Upon activation on 15 March 1943, the Division was assigned its mission as an oversea replacement division. A cadre was selected and armored basic trainees started the flow from Fort Knox that was to continue for nearly a year. Early in 1944, when the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) was reduced for an eventual phase-out, the 20th trainee input changed to an unusually large number of these college-trained men. "The division attained an average IQ score of officer candidate level, a whole division of men with a mean average of over 110. It had become and stayed, the smartest division in the American army."*

General Henry insured that the first year's individual training would be so thorough and time-sensitive that the armor units receiving them in overseas areas would not want for quality combat replacements. Training in all aspects of street fighting, hand-to-hand combat, rifle marksmanship, tank driving and gunnery, vehicle maintenance and first aid on the battlefield, to name a few, occupied every waking minute of the soldiers in the three combat commands while specialists in Division Trains and the technical service units became even more proficient as bridge-builders, signalmen, medics and automotive experts.

When General Allen assumed command in late 1943, he continued General Henry's program until the mission changed to one of unit training -- training for combat. Physical fitness, weekly bivouacs, field expedients, map reading and learning to cope with the elements and other field conditions became ever important and natural extensions of the individual training phase. Maneuvers and other field exercises covered a lot of ground throughout Tennessee. The 20th Tank Battalion went to Fort Bragg to work with the 100th Infantry Division and observe glider operations for tank-crew delivery (the latter disastrous at best and never used to later cross the Rhine as was rumored at the time!).

General Allen left the 20th in September of 1944 to take command of the 12th Armored Division. At about the same time, the War Department directed that the division would become qualified for overseas movement as a unit. This meant changing the division composition from one of administrative and training units to tactical units. To command the 20th and lead the division in combat was the assignment given to Major General Orlando Ward. He stressed firing and had all officers and NCOs trained to direct fire. He introduced the use of terrain boards to facilitate fire-direction training and emphasized the use of range cards for dug-in guns. All personnel were trained how to estimate distance and battlefield intelligence was stressed. Ward further required his tactical units to go to firing ranges as though deploying for a fight and return as if they had been in a fight. "The training went well, made more serious by the lack of time, and easier by the high caliber of personnel."**

The 20th Armored Division was ready for combat.

*20th Armored Division, Armor in the ETO. Atlanta: Albert Lowe Enterprises, 1946 (also entitled 20th Armored Division in World War II).
**Gugeler, Russell A., "Orlando Ward Bibliography." Unpublished manuscript, Archives, US Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, PA, p. XIV-4.