Insignia of the 12th Armored Division. "Hellcats, " the winning entry in a division contest for a nickname held in early in 1943, symbolized the 12th's toughness and readiness for combat.
— US Holocaust Memorial Museum - Collections
Some five months after the D-Day invasion of western Europe, the 12th Armored Division entered France through the port of Le Havre and quickly made its way eastward toward Alsace by early December. In March 1945, the "Hellcats" advanced into the Rhineland and captured the city of Ludwigshafen on March 21. Deploying southward, the unit took the city of Würzburg early the next month. By the end of April, the 12th had advanced well into Bavaria and had reached the Danube River. The division ended the war in Austria.
During its penetration of southern Germany, the 12th overran one of the many subcamps of Dachau in the Landsberg area on April 27, 1945.
The 12th Armored Division was recognized as a liberating unit by the US Army's Center of Military History and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1988.
Casualty figures for the 12th Armored Division, European theater of operations
Total battle casualties: 3,527
Total deaths in battle: 732
Division nickname
"Hellcats," the winning entry in a division contest for a nickname held in early in 1943, symbolized the 12th's toughness and readiness for combat.
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