Lunsford E . Oliver Lunsford Errett Oliver ( March 17 , 1889 – October 13 , 1978 ) was an American soldier , who commanded the 5th Armored Division during World War II . Early life and Army Career Before World War II . Lunsford Erret Oliver was born on March 17 , 1889 in Nemaha , Nebraska as a son of Thomas Jefferson Oliver and the former Mary Lorraine Evans . He attended the United States Military Academy and graduated in 1913 . Subsequently he was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers as Second Lieutenant . Oliver served at Fort Brown as supply officer during Pancho Villa Expedition . He graduated from the Engineer School , then at Fort Belvoir in 1916 . Lunsford Oliver stayed in active service during World War I , organizing and training railway engineer battalions . After the war , he contributed to the . and then between years 1924 - 1927 served as an engineer in Alaska Road Commission , which was responsible for the construction of many important Alaska highways . In 1928 , he attended the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas for further military education . During the years 1933 - 1937 , Oliver served as an District Engineer in Vicksburg , Mississippi and in 1938 , he attended United States Army War College in Carlisle , Pennsylvania . After his Army War College studies , Oliver was assigned as an instructor at Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas . He served in this capacity until year 1940 , when he was assigned as the Armored Force Engineer at Fort Knox . While there , Colonel Oliver initiated the research that led to the development of the steel treadway bridge . Service in World War II . Colonel Oliver was assigned to 1st Armored Division in January 1942 to assume command of Combat Command B ( CCB ) , then promoted to the rank of brigadier general on February 16 , 1942 . The division deployed to Ireland on May 6 , 1942 to train for eventual operations in North Africa . In September , BG Oliver went to London to assist in the planning for Operation Torch ( Allied invasion of Northwest Africa ) . Oliver was promoted to the rank of major general on November 20 , 1942 , then Combat Command B under his command landed successfully near the city of Oran in late November 1942 and started to advance toward the Djedeida airfield , occupying it with little resistance on November 28 , 1942 . Major General Oliver was awarded with the Army Distinguished Service Medal . Combat Command B encountered its first major enemy resistance at Medjez - el - bab , Tunisia where they fought for fours days starting on December 6 , 1942 . Oliver was appointed the commander of 5th Armored Division , where he succeeded Brigadier General Sereno E . Brett at Camp Cooke in early 1943 . MG Oliver led the division throughout the remainder of the war , including training in the Mojave Desert near Needles , California through March 1943 , the Tennessee Maneuvers through the Summer , and final validation and reorganization of the division at Pine Camp ( Now Fort Drum , New York ) through the Winter into early 1944 . MG Oliver led the division on two ships to England , arriving on February 24 , 1944 . The division served in Western Europe starting with landing on Utah Beach on July 26 , 1944 until Victory in Europe Day and after . The 5th Armored Division , under MG Oliver ' s command , was the first division to reach the Seine River , the first division to reach Luxembourg , the first division to fight in Germany , and when halted by orders from Ninth Army , the division sat 45 miles from Berlin , closer than any other Allied division .