2nd Cavalry Regiment:Help a French reenactor please!

Hello gentlemen!

a friend of mine,collector of french and US army stuff,has the project of a 2nd cavalry regiment reenacting,cause this is the unit that liberated his village.
So,i'm looking for pics of this regiment,cause they want to have a look to the shoulder badges,they are doubtfull,were the regimental badge worn on the battle dress,for example...
In fact,i'm looking for any document you may have in your possession.I think they disserve some help.For what i have seen ,they are a good bunch of buddies.
Thank you very much to you!

 

sebfrench76--The 2nd Cavalry Regiment was called the 2nd Cavalry Group in WWII. They were attached to VII Corp thru most of the war, which in turn, was attached to General Patton's 3rd Army. Although the 2nd Armored Cavlary REGIMENT has a patch, I don't believe it was worn in WWII while it was the 2nd Cavalry Group. My WWII patch guide does not list a patch for that unit so I believe they would have either worn the VII Corp patch or the 3rd Army patch.

The website for pictures of the 2nd Cavalry Group is not working right now. What village was liberated by this unit?

 

To both of you,a huge thank you.I will ask to my pal what's the name of his "patelin"(smalltown in french)!

 

Some history:

In January 1943 the regiment was stood up again under command of Colonel Charles H. Reed, at Fort Jackson , South Carolina, as the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Cavalry Regiment (Mechanized). The regiment was cadred with a small group of regular cavalry NCOs and Officers from throughout the cavalry force and received an influx of draftees and new officers from from both West Point and the Cavalry Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Fort Riley . Europe late in 1943 and in early was reorganized and redesignated as the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Cavalry Group with attached 2d and 42d Cavalry Squadrons. The Group arrived in France on 19 July 1944 . It moved immediately to an assembly area near the battered town of Valognes and set out on its first mission, protecting the lines of communication from Cherbourg to Carentan. however, this important though unexciting mission was to last only a short time and on 26 July the group was assigned to Task Force A under Brigadier General Ernest. En route to join this task force, the group assignment was changed and instead it was attached to the 4th Armored Division. The group was given the mission of protecting the division’s left flank and routed south units mission. Just 5 days and some 200 miles later the Group Commander, “Hank” Reed, reported. “We are washing our tanks in the Loire River .”
The Group remained on the Loire screening a 90 mile front until 10 August , then moved east to join the XII Corps east of Le Mans . The XII Corps, began its drive to the east on the 12th of August and the 2d Cavalry Group protected the right flank of this fast-moving corps, and was engaged in several sharp actions in the vicinity of Montagis, Auxerre, and Tonnerre. After the fall of Troyes to the 4th Armored Division, the group led the racing columns to Nancy and the Moselle River . There the group screened the right flank of the corps while other troops captured Nancy , and gasoline supplies were replenished.
Moving forward across the Moselle , the group advanced to Luneville and the Foret de Parroy. Here on the morning of 18 September the 111 Panzer brigade launched an attack on the corps’ flank and of the groups’ most memorable battles was fought. The 2 months following the battle of Luneville found the group dismounted and fighting as infantry in the notorious French mud just north of the Foret de Parroy.
On 8 November the group advanced to the east and during November and December continued to operate on the flanks of XII Corps. When the German offensive was launched in the Ardennes , 16 December, the group was screening the corps’ flank in the vicinity of Sarreguemines. As part of XII Corps, the 2d Cavalry Group moved north to Luxembourg to spend the 2 months of January and February protecting the corps’s right flank along the Moselle River . During this period the group, heavily reinforced with engineers, tank destroyers, and artillery, occupied a division sector.
When the offensive was resumed in March, the group passed through the Seigfried Line at Wasserbillig and pushed on into Germany , reaching the Rhine River on 16 March, where the group maintained a screen from Boppard to Bingen which they had captured. Crossing the Rhine, 25 March, the group continued to operate on the flank of the XII Corps, clearing up enemy pockets of resistance, until the end of the war. The end of the war found the 2d Cavalry Group in Czechoslovakia in contact with the Russians and arranging the details of the surrender of some 2,000 German artillery officer candidates who had surrendered just 2 days prior to V-E Day. The speed and vigor with which the 2d Cavalry Group operated earned for it the title “Patton’s Ghosts,” a title which speaks for itself.

 

As far as I could find in literature about the wearing of shoulder sleeve insignia, units directly attaches to corps, armies or army groups, didn't wear a shoulder sleeve insignia.
Only divisional units had the shoulder sleeve insignia of the division and in many cases they even didn't wear this.

 

Sorry,i forgot to thank you too!