Like other volumes in the Spearhead series, this book takes readers to the cutting edge of warfare–for a close look at the make-up, operations, and performance of a military unit operating independently and forcefully at the forefront of battle. With a focus on aspects of war that most narrative histories omit–logistics and supply lines, communications, battlefield terrain, and command and control–this book offers an unparalleled view of the experience of the 4th Armored Division in World War II. Included are a brief history of the unit, its theater of operations, and the combat situations it faced first spearheading Patton’s Third Army in its race across France, then leading the attack to relieve the embatttled Screaming Eagles ofthe101st Airborne Division at Bastogne, and finally into the heart of the Reich itself, crossing into Czechoslovakia by VE Day. Copiously illustrated with photographs, organizational diagrams, tables, and unit markings (both tactical and individual), the book covers every aspect of this unit’s role in the war, from training and strategic planning to engineering and execution. It is an unusually detailed account of the true nuts and bolts behind the drama of the 4th Armored Division in World War II.

Stirring accounts of the almost legendary campaigns of the United States Fourth Armored Division, universally recognized as "Patton's Best," from its pre-World War II origins up through its famous relief of the 101st Airborne Division during the Battle of the Bulge are presented in this book. The break out of Normandy at Avranches, the isolation of the Brittany peninsula, the armored thrust across France, the tank battles at Arracourt that cemented the reputation of the Fourth Armored, the brutal struggle in Lorraine, and, ultimately, the legendary drive to Bastogne are among the topics. The accounts were assembled through the use of original unit combat diaries and after-action reports, memoirs of key historical figures and abundant supplementary documents and correspondences. But the essence of the book are the first-hand recollections from members of the division gathered by the author. With maps, drawings and photographs.

In 1944, the 4th Armored Division played a central role in one of the more remarkable campaigns in American military history-Third Army's pursuit across France, which was capped off by the encirclement and capture of Nancy. In the course of this campaign, the 4th Armored Division practiced a mode of warfare that has since become known to the Army as AirLand Battle. Inasmuch as the encircle ment of Nancy is one of the few historical examples that shows American mechanized forces waging war in accordance with the tenets of AirLand Battle, anyone seeking a deeper appreciation of today's doctrine would do well to study this campaign carefully. The 4th Armored Division in the Encirclement of Nancy originated at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College as an introductory class for a course on modern division-level operations. It is a companion piece to The Lorraine Campaign: An Overview, September-December 1944, published in February 1985.