15th Cavalry Group

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	Regular Army

Normandy // Northern France //  Rhineland // Central Europe

Commander: John Reybold, COL, CAV // Robert Quinn, LTC, CAV

The 15^th Cavalry Group (Mecz) under the command of Colonel John Reybold, Cavalry, later Lt Colonel Robert Quinn, Cavalry, consisting of the 15th and 17th Cavalry Squadrons (mecz), entered Normandy in the middle of July 1944 and took patrol work on the rear areas and the coast line.  A task force consisting of both squadrons (plus attached tank destroyers and engineers) started from Avranches on 3 August, 1944 , objective Brest .  The 15th Group proceeded to St. Nazaire and Lorient where it remained until 22 September 1944 .  The 17th Cavalry Squadron then moved to Rennes with Ninth Army Headquarters as a security force.   The 15th Cavalry Squadron remained at St. Nazaire until relieved by the 66th Infantry Division.  The 15th Cavalry Group then established a security screen along the Loire River from Nantes to Auxerre.  The 15th Cavalry continued the screening mission for the Ninth Army until 13 February 1945 , when it was attached to the XIV Corps and was given a sector on the Ruhr River at Oersbeck on 1 March 1945 .  It then attacked through the Siegfried Line toward Vento on the left flank of the 35th Infantry Division.  The Rhine crossing was accomplished at Sevelin in the British zone.  On 29 March, the group crossed the Lippe River at Dorsten and continued to Hamm and Hergern, with XIX Corps, where it reverted to XVI Corps control.  The campaign ended with an occupation mission near Deliwig.

This article is extracted from a supplemental student text (undated) written for the US Army Armor School by LTC (Ret) James W. Cooke