VI Corps (United States)

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=VI Corps


caption=VI Corps shoulder sleeve insignia
dates=1 Aug 1940 - 30 Apr 1946
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=
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battles=World War II/Anzio
notable_commanders=John P. Lucas
Lucian Truscott
Edward H. Brooks
anniversaries=The VI Corps took part in some of the most high profile operations in World War II. Constituted in the Organized Reserves in 1921, it was allotted to the Regular Army in 1933 and activated on 1 August 1940 at Fort Sheridan, Illinois.

Italy

The corps' first combat was during the Allied invasion of Italy when it landed at Salerno on September 9, 1943, with the British X Corps under Fifth Army as part of Operation Avalanche. The stiffness of the German defences sorely tested VI Corps and it suffered heavy casualties before German attempts to throw the American force back into the sea were thwarted by the artillery of its 45th and 36th Infantry Divisions, strongly supported by naval gunfire, bombing and the approach of British Eighth Army from the south. The commander of the corps, Major General Ernest J. Dawley, was replaced after Salerno, as he was judged to be worn out.

From October to December 1943 VI Corps was involved in a bruising and bloody slog advancing from Naples up the Italian peninsula against the determined rearguard defence of the German Tenth Army which skillfully took great advantage of the favourable terrain in organising successive lines of prepared defenses (Volturno Line, Barbara Line and Bernhardt Line). At the end of December, after heavy fighting on the Bernhardt Line (the forward defenses of the formidable Winter Line defenses) without a breakthrough, VI Corps was taken out of the line in an attempt to find a solution to the problem. In its second amphibious assault of the war, it went ashore at Anzio, south of Rome in Operation Shingle in January 1944 which was planned to threaten the rear lines of supply and communication of the German Tenth Army. At first German resistance was negligible. However, General John P. Lucas, the general commanding the corps felt he needed to consolidate his beachhead before breaking out. This gave the Germans critical time to concentrate forces against him. Another bloody stalemate ensued, with the corps almost being driven back into the sea for the second time in Italy, again being rescued by naval and air power. When the statemate was finally broken in the spring of 1944, the corps had lost another commander; Lucas was sacked for his poor performance and replaced by Major General Lucian Truscott.

When the corps broke out, it was ordered to do what many considered a very questionable act. Instead of advancing north east to block the line of German retreat from Cassino on the Winter Line, it was sent north west up the coast towards Rome. General Mark W. Clark, the commander of Fifth Army got the glory of capturing the Italian capital city, but was castigated by his peers and superiors for failing to trap and destroy the German forces. This, along with the poor performance at Anzio would cast a shadow over the reputation of the corps.

outhern France

Following the capture of Rome, VI Corps again left the line, and again prepared for an amphibious assault, its third and last of the war. Operation Dragoon was aimed at capturing the south of France, and VI Corps provided the assault troops, coming under Seventh Army. The landing, on August 15, 1944, was not opposed with much fervour, with allied casualties estimated at 95 killed and 385 wounded. German forces, by comparison, lost over 2,000 men, with the bulk taken prisoner. Fearing their forces in southern France would be caught in a squeeze between the U.S. Seventh Army and allied forces advancing eastward from Normandy, the Germans began a strategic retreat toward the north.

Wishing to avoid a repeat of the Anzio landings, elements of VI Corps moved north rapidly while the beachhead was consolidated. These units established a commanding position over the main route of German retreat near the town of Montelimar. Combat raged for a week over control of the main road through Montelimar with the Germans bent on escape but taking significant losses from U.S. artillery fire. When the Battle of Montelimar ended on August 28, 1944, VI Corps had taken 1,575 casualties but inflicted five times that number on their opponents.

Vosges Mountains

The liberation of southern France occurred rapidly, with the corps taking Besançon on September 7, 1944, and fighting its way into Vesoul less than one week later. In mid-September, the character of the fighting changed from the pursuit operations of southern France to a grinding advance against firm German resistance in the Vosges Mountains of eastern France. VI Corps liberated Epinal on September 25, 1944 and pushed on to Bruyères in mid-October 1944. The drive on Saint-Dié ensued but required a month of agonizingly slow advances in the rough terrain of the Vosges. On October 25, 1944, Major General Edward H. Brooks assumed command of the corps when Truscott was promoted to take command of U.S. 5th Army in Italy. VI Corps completed its fight through the Vosges at the end of November, 1944, and moved onto the plains of Alsace.

Alsace

In the first two weeks of December, 1944, the corps liberated Sélestat and Hagenau and advanced to the German border. The German offensive into the Ardennes on December 16, 1944, forced a major redeployment of allied armies south of the Ardennes, and like the rest of the U.S. Seventh Army, the VI Corps assumed a defensive stance. At this time, the corps held the front between Bitche and the Rhine River.

During the German's Operation North Wind ("Unternehmen Nordwind"), VI Corps was assaulted by elements of four German corps in the first week of January, 1945, and the corps was forced to give ground in bitter winter fighting until January 25, 1945. While fighting was heavy all through the corps' front, the units of the corps took especially heavy losses in and around the Bas-Rhin towns of Herrlisheim and Drusenheim. The U.S. Seventh Army counter-attacked in the last week of January, 1945, and VI Corps recaptured lost ground north of Strasbourg until its attacks were halted by flooded ground near the Rhine River in mid-February, 1945.

Germany and Austria

The VI Corps resumed its advance in mid-March, 1945, reaching the German border for the second time. By the end of March, 1945, the corps had assaulted and pierced the Siegfried Line in the Wissembourg Gap and the Bienwald Forest, and driven to the Rhine River north of Karlsruhe. After crossing the Rhine, the corps moved toward Heilbronn in early April, 1945. Bitter resistance by Waffen SS troops, Nazi party auxiliary forces, and other German troops forced a harsh nine-day house-to-house battle, with Heilbronn being taken by the corps on April 12, 1945. Concurrently, armored units of the VI Corps were stopped and almost cut off during the four-day battle for Crailsheim that ended in a minor defeat for elements of the corps on April 10, 1945.

On April 17, 1945, the corps was ordered to move SE to the border of Switzerland. Within ten days, the corps had conquered Schwäbisch Hall, Kirchheim unter Teck, Schwäbisch Gmünd, Ulm (crossing the Danube River there), Memmingen, and Kempten. On April 28, 1945, the corps crossed into Austria near Füssen. Despite the obvious collapse of Nazi Germany, German forces continued to oppose the corps, forcing it to fight for the Fern Pass during May 1-2, 1945. On May 4, 1945, the corps occupied Innsbruck, crossed the Brenner Pass into Italy, and made contact with its old comrades of the U.S. Fifth Army. Within two days, all German forces in the region surrendered unconditionally, ending the war for VI Corps.

Campaign Credits and Inactivation

VI Corps is credited with service in the Naples-Foggia (with arrowhead), Anzio (with arrowhead), Rome-Arno, Southern France (with arrowhead), Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe campaigns. Headquarters, VI Corps, was redesignated Headquarters, United States Constabulary, on May 1, 1946. The corps was subsequently inactivated and activated several times, with the last inactivation occurring on February 29, 1968 at Battle Creek, Michigan.

References

* Clark, Jeffrey J., and Smith, Robert Ross (1993). "U. S. Army in World War II, Riviera to the Rhine". Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office.
* 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.