 from Korea to Germany, from Alaska to Puerto Rico. All over the world, the United States Army is on the alert to defend our country, you, the American people, against aggression. This is the big picture. An official television report to the nation from the United States Army. Now to show you part of the big picture, here is Sergeant James Mansfield. Welcome to the big picture. I'm sure you all remember General Patton's famous drive into the heart of Germany during the last war. It was an advance so strong and so rapid that the Third Army outran its terrain maps and stretched its supply lines to the limit. Today, we're going to tell you the story of that Third Army and the men who fought in it. Later on in the program, Colonel Quinn will have an interesting interview for you with Colonel Sam Goodwin of the Third Army. And now to speak for the man who wears the blue badge, the combat infantryman. We take you to the office of Colonel William W. Quinn. How you do, ladies and gentlemen? If you recall, last week we told you about the 82nd Airborne Division and about paratroopers. This week we're going to have a change of pace and tell you about tanks and particularly about the Third United States Army. We'll have a guest later on who will specifically talk to us about the tank infantry team. And now the blue badge proudly presents the Third United States Army. His war in Europe was over. It came home and took up its headquarters at Fort MacPherson, Georgia. Many of its wartime veterans reenlisted, staying with the new recruits, streaming in every day, learning the know-how of the newest inventions, the new military technology, training at different stations in Third Army's seven state area. They learn how to operate new armored tanks, turn them in a space no wider than their own length. Signal Corps soldiers learn how to use the newest inventions and techniques, how to keep the lines of communication open, how to lay wire across a deep, swift stream in a few seconds. New weapons, new skills, improve the chances for national defense, and prepare the recruits to step into positions in the country's peacetime pursuits. Airborne troops are conditioned to fit into the air age. Learn how to take a parachute jump in their stride, how to battle a wind-blown bucking parachute on the ground, and overcome it. All toward the end, that in national emergency, troops using everything the new military technology affords them can form one solid, unbreachable front, keeping bright the wartime record for hard-driving, hard-hitting impact, set by the loyalty and the fighting spirit of the famous Third Army. Let's look at the record. In Europe, the Third US Army bore the code name of Lucky. Their luck was that they never depended on luck to win a battle. They knew the one way to bring a bitter war to a quick end was to destroy the enemy in the field, smash and knock out his material and firepower, to wipe out, rout, or capture his manpower, to liberate the enemy-held towns and restore them to their loyal citizens. Third Army's six different corps were covered in the air by 9th Air Force's 19th Tactical Air Command. Men came from every state in the Union, wearing patches of those divisions, which at various times, during the 281 fighting days in Europe, served under Third Army's command. General George S. Patton, Commanding General of Third Army, had his design for combat. Hit the Germans, hit them again, keep them off balance, confuse them, discourage them, drive forward, always forward. Soldiers were conditioned toward one objective. Get that German first. Surprise, skill, power. The triad for victory against a strong, well-trained enemy. While Third Army was landing secretly at Utah Beach, gathering its strength quietly, moving forward quietly, First Army contained Normandy, this side of the French town of Avroche. Security measures were so good that when the Third Army breakthrough came at Avroche, it came as a complete surprise to the Germans. First shock, the Germans rushed to give themselves up. They came in from all directions. Material and great stores of supplies were destroyed in that initial breakthrough. Its success separated Brittany from the rest of German-held France. Third Army headed in three directions, fighting in three directions at one time. West to San Malo, in the port of Brest, south to Rem, the capital of Brittany, and east toward Paris. Captured German films show, however, that the German armies were anything but a pushover. They had trained, disciplined, seasoned troops. Frightened towns had been easy prey for the Germans. Now they've fought hard to hold what had been so easy to take, but nothing stopped the onrushing Third Army. Third Army headed for the coast town of San Malo, key point in the enemy defense line. They battered it with heavy guns, sent their riflemen into the town, bought the Germans from street to street and from house to house, dug them out of the solid stone houses, each of fortress in itself. Killed them in cellars like rats. Third Army captured the town. One enemy stronghold still held out. The German clung to his fortress on its offshore island. Third Army pounded it, turned some of the Germans' own guns against it. To prevent needless death and destruction, Third Army improvised a truce plane and flew it to the island with a plan of surrender. The Germans chose to ignore it. Third Army concentrated on a swift reduction of the port. 19th Tactical Air Command blasted it from the air, swooped over the island, dropped its belly loads of eggs, sent this spectacular line of waterspouts into the air. Heavy artillery laid down fire that quickly reduced the fortress to helpless rubble. The Germans gave up. San Malo surrendered. The way was open for the drive toward the west. Third Army was on its way to the Brittany Port of Brest with its great German submarine base on the Atlantic. In all this fighting, ground troops supported by tanks set a pattern for combat. Typical of the French towns next liberated by Third Army was the German-held city of Red, capital of Brittany. American paratroopers previously taken prisoner by the Germans were released. French mademoiselles left no doubt about their feeling for the American liberators. Heroes fared well. Frenchmen brought out their best vintage wives for men of Third Army. A French-American Anton Corgiall was reestablished. The mayor made a speech. In quick succession, the French towns were freed. Third Army took the rules of the game laid down by the Germans themselves and then beat the living daylights out of them at their own game. This was the beginning of the Germans' Blitzkrieg in reverse. The Loire River, with its stronghold towns, was the next objective. Third Army now most definitely knew where it was going and hadn't the least doubt about getting there. They were on their way. The swift advance posed a tremendous problem in logistics. A quarter million men had to be fed, clothed, equipped, vetted down every day. Trucks and tanks needed gasoline. Every pound had to be hauled in luck. Men of the transportation units made their great contribution to victory in this battle of France. In the West, Third Army stepped up the attack on Brest. Monster guns pumped shells into that port and wiped the German submarine menace from the Atlantic sea lanes. The commander-in-chief, General Eisenhower, viewed the progress of battle and found it good. Brest surrendered. All through the fighting, Third Army had tight support from the 19th Tactical Air Command. The 19th Wovenette of protective air cover that caught any foolhardy German aircraft in the meshes, chased it scurrying back to the ground or knocked plane and pilot completely out of the air. They kept the air lanes free for our own bombers. Expert skip bombing was developed that sent hits skimming along the ground into tunnels and caught the fuel-precious supply trains that Germans still could operate. Straightened them, blow them up. Deep Rivers brought out Third Army engineers. Pontons were lined up. Pre-fabricated Bailey Bridge sections were laid. Steel fairly walked across the water. Construction gangs in Bailey Bridges weren't always at hand, but the enemy Germans were. They clung to these natural defenses and made crossings an invitation to sudden death. Third Army's war, at times like this, narrowed down to the close confines of a personal matter, bullet for bullet. Third Army men usually got their objective, but not always without damage. Teamwork in the Third Army started from the ground up. Individual disaster became company concern. With the town of Tua in their hands, Third Army came into the area of well-remembered names of World War I. Tua, Rass, Verdun, Nancy. Each name carried grim memories. Here they were all again and, once again, all under fire. Rass, with its famous cathedral, bolstered and protected by sandbanks. Once again, Rass became one of war's major targets. Verdun. Third Army men who had fought in the First War and remembered Verdun for its mud and rain now saw it again. Third Army had another date waiting for it, the Fort Ring City of Metz. The Germans made it their showpiece. It was advertised as the impregnable, unbeatable stronghold of the master race. The town had never in modern history been taken by assault. Third Army now went out to do just that, direct penetration. They blasted the forts and battered the town in one of the bloodiest of actions. The forts were knocked out. The Army had no cheap victories. The Germans fought stubbornly. Metz brought more street-to-street combat, more house-to-house fighting. Third Army got them all, shot them out from their cover. Surrender of Metz opened the path for the great drive into Germany itself. This was the moment. The Siegfried Line was to be breached. The German sacred Rhine River was to be crossed. Then, on 16 December, plans went into eclipse. The bottom fell out. The enemy had one ace left in his military pack. He played it. The Germans quite literally threw everything they had into this last solid, masked effort. They started their drive through the Ardennes, drove a deep salient into the Allied lines, widened it, blew it out to a bulge, and gulfed Bastogne. They surrounded the town, but could not take it. Our troops there were isolated. Third Army was ordered to the rescue, to break the German iron ring and circling the town, to release the Americans trapped there. Relief of Bastogne became a battle cry. The Battle of the Bulge was on. Third Army started the greatest wheeling movement ever attempted in wartime logistics. An abrupt right-angle change in direction, from a course already in operation, by an entire army overnight. The bulk of 300,000 troops, with fighting gear and supplies, disengaged itself from contact with the enemy in the east, took a sharp turn north, plowed a path right through its own supply lines. This forced march had an atmosphere of unreality about it. Third Army had to contend with snow, sleet, mud, fog. Bitter winter weather was all on the side of the Germans. Tanks went out of control, skidded and slid. Sleet-covered roads brought their own war casualties in tanks and trucks. The troops in Bastogne held fast, waiting for the relief of the city by Third Army. Signal Corps men fought their Battle of the Bulge, too. Against ice, snow and freezing cold, kept Third Army lifelines of command open. Third Army arrived with guns firing. Bastogne became a kind of valley forge for the Third Army, but a valley forge with an enemy pounding in from all sides. Everything Third Army had on the ground went into action. One thing more would tie it all up into a quick victory package, attacked by air, but the weather held. There was lots of it, all bad. Air forces were immobilized. General Patton called the Third Army chaplain to him, asked that a prayer be offered, a soldier's prayer, fair weather for battle. The prayer was made. All mighty, most merciful father, restrain these immoderate rains. Grant us fair weather for battle. Establish thy justice among men and nations. Amen. Call it a miracle. The day before Christmas came as a real gift, perfect flying weather. Our planes took to the air, ported on the Germans. More planes followed, and more. Isolated Bastogne was fed by airdrop. Medical supplies went in. Ground forces kept pouring it on the Germans below. Destroyed them in the snow. Two days after Christmas, Third Army broke the German lines, curled back their flanks, made first contact with the men in Bastogne. The siege of Bastogne was lifted. The German bulge finally deflated. Third Army turned its fighting strength against the Siegfried Line and the Rhine River. The Germans had no place to go now but home. But SS troops were in the way, so they stuck around, fought, gave themselves up, or were killed. Third Army tore its way through the dragon teeth of the Siegfried Line, came to the Rhine River and the German town of Frankfurt. Plans called for speed, but not recklessness. Our forces advanced cautiously. The trapped Germans were more dangerous than ever. The fighting at Frankfurt was of a peace with that along the length of the Rhine. But there was now no place to hide. The Germans had come to the payoff. Third Army riflemen took them as they came. Cut them up, destroyed them in isolated pockets. Frankfurt went the way of all the German towns. Their world was at its end. The German towns of Darmstadt, Hanau, Wiesbaden, followed Frankfurt. Third Army, under general patent, never lost a battle. The Great Drive was nearing its last objective, the complete and total defeat of the Germans. The campaign in France, the Moselle, capture of Metz and the Tsar campaign, Bastogne, forcing the Rhine, the capture of Trier, Koblenz, the Palatinate, Frankfurt. The way finally was open to the total collapse of all German-held land. Third Army overran the west of Germany. They fanned out and swept south, crossed the Danube. German armies were shot to pieces. Their disorganized leaders were captured or destroyed. Troops surrendered by whole divisions and corps. Their generals gave up their batons. Their battered armies. They're now discredited authority. Germany's war was over. Third Army's fighting was over, with honor and glory enough for every Third Army man. Typical of the many honors to Third Army enlisted men and officers at different times and in different places was the ceremony at Lischt, Germany, where General Patton presented the Congressional Medal of Honor to Private Harold A. Garmin. A fit tribute to the fighting spirit, to the loyalty of the troops of Third Army who fought the 281 days on the thousand miles of foreign soil are the words spoken by General Patton. There are men Third Army will never forget. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to present to you Lieutenant Colonel Samuel M. Goodwin, who I believe if we'd known where to look, we might have found him in the film we'd just seen of the Third Army. Glad to have you aboard, Sam. It's your nickname, I believe. Yes, sir, and it's good to be here. Sam, incidentally, what is your hometown? I can't give you a direct answer to that question, Colonel, for I was born and raised in the Army. My father lived many places in the United States and at some overseas station. Well, I was growing. I know what you mean. You have no home. What is your duty now, incidentally? Present time, I'm a planner in the office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3 in Washington. I was correct when I said that you were in the Third Army. You were, sir? What outfit were you in? Throughout my combat experience in Europe, I commanded the Sixth Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, the Sixth Cavalry Group, that fought across France, Germany, and into Czechoslovakia with Patton's Third Army. Well, in connection with the use of tanks, I'd like to ask you a basic question. What is the prime purpose of a tank? The tank is an armored shield surrounding a gasoline engine. Today, one big gun and several small machine guns. It's designed to perform the mission of mobility, firepower, and shock on the battlefield. Well, Sam, when were tanks first employed? The first tanks in any quantity used on a modern battlefield occurred in 1916. When at EAPS, the British used about 50 tanks. It's interesting to note that the tank was a name used by the British to conceal what project they were constructing in 1914 to 16. And the present prime minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill, as an undersecretary in the Admiralty, was responsible for the project. Many of the terms used in armor find their origin in naval terms, like the turret, the deck, and ports. Well, you can... It's considered to be... The fact is that the initial uses of the tank were successful. Successful locally and for their purpose. However, the use of that weapon was not fully exploited, probably because the leaders who had the weapon didn't know or realize the value of what they had found. Well, let me ask you this, Sam. Have there been any great changes in tactics or the employment of the tank since it was first used? Fundamentally, armor of today is the heir to the traditional cavalry mission of military history. And however, the tanks of World War II were much more closely integrated with infantrymen. Than those of the First World War. And even today, we find a more intimate integration, where there are available to commanders at all echelons of military organization, tank and infantry teams. Well, that brings up... I'm glad you mentioned that, because it brings up another point as to the tank infantry team. And I'd like to ask you this question. What do you consider to be the most important elements in a well-trained tank infantry team? The first element is teamwork and understanding of the capabilities and limitations, the tanker of the infantrymen on or outside his tank and the infantrymen of the men and the weapons within the tank. Secondly is communications, the ability of one to talk to the other. And third is maneuverability, the ability to go across the ground toward the common objective. Well, Sam, I get out of this one important factor. I believe you believe that the tank is here to stay. I'm convinced of that, sir. Well, thanks a lot, Sam. Colonel Goodwin. Ladies and gentlemen, please meet with us again when we tell you and talk about the combat medical man. And be sure not to miss the interview with Colonel Canada, who is the former surgeon to General MacArthur in the Far East Command. So until next week, this is Colonel Quinn speaking for the combat infantryman who asked you to look twice at the man who wears the blue badge. It's the mark of a man. The big picture is a weekly television report to the nation on the activities of the Army at home and overseas, produced by the Signal Corps Pictorial Center, presented by the U.S. Army in cooperation with this station. You can be an important part of the big picture. You can proudly serve with the best equipped, the best trained, the best fighting team in the world today, the United States Army.