WW2 US 4th Armoured Division sleeve patch.

The 4th Armored Division landed at Utah Beach on 13 July 1944 and entered combat four days later as one of Patton’s Third Army’s principal exploitation forces, driving hard through Coutances, Avranches, and into Brittany before turning east across France.Combat Command B took Coutances on July 28, pushed into Avranches on July 30, and secured the See crossings that opened the route into Brittany.

Combat Command A took Orleans on August 16 and reached the Meuse at Commercy and Pont-sur-Meuse by the end of the month.  The division then fought hard in Lorraine, most notably the tank battles around Arracourt in September, where the division fought repeated German armored counterattacks, including sharp reverses where CCA lines were overrun and Hill 318 cost heavily, though the German attempt to retake Arracourt ultimately failed.

Its defining moment came in December 1944. Two days after the Ardennes offensive opened, the 4th AD entered the fight, racing northwest into Belgium and covering 150 miles in 19 hours.  Combat Command R pushed through Assenois to reach Bastogne on 26 December , relieving the surrounded 101st Airborne, and that action is the one it’s remembered for above all else. Its unofficial motto became “They shall be known by their deeds alone.”

The division’s total battle casualties in the European theatre came to 6,212, including 1,366 deaths . It’s also recognised as one of the divisions credited with liberating a Nazi camp, having discovered the Ohrdruf subcamp, an event that opened the eyes of many US soldiers to the horrors of the Holocaust.

That’s a strong, well-documented combat history to hang a listing on. Want me to move on to identifying the patch itself and drafting the listing copy, or would you like more detail on any particular campaign first?