The 12th Armored Division landed at Le Havre on November 9, 1944, and entered combat in December on Seventh Army's northern flank. Advance elements moved to the Weisslingen area on December 5, the division relieved the 4th Armored Division two days later, and CCA took Singling on December 9. Rohrbach-les-Bitche followed on December 10, Bettviller on December 12, and Utweiler by December 21, after which the division withdrew for rehabilitation.

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World War II Campaign Map of the 12th Armored Division. Map courtesy of HistoryShots.

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Its hardest early test came in January during Operation NORDWIND, when German forces held the Gambsheim bridgehead west of the Rhine. CCB attacked Herrlisheim on January 8, seized part of the town, and withdrew after fighting in canals, built-up ground, and antitank fire that made armor hard to use. A renewed attack on January 16-18 went worse: CCA entered Herrlisheim, but the 43d Tank Battalion was cut off and destroyed, and the division abandoned the town after very heavy losses. The experience marked the division's rough initiation into sustained combat.

The division recovered quickly. On February 3 it attacked through the 28th Infantry Division at Colmar; CCB seized bridgeheads across the Ill near Sundhoffen and Ste. Croix-en-Plaine, while CCA drove through Hattstatt and entered Rouffach on February 5, joining French forces and helping split the Colmar Pocket. After another rehabilitation period near St. Avold, CCA supported the 70th Infantry Division around Forbach in early March.

On March 18 the 12th attacked through the 94th Infantry Division, bypassed Lauterecken, reached the Rhine north of Mannheim on March 20, and helped clear the Saar-Palatinate by taking Ludwigshafen, Speyer, and Germersheim. Crossing the Rhine at Worms on March 27-28, it advanced through the Odenwald and Main country, crossed at Ochsenfurt, fought in the Wuerzburg sector, helped contain Schweinfurt by blocking the Bamberg highway, and encircled the Uffenheim pocket. The April drive then carried the division over the Aisch at Ipsheim, through Ansbach and Feuchtwangen, and to the Danube, where CCA captured the Dillingen bridge intact on April 22. Relieved there by the 3rd Infantry Division, the 12th crossed the Lech at Landsberg, cleared between the Ammer and Wurm, crossed the Isar, and reached the Inn. Elements crossed into Austria on May 3; CCR reached the Kufstein area before the division was placed in reserve on May 4.