Description: A silver color metal and enamel device 1 1/8 inches (2.86cm) in height overall consisting of a shield blazoned: Argent, a wyvern glissant, sans legs, tail nowed Vert, langued, eyed and barbed Gules. Attached below the shield a silver motto scroll inscribed "COURAGE CONQUERS" in black letters.
Symbolism: The shield is green and white (silver), the colors of the Armored Force. The wyvern is representative of the deadliness of the tank.
Background: The Distinctive Unit Insignia was originally approved for the 37th Armored Regiment on June 1, 1942. It was redesignated for the 37th Tank Battalion on November 12, 1943. On November 29, 1946 it was redesignated the 37th Constabulary Squadron. Due to the unit inactivation, the distinctive unit insignia was redesignated for the 37th Tank Battalion on November 30, 1953. Effective January 28, 1958, the insignia was redesignated for the 37th Armor.
Coat of arms
Coat of Arms, 37th Armor
Blazon:
* Shield: Argent, a wyvern glissant, sans legs, tail nowed Vert, langued, eyed and barbed Gules.
* Crest: On a wreath Argent and Vert, between two triton shells Gules and surmounting an annuletSable fimbriated of the first flamant of the third, three spearheads of the first each bearing in base an ermine spot of the fourth.
* Motto: Courage Conquers
Symbolism:
* Shield: The shield is green and white, the colors of the Armored Force. The wyvern is representative of the deadliness of the tank.
* Crest: The three spearheads stand for the three outstanding combat achievements in World War II for which the unit was awarded streamers embroidered "Ardennes", "Normandy", and "Moselle River." They refer to the organization's claim to the title "Point of the Spearhead." The ermine spots are from the arms of Nantes, Brittany the first city to be taken by the unit. From Nantes the organizations launched its extraordinary blitzkrieg across Europe. The annulet ringed with flames represents Bastogne surrounded by enemy fire (See also Battle of the Bulge). It commemorates the unit's spearheading the 4th Armored Division into Bastogne on December 26, 1944. The above action was the famed 130 mile "fire call" which relieved the besieged city and triggered the Ardennes counter-offensive. Triton shells were used as trumpets by early inhabitants of the Pacific Islands. They were scarlet in reference to the color of the Meritorious Unit Commendation streamer awarded to the unit for service in the Pacific Theater.
* Background: The coat of arms was originally approved for the 37th Armored Regiment on June 11942. It was redesignated for the 37th Tank Battalion on November 12, 1943. On November 26, 1946 it was redesignated the 37th Constabulary Squadron. Due to the unit inactivation, the coat of arms was redesignated for the 37th Tank Battalion on November 30, 1953. Effective January 28, 1958, the insignia was redesignated for the 37th Armor. The coat of arms was amended on August 6, 1965 to add the crest.
General History
World War II
Before D-day
The 37th Armor was constituted 13 January 1941 in the Regular Army as the 7th Armored Regiment and assigned to the 4th Armored Division. It was activated on April 15, 1941 at Pine Camp (now Fort Drum), New York. The 7th Armor was Redesignated the 37th Armored Regiment on May 8, 1941. The first filler personnel arrived at Pine Camp four days later, and two weeks after that a thirteen-week basic training cycle was begun. Training in the fundamentals of Armor began, despite the fact that there were only twenty one tanks in the entire division. Many of the 37th Armored's key personnel were selected to cadre the 8th Armored Division.
In October 1942, the 37th Armored and the remainder of the 4th Armored Division moved to Tennessee for maneuvers. A month later the regiment moved again, all the way to the West Coast this time, establishing its command post near Freida, California. During this time, some of the lessons learned in combat in North Africa by the 1st Armored Division and 2nd Armored Division were taught to the 37th Armor. In early June 1943 orders came for the 37th Armor to dismount at Camp Bowie, near Brownwood, Texas.
Members of the US 37th Tank Battalion in WWII.
In September 1943, the 37th was reorganized for combat. The 37th Armored regiment, as such, was no more. First Battalion, Second Battalion and Regimental headquarters became the 37th Tank Battalion, composed of three medium tank companies (A, B & C), one light tank company (D) and a Headquarters Company.
The 37th Tank Battalion was now, along with the 35th Tank Battalion and 8th Tank Battalion, the nucleus of the "light" armored division. On November 15, 1943, Major GeneralJohn S. Wood announced to the 4th Armored Division that they would deploy overseas. On December 11, 1943, the 37th moved northeast by train, unloading at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts, from which the main body sailed on December 29, 1943. Eleven days later they were training again in Britain.
The 37th didn't participate in the D-Day landings. On July 8, 1944, the 37th moved to Southern England and prepared for transport to France. Four days later it reached Normandy, but for the remainder of July 1944, the 37th simply waited in reserve while the 4th Armored Division relieved elements of the weary 4th Infantry Division.
Finally, the 37th was ordered to combat on July 28, 1944, as the US First Army launched its breakout attack. The infantry divisions on both sides of the 4th Armored Division attacked and "pinched out" the division, then the 4th Armored Division attacked through the infantry lines and began to race for the neck of the Brittany peninsula. The 37th was traveling at the forefront of this move with Colonel Bruce C. Clark's Combat Command Alpha. The next day, Coutances fell, and then Avranches, at the northern edge of the neck of Brittany, fell on July 30.
On its way across Brittany, the 4th Armored resumed its working acquaintance with General Patton's Third Army, which became operational on August 1, 1944. By August 9, 1944 the 37th was approaching Lorient, on the southern edge of Brittany. On August 14, 1944 the siege of Lorient was turned over to the 6th Armored Division and the 37th turned eastward with the rest of the Third Army, which was beginning its historic race across France. US VII Corps was the southernmost corps of the Third Army, 4th Armored Division was on the VII Corps southern flank, and the 37th Tank Battalion was protecting the southern flank of the division. There was nothing south of the 37th except the Loire River and the Germans.
The Commander of the 37th, Lieutenant ColonelCreighton W. Abrams (who later became Commander of all US Forces in Vietnam and then the Army Chief of Staff), in an odd move, detached a task force under Major Edward Bautz to blow the Loire River bridges between Blois and Tours, but they found upon arrival that their work had been done by the Wehrmacht. This task force then followed the Loire's northern bank, paralleling the advance of the main body. On August 16, 1944 a German column was sighted on the south bank. Major Bautz's tankers attacked this column, inflicting losses and driving the Germans back from the river.
The 37th crossed the Seine on August 25, 1944, and the Marne on August 23, 1944. The Marne Canal was bridged and the town of Chalons was attacked from the east, to the consternation of the defending garrison, which was expecting an assault on the western edge of town.
On August 31, 1944, in a quick attack during a driving rainstorm, the 37th captured the bridge across the Meuse River at Commercy before the Germans could blow it up. The next day, the gasoline ration had run out, and the 37th ground to a halt. By this time, the 37th had advanced 700 miles in seven weeks (about the same amount of time it had taken the German Wehrmacht to conquer all of France), crossed three major rivers and was within one day's motor march of the German border, only seventy miles to the northwest.
On September 13, 1944, the M4 tanks of the 37th crossed the Moselle River. On September 14, 1944 they overran the rear command post of the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division at Arracourt and, in Valhey, caught the same division's forward echelon command post before it could retreat. It was at Valhey that Sergeant Joe Sadowski of Company A won his Medal of Honor. This Non-Commissioned Officer from Perth Amboy, New Jersey was commander of the second tank column as the 37th rolled into the French town. Swinging north around a corner, Sadowski's M4 tank clattered into the village square, where a German armor-piercing round found its mark and set the Sherman afire against the town's water trough. Sadowski had his crew dismounted and took shelter behind a building after running a gauntlet of machine gun and small arms fire. The bow gunner was found to be missing, and a quick glance at the burning tank showed the gunner's hatch still closed tight. Sadowski ..."ran back to his tank, clambered up the smoking front slope plate and tried to pry open the gunner's hatch with his bare hands. He stood on the smoking tank and strained at the hatch until he had been hit so many times he could no longer stand. He slid from his medium[tank] and died in the mud beside its tracks". His father and mother were given his posthumous Medal of Honor.
From September 19 through September 22, 1944 the Germans tried to push the 37th back across the Moselle River. At Mayenvie, the 37th saw one of the largest tank-to-tank engagements of the war, losing 14 Shermans while claiming to have knocked out 55 Panthers and Tigers. The German counterattack was unsuccessful.
On September 22, 1944 the 37th's M4 tanks swept south again through Coincourt and Bures to the Rhine-Marne Canal. Counterattack followed counterattack as the desperate Wehrmacht tried to dislodge the 3rd Army from its position, but as the toll of Panthers mounted, the attacks dwindled in intensity and finally ceased. The 37th was relieved on October 12, 1944 by elements of the 26th (Yankee) Infantry Division. For its tenacity in the Moselle River valley, the 37th was awarded its second Croix de Guerre with Palm by a grateful French Government (its first coming in Normandy). The 37th's tankers were pulled off line for a rest after 87 straight days of combat.
The 37th moved out in a downpour on November 9, 1944 to deprive Hitler of the industrial Saar River Valley. On November 11, 1944 the 37th was caught on the road and lost six tanks because they could not maneuver off-road due to the bottomless mud. On December 8, 1944 the 37th passed through the old French Maginot Line and took Singling. Two days later it was relieved again, by elements of the 12th Armored Division, and sent to the rear for another rest, although not so far back that elements of the battalion were not in intermittent contact with German forces.
Battle of the Bulge
On December 16, 1944, Shermans of Company A were the first 4th Armored Division vehicles to enter Germany when they chased several German tanks back into the woods near Rimling.
The same day Company A entered the Reich, Hitler had played his last trump north of where the 4th Armored Division was resting from its five months in action. The German 5th Panzer Division, the last of the German strategic reserves, spearheaded the attack by Model's Army Group B that opened the "Battle of the Bulge". Its objective was the port of Antwerp and allied depots nearby. On December 18, 1944 the 37th got its march order---to move north against the German penetration, which was causing alarm to the Allied High Command.
On the same day the 101st Airborne Division was moved by truck to establish a strongpoint at the key road and rail junction of Bastogne, in Belgium. By the time the 37th arrived at the south flank of the German penetration, the 101st was cut off on all sides by the enemy drive. The 37th became a point of the 4th Armored Division's drive to relieve the paratroopers in Bastogne. The 37th moved out in a feathery snowfall at 0600 hours on December 22, 1944, attacking northward against German airborne troops. The 37th Tank and the 53d Armored Infantry Battalions made up the 4th Armored Division's Combat Command B (CCB). In a bloody engagement against German paratroopers wearing American uniforms, CCB took Bigonville.
At 0200 Christmas morning CCB marched thirty miles west to the 4th Armored Division's left flank. At 0700 the 37th jumped off from Bercheaux and swiftly took Bauxles-Rosieres, Nives and Remoiville. At dawn on December 26, 1944 the 37th struck again, taking Remichampagne, and then seizing the high ground near Chochiment, only three miles from Bastogne. Announcing the plan to relieve the surrounded 101st Airborne Division, LTC Abrams, commanding the 37th, made the undramatic statement, "We're going in to those people now."
The lead vehicle in that attack was a Sherman tank named "Cobra King" and commanded by Charles Boggess Jr., of Greenville, Illinois. 1LT Boggess was the Commanding Officer of Charlie Company, 37th Tank Battalion. There were but eight other tanks in Company C when the "move out" order came, but at 1515 hours all nine sets of sprockets turned, leading the 37th armored northward to the embattled 101st Airborne Division.
Two towns lay between the 37th and Bastogne, Clochimont and Assenois, and they were both heavily defended by German troops. Beyond Assenois was a heavy wood, concealing the blockhouses that enclosed the road to Bastogne. Company C's mission was to barge through these defenses in high gear, stopping for nothing and leaving the mopping up to the companies following, which were supported by the 53d Armored Infantry Battalion. At 1645 1LT Boggess shook hands with LT Webster of the 326th Engineers, 101st Airborne Division and in twenty-five minutes LTC Abrams and his S3, Captain William Dwight, reported to BG Anthony G. McAuliffe, acting Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division.
The fight was not over. 1LT Boggess' company now consisted of just four M4 Sherman tanks, and the rest of the 37th suffered similarly. By now the 37th was joined by elements of the 26th Infantry Division in fighting to hold the road to Bastogne open. Counterattack followed counterattack, until on January 9, 1945, the German penetration had been pushed to the east of Bastogne. The shattered German forces began to withdraw to their homeland. For its relief of Bastogne the 37th was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation (US) that members still wear today.
On January 10, 1945 the 37th was attacking east of Bastogne when the order came to halt. After a masterful disengagement and an icy road march south to Luxembourg, the 37th again found itself in the Third Army reserve, ready to answer a fire call.
Ardennes Counter-Offensive
In the rugged country of the Rhineland, it was mainly an Infantry war, but the 37th followed close behind the attackers, ready to knife through the West Wall when a breach was secured. Finally, on February 22, 1945, General Patton uncorked his tanks and Outscheid, Mioderwinger, Baustert, Feilsdorf, and Koosbrisch quickly fell to the 37th, which was then with Combat Command B, attached to the 60th Infantry Division.
On February 25, 1945, Company B, with Company B of the 51st Armored Infantry Battalion, took the bridge over the Prum at Remesdorf. Companies C of the 37th and 51st took the high ground around Rittersdorf and established a base of fire while the combined A Companies of the two battalions took Rittersdorf and a bridgehead over the Nimes River. More than 1,000 prisoners of war were taken in this action. In only four days the 37th had led the U.S. Third Army as it pierced the Siegfried Line. A German counterattack near Sefferweich was repulsed while the 37th caught its breath for the next venture. Farther north, the U.S. First Army was fighting its way into Cologne to set the stage for the dash to the Rhine.
On March 5, 1945 the 37th's M4 tanks attacked through the 5th Infantry Division's bridgehead over the Kyll River and immediately cut across German combat zones to a distance of 13 miles. On the March 16, 1945 LT Joe Liese, the commanding officer of Company B, captured General von Rothenkirch, commanding general of the German 53d Army Corps (LIII.Armeekorps). General von Rothenkirch was driving his car on an inspection tour near Putzberg, where he stumbled on Company B. By the afternoon of that day, the 37th was even past German artillery positions. Prisoners from the German 10th Woodchopping Battalion surrendered to the advancing tankers. The 37th sped on to Ochtendung, and captured a billeting party from the German Seventh Army rear command post. When almost to the Rhine, LT Liese's company overtook a German wheel column and, with assistance from artillery and light aircraft, shot it up badly. Then the 37th moved to the Rhine and took up positions overwatching the river.
During the night, remnants of the Wehrmacht tried to get back across the Rhine. In doing so, numerous enemy vehicles stumbled into the 37th's position and were captured or destroyed. On March 7, 1945 the U.S. First Army thrust north from Cologne, pinning what was left of the German Seventh Army between it and the 4th Armored Division. It was in this drive that the US 9th Armored Division captured the Remagen bridge intact. On March 8, 1945 Colonel Abrams left the 37th to command CCB and Major Bautz assumed command of the battalion. For the next two weeks the 37th was engaged in cleaning out the Palatinate, the triangle formed by the Saar, Rhine and Moselle Rivers. On St. Patrick's Day1945 the 37th entered the Spa City of Bad Kreuznach, and on March 21, 1945 it returned to the banks of the Rhine at Worms.
On March 25, 1945 the U.S. Third Army crossed the Rhine. The 5th Infantry Division crossed in US Navy landing craft near Oppenheim before the Germans could fire a shot. When the east bank was secure, a pontoon bridge was quickly constructed, and by 0300 on March 26, 1945, the 37th was across with the rest of the 4th Armored Division. The 37th advanced through the 5th Infantry Division perimeter; by noon Company D's light tanks and Infantry from the 10th AIB captured a railroad bridge intact near Aschaffenburg over the Main River. Meanwhile, CCA (Combat Command A) had secured the Main crossing near Hanau. The 37th, with the rest of CCB, sideslipped west and followed CCA across the Main on March 28, 1945. By dusk, the 37th's M4s were in Giessen, 40 miles north of Hanau. The Frankfurt-BerlinAutobahn was the 4th Armored Division's axis of advance. The 37th reached Hersfeld (today Bad Hersfeld) the last day of March. On April 2, 1945, under heavy air attack, the 37th crossed the Werra.
Task Force Baum
In actuality, the entire 37th Tank Battalion did not reach Giessen the night of the 28th, for Company C and one platoon of Company D's tanks had been detached for a special mission. They reported on March 26, 1945 to CPT Abraham J. Baum. Besides elements from the 37th, it consisted of Company A, a reconnaissance platoon, and an assault gun platoon from the HQ Company 10th AIB - all in all 313 soldiers and 57 vehicles. Their mission was to liberate 1,500 American prisoners of war in OFLAG XIII-B, a POW-Camp for officers, located at Hammelburg, sixty miles behind German lines. The orders came directly from General Patton, who wanted to get his son-in-law, LtCol John K. Waters liberated.
At 2100 hours on March 26, Company B of the 37th and Company B of 10th Armored Infantry Battalion (AIB) punched a hole in the German line at Schweinheim. Through this hole went Task Force Baum (TF Baum), which in turn found itself alone in the enemy area. On March 27 a weak radio transmission was monitored reporting enemy troops marshaling at Gemunden. As Gemunden was three quarter way to Hammelburg, it was an indication that TF Baum was well on its way. Messages later that afternoon told of losing four medium tanks, two officers and eigthteen men wounded or killed. Then the messages petered out. On March 29, 1945, 4th Armored Division headquarters reported "No news of Baum". At 2000 hours that night Radio Berlin reported that a great victory had been achieved by the German army near Hammelburg; later reports even claimed annihilation of the entire 4th Armored Division, which was known to the enemy as "Roosevelt's Butchers". On April 6, 1945, by which time the rest of the 37th was deep in Saxony, Company C and Company D's platoon reported missing in action and replacements for them and their equipment were requisitioned. Finally, on April 9, 1945 CPT Baum returned to American lines and the fate of the task force was determined.
According to the 4th Armored Division history:
"...the task force battled through more than two German divisions to the Hammelburg Stalag. On the way, the column took 200 prisoners, including a general and his staff, destroyed enemy troop trains, shot up towns, knocked out German tanks, vehicles and uncounted Germans [Removed racial slur --ed.]. The light force suffered. Bridges were blown in front, both sides and behind the onrushing tanks. A span was blasted as American and German infantrymen fought on it. The task force smashed road blocks, raced down highways, sneaked on back roads and followed compass courses across country."
"When they reached their objective, half of Task Force Baum was left in fighting shape. The armored infantrymen who had not been wounded rode the remaining tanks. Wounded men lay on the gas cans in the half-tracks and helped steady each other at the machine guns. The seriously wounded were left behind with the dead along the side of the road."
Against ever-stiffening resistance by an enemy who thought an entire division had broken through the Main River defense line, CPT Baum's decimated column finally reached the stalag near dark on March 27, 1945. After a fierce fight, the prisoners were released, armed, and mounted on the back decks of Company C's tanks for the ride back to friendly lines. CPT Baum directed the remnants of his force northeastward, but by now the area was swarming with German infantry and armor. By morning of the 28th all the task force's vehicles had been knocked out. The force then broke into groups of four or five and attempted to exfiltrate back to American lines. Thirty-five men finally made it. The rest were killed or captured. Of the 313 officers and men of Task Force Baum, 32 were killed, the rest were prisoners at one time or another. Only a few made it back to the US lines, to tell what had happened.
Although they did not accomplish their mission, the tankers and infantry of TF Baum contributed a great deal to the Central European Campaign. No less than an entire German Corps was diverted to seeking out and the destruction of the two-company task force.
For more information see: www.taskforcebaum.de
War's End
By April, 1945 the 37th had driven deep into central Germany when it was relieved by elements of the 80th Infantry Division. The 37th then marched south and drove into Czechoslovakia, where they were when the war ended on May 6, 1945. The 37th then participated in the task of disarming the Wehrmacht and set up shop in Bavaria as part of the occupation forces on May 27, 1945.
On May 1, 1946, when the 4th Armored Division was inactivated, the 37th traded M4 Sherman tanks for armored cars and motorcycles with the red, yellow a blue insignia of Major General Ernest N. Harmon's United States Constabulary. The 37th Tank Battalion became the 37th Constabulary Squadron. On September 20, 1946, the 37th was placed on the inactive list.
In April 1957, the Army reinstated its regimental system. As a consequence, the history of the 37th Armor Regiment is now kept by individual battalions of the 37th Armor Regiment.
Desert Storm
The 1-37 Armor (1st Armored Division) from Vilseck, Germany, led by LTC Edward L. Dyer deployed to the Persian Gulf during December, 1990. 1-37 Armor was the only 1st Brigade unit from Vilseck to deploy, attached to the 3d "Bulldog" Brigade under their former commander, COL Daniel Zannini. For more info regarding 1-37 during Desert Storm see http://www.1-37armor.net .
Battalions of a regiment are typically abbreviated as, for example, "4-37 AR BN", which is usually verbalized as "Four Three Seven Armor" (but sometimes as "4th of the 37th Armor" (archaic)). This would be the 4th Battalion of the 37th Armor Regiment, even though in the modern US Army, regiments exist mostly for heraldic purposes, as opposed to operational purposes.
1st Battalion
The current/active 1-37 calls themselves the 'Bandits'. The Cold-War/Desert-Storm era 1-37 AR from Vilseck, Germany was nicknamed Dragon Battalion 1-37 AR was stationed in Ansbach, FRG in the early 1980s.
History
Desert Storm
See above.
Iraq War
As of May 10, 2003, 1-37 Armor Bn. from Ray Barracks in Friedberg, Germany is currently conducting operations in Iraq.
2nd Battalion
Nicknamed Iron Dukes, the 2nd Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment is a forward deployed Tank Battalion located in the Federal Republic of Germany. It lies nestled in the rolling hills of the German State of Hessen, in the city of Friedberg. It occupies Ray Barracks along with 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment; 501st Forward Support Battalion; Headquarters, 1st Brigade; and it's sister battalion; 1st Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment. As a member of the Ready First Combat Team, it is one of many units that make up America's Tank Division, the 1st Armored Division.
History
Company B of the 37th Tank Battalion became the nucleus in April, 1957 for the 2nd Medium Tank Battalion (Patton) 37th Armor (2-37 AR) and the battalion was assigned to the 2nd Armored Division in Germany. When the division rotated to Fort Hood in early 1958, the 2nd battalion found itself back in the USA, this time until July 1963 when it was assigned to Germany and the 4th Armored Division. In May 1971 the division was redesignated the 1st Armored Division.
The 2nd Battalion continued its service in Germany as part of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Armored Division. The battalion moved to Ferris Barracks, Erlangen, Germany in August 1971.
On February 28, 1983 the battalion was relieved from assignment to the 1st Armored Division and was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division (Forward). The 2nd Battalion, 37th Armor then moved to Panzer Kaserne, Boeblingen, Germany.
On the April 28, 1987 the 2nd Battalion's colors moved to Rose Barracks in Vilseck, Germany to become part of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Armored Division.
On the February 14, 1991 the Battalion sent a company sized detachment to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Desert Shield.
The colors remained cased until the February 27, 1997, when the 2nd Battalion was brought back into service at Ray Barracks, Friedberg, Germany as part of the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division.
From March 1997 to September 1997, the 2nd Battalion deployed to the Republic of Macedonia in support of the United Nations peacekeeping mission, Operation Able Sentry. The Battalion then returned to Camp Able Sentry from May 2000 to December 2000 in support of Task Force 2A.
