The US 25th Armored Division was a 'phantom division' created in 1944 as part of Fortitude South II to replace the real US 5th Armored Division when that unit was deployed to

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

World War II

As depicted to the Germans the division was formed at

Pine Camp Fort Drum is a U.S. Army military reservation and a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson County, on the northern border of New York, United States. The population of the CDP portion of the base was 12,955 at the 2010 census. It is home t ...

, New York in 1941, but did not deploy to England until June 1944 when it joined US XXXIII Corps, US 14th Army. The division was initially based around a headquarters at

Wincanton Wincanton ( or ) is a small town and electoral ward in South Somerset, southwest England. The town lies off the A303 road, a main route between London and South West England, and has some light industry. The town and electoral ward has a populati ...

, in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, but moved to the vicinity of East Dereham in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

in July 1944. In the deception invasion plan for the Pas de Calais, it would have formed with the British 58th Infantry Division the second wave of the invasion, landing on the US 17th Infantry Division beachhead. In the aftermath of Fortitude South II it was depicted as moving to the area around

Tidworth Camp Tidworth Camp is a military installation at Tidworth in Wiltshire, England. It forms part of the Tidworth, Netheravon and Bulford (TidNBul) Garrison. History The Camp was established when the War Office acquired a 19th-century mansion – Ted ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

during August 1944 where, during September 1944 it was transferred to the command of US XXXVII Corps. The division was disposed of by announcing that it had departed the United Kingdom via

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in October 1944 along with the other units of the US XXXVII Corps.

Composition

In addition to the usual divisional support units the 25th Armored Division was composed of: *72nd Tank Battalion *73rd Tank Battalion *74th Tank Battalion *498th Armored Infantry Battalion *499th Armored Infantry Battalion *500th Armored Infantry Battalion

In popular culture

In the 1988

techno-thriller A techno-thriller or technothriller is a hybrid genre drawing from science fiction, thrillers, spy fiction, action, and war novels. They include a disproportionate amount (relative to other genres) of technical details on their subject matter ( ...

"Sword Point" by Harold Coyle, the 25th Armored Division is the designation given to one of the formations mobilized to counter a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

invasion of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

References

;Footnotes ;Bibliography * * * {{Allied Military Deception in World War II Operation Quicksilver (deception plan) formations