The original 43rd and 44th Armored Regiments assigned to the 12th AD were re-designated to become the 23rd, 43rd, 44th, 714th and 779th Tank Battalions during the reorganization the 12th Armored Division underwent while at the Tennessee Maneuver Area in Watertown, Tennessee, in November 1943. The 714th Tank Battalion was sent to Fort Jackson, SC and the 779th Tank Battalion went to Fort Knox, KY as separate tank battalions. The 44th Tank Battalion was detached from the 12th AD and sent to the Pacific Theater of Operations, where it distinguished itself as the first tank battalion to enter the city of Manila and liberated American and Allied civilian prisoners interred in the Santo Tomas Internment Camp. It was replaced by the 714th Tank Battalion, which rejoined the 12th AD in November 1943. The 779th Tank Battalion was sent to the Philippines late in the war, but did not see any combat action.