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Allen, Roderick Random, MG.
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Contact Info
Home Town Marshall
Last Address Washington, D.C.
Date of Passing Feb 01, 1970
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Last Known Activity:
MG Roderick Random Allen, (1894-1970)
Roderick Random Allen, (1894-1970) an army officer who served in three wars, the son of Jefferson Buffington and Emma (Albers) Allen, was born on January 29, 1894, in Marshall, Texas, and spent his youth in Palestine, Texas. He graduated from Texas A&M in 1915 with a bachelor of science degree in agriculture. In 1946 A&M granted him an honorary LL.D. degree. On April 25, 1917, he married Maydelle Campbell; the couple reared Nancy Campbell Allen and Gail Random Allen.
Allen was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, Sixteenth Cavalry, Regular Army, on November 29, 1916, and subsequently a First Lieutenant. He was stationed at Mercedes, Texas, on the Mexican border. He was transferred to the Third Cavalry in June 1917, was promoted to Captain on October 17, and served with the regiment in France in the American Expeditionary Force. His troop and squadron were on remount duty at six locations. From November 1917 to January 1918 Allen was an aerial observer, First Observation Squadron, Aviation Section, Signal Corps, in World War I.
During the spring of 1919 he attended the University of Toulouse in France. In July 1919 he returned with the Third Cavalry to Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont. In 1919-21 and 1923 he rode 300-mile endurance tests in the United States Mounted Service. In 1920 Allen was an instructor, Texas National Guard, Dallas. In February 1921 he transferred to the Sixteenth Cavalry, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, and in October he moved to the Fourth United States Cavalry. He was a member of the Cavalry Engineer Rifle Team from 1921 to 1923.
Beginning in the 1920s Allen graduated from several advanced military schools. He attended the Cavalry School and was assigned (1923) to command Company A, Seventh Cavalry, Fort Bliss, and served as regimental adjutant. He graduated from the Command and General Staff School (1928), was promoted to Major on June 20, and was ordered to the Personnel Section (of which he became chief in 1930), Office of Chief of Cavalry, in Washington, D.C.
In 1929 he was Captain of the Cavalry Rifle and Pistol Team. He was an instructor at the Command and General Staff School (1932-34). He graduated from the Chemical Warfare School (1934), the Army War College (1935), and the Naval War College (1936). Allen was a staff officer, Plans and Training Division, War Department, from 1936 to 1940. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on August 1, 1938.
During World War II he commanded various armored units. In July 1940 he was operations officer, First Armored Regiment, Fort Knox, Kentucky. In April he was transferred to the Third Armored Division, Camp Beauregard, Louisiana. He was promoted to Colonel, Army of the United States, on October 14, 1941, and took command of the Thirty-second Armored Regiment. Allen became chief of staff, Sixth Armored Division, in January 1942 and was promoted to Brigadier General, Army of the United States, on May 23. He commanded Combat Command A, Fourth Armored, and participated in maneuvers in Tennessee (1942) and California (1942-43). From October 1943 to September 1944 he commanded the Twentieth Armored Division at Camp Campbell, Kentucky. He was promoted to Major General, Army of the United States, on February 23, 1944. He commanded the Twelfth Armored Division in Europe from September 1944 to August 1945. The division was attached to the United States Seventh Army (in France), detached to the First French Army, then to the Third Army to spearhead the Twentieth Corps drive from Trier to the Rhine. His division accompanied the Twenty-first Corps into Austria. From August 1945 to February 1946 he commanded the First Armored in Germany, then was director of operations, plans, and training at European Theater headquarters. He was promoted to Colonel, regular army, on November 1, 1945, and to Brigadier General on January 24, 1948.
In the United States he served from October 1947 to April 1948 as director of intelligence, Army Ground Forces, Fort Monroe, Virginia. He was promoted to Major General on May 27, 1949. He commanded the Third Armored, Fort Knox, from 1948 to 1950. In July 1950, at the outbreak of the Korean War, he reported to Douglas MacArthur's headquarters, Far East Command, Tokyo, Japan. He was designated deputy chief of staff, Far East Command, deputy chief of staff, United Nations Command, and chief of staff, Korean Operations. From April 1951 to February 1952 Allen commanded the Sixteenth Corps, headquartered at Sendai, Japan. After being reassigned to the states, he commanded the Ninth Infantry Division, Fort Dix, from February to July 1952. At Dix, Allen briefly made national news when a House subcommittee on appropriations criticized his expenditures for kennels and dog runs for his fancy dogs (Samoyeds). His last assignment was as Commanding General, New England Sub-area, Boston Army Base, Fort Devens, Massachusetts.
He retired from the army on May 31, 1954, and resided in Washington, D.C., until his death, on February 1, 1970. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Allen received the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Army Command Ribbon, Distinguished Marksman award, Officer Legion of Honor award, Croix de Guerre with Palm (French), Order of the White Lion and Victory, and War Cross (Czechoslovakia).
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Ardennes Alsace Campaign (1944-45)/Battle of the Bulge
From Month/Year
December / 1944
To Month/Year
January / 1945
Description The Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World War II in Europe. Hitler planned the offensive with the primary goal to recapture the important harbour of Antwerp. The surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard. United States forces bore the brunt of the attack and incurred the highest casualties for any operation during the war. The battle also severely depleted Germany's war-making resources.
The battle was known by different names. The Germans referred to it as Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein ("Operation Watch on the Rhine"), while the French named it the Bataille des Ardennes ("Battle of the Ardennes"). The Allies called it the Ardennes Counteroffensive. The phrase "Battle of the Bulge" was coined by contemporary press to describe the way the Allied front line bulged inward on wartime news maps and became the best known name for the battle.
The German offensive was supported by several subordinate operations known as Unternehmen Bodenplatte, Greif, and Währung. As well as stopping Allied transport over the channel to the harbor of Antwerp, Germany also hoped these operations would split the British and American Allied line in half, and then proceed to encircle and destroy four Allied armies, forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis Powers' favor. Once that was accomplished, Hitler could fully concentrate on the eastern theatre of war.
The offensive was planned by the German forces with the utmost secrecy, minimizing radio traffic and moving troops and equipment under cover of darkness. Despite their efforts to keep it secret, the Third U.S. Army's intelligence staff predicted a major German offensive, and Ultra indicated that a "substantial and offensive" operation was expected or "in the wind", although a precise date or point of attack could not be given. Aircraft movement from the Russian Front and transport of forces by rail, both to the Ardennes, was noticed but not acted upon, according to a report later written by Peter Calvocoressi and F. L. Lucas at the codebreaking centre Bletchley Park.
Near-complete surprise was achieved by a combination of Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with Allied offensive plans, and poor aerial reconnaissance. The Germans attacked a weakly defended section of the Allied line, taking advantage of heavily overcast weather conditions, which grounded the Allies' overwhelmingly superior air forces. Fierce resistance on the northern shoulder of the offensive around Elsenborn Ridge and in the south around Bastogne blocked German access to key roads to the northwest and west that they counted on for success; columns that were supposed to advance along parallel routes found themselves on the same roads. This and terrain that favored the defenders threw the German advance behind schedule and allowed the Allies to reinforce the thinly placed troops. Improved weather conditions permitted air attacks on German forces and supply lines, which sealed the failure of the offensive. In the wake of the defeat, many experienced German units were left severely depleted of men and equipment, as survivors retreated to the defenses of the Siegfried Line.
About 610,000 American forces were involved in the battle,[2] and 89,000 were casualties, including 19,000 killed. It was the largest and bloodiest battle fought by the United States in World War II.
