward Duisburg and Mettmann by 18 April.

Shifting south to Eschenau, the Division prepared for Bavarian operations. Starting from Parsberg, 26 April, the 13th crossed the Regen river, then the Danube at Matting and secured the area near Dunzling. On the 28th, elements closed in at Plattling and crossed the Isar River. Moderate to heavy resistance was met during this drive through southern Germany. The Division smashed into Braunau am Inn, Austria, 2 May, and the command post was set up in the house where Hitler was born. A bridgehead across the Inn was established at Marktl, but the river was not crossed as orders came to reassemble north of Inn, 2 May.