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3rd Armored Division - Book List #1
Books where the 3AD or its units
are the primary subject matter
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WWII |
"Spearhead
in the West"
Published: January, 1946
By 3AD G-2 & G-3 Staff
Publisher: 3AD/U.S. Army
Printed in Frankfurt/M, Germany
ISBN: none
Note: Re-printed in 1980 by Battery Press (USA)
ISBN: 0-89839-030-3 (for re-print)
Description: A detailed, vibrant history of the 3AD from
1941 to 1945 including photos, illustrations, maps, and a G-3
Official Record of Combat.
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WWII |
"Spearhead
in the West"
Updated 2nd & 3rd Editions
Published: 1991 (2nd) and 2000 (3rd)
By Haynes W. Dugan, Dan Peterson, 3AD PAO, and others
Publisher: Turner Publishing (USA)
ISBN: 1-56311-021-0
Description (for both editions): An abridged history of
3AD from 1941 to 1992, including personal accounts and photos
of 3AD WWII vets, and informative but limited material on the
Cold War and Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm). Virtually all
of the original text and graphics from the WWII 1946 edition
are not included in these 2nd and 3rd editions.
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WWII |
"Major
General Maurice Rose,
World War II's Greatest Forgotten Commander"
Published: 2003
By Steven L. Ossad and Don R. Marsh
Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing (USA)
ISBN: 0-87833-308-8
Description: Biography of 3AD's driven, legendary leader,
including his early military career, his WWII battlefield successes,
his death with war's end only weeks away, and the post-war controversy
over his religion (whether Jewish or Protestant). Well written
and extraordinarily researched, this book is essential for anyone
studying 3AD history. There is much new and intriguing information
about both Rose and the Division, coming nearly 60 years after
his death.
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WWII |
"Death
Traps"
Published: 1998
By Belton Y. Cooper
Publisher: Presidio Press (USA)
ISBN: 0-89141-670-6
Description: Despite its ominous title, and the fact that
the book in part does describe the horrors of war, this is a
unique and often fascinating account of a variety of 3AD activities
during 1944-45. The focus is partly on tanks damaged in combat
and their retrieval and repair, often in risky situations. The
term "Death Traps" refers to the Sherman tank, and
there is poignant discussion about the handicaps of its protective
armor and often ineffective main gun when facing German heavy
tanks. Despite the Sherman's good points, such as maneuverability
and mechanical reliability, the author cannot dismiss the terrible
loss of life among its crews due to the original decision by
the Army to stand by the tank's mass deployment. Written with
great clarity by a 3AD WWII veteran (ordinance & maintenance
officer), the book also sheds light on the importance of support
troops and on the vast & critical effort required in keeping
American forces supplied and on the move. Those topics and others
prove to be surprisingly absorbing in this, the first book of
a gifted natural writer.
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WWII |
"The
Hotton Report"
Published: 2006
By Robert K. McDonald
Publisher: Finbar Press (USA)
ISBN: 0-9665753-8-5
Description (from the book's Foreword): "In
December 1944, the Allied Expeditionary Forces under General
Dwight D. Elsenhower were caught sleeping by Hitler's surprise
offensive through the Ardennes region of Belgium and Luxembourg.
Tens of thousands of troops scrambled to plug the gaping holes
in the American lines, shocked by the strength of the assault.
Among them was General Rose, the mustang officer who had risen
from the rank of Private to command the elite 3rd Armored Division,
and who suddenly found himself in his toughest fight without
the firepower of two of his three combat commands. Complicating
matters, terrible weather had grounded the Allied planes that
dominated the skies of Europe. Fighting 'blind' without reconnaissance
and air cover was a new challenge for Rose, His reputation for
aggressiveness had been established while spearheading the Army's
VII Corps across France and Belgium into Germany. Now the tables
were turned. ... Until now, the battle for Hotton ranked in the
top tier of worthy but untold stories of World War II. McDonald
has sifted through the facts to give us the brutal picture of
those determined troops who held this vital crossroads 'at all
cost.' His characterization of the soldiers who fought there
is a moving tribute to their courage."
Don R. Marsh
Tustin, California, November 2006
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WWII |
"Five
Stars to Victory"
Published: 1949
By A. Eaton Roberts
Publisher: Atlas Printing & Engraving (USA)
ISBN: none
Description: Detailed, often gripping account, including
a fine photo collection, of the exploits of Task Force Lovelady,
2nd Bn (Reinf.), 33rd Armored Regiment, during ten months of
combat in 1944-45. Written by a 3AD veteran of the Task Force
(Medical Corps captain & surgeon), the book surprisingly
deals more with the sights, sounds, personalities, and flow of
combat, rather than with field medical issues. "Five Stars"
designates the five campaigns of the 3AD: Normandy, Northern
France & Belgium, Rhineland, Ardennes, and Central Europe.
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WWII |
"Freineux
and Lamormenil - The Ardennes"
Published: 1994
By George Winter
Publisher: J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing (Canada)
ISBN: 0-921991-20-7
Description: Though not a major operation in the Battle
of the Bulge, the action at Freineux and Lamormenil, Belgium,
in the Christmas season of 1944, has been painstakingly reconstructed
using both American and German documents and photographs. The
result is a most unusual and personal look at the men of a portion
of Task Force Kane, 3AD, and the German soldiers they fought
against, including many of their faces, and their fates, on both
sides.
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WWII |
"Fate's
Finger"
Published: 2001
By Robert W. Christie, M.D.
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation (USA)
ISBN: 1-4010-2914-0
Description: A "fictionalized memoir" is how
the author (and 3AD WWII tank lieutenant veteran) describes his
work. But it's clear, and by his own admission, that there is
mostly truth and historical accuracy to this often riveting account
of a small group of Sherman tankers battling the odds of survival
from The Bulge to the Elbe River. The author's wit and wisdom,
and the irony and humor of the book, make this great reading
for soldiers of any era. As a result of the inclusion of some
fiction, the author (or his publisher) felt the need to disguise
his division as the "33rd" Armored Division. Sadly,
nowhere in the book is the 3AD or "Spearhead" mentioned
by name, nor the identify of his actual tank regiment, unless
"33rd" (as in Armored Regiment, instead of Division)
was a clever way to sneak it in.
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WWII |
"Another
River, Another Town"
Published: 2002
By John P. Irwin
Publisher: Random House (USA)
ISBN: 0-375-50775-2
Description: The author, a 3AD WWII veteran (33rd Armored
Regiment), joined the Division as a teenage replacement tank
gunner after the capture of Cologne. For the next roughly five
weeks, until combat would end, he would experience with his crew
a remarkable odyssey of horror, fatigue, and a complete acceptance
of "kill or be killed" instincts. The author writes
as if he truly still were that innocent, questioning youth going
through a rapid transformation. Along the way, a very deep bond
develops with his tank crew, which, by chance, was assigned the
still-experimental T26E4-1 "Super Pershing" tank for
two weeks (although the number designation and "Super"
term are not used in the book). It was the only such tank in
Europe. With the author factually as gunner, the special, long-barreled,
90mm cannon of that tank was to make its presence felt, including
the destruction of a Tiger II, Germany's most formidable tank.
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Gulf
War |
"Faraway
Thunder, A Journey through
Army Life and the Gulf War"
Published: 1999
By Carey Jones
Publisher: Vista Publishing (USA)
ISBN: 0-9672615-0-3
Description: This is a solid, personal, journal-like account
of a soldier who served from 1988 to 1991 with the 3AD, spanning
both the end of the Cold War and the start and end of the Gulf
War. As a communications maintenance specialist, and assigned
to the 4th Bn, 32nd Armor, 1st Brigade, at Kirch-Goens, that
MOS would have the advantage in both Germany and the Gulf of
allowing the author to travel around considerably within the
4th Bn and on special assignments. The traveling allowed more
exposure to different sights and situations which he describes
in a vivid, readable way. The Gulf accounts include 3AD desert
life, the start of the ground war, battle scenes, decimated enemy
vehicles, oil-field fires, and the 1st Brigade's post-war duties
in Bosra and Safwan. It also includes his learning of the combat
deaths of two 4th Bn scouts, when their Bradley Vehicle was hit
by an Iraqi T-72 tank main gun and machine gun rounds. The author
describes an emotional, teary eyed, but controlled, Major Gen.
Funk, division commander, speaking in front of the Battalion
about those deaths.
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