The American 3rd Armored Division, commonly known as the "Spearhead", was formed in 1941 at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana. Like the 2nd Panzer Division was formed as the so-called "Heavy" and consisted of two armored regiments, consisting of 6 tank battalions (4 medium and 2 light). It also had its own mechanized infantry forces of 3 battalions. Thus, it consisted of over 16,000 people and 232 medium tanks and was one of the strongest and largest armored divisions in the US Army during World War II. The unit did not take part in the battles in North Africa and Italy, and it did not go into combat until the operations in Normandy in the summer of 1944, where it took part in the struggles at Saint-Lo and in the battles at Falaise. In September 1944 it reached the Belgian border. It also took part in the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest and fought the German counteroffensive in the Ardennes at the turn of 1944-1945. It also took part in the crossing of the Rhine and the occupation of western Germany in April-May 1945. During World War II, the division lost about 1,800 killed and about 7,000 wounded.
Already after the first experiences of fighting in North Africa at the turn of 1942-1943, the US Army changed the position of the American armored division. From 1943, the full-time armored division consisted of three armored battalions, three mechanized infantry battalions, three artillery battalions and many support units. The exception was the 2nd and 3rd Panzer Divisions, which retained the structure with two armored regiments, three armored battalions each. For this reason, they were often called heavy armored divisions. The armored battalion of other divisions than the 2nd and 3rd consisted of three armored companies - three of medium tanks (M4 Sherman) and one of light tanks (M3 / M5 Stuart). In turn, the mechanized infantry battalion consisted of three infantry companies, a service company and a staff sub-unit. The American armored division also had, like the infantry division, a very strong artillery component, consisting of self-propelled artillery - most often M7 Priest howitzers, of which there were 54 full-time units in the division. In total, the American armored division consisted of, among others: approx. 11,000 men, approx. 250 tanks and approx. 500 M2 / M3 armored personnel carriers.