[11], The final offensive in Italy saw the Eighth Army back in action. year -- - - A symbol with a 3D shadow indicates a clickable, active ("hot") link - - - The date at the top of the page only indicates status of the information content, not changes of format, layout, or administration. Ninth Air Force: At the height of its membership, there were over 35 branches, with a particular strength in the North West of the UK. The invasion of the Ryukyus was made by troops of the U.S. Tenth Army, which had been activated on 20 June 1944 with Lt. Gen. Simon B. Buckner, Jr., as commanding general. [9], Following three unsuccessful attempts in early 1944 by the U.S. Fifth Army to break through the German defensive positions known to the Allies as the Winter Line, the Eighth Army was covertly switched from the Adriatic coast in April 1944 to concentrate all forces, except the V Corps, on the western side of the Apennine Mountains alongside the U.S. Fifth Army in order to mount a major offensive with them. Army Troops. In this capacity Trevor Howard appears in the 1949 film, The Third Man, as "Major Calloway", an Eighth Army Royal Armoured Corps officer. After linking its left flank with the U.S. Fifth Army, led by General Mark W. Clark, which had landed at Salerno on the west coast of Italy south of Naples, the Eighth Army continued fighting its way up Italy on the eastern flank of the Allied forces. Under the command of LTG Robert L. Eichelberger, Eighth Army methodically eliminated the last fanatical enemy resistance remaining on New Guinea and New Britain. US Eighth Army. The Eighth Army first went into action as an Army as part of Operation Crusader, the Allied operation to relieve the besieged city of Tobruk, on 17 November 1941, when it crossed the Egyptian frontier into Libya to attack Erwin Rommel's Panzer Army Africa. Josip Broz Tito's forces were intent on securing control of the area of Venezia Giulia. Both sides commenced a period of building their strength to launch new offensives but it was Rommel who took the initiative first, forcing the Eighth Army from the Gazala position. [8], At the end of 1943, General Montgomery was transferred to Britain to begin preparations for Operation Overlord. When the Allies subsequently invaded mainland Italy, elements of the Eighth Army landed in the 'toe' of Italy in Operation Baytown and at Taranto in Operation Slapstick. An advanced detachment was established in England on 23 Feb and units began arriving from the US during the spring of 1942. CMH Home ; Force Structure Support; Order of Battle - WWII - ETO; 8th Infantry Division; Return to Table of Contents "Pathfinder Division" "Arrow Division" Its nickname is represented by the golden arrow piercing the white "8" on a blue shield. the Combined Bomber Offensive, 17 August 1942 to 10 June 1943, Tactical Operations of the Eighth Air Force, 6 June 1944-8 May 1945, Ninth Air Force in the Western Desert Campaign to 23 January 1943, Ninth Air Force in the ETO [European Theater of Operations], Its advance from El Alamein to Tunisia was one of the greatest military logistical feats of all time, and it had distinguished itself fighting under difficult conditions during the campaign in Italy. Significant formations which passed through the Army included V Corps, X Corps, XIII Corps, XXX Corps, I Canadian Corps and the II Polish Corps. They even went as far as to restrict supplies through to the British zone of occupation in Austria and tried to take over part of that country as well. At its creation, the Eighth Army comprised 7th British Armoured Division and 4th Indian Infantry Division. November 1943 to March 1944, Operational History of the Seventh Air Force, Units came from Australia, British India, Canada, Free French Forces, Greece, New Zealand, Poland, Rhodesia, South Africa and the United Kingdom. US 2nd Infantry Division 23 July 1950-End of war. Order of Battle of the. Command of the Eighth Army was given to Lieutenant-General Oliver Leese, previously the commander of XXX Corps, which was being returned to England.