D-Day - United States Army at Southampton

On 6 June 1944, the elite troops of Company A, 116th Infantry, stormed the sands of Omaha Beach as part of the first wave of the D-Day landings. Within minutes, most were dead, including 19 men from one small town in rural Virginia.

The 365th was a group of Ninth Air Force's 84th Fighter Wing, IX Tactical Air Command. The 365th Group began its move to Europe on 21 June 1944, the first squadron taking up residence at a temporary airfield Advanced Landing Ground A-7 Azeville, France on 26 June.

Lend-Lease effectively ended the United States' pretense of neutrality which had been enshrined in the Neutrality Acts of the 1930s. It was a decisive step away from non-interventionist policy and toward open support for the Allies. Roosevelt's top foreign policy advisor Harry Hopkins had effective control over Lend lease, making sure it was in alignment with Roosevelt's foreign policy goals.

As a result of mobilization the Third Army took on the role of training some of the huge numbers of recruits that the draft was bringing into the United States Armed Forces. Lieutenant General Walter Krueger, later to gain fame for his command of Sixth Army during operations in the Pacific, commanded Third Army from May 1941 until February 1943. Under his leadership, the basis of the Army's later success as a combat formation was laid. Krueger was succeeded by Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges who led the Army for the rest of 1943. The news that many had expected came in December 1943 and the Third Army was shipped from the United States to the United Kingdom.

Third Army did not take part in the initial stages of Operation Overlord. However, when it did take the field, it was led by George S. Patton. When Third Army was moved to France, it was just after Omar Bradley's formations had achieved the breakout from Normandy. Third Army followed up on that success and began a great dash across France. It was only the inevitability of logistics problems that halted Patton's force near the borders of Germany.

After a period of consolidation, Third Army was ready to go on the offensive again. However, the Germans then launched their last great offensive of the war – the Battle of the Bulge. This battle was an attempt to repeat the decisive breakthrough of 1940. However, in 1944, the Germans were doomed to failure. Their own logistical problems surfaced, and they ground to a halt. Nevertheless, they had broken the U.S. front, and it took a great effort to reduce the resulting salient. In one of the great moves of the war, Patton turned Third Army's axis of advance through ninety degrees and set it upon the south of the German forces. The German salient was reduced by the end of January 1945, and the remainder of the process of closing up to the Rhine could be completed. Some vicious fighting took place, but by April there was but one great natural barrier between Third Army and the heart of Germany. Unlike in 1918, the crossing of the Rhine was opposed. However, the bridgehead was won, and Third Army embarked on another great eastward dash. It reached Austria and in May liberated the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camps complex. Its forces ended up in Czechoslovakia, the furthest east of any American units.

The Third Army After Action of May 1945 states that the Third Army captured 765,483 prisoners of war, with an additional 515,205 of the enemy already held in corps and divisional level POW cages processed between 9 May and 13 May 1945, for a total of 1,280,688 POWs, and that, additionally, Third Army forces killed 144,500 enemy soldiers and wounded 386,200, for a total of 1,811,388 in enemy losses.[2] Fuller's review of Third Army records differs only in the number of enemy killed and wounded, stating that between 1 August 1944 and 9 May 1945, 47,500 of the enemy were killed, 115,700 wounded, and 1,280,688 captured. Fuller's combined total of enemy losses is 1,443,888 enemy killed, wounded, or captured by the Third Army. The Third Army suffered 16,596 killed, 96,241 wounded, and 26,809 missing in action for a total of 139,646 casualties according to the aforementioned After Action Report of May 1945. According to Fuller, the Third Army lost 27,104 killed and 86,267 wounded. There were 18,957 injuries of all kinds and 28,237 men listed as missing in action. To include 127 men captured by the enemy, brought total casualties of the Third Army to 160,692 in 281 continuous days of operations.

The US Army 14th Major Port Transportation Corps arrived in Southampton in the summer of 1943 and they took over organisation of the port. Their main role was to co- ordinate the shipment of American troops, military equipment and stores through the port.

Southampton was chosen as the chief supply and troop movement centre for the American army, known as the 14th Major Port of the US Army Transportation Corps. It was the centre of marine operations as the first shipment point for American men and supplies from the UK to the Continent. Southampton was essential in discharging of cargo before D-Day, loading of landing craft and other assault vessels for the European invasion and build up, and shipping of United States-bound troops under the re-deployment programme.

SS Jeremiah O'Brien is a Liberty ship built during World War II and named after the American Revolutionary War ship captain Jeremiah O'Brien (1744–1818).

Now based in San Francisco, she is a rare survivor of the 6,939-ship armada that stormed Normandy on D-Day, 1944.

Jeremiah O'Brien, SS John W. Brown, and SS Hellas Liberty are the only currently operational Liberty ships of the 2,710 built.