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.

The stiffness of the German defences sorely tested the VI Corps and it suffered heavy casualties before German attempts to throw the Americans back into the sea were thwarted by the artillery of the 45th "Thunderbird" and 36th" Arrowhead" Infantry Divisions, strongly supported by naval gunfire, bombing and the approach of British Eighth Army from the south.

In its second amphibious assault of the war, it came 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 10th Army.

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 corps broke out during Operation Diadem, it was ordered by the Fifth Army commander, Lieutenant General Mark Clark, northwest up the coast towards Rome instead of advancing northeast to block the German line of retreat from Cassino on the Gustav Line, leading to prolonged and bloody combat before it was taken by a combination of American, British, Canadian, French, and Polish troops.

Operation Dragoon was aimed at capturing southern France, and VI Corps provided the assault troops, coming under Seventh Army.

The landing, on 15 August 1944, was not opposed with much fervor, with allied casualties estimated at 95 killed and 385 wounded for the first day.

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.

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.

[7][8] The liberation of southern France occurred rapidly, with the corps taking Besançon on 7 September 1944, and fighting its way into Vesoul less than one week later.

The drive on Saint-Dié ensued but required a month of agonizingly slow advances in the rough terrain of the Vosges.

VI Corps completed its fight through the Vosges at the end of November, 1944, and moved onto the plains of Alsace.

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.

On 4 May 1945, the corps occupied Innsbruck, crossed the Brenner Pass into Italy, and made contact with its old comrades of the U.S. Fifth Army.