This division is part of the U.S. V Corps (technically), or is directly subordinate to the 7th US Army, USAREUR (in certain cases). As of July 2004 its command personnel include[link]
Commander: Major General Fred D. Robinson, Jr.
Assistant Division Commander (Maneuver): Colonel Michael Ryan
Assistant Division Commander (Support): Brigadier General Michael S. Tucker
Chief of Staff: Colonel George Lockwood
Command Sergeant Major: Command Sergeant Major Roger P. Blackwood
When the division relocates in 2007 to Fort Bliss, Texas, it will reorganize under the new modular tables of organization. A fourth brigade combat team will activated.
Insignia
US 1st Armored Division Distinctive Unit Insignia
The division was nicknamed, "Old Ironsides", by its first commander, Major General Bruce R. Magruder, after he saw a picture of the USS Constitution, which is also nicknamed "Old Ironsides". The large "1" at the top represents the numerical designation of the division, and the insignia is used as a basis for most other sub-unit insignias. The three colors, red, yellow, and blue represent the Artillery, Cavalry, and Infantry Branches respectively, which are the colors of the three original combat arms which forged into one created the field of armor. The cannon and tracked vehicle symbols are represent the mechanized role of the Division
Unit History
Origins
COL Daniel Van Voorhis took a cadre of 175 Officers and Enlisted Men from Fort Eustis to Fort Knox in February, 1932, and established a Provisional Armored Car Platoon. This was based on an earlier effort, but was predicated on a new Cavalry Regiment TO&E which was published that year. Also published, but never implemented, was a Cavalry Division TO&E which reflected the natural assimilation of machines into the Horse Cavalry.
Van Voorhis’s Cadre and the Platoon became the kernel for the 7th Cavalry Brigade, which went Active on March 1, 1932 at Fort Knox. At first, it was nothing more than a headquarters and the Armored Car Platoon.
The new Regimental commander was Colonel Van Voorhis, late of the experimental Mechanized Force, while the executive officer was Adna Chaffee. The Post Commander of Fort Knox was Brigadier General Julian R. Lindsey, another Cavalryman. To round out the Cavalry nature of the unit, Major Robert W. Grow was on the Regimental Staff.
Van Voorhis added the 13th Cavalry Regiment, the 68th Field Artillery Battalion, the 7th Reconaissance Squadron, the 7th Signal Troop, the 4th Medical Troop, the 47th Engineer Troop and the 17th Quartermaster Battalion. The 7th Cavalry Brigade was fully formed.
Van Voorhis remained in command until September, 1938, when he was promoted to command 5th United States Corps at Indianapolis, Indiana. Chaffee took over from Van Voorhis.
On May 7, 1940, the 7th Cavalry Brigade took part in maneuvers at Monroe, Louisianna that were instrumental in developing the armored division concept. The maneuvers concluded on May 27, 1940, and the brigade returned to Fort Knox on May 31, 1940, and preparations started to expand the brigade into the 1st Armored Division.
On July 15, 1940, 7th Cavalry Brigade was expanded, reorganized, and redesignated as 1st Armored Division. 1st Cavalry Regiment was redesignated as 1st Armored Regiment and 13th Cavalry Regiment was redesignated as 13th Armored Regiment.
The first Order of Battle for the 1st Armored Division was as follows:
After completing its organization and equipping, 1st Armored Division trained at Fort Knox, and then deployed to participate in the VII Corps Maneuvers on August 18, 1941. Once the maneuvers concluded, 1st Armored Division then moved on August 28, 1941, and arrived at Camp Polk for the Second ArmyLouisiana Maneuvers on September 1, 1941. They then moved to Fort Jackson on October 30, 1941 to participate in the First Army Carolina Maneuvers. 1st AD then returned to Fort Knox on December 7, 1941, but started to prepare for deployment overseas instead of returning to Garrison.
The unit's first contact with an enemy was as part of the Allied invasion of Northwest Africa, Operation Torch, on November 8, 1942. Elements of the division were part of the Northern Task Force and became the first American armored division to see combat in World War II. Combat Command B (CCB) of the division landed east and west of Oran, and entered the city on November 10, 1942. On November 24, 1942, CCB moved from Tafaroui, Algeria to Bedja, Tunisia, and raided Djedeida airfield the next day. Djedeida was finally conquered on November 28, 1942. CCB moved southwest of Tebourba on December 1, 1942, engaged German forces on El Guessa Heights on December 3, 1942, but its lines were pierced on December 6, 1942. CCB withdrew to Bedja with heavy equipment loses between December 10 and December 11, 1942, and was placed in reserve. CCB next attacked in the Ousseltia Valley on January 21, 1943, and cleared that area until January 29, 1943 when sent to Bou Chebka, and arrived at Maktar on February 14, 1943. Combat Command A (CCA) fought at Faid Pass commencing on January 30, 1943, and advanced to Sidi Bou Zid, where it was pushed back with heavy tank loses on February 14, 1943, and had elements isolated on Djebel Lessouda, Djebel Kasaira, and Garet Hadid]. Combat Command C (CCC), which had been constituted on January 23, 1943 to raid Sened Station on January 24, advanced towards Sbeita, and counterattacked to support CCA in the Sidi Bou Zid area on February 15, 1943, but was repulsed with heavy loses. The division withdrew from Sbeita on February 16, 1943, but – by February 21, 1943 CCB contained the German attack toward Tebessa. The German withdrawal allowed the division to recover Kasserine Pass on February 26, 1943 and assemble in reserve. The division moved northeast of Gafsa on March 13, 1943 and attacked in heavy rains on March 17, 1943 as CCA took Zannouch, but became immobilized by rain the next day. The division drove on Maknassy on March 20, 1943, and fought the Battle of Djebel Naemia on March 22 – March 25, 1943, and then fought to break through positions baring the road to Gabes between March 29 and April 1, 1943. It began to follow up the withdrawing German forces on April 6, 1943, and attacked towards Mateur with CCA on April 27, 1943, which fell after hard fighting on Hill 315 and Hill 299 on May 3, 1943. The division fought the Battle for Djebel Achtel between May 5 and May 11, 1943, and entered Ferryville on May 7, 1943. The German forces in Tunisia surrendered between May 9 and May 13, 1943. The division was reorganized in French Morocco, and began arriving in Naples, Italy on October 28, 1943.
The Korean War saw the US forces being built up again. As part of that buildup, the 1st Armored Division was reactivated on 7 March1951 at Fort Hood. It was the first US Army unit to receive the new M48 Patton tank. After a number of years in Texas, the division was moved to Fort Polk, Louisiana, in 1956.
As the Vietnam War wound down, there was a fundamental reorganisation of the Army. As part of this reorganisation, the 1st Armored Division was moved to Germany in 1971. It replaced the 4th Armored Division there. The Division remained in Wiesbaden Germany for the next twenty years, as part of the American forces committed to NATO.
In August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. US Army units were dispatched to protect Saudi Arabia. Later in the fall, President Bush made the decision to deploy American heavy forces on a massive scale to eject the Iraqis from Kuwait. The lead unit for this deployment was the VII Corps from Germany. 1st Armored Division was one of four American heavy divisions assigned to VII Corps in theater. In the ground attack of the Gulf War, the Division led the VII Corps' flank attack on the Iraqis. It had the duty of destroying the elite Iraqi Republican Guard units. In eighty nine hours, the division moved 250 kilometers, destroyed 768 vehicles, and captured 1,064 prisoners of war, at the cost of four dead. It returned to Germany on May 8, 1991. It celebrated with a visit from the Vice President.
On December 18, 1995, under the command of Major General William L. Nash, the division deployed to northeast Bosnia as the command element of Task Force Eagle, a powerful, multinational unit intended to keep the peace. (A Russian brigade, initially under the command of Colonel Aleksandr Ivanovich Lentsov, was part of that effort. An account of the interactions of the Americans and Russians in Bosnia in 1996 may be found in James Nelson’s [Bosnia Journal].) The 1AD returned in late 1996 to Germany.
Afterwards, the unit trained heavily in Hohenfels and Grafenwohr Training Areas inGermany, with realistic OPFOR (Opposition Forces) exercises. Some units were deployed into Iraq and other countries in the Middle East for the global War on Terrorism.
In the build-up in the months prior the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, two battalions of the 1st Armored Division's, 3d Brigade were deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 2-70 Armor and 1-41 Infantry battalion task forces augmented the 82nd Airborne Division, the 3d Infantry Division and the 101st Airborne Division throughout the campaign to oust Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. These units spearheaded the U.S assaults in As Samawah and Karbala and later occupied the southern area of Baghdad. They were joined in May 2003, by the remainder of the 1st Armored Division, which assumed command of Baghdad and the surrounding areas, and relieved the 3d Infantry Division. The division was sheduled to return home on March-April 2004, but was extended in order to put down the Moqtada Al Sadr uprising. Task Force 1-37AR ("Bandits") fought Al Sadr's forces in Karbala while Task Force 2-37AR ("Dukes") fought in Diwaniya,Sadr City,Al-Kut and Najaf. Task Force 2-37AR encountered some of the heaviest fighting of post-invasion Iraq when it clashed with Shia rebels in Sadr City and Najaf in early 2004. 2-37AR lost four soldiers and several soldiers became seriously ill after returning to Germany. Task Force 1-36IN ("Spartans") became the CJTF-7 Operational Reserve and conducted operations throughout the theater in support of both 1st and 2d Brigades. Forces from the 2d Brigade fought in Kut. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, the division lost over 125 soldiers.
The division's "Ready First" 1st Brigade deployed again to Iraq after months of intensive training in Grafenwohr and Hohenfels, Germany on January 2006. Many of the soldiers who fought with units like 2-37 Armor "Iron Dukes" and 1-37 "Bandits" returned to Iraq for a second time.
The division's 3d Brigade deployed to the Iraqi Theatre once again in February of 2005 for Operation Iraqi Freedom three from Fort Riley, Kansas, this after only nine months back in the States. There, they are attached to the 3d Infantry Division and are the major unit involved with Task Force Baghdad.
