“Patton led the I Armored Corps into combat in North Africa; it was deactivated on the eve of the invasion of Sicily, never to return to active duty.”
By Lee Perna
THE UNITED STATES deployed a total of 24 army corps overseas during the Second World War; all but one were still active at the end of the conflict.
Ironically, the one that was demobilized, I Armored Corps, played a key role in America’s preparations for war. It was also commanded by one of the U.S. Army’s most famous generals: George S. Patton, Jr. The first corps to see action in Europe, I Armored remains largely forgotten today.
Patton led the I Armored Corps into combat in North Africa under the name Western Task Force. It was deactivated on the eve of the invasion of Sicily, never to return to active duty. Nevertheless, it played a pioneering role in the development and deployment of American armored forces.
Formation of the Armored Force
In the 1930s, U.S. Army general Adna Chaffee Jr. was at the forefront of promoting the use of armored forces. At the end of the decade, he commanded the new 7th Cavalry Brigade (Mechanized) through the Louisiana Maneuvers of 1939. It was here that he began to develop the army’s armored doctrine. Two of his primary tenets were that armored forces should be grouped and used together and that infantry should follow and hold the ground taken by armored forces.
With America still neutral, U.S. Army commanders watched the German Blitzkrieg in France with concern. The effective use of panzer and mechanized units spurred the army to quickly expand its own armored forces. Indeed, just over two weeks after the fall of France, the army constituted the I Armored Corps to oversee its two new armored divisions. On July 15, 1940, the corps and the 1st and 2nd Armored divisions were activated with Chaffee in overall command.
Chaffee continued to champion the development of armored forces. In November 1940, his role as commanding general (CG) of the armored forces was separated from CG of the I Armored Corps, and General Charles L. Scott became CG of the corps. During the next year, Scott led the I Armored Corps through a variety of maneuvers and experiments, while Chaffee pushed Congress to create a total of four armored corps with two armored divisions each.
As early as mid-1940, the 4th Infantry Division began experimenting with a motorized configuration similar to the German motorized divisions. The War Department announced its intention to create motorized divisions in November 1940. The 4th Infantry Division, which was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia along with the 2nd Armored Division, became the prototype. Operating with the I Armored Corps in the Carolina Maneuvers of 1941, the 4th Infantry Division tested the U.S. Army’s emerging armored force’s operating principles.
When Chaffee relinquished command of the armored forces due to terminal cancer, General Jacob L. Devers replaced him in August 1941. Devers actively promoted combined arms doctrine and recommended the creation of a “type” armored corps of two armored and one motorized divisions. His requests were initially rejected.
However, when the United States entered World War II, the War Plan Division recommended that a corps of two armored divisions and one motorized division be trained in desert warfare. Before the establishment of the Desert Training Center (see below), Scott was sent to observe the British XXX Corps in North Africa, and Patton was promoted to CG of the I Armored Corps in January 1942.
Patton takes command
In response to the German successes in North Africa, the army began to prepare troops for combat in that theater. The General Headquarters (GHQ) created the Desert Training Center, a sprawling facility in the Mojave and Sonoran deserts of Southern California and Western Arizona.
Patton and his I Armored Corps were put in charge of establishing the center at the beginning of March 1942. Patton took only a few troops with him at first. His initial exercises included only the 2nd Tank Group and a few other small units. Meanwhile, the 1st Armored Division shipped out to Ireland to join the II Corps in training with the British.
By the time Patton’s I Armored Corps took over command of the Desert Training Center in April 1942, the army had activated a total of eight armored divisions and the II Armored Corps. It also converted the 6th, 7th and 8th Divisions to Motorized Divisions. The III and IV Armored corps would be activated in August and September after the new armored divisions had completed basic outfitting and training. Chaffee’s vision of four armored corps was coming to fruition, and the first of them was about to enter combat.
Patton and his headquarters staff were recalled to Washington to begin planning Operation Torch. The II Armored Corps, with the 3rd and 5th Armored divisions and the 7th Motorized Division took over the Desert Training Center at the beginning of August 1942. The next month, Patton’s headquarters was reflagged as the Western Task Force. Under its new name, the staff of the I Armored Corps planned out the invasion of Northern Africa.
Western Task Force
With the departure of the 1st Armored Division for Ireland, the I Armored Corps only had the 2nd Armored Division formally assigned. Although the 4th Motorized Division had exercised extensively with the I Armored Corps, the 3rd and 9th Infantry Divisions had received amphibious training from the amphibious corps of the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets respectively. The planners chose these divisions to round out Patton’s corps. After a period of intensive amphibious training, Patton’s corps landed in Morocco on November 8, 1942, as part of the Torch invasion.
Despite the designation of Western Task Force, Patton continued to wear the patch of the I Armored Corps on his uniforms during the campaign. When his command vehicle landed in Morocco, it bore a flag with “WTF” above the armored forces insignia.
The objective of the Western Task Force was to secure Morocco, starting with the port of Casablanca and its associated airfields. Patton landed his forces in three locations in the face of resistance from pro-Axis local French forces. Despite the initial resistance, Patton was able to secure Casablanca and a cessation of hostilities in three days. Afterwards, Patton’s troops had the difficult and delicate task of securing all of Morocco with the assistance of French forces.
Once Morocco was secured, Patton’s headquarters was reflagged back to I Armored Corps on January 9, 1943. The reactivation of the I Armored Corps was part of the establishment of the Fifth Army. Activated on January 5, the Fifth had the mission to “prepare a well organized, well equipped, and mobile striking force with at least one infantry division and one armored division fully trained in amphibious operations.”
The Fifth Army consisted of the I Armored Corps in Morocco and the II Corps in Algeria. Patton’s I Armored Corps consisted of the 2nd Armored Division, 3rd Infantry Division and 9th Infantry Division along with two tank battalions and two armored field artillery battalions.
After a six-week detachment to command II Corps in Tunisia, Patton returned to command of the I Armored Corps on April 15, 1943. Patton was now focused on the planning and training necessary for the invasion of Sicily. With no active combat in Morocco, the staff of the I Armored Corps took the lead in planning the invasion of Sicily, the largest amphibious assault ever conducted. The American contingent would consist of the I Armored Corps and the II Corps with Patton in overall command of American forces.
Transformation into Seventh Army
As the plan for the invasion was negotiated between Patton and British General Bernard Montgomery, it was determined that the British forces under Montgomery would be designated the British Eighth Army. To clarify Patton’s position as overall commander of the American forces and place him on an equal footing with Montgomery, the I Armored Corps was reflagged as the Seventh United States Army on the eve of the invasion. On July 10, 1943, the I Armored Corps was inactivated off the coast of Sicily.
Despite the inactivation, Patton continued to wear the patch of the I Armored Corps throughout the Sicilian Campaign. Later, as CG of the Third United States Army, Patton wore the insignia of the I Armored Corps on the right side of his dress helmet.
As part of the Army’s overall restructuring in 1943, the corps became a generic headquarters. Motorized divisions were reorganized as infantry divisions in May 1943, and the II, III and IV Armored Corps were redesignated XVIII, XIX and XX Corps in early October 1943, leaving the number XVII for the inactive I Armored Corps. The I Armored Corps was never reactivated, and its pioneering role in American armored warfare and amphibious operations has been largely forgotten.
Lee Perna is a resident of Alexandria, VA and CEO of Potomac Information Collection Services, a small historic research and genealogy company. He is also President of Del Ray Films and a retired officer of the United States Government, having served in a variety of locations around the world.
