Group headquarters only occasionally undertook combat missions.

The tank destroyer group headquarters which were dispatched overseas were often used as advisers to corps headquarters to provide advice on anti-tank issues, or for other purposes, such as traffic management and controlling units in rear areas. In practice, tank destroyer battalions were usually attached directly to infantry divisions and there was no need for the group headquarters to command them. US Army doctrine called for at least one tank destroyer group to be attached to each corps and army. Twenty four tank destroyer groups were formed. Groups A 607th Tank Destroyer Battalion 3-inch gun M5 towed anti-tank gun at Le Bourg St-Leonard, France during August 1944

Its staff subsequently served as advisers in the headquarters of the Third Army. In August and September 1944 the 1st Tank Destroyer Brigade commanded the ad-hoc Task Force A which was tasked with seizing ports in Brittany. The 1st Tank Destroyer Brigade was dispatched to Europe in January 1944 and the 2nd Tank Destroyer Brigade was disbanded in the United States during March that year. The initial role of these units was to oversee the training of the large number of tank destroyer battalions that had been previously formed. Two tank destroyer brigades were formed in November 1942. The thirteen tank destroyer group headquarters dispatched to Europe never led massed units of tank destroyers, and nor did the 1st Tank Destroyer Brigade. Tank destroyers were usually parcelled out to other units, and were rarely concentrated in battalions. However, combat experience in North Africa and Europe demonstrated that units larger than battalions were not needed. These battalions were to be concentrated in regiment-sized groups and brigades when needed to combat large forces of enemy tanks.

The United States Army raised a large number of tank destroyer units during World War II.įor most of the war US Army doctrine called for tank destroyers to primarily operate as concentrated tank destroyer battalions during combat. A M10 Wolverine tank destroyer of the 628th Tank Destroyer Battalion, in Dreux, Normandy during August 1944

Curent us military tank doctrine