United States Army ad-hoc Task Forces

[Andy H]

1) TF O’Hara-
2) 4th Armored Division
3) December 17th 1944
4)
5) Elements of CCB/10
6)
7) Defending the approaches to Bastogne
8 )”Patton’s Vanguard-The United States Army Fourth Armored Division” by D M Fox ISBN:0786415827

1) TF Collins-
2) 4th Armored Division
3) December 27th 1944
4)
5) Elements of CCA/9?
6) Sherman’s
7) Relief of Bastogne
8 )”Patton’s Vanguard-The United States Army Fourth Armored Division” by D M Fox ISBN:0786415827

1) TF Withers- Lt Col W P Withers
2) 4th Armored Division
3) September 17th 1944
4) ?
5) CCB
6) ?
7) Battle for Chateau -Salins
8 )”Patton’s Vanguard-The United States Army Fourth Armored Division” by D M Fox ISBN:0786415827

[Andy H]

1) TF Conley- Col T Conley
2) 4th Armored Division
3) September 17th 1944
4) ?
5) CCB/8th Tank Btn plus ?
6) Sherman’s & Hellcat’s
7) Battle for Chateau -Salins
8 )”Patton’s Vanguard-The United States Army Fourth Armored Division” by D M Fox ISBN:0786415827

1) TF Karsteter-
2) 4th Armored Division
3) December 27th 1944
4)
5) Elements of CCA/9?
6) Sherman’s
7) Relief of Bastogne
8 )”Patton’s Vanguard-The United States Army Fourth Armored Division” by D M Fox ISBN:0786415827

1) TF Dwight- Capt Dwight
2) 4th Armored Division
3) August 6th 1944
4) ?
5) C/37th Tank Btn & C/53rd Armored Inf Btn
6) Sherman’s
7) Clearance of Route 165 near Champ de Tir, Brittany
8 )”Patton’s Vanguard-The United States Army Fourth Armored Division” by D M Fox ISBN:0786415827

1) TF Bautz- Maj Bautz
2) 4th Armored Division
3) August 6th 1944
4) ?
5) B/37th Tank Btn & A/53rd Armored Inf Btn
6) Sherman’s plus 105mm Sherman’s
7) Clearance of Champ de Tir, Brittany
8 )”Patton’s Vanguard-The United States Army Fourth Armored Division” by D M Fox ISBN:0786415827

[Necros]

1 )Task Force ( TF ) Riley -
2 )10th Armored Division, Combat Command (CC) B
3 )
4 )
5 )
6 )
7 ) Took part in the attack on the german town of Zerf between 23 – 27 February 1945.
8 )Leavenworth Papers No.11 – Rangers: Selected Combat Operations in World War II

[R Leonard]

TF LOVELADY:
2nd Battalion, 13th Infantry Regiment (Major Theodore Leonard)
2nd Battalion, 33d Armored Regiment
3rd Platoon, Company B, 23d Engineer Battalion (Armored)
1st Platoon, Company B, 703d Tank Destroyer Battalion
2nd Platoon, Reconnaisance Company, 33rd Armored Regiment
391st Field Artillery Battalion (Armored)

Organized 25 Feb 1945 near Binsfeld until 8 March 1945; attacking generally westnorthwest through Etzweiler to Wullenrath, to Berrendorf and Geisedorf (26 Feb), securing the last on 27 Feb. Spent 28 Feb on defensive in vicinity of Elsdorf. Moved to the bridgehead area on the Erft Canal on 1-2 March. Passed through 3d Battalion, 13th Infantry at Nihderaussen and through 1st Battalion 13th Infantry at Berhiem. Bypassed Fliesteden; then north into Stommeln, securing that objective on 3 March. On 4 March moved on Roggendorf with the entire Task Force attached to 83d Reconnaissance Squadron. Upon clearing Roggendorf, received orders to press on to and seize Worringen on the Rhine River. Secured Worringen and on 5 March moved back to Roggendorf, then south and west to Fuhlingen through Weiler to Rheincastle. On 6 March moved south towards Cologne, assaulting and seizing Merkenich about four miles north of Cologne. On 7 March, Task Force Lovelady moved to Fulheim and patrolled for enemy stragglers.

From Battalion Combat History, 2d Battalion 13th US Infantry.

[nedz]

1)Task Force Butler
2)36th Division
3)Night of 17-18 August 1944
4)Re-absorbed by parent unit during the following week (23rd-28th August)
5)OoB
I don't have exact unit designators, however:
A motorized battalion from the 141st Infantry, two medium tank companies, a tank destroyer company, a light cavalry squadron, and a self-propelled artillery battalion.
6) TOE
Standard
7)Interdiction of German lines of communication during Dragoon. Vanguard of the 36th Division in action around Montelimar.
8)http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/brochures/sf ... france.htm

[nedz]

Re: Task Force Butler
I think this is the OOB after they started to be re-inforced (23rd August)
1st Bn, 141st Infantry Regt (inf bn)
3rd Bn, 143rd Infantry Regt (armoured inf bn)
Coy C, 636th Tank Destroyer Battalion, M10 tank destroyers
2 X medium tk coy from 753rd Tk Bn Shermans
117th Cav Sqn
1 X bty, 59th Armoured Fd Art Bn

[PF]

Fighting in the Phillippines in 1941 the old USMC 4th Marine Regiment added two Ad hoc Units
*A 3rd battalion from the US Army
*A 4th Battalion from the US Navy

Reference Wikipetia

[genstab]

I've read of Task Force Lovelady somewhere long ago- actually I searched and found that TImo posted on it in AHF back in 2003 giving this composition:
- 2nd Batallion, 33rd Armoured Regiment
- E Company, 36th Armoured Infantry Regiment
- 1st Platoon Company D, 23rd Armoured Engineer Batallion
- 1st Platoon Rcn Company, 33rd Armoured Regiment

I found it was named for 2nd Battalion Cdr LT COL WIlliam Lovelady of 3rd Armored Division. I know that the 2nd and 3rd Armored Divisions were the old "heavy" organization. more powerful than the new triangular (3 regiment) arrangement, as they had two armored regiments of four medium tank and two light tank battalions of three companies each (total 12 tank battalions) while the new triangular divisions only had 3 regiments with 3 tank battalions each (total 9 tank battalions)- from Wikipedia.

Best,
Bill

[Edward L. Hsiao]

Are there any known US Army ad-hoc Task Forces that fought against the Japanese in the Pacific and Burma wars entirely during WWII that you can come up with?

Edward L. Hsiao

[Kingfish]

CAM (Composite Army-Marine) division
-6th Marine Regiment
-182nd Infantry regiment
-147th infantry regiment
-2nd Marine divisional artillery
-Americal divisional Artillery
Fought on Guadacanal during the second January Offensive 1943

Guadacanal southern landing force
-2nd Bn, 132nd Infantry Regiment
-A/T company 132nd Infantry Regt
-M Company (less one MG platoon), 132nd infantry Regt
-Rifle Platoon, K Company, 132nd infantry Regt.
-F battery, 10 marines (75mm Pack Howitzers)
-Assorted Engineer, Medical, Intelligence and Comm troops
Landed at Nugu point Feb 1st 1943 and advanced up the southern coast of Guadacanal

[Texas Jäger]

I've read of Task Force Lovelady somewhere long ago- actually I searched and found that TImo posted on it in AHF back in 2003 giving this composition:
- 2nd Batallion, 33rd Armoured Regiment
- E Company, 36th Armoured Infantry Regiment
- 1st Platoon Company D, 23rd Armoured Engineer Batallion
- 1st Platoon Rcn Company, 33rd Armoured Regiment

I found it was named for 2nd Battalion Cdr LT COL WIlliam Lovelady of 3rd Armored Division. I know that the 2nd and 3rd Armored Divisions were the old "heavy" organization. more powerful than the new triangular (3 regiment) arrangement, as they had two armored regiments of four medium tank and two light tank battalions of three companies each (total 12 tank battalions) while the new triangular divisions only had 3 regiments with 3 tank battalions each (total 9 tank battalions)- from Wikipedia.

Best,
Bill

I’m pretty sure the old “heavy” organization was six tank battalions total, three in each of the two armored regiments. They also had an single Armored Infantry regiment of three battalions.

The new organization was three tank battalions total with no regimental structure, and the same number of armored infantry battalions as the heavy division but without subornation to a numbered regiment. (Contrast the “heavy” structure below with a new-type armored division)