The fighting men of the 14th Armored Division * Detailed account of the
brave division who became “The Liberators”.
While headline writers in the ETO
were naturally focused on events in Normandy and the Bulge in the north, equally
ferocious combats were taking place in southern France and Germany during
1944-1945, which are now finally getting their due. The US 14th Armored Division
- a late arrival to the theatre - was thrust into intense combat almost the
minute it arrived in Europe, as the Germans remained determined to defend their
southern flank.
Like other US formations, the 14th AD, after joyriding
through France, was hammered to a standstill at the Westwall in the autumn of
1944. Nevertheless, it had gained experience, and when the Germans sought to
turn the tide, with Operation Northwind, they found a hardened formation against
them.
This book explores in detail what happened in the month of January
1945 in the snow-covered Vosges Mountains, when the Wehrmacht's attempt to
destroy the Sixth Army Group failed.
As a result of the rapid advance of
Seventh Army and the 14th, German POW camps like the ones at Hammelburg and
Moosburg were liberated of over 100,000 prisoners, an achievement which gave the
division the nom de guerre The Liberators. Timothy O’Keeffe, a Professor
Emeritus from Southern Connecticut State College, lost a brother-in-law who
served with The Liberators, and thus has devoted years of effort to unveiling
the crucial, yet heretofore unwritten, role that they played in the ultimate
Allied victory.
