Background of the Third Army

The Third Army had been in Germany before. Its shoulder patch, a white "A" and red "O" on a field of blue, proclaimed months spent in the Reich after the last war as the army of occupation. From the outset, General Patton made no secret of the fact that the Third Army would again go to Germany.

He had taken command of the army in England on 26 March 1944. Until 6 July he directed a rigorous training program, emphasizing the physical fitness of his men, aircraft recognition, firing of individual and combined weapons, and familiarity with mines, minefields, and booby traps.

On 6 July General Patton established headquarters at Nehou in Normandy. Under his command were four corps, the VIII, XII, XV, and XX. When the Third Army became operational on 1 August it had three immediate objectives; to drive south and southwest from Avranches, to secure the area around Rennes and Fougeres, and then to wheel westward to capture the peninsula of Brittany and open the Breton ports.