| Seventh Army | |
|---|---|
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| Active |
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| Disbanded | 17 April 2010 |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  Army |
| Type | Field Army |
| Role | Headquarters |
| Motto | Pyramid of Power |
| Colors | White andred |
| Campaigns | World War II |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
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| Insignia | |
| Distinctive insignia |  |
| Flag |  |
| US Field Armies 1919-present | ||||
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TheSeventh Army was a United States army created duringWorld War II that evolved into theUnited States Army Europe (USAREUR) during the 1950s and 1960s. It served in North Africa and Italy in theMediterranean Theater of Operations and France and Germany in theEuropean Theater between 1942 and 1945.
Originally theI Armored Corps under command of Lieutenant GeneralGeorge S. Patton, it made landfall at Morocco duringOperation Torch as theWestern Task Force, the first all-U.S. force to enter the European war. Following successful defeat of theWehrmacht under Field MarshalErwin Rommel in North Africa, the I Armored Corps was redesignated the Seventh Army on 10 July 1943 while at sea en route to theAllied invasion ofSicily as the spearhead ofOperation Husky.
After the conquests ofPalermo andMessina the Seventh Army prepared for the invasion of France by its Mediterranean coast as the lead element ofOperation Dragoon in August 1944. It then drove a retreating German army north and then east toward theAlsace, being absorbed into the newly createdSixth United States Army Group in mid-September. In January 1945 it repelled a fierce but brief enemy counter-offensive in theColmar Pocket south ofStrasbourg during the GermanOperation Nordwind, then completed its reduction of the region by mid-March.
In a lead role inOperation Undertone launched 15 March, the Seventh Army fought its way across theRhine into Germany, capturingNuremberg and thenMunich. Elements reached Austria and crossed theBrenner Pass into Italy by 4 May, followed shortly by war's end onVE-Day, 8 May 1945.[1]
The predecessor of Seventh Army was theI Armored Corps, which was activated on 15 July 1940 atFort Knox,Kentucky. With the goal of stopping German expansion in Europe and Africa, it was decided that the first operation for United States Army forces would be to assist the British in driving German forces from North Africa. On 15 January 1942,Major GeneralGeorge S. Patton Jr. assumed command of I Armored Corps and began planning for the invasion of North Africa.
The Seventh Army arm patch was approved on 23 June 1943: On a blue isosceles triangular background, a seven-stepped letter "A," steps in yellow with the center in scarlet.[2]
On 6 March 1943, following the defeat of the U.S. II Corps by the GermanAfrika Korps, commanded byGeneralfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel, at theBattle of Kasserine Pass, Patton replaced Major General Lloyd Fredendall as Commanding General of the II Corps and was promoted to lieutenant general.
On 8 November 1942, General Patton was in command of theWestern Task Force (a temporary redesignation of I Armored Corps for tactical deception), the only all-American force landing forOperation Torch, code name for theAllied invasion ofFrench North Africa. I Armored Corps then began to drive east which complemented British forces driving from the west. The result was that Axis forces were trapped in Tunisia and were forced to surrender in May 1943.
After succeeding in North Africa, Patton, now promoted to the rank ofLieutenant General, became commander of the newly formed Seventh Army, which was formed at midnight on 10 July 1943 by the redesignation of the I Armored Corps. TheAllied invasion of Sicily in July 1943, was conducted in conjunction with theBritish Eighth Army, commanded byGeneralSir Bernard Montgomery, whom Patton perceived as a rival. Patton commanded the Seventh Army until early 1944.
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The Seventh Army landed on several beaches in southern Sicily on 10 July 1943 and captured the Sicilian capital ofPalermo on 22 July and, along with the British Eighth Army, capturedMessina on 16 August. During the fighting, the elements of the Seventh Army killed or captured thousands of enemy soldiers, mainly Italians. During the operation the Seventh and Eighth Armies came under the command of the15th Army Group, under GeneralSir Harold Alexander. The headquarters of the Seventh Army remained relatively inactive at Palermo, Sicily, andAlgiers until January 1944, when Lieutenant GeneralMark W. Clark, then commanding theU.S. Fifth Army on theItalian Front, was assigned as commander and the Seventh Army began planning for theinvasion of southern France.
The invasion was originally given the code name of "Operation Anvil", but was changed to "Operation Dragoon" before the landing. In March 1944, Major GeneralAlexander Patch, a highly experienced and competent commander, was assigned to command the Seventh Army, which moved toNaples,Italy, the following July. On 15 August 1944, elements of the Seventh Army assaulted the beaches ofsouthern France in theSt. Tropez andSt. Raphael area. On 15 September, the Seventh was put under the field control of the6th Army Group, under Lieutenant GeneralJacob L. Devers. The 6th Army Group also included theFrench First Army. Within one month, the Seventh Army, which by then employed three Americandivisions, five French divisions and the1st Airborne Task Force, had advanced 400 miles north and joined with the Allied forcescoming south from Normandy. In the process, the Seventh Army had liberatedMarseille,Lyon,Toulon and all of Southern France.
The Seventh Army then assaulted the German forces in theVosges Mountains and broke into theAlsatian Plain. During theBattle of the Bulge in late December, it extended its flanks to take over much of the area that had been the responsibility ofU.S. Third Army then under the command of Patton, which allowed the Third to relieve surrounded American forcesbesieged at Bastogne. In mid-January 1945, the Seventh engaged in pitched battle seeking to regain ground lost to Germany'sOperation Nordwind New Year's offensive. Along with the French First Army, the Seventh went on the offensive in February 1945 and eliminated theColmar Pocket. After capturing the city ofStrasbourg, the Seventh went into theSaar, assaulted theSiegfried Line, and reached theRiver Rhine during the first week of March, 1945.
In a lead role inOperation Undertone, the Seventh Army fought its way across the Rhine into Germany, capturedNuremberg and thenMunich. Finally it crossed theBrenner Pass and made contact with Lieutenant GeneralLucian Truscott's U.S. Fifth Army atVipiteno[1] – once again on Italian soil.
In less than nine months of continuous fighting, the Seventh Army had advanced over 1,000 miles and for varying times had commanded 24 U.S. and Allied divisions, including the3rd,36th,42nd,44th,45th,63rd,70th,100th, and103rd Infantry Divisions.
The Seventh Army was inactivated in March 1946, in Germany, then reactivated for a short time atAtlanta, Georgia.[3] Third Army then took on its duties in Atlanta and Seventh Army was inactivated again o15 March 1947.[4] Lieutenant GeneralOscar Griswold commanded both Seventh and Third Armies during the Atlanta period. It was reactivated by theUnited States European Command (EUCOM) with headquarters atPatch Barracks,Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany, on 24 November 1950 and assigned to command the ground and service forces ofUnited States Army Europe (USAREUR).[5] The two U.S. Army division sized units in the U.S. Occupation Zone of Germany, the 1st Infantry Division and theU.S. Constabulary with its headquarters atBad Tölz, were assigned to the Seventh Army. Within a few weeks other assignments to the Seventh Army included the V and VII Corps. For over a decade members of theSeventh Army Symphony Orchestra performed in support of the United States Army'scultural diplomacy initiatives throughout Germany and Europe in the aftermath of World War II (1952–1962).[6]
| External audio | |
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 You may hear recordings of theSeventh Army Symphony Orchestra performing in Europe (1956-1960)Here on 7aso.org |
On 30 November 1966, the Seventh Army was relocated from Patch Barracks toHeidelberg. Following French disagreements with certainNATO policies, including the control of foreign nuclear weapons on French soil,United States European Command relocated from Paris the following year. From that time forward the Seventh Army has been the headquarters for all Army units under theEuropean Command. Its major subordinate elements were theV Corps andVII Corps (Inactivated 1992.)
From 1 December 1966 to 2010, the commander of Seventh Army has been "dual hatted" as Commanding General,United States Army Europe.[7] But on February 24, 2010 the lineage of the Seventh Army was fully incorporated into USAREUR-AF.[8] Even so, several USAREUR-AF commanders continued using the Seventh Army commander title until at least 2017.[9][10][11]
Note - Starting in 1966, the commander of the United States Seventh Army was "dual hatted" as theCommanding General, United States Army Europe.
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