Overview
- Brief Narrative
- Twelfth Army Group shoulder sleeve insignia of the type issued during World War II. The design, approved July 29, 1944, resembles a downward pointing arrowhead implying force in the red, white, and blue national colors of the United States. This unit, consisting of American troops, was directly under the control of Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, beginning September 1, 1944. It fought its way across Europe, encircling the German Army in the Ruhr Valley in April 1945. It was the largest force ever assembled by the US military. Germany surrendered May 7 and the Group was inactivated on July 31, 1945.
- Date
-
issue:
after 1944 July 29
- Geography
-
issue:
United States
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection
- Contributor
-
Distributor:
United States. Army
Physical Details
- Classification
-
Military Insignia
- Category
-
Badges
- Object Type
-
Color patches (military patches) (aat)
- Genre/Form
- Emblems
- Physical Description
- 5-sided patch machine embroidered on white netting with a black border. The pentagon is divided into 3 sections: at the top, a red, flat-topped trapezoid, then a narrow white trapezoid, and at the base, a blue inverted triangle.
- Dimensions
- overall: Height: 2.500 inches (6.35 cm) | Width: 2.000 inches (5.08 cm)
- Materials
- overall : thread, net
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- No restrictions on access
Keywords & Subjects
- Corporate Name
- Allied Forces. Army Group, 12th
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The 12th Army Group badge was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2004.
- Funding Note
- The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
- Record last modified:
- 2025-01-02 11:34:37
- This page:
- http://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn35091
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Also in United States Army patch and booklet collection
The collection consists of four patches: two war photographer, one 12th Army Group, and one 4th Cavalry Group, and three booklets relating to the history of units of the United States Army active during World War II.
Date: 1942-approximately 1945
Official US Army photographer rectangular arm patch
Object
United States Army photographer rectangular badge of the type issued during World War II. US Army photographers served in the Photographic Branch of the US Signal Corps. Photographers were attached, not assigned, to units and were identified by an arm or shoulder patch. Military photographers were usually enlisted men, with the same training and uniforms as other soldiers. The Corps coordinated communication for air, ground, and naval units during the war, providing technology, services, and personnel. In addition to its primary role in military transmissions, the unit produced training films for army and civilian personnel and documented the war.
Official US Army photographer arched arm patch
Object
United States Army photographer arched badge of the type issued during World War II. US Army photographers served in the Photographic Branch of the US Signal Corps. Photographers were attached, not assigned, to units and were identified by an arm or shoulder patch. Military photographers were usually enlisted men, with the same training and uniforms as other soldiers. The Corps coordinated communication for air, ground, and naval units during the war, providing technology, services, and personnel. In addition to its primary role in military transmissions, the unit produced training films for army and civilian personnel and documented the war.
US Army 4th Cavalry Group blue and yellow coat of arms shoulder patch
Object
United States Army Fourth Cavalry Group shoulder sleeve badge in the shape of a Coat of Arms. The yellow shield symbolizes Cavalry and the other battle related symbols memorialize unit engagements during the Civil War. The Group was not authorized to wear a shoulder patch during World War II, but many soldiers made their own during and after the war. The Group deployed to England in December 1943 and was redesignated as the 4th Cavalry Group Mechanized. Among the first Allied soldiers to land in France on D-Day, June 6, 1944, the 4th Cavalry assumed traditional cavalry actions of flanking and reconnaissance as the army advanced across Europe. The Group crossed the Rhine on March 2, 1945, and were in the Harz Mountains when the war ended May 7, 1945.
Booklet
Object
Booklet
Object
Pamphlet
Object
Booklet detailing the actions of the 20th Corps, US Army, known as the Ghost Corps, from their activation in the Desert Theater of Operations in North Africa to the capture of the Saar-Moselle Triangle, break through at the Siegfried Line, crossing of the Rhine at Remagen, and on into Germany and Austria until the war's end in early May 1945.
