The tank battles of North Africa and Russia in early 1942 caused the US Army to recognize the need to drastically increase the number of its armored units.

The 8th completed the D Series and participated in the Sixth Louisiana Maneuver Period from February through April 1944 as part of the Red Force.

The ships arrived in Southampton on 18 November and the division moved to Tidworth Camp, joining the newly formed Fifteenth Army.

[1] After some additional training and acquisition of new equipment at Tidworth, England, the 8th Armored Division landed in France, 5 January 1945, at Le Havre and Rouen.

The division assembled in the Bacqueville area of upper Normandy as part of the (then still secret) Fifteenth Army and was placed in reserve.

A detachment of the 88th Armored Cavalry undertook the division's first combat action – a reconnaissance of the best route to contact with the enemy.

The division, finding the enemy already halted and beginning to fall back, took part in the Third Army drive against the Moselle-Saar salient.

The 8th supported the 94th Infantry Division's attack on Nennig, Berg and Sinz, 19–28 January 1945 aimed at reducing the salient between the Saar and Moselle Rivers.

German losses in action against 8th Armored units were 5 Panzer IV tanks, 72 prisoners and many dead and wounded.

CCB moved through Sittard, Gangelt, Geilenkirchen, Randerath, and Brachelen to arrive at the Hilfarth Bridge and crossed after CCA.

Heavy fighting, primarily against the 130th Panzer Division, took place in and around Rheinberg resulting in 199 divisional casualties and the loss of 41 tanks while the Germans suffered 350 men killed and 512 taken prisoner.

The area (nicknamed '88 Lane') was under direct anti-tank and heavy artillery fire so each house had to be cleared by dismounted infantry.

[1] The division was assigned to cleanup operations in the rear areas of the Rhineland which had been bypassed during the movement to the Rhine River.

During this period the division became the first US or British unit to uncover the existence of the secret Werwolf organization when several cleverly camouflaged bunkers were discovered, each containing 12 to 15 fully equipped German soldiers.

[1] On 22 March division artillery units moved into firing positions in preparation for the assault on the east bank of the Rhine River as part of Operation Plunder.

On 23 March all artillery units commenced firing over 130,000 rounds preceding the initial crossing of the Rhine River to be made by the 30th Infantry Division.

New orders were received late in the next day to capture Dorsten so that the Lippe River could be bridged allowing armor to move northward.

[1] The success of the Rhine crossing operations by Allied forces encircled approximately 430,000 German soldiers of Army Group B comprising 21 divisions of the Wehrmacht, trapping them in an area that came to be known as the Ruhr Pocket.

CCR captured the towns of Stripe and Norddorf, and continued through Vollinghausen, Oberhagen, and Ebbinghausen before stopping for the night in front of Horne.

On 5 April Col. Vesely assumed command of CCR and continued to attack westward capturing the towns of Horne, Klieve, Schmerlacke and Serlinghausen.

On 6 April, CCB made a 25-mile (40 km) 'end run' around Soest to the outskirts of Ost Onnen to cut off a German breakout path from the Ruhr pocket.

[1][2] On 10 April CCR advanced 7,000 yards (6,400 m) in fierce fighting and secured Stentrop, Bausenhagen, Scheda, Beutrap Wemen, and Fromern.

[1] CCA continued cleaning up operations in Unna while CCR captured the towns of Hengsen, Ostendorf, Ottendorf, and Dellwig.

On 14 April the remaining units of the Division began moving to an assembly area in the vicinity of Braunschweig with CCA going to Wolfenbüttel and CCR going to Denstorf.

[1] For the period of 15–18 April CCB cleared the area near the Hartz Mountains of remnants of the 11th Panzer Army while CCA began moving to Seehausen to support the attack on Magdeburg by the XIX Corps.

At 1000 hours a 13 plane squadron attacked Blankenburg and immediately afterward the burgomeister was contacted about surrendering after a show of force.

By 22 April the last organized resistance ended with the capture of Gen. Heinz Kokott, commanding officer of the 26th Volks Grenadier Div and brother-in-law of Gestapo chief Heinrich Himmler.

[3] Buchenwald administered at least 87 subcamps located across Germany, from Düsseldorf in the Rhineland to the border with the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in the east.

[1] On 19 September the division began the 600-mile (970 km) trip to Camp Oklahoma City near Rheims, France, for deployment home.

[1][8] Early experience with armored warfare in the First World War made it clear that tanks could not fight in isolation.