Fifteenth United States Army - Entering Operational Status

Entering Operational Status

General Ray Edison Porter assumed command of the Fifteenth Army on 2 January 1945. No staff accompanied him and he directed the Acting Chief of Staff, Colonel Donegan, to retain his duties. The next day General Porter called together all section chiefs of the Fifteenth and outlined the mission of the Fifteenth and explained its assignment to Twelfth Army Group and Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF).

On 16 January 1945 Lieutenant General Leonard T. Gerow assumed command of the Fifteenth Army.

From mid-January 1945 until March the Fifteenth U.S. Army was charged with rehabilitating, re-equipping and training various units of the 12th Army Group that had suffered heavy losses during the Ardennes campaign. It processed all new units which arrived at northern European ports through the staging areas until their 12th Army Group assignment.

General Eisenhower inserted the Fifteenth Army (under U.S. 12th Army Group) to hold the Ruhr Pocket along the Rhine. Ninth United States Army and First United States Army were to pressure the German defenders from the north, east, and south. 18 days later First and Ninth met at Paderborn, with Fifteenth holding the western side of the encirclement.

On 15 March 1945 Fifteenth Army assumed command of the forces that were bottling up the German forces left behind in the French Atlantic ports. Fifteenth Army also turned east and assumed a defensive position (using XXII Corps) on the west bank of the Rhine from Bonn to Hamburg.

Fifteenth Army never entered the main line of battle. However, its formations did see some action, when it contained and then reduced the enormous Ruhr Pocket from the west during April 1945 in conjunction with elements of Ninth Army. This resulted in the capture of 325,000 German prisoners. Fifteenth Army would take over occupation duties in the region as Ninth Army and First Army pushed farther into Germany.

In April 1945 the Fifteenth Army crossed the Rhine, 2–3 weeks behind the other Allied Field Armies. It took over responsibility for the Hesse, Saarland, Pfalz, and Rhine provinces, where it processed many German POW's and Displaced Persons.

After V-E Day, Fifteenth Army's task was to organize the Theater General Board whose purpose was to study, analyze and document past operations in the European Theater.

Some intelligence gathering interviews were also conducted by divisions of the Fifteenth U.S. Army.