48th Armored Division | |
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48th Armored Division shoulder sleeve insignia
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Active | 1946–55 (48th Infantry Division) 1955–68 (48th Armored Division) |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Army |
Type | Armor |
Role | Armored warfare |
Size | Division |
Garrison/HQ | Jacksonville, Florida |
Nickname(s) | "Hurricane" |
U.S. Armored Divisions | |
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40th Armored Division (Inactive) | 49th Armored Division (Inactive) |
The 48th Armored Division was a division of the United States Army National Guard from September 1946 until 1968. Most of its units were part of the Florida Army National Guard and the Georgia Army National Guard. From 1946 to 1955 it was an infantry division. During World War II the denotation 48th Infantry Division was a 'phantom division' created for Operation Quicksilver, part of Operation Fortitude South II.
The 48th Infantry Division was "created" in 1944 as an 'phantom division'. It formed part of Operation Quicksilver and Fortitude South II to replace the real 6th Armored Division when it moved to Normandy.
The division was presented to the Germans as a well trained unit that had been formed at Camp Clatsop, Oregon in 1942. Following training at the Desert Training Center and maneuvers in the Olympic Peninsula the division had guarded the ALCAN Highway before being shipped to England in June 1944, where Agent Garbo reported that the uncle of one of his agents (An American NCO in the ETO Services of Supply.) was a member of the division, which was not at the time he made the report under the command of either the First US Army Group or the 21st Army Group. After disembarkation, the division established its initial headquarters at Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire before moving to Woodbridge in Suffolk. There, as part of the U.S. XXXIII Corps (United States) of the US 14th Army it was assigned the role of following up the Pas de Calais landings.