Seventh armored division WWII

Dear Mr. DeGrendel,

Thank you for sharing your inquiry with the History Hub.

The Textual Reference Branch at the National Archives in College Park, MD (Archives II) has custody of the Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1917- (Record Group 407) and the Records of U.S. Army Operational, Tactical, and Support Organizations (World War II and Thereafter) (Record Group 338). Military unit files among these records consist mostly of historical reports, after action reports, unit journals, and general orders. The files are arranged hierarchically (i.e. by division, regiment, and battalion). They do not include personnel or medical information, however, and we do not have a name index to these records. We reviewed the finding aids for these records and were able to confirm that several files related to the 7th Armored Division, 48th Armored Infantry Battalion can be found in series World War II Operations Reports, 1940-1948 (Entry 427, RG 407). You can contact the Textual Reference Branch directly at archives2reference@nara.gov with questions about accessing these records.

Also, although your grandfather’s Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) was lost in the 1973 fire, the National Archives at St. Louis has custody of morning reports which could help trace the specific history of your grandfather’s unit. You can contact them at stl.archives@nara.gov with questions.

Additionally, you may be interested in this book by W. Wesley Johnston (Combat Interviews of the 48th Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division Poteau, Rodt, Malempré & Manhay, Belgium December 18-25, 1944) and in this organization (U.S. 7th Armored Division Association), which might be able to provide you with further useful information.

Finally, we also suggest that you contact the County Recorder of Deeds in the county where your grandfather resided following the war. Many veterans elected to register their discharges at the county level of government after their service. While they in no way replace a soldier’s personnel file, they do provide some helpful information.

Thank you, again, for sharing your question with the History Hub, and good luck with your ongoing research.

I recently researched the 1st Armored Division in WWII, and it has been a great journey. In addition to all the excellent channels the Archives mentioned, one thing that gave me some immediate access was the digitized files at Fort Benning's library (reports on military operations written in hindsight as part of officer training).

It looks like there are two related to the battalion you are interested in:

http://www.benning.army.mil/library/content/Virtual/Donovanpapers/wwii/STUP2/VogelsangEdwardC%20CPT.pdf

http://www.benning.army.mil/library/content/Virtual/Donovanpapers/wwii/STUP2/Frazier,%20Sydney%20F%20MAJ.pdf

~Brianna