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Hello, In many of the articles I read in World War II Magazine and other sources, the larger U.S. Army formations are referred to by Roman numerals, such as X Corps or VI Corps, etc. Are these read verbally as Tenth Corps and Sixth Corps respectively?

Thank you,

Ron F.

Minnesota

 

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Dear Mr. F:

Normally World War II and its sister publications use the U.S. Army criterion for denoting units, which in the case of corps does involve a Roman numeral. They would, therefore, be read verbally by the numbers. Exceptions would include Roman legions, which they denoted by Roman numerals (go figure!) and the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, which wrote out their designations (e.g., First, Second and Third corps of the Army of Northern Virginia) in contrast to the Roman numerals that represented Union Army corps.

Sincerely,

 

Jon Guttman

Research Director

World History

www.historynet.com

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