VIII Corps (United States)

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=VIII Corps


caption=VIII Corps shoulder sleeve insignia
dates=26 Nov 1918 - 20 Apr 1919
14 Oct 1940 - 15 Dec 1945
country=United States
allegiance=
branch=Regular Army
type=Army Corps
role=
size=
command_structure=
current_commander=
garrison=
ceremonial_chief=
colonel_of_the_regiment=
nickname=
patron=
motto=
colors=
march=
mascot=
battles= Normandy Hedgerows
Normandy Breakout
Battle for Brest
Ardennes Offensive
Battle of Koblenz
notable_commanders=Manton Eddy
Troy H. Middleton
anniversaries=

. After World War II, the corps was inactivated and reactivated several times, with the final inactivation occurring in 1968.

Normandy

Commanded by Major General Troy H. Middleton, VIII Corps was made operational in Normandy on June 15, 1944, and took up defensive positions west of Carentan on the Cotentin Peninsula as part of the U.S. First Army. Attacking in early July, the corps pushed through bocage country, taking La Haye-de-Puits and the Mont Castre forest. After closing on the Ay and Sèves Rivers, VIII Corps joined the allied breakout from Normandy (Operation Cobra) on July 26, 1944. On July 28, the corps took the key road junction of Coutances and liberated Avranches two days later.

Brittany

In a controversial adherence to the original allied plan for the invasion of Normandy, the U.S. 12th Army Group commander, Lieutenant General Omar N. Bradley, directed VIII Corps westward into Brittany on August 1, 1944, with the object of liberating the Breton ports for allied use. This decision was later deemed a poor use of the two armored divisions in the corps, which could have been used far more profitably in the rapid allied advance eastward across France. On August 7, 1944, the corps took the port of Saint-Malo. After an involved battle lasting almost six weeks and characterized by urban combat and reduction of fortifications, VIII Corps liberated Brest on September 19, 1944. Ironically, after so much effort, German demolition proved so effective that the liberated Breton ports were unusable for the remainder of the war. See Battle for Brest for more details.

Ardennes

Reorganizing after the operations in Brittany, VIII Corps moved east to join the rest of the allied forces along the border of Germany. Still part of Ninth Army, the corps took over the front in the Ardennes along the Our River and the Schnee Eifel on October 4, 1944. Because this area of the front was so quiet, the corps was used as an orientation and rest area for new U.S. divisions and divisions that had taken heavy casualties while fighting in the Hurtgen Forest. This mission continued until December 16, 1944, when the Germans attacked VIII Corps with over 20 divisions in what came to be known as the Ardennes Offensive. Faced with overwhelming odds, the northern units of the corps, the U.S. 14th Cavalry Group and the U.S. 106th Infantry Division were pushed back or encircled. On the Schnee Eifel, some 6,700 inexperienced soldiers of VIII Corps were taken prisoner by the Germans. Further south, however, other units of the corps conducted a fighting withdrawal that successfully delayed the Germans long enough for the allies to rush reinforcements to the Ardennes. Units of the corps, in particular the U.S. 101st Airborne Division, famously held the key road junction of Bastogne against a five-day German siege that was broken on December 26, 1944, by armored units of the U.S. Third Army advancing from the south. Four days later, VIII Corps counter-attacked toward the town of Houffalize. On January 16, 1945, the corps made contact with the U.S. First Army near Houffalize, effectively pinching off the western end of the "bulge" made in allied lines by the German attacks. The corps reentered Luxembourg on January 22, 1945, and six days later reached the Our River again.

To the Rhine

In the first week of February, 1945, the corps again occupied the Schnee Eifel and pushed through the Siegfried Line. VIII Corps took Pruem on February 12, 1945 and then cleared Siegfried Line fortifications in the corps area for the remainder of the month. On March 6, 1945, the corps crossed the Kyll River and reached the Rhine River at Andernach on March 9, 1945. On March 16, 1945, the corps assaulted across the Moselle River near Dieblich, and took Koblenz in a three-day battle that ended on March 19, 1945. Against stiff German resistance, VIII Corps assaulted across the Rhine River at Boppard and pushed eastward into central Germany.

Final Operations

Moving north of Frankfurt am Main at the end of March, 1945, the corps moved into the Rhön Mountains by early April. In the first two weeks of April, 1945, VIII Corps cleared the Thuringer Wald and crossed the Gera, Salle, Weiße Elster, and Mulde Rivers in swift succession. By order of the First Army, VIII Corps pulled back to the west side of the Mulde River near the border of Czechoslovakia on April 24, 1945, where the corps was located when Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945.

ubordination

Campaign Credits and Inactivation

VIII Corps is credited with service in the Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe campaigns. Headquarters, VIII Corps, was inactivated on December 15, 1945, at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma. The corps was subsequently activated and inactivated several times, with the last inactivation occurring on April 1, 1968 at Austin, Texas.

References

* Weigley, Russell F. (1981). "Eisenhower's Lieutenants". Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-13333-5.
* Williams, Mary H., compiler (1958). "U. S. Army in World War II, Chronology 1941-1945". Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office.
* Wilson, John B., compiler (1999). "Armies, Corps, Divisions, and Separate Brigades". Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office. ISBN 0-16-049994-1.