| 2nd Armored Division | |||||
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 2nd AD Shoulder Sleeve Insignia | |||||
| Active | 1940–1995 | ||||
| Country |  United States | ||||
| Branch |  US Army | ||||
| Type | Armor | ||||
| Role | Armored warfare | ||||
| Size | Division | ||||
| Nickname(s) | "Hell on Wheels"[1] | ||||
| Engagements | |||||
| Commanders | |||||
| Notable commanders | Charles L. Scott George S. Patton George Patton IV Ernest N. Harmon Edward H. Brooks Oliver W. Dillard | ||||
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| Flag |  | ||||
| NATO Map Symbol |
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The2nd Armored Division ("Hell on Wheels"[1]) was anarmoreddivision of theUnited States Army. The division played important roles duringWorld War II in the invasions of Germany, North Africa, and Sicily and in the liberation of France,Belgium, and theNetherlands. During theCold War, the division was primarily based atFort Hood,Texas, and had a reinforced brigade forward stationed inGarlstedt,West Germany. After participation in thePersian Gulf War, the division was inactivated in 1995.
The 2nd Armored Division was formed at Fort Benning (previouslyFort Moore which was previouslyFort Benning ),Georgia on 15 July 1940, by reorganizing and redesignating the Provisional Tank Brigade (the66th Infantry Regiment (Light Tanks),67th Infantry Regiment (Medium Tanks), and68th Infantry Regiment (Light Tanks)). It was originally commanded by Major GeneralCharles L. Scott, with ColonelGeorge S. Patton Jr. in charge of training. Scott was promoted to command theI Armored Corps in November of that year, which put Patton, now abrigadier general, in command of the division. The division, which in February 1942 passed over to the command of Major GeneralWillis D. Crittenberger, served with theFirst,Seventh, andNinth Armies throughout the war.[2]
| U.S. Armored Divisions | ||||
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The 2nd Armored was organized as a "heavy" armored division meaning it contained two armored regiments; each regiment having two medium tank battalions and one light tank battalion, with each battalion consisting of three companies (18 tank companies total). Along with the3rd Armored Division, it retained its organization throughout World War II–the 14 other U.S. armored divisions were reorganized as "light" armored divisions, having three tank battalions, each consisting of three medium tank companies and one light tank company (12 tank companies total). Both types had an infantry component of three mechanized battalions, although the heavy divisions maintained an "armored infantry regiment" organization.[6]
The core units of the division were the41st Armored Infantry Regiment, the66th Armored Regiment, the67th Armor Regiment, the17th Armored Engineer Battalion, the82nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, and the 142nd Armored Signal Company. The 82nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion was known as the "eyes and ears" of the 2nd Armored Division.[7]
The 2nd Armored Division had threeartillery battalions: (the14th,78th, and92nd). The division also had support units, including the 2nd Ordnance Maintenance Battalion,[8] 2nd Supply Battalion, the48th Armored Medical Battalion, and a band and military police platoon. The military police and band were tasked with headquarters defense of base operations under the banner of the 502d Adjutant General Company (502d AG).[citation needed]
Elements of the division were among the first U.S. military to engage in offensive ground combat operations in the European and Mediterranean theater during World War II. The 2nd Armored Division, now commanded by Major GeneralErnest N. Harmon, served inNorth Africa along with the1st Armored Division. They were part of the Western Task Force ofOperation Torch, which landed atCasablanca inFrench Morocco on 8 November 1942. The remainder of Torch's American component were the1st,3rd,9th and34th Infantry Divisions. However, the 2nd Armored Division did not see much action in North Africa and instead remained inFrench North Africa on garrison and training duties. In April 1943 Major General Harmon relinquished command of the division to Major GeneralHugh Joseph Gaffey. Training in amphibiousoperations began in preparation for anamphibious landing atSicily.
As the reserve force of the Western Task Force ofOperation Husky, codename for theAllied invasion of Sicily, the division landed on 10 July 1943, in support of the1st Infantry Division at theBattle of Gela.[9] Afterwards, the division next went into action in the second landing atLicata, Sicily on 21 July following the3rd Infantry Division's better-known earlier landing on 10 July. The 2nd Armored, operating closely withparatroopers of the82nd Airborne Division, then fought through to the Sicilian capital ofPalermo. Along the way the 2nd Armored Division captured thousands of Italianprisoners of war (POWs). The fighting in Sicily came to an end on 17 August, with the 2nd Armored Division having sustained relatively light casualties in the brief campaign, where it had gained its firstMedal of Honor of World War II, belonging to SergeantGerry H. Kisters. During the campaign the division came under the command of theU.S. Seventh Army, under Lieutenant GeneralGeorge S. Patton, who had been a former commander of the division.
Soon afterwards the 2nd Armored Division was sent toEngland, in preparation for the Alliedinvasion of Normandy, and remained there until June 1944. In April the division received a new commander, Major GeneralEdward H. Brooks, a decorated veteran ofWorld War I, replacing Major General Gaffey.
The 2nd Armored Division landed atOmaha Beach inNormandy on 9 June 1944, three days after the initialNormandy landings, and operated in theCotentin Peninsula, later forming the right flank of theOperation Cobra assault. The division encircled the2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich and the17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen aroundRoncey,[10] and destroyed most of their armored equipment.[10] At La Chapelle, a2nd SS Panzer column was attacked at point blank range by 2nd Armored Division artillery. Over the course of two hours American artillery fired over 700 rounds into the column. The Germans suffered the loss of 50 dead, 60 wounded and 197 taken prisoner; material losses included over 260 German combat vehicles destroyed.[11] Beyond the town, the 2nd Armored engaged another column, killing 1,150 German soldiers and destroying an additional 96 armored combat vehicles and trucks.[11] The U.S. 2nd Armored Division destroyed 64 German tanks and 538 other German combat vehicles during Operation Cobra,[12] while itself losing 49 tanks.[12] The 2nd Armored Division inflicted over 7,370 casualties on the Germans, while suffering 914 casualties of their own. This is approximately an eightfold disparity.[12] The 2nd Armored bluntedOperation Lüttich, the German counterattack onAvranches, then raced across France with the rest of theFirst Army, reaching theAlbert Canal in Belgium on 8 September. On 18 September it crossed the German border nearSittard and took up defensive positions nearGeilenkirchen. On 3 October, the division, now commanded again by Major General Harmon, launched an attack on theSiegfried Line fromMarienberg, broke through, crossed theWurm River, seized the town of Puffendorf on 16 November, andBarmen on 28 November.
Members of the division received 9,369 individual awards, including twoMedals of Honor, twenty-threeDistinguished Service Crosses, and 2,302Silver Stars as well as nearly 6,000Purple Hearts; among those receiving the Silver Star wereEdward H. Brooks, Hugh Armagio, Stan Aniol, Staff Sergeant John J. Henry, William L. Giblin, Neil J. Garrison, Morton Eustis, son ofWilliam Corcoran Eustis, and Sgt Kenneth J. White. The division was twice cited by the Belgian government and division soldiers for the next 50 years wore thefourragere of theBelgian Croix de Guerre.
The division was composed of the following units:[13]
The 702nd Tank Destroyer Battalion had originally been formed around a nucleus of personnel from the 2nd Armored Division in December 1941, and was persistently associated with the division throughout its training in the United States and combat in the European Theater.
After a brief period of occupation duty, the division returned from overseas toFort Hood, Texas, in 1946 to retrain and rebuild. The 2nd Armored Division returned toWest Germany to serve as part ofSeventh Army,VII Corps from 1951 to 1957. In late 1957, it rotated back to the United States as part ofOperation Gyroscope, being replaced in Germany by the4th Armored Division. Once back in the US, it returned toIII Corps, Fort Hood.
While stationed in Germany in 1952 with the Seventh Army, the 2nd Armored Division was based at Stuttgart-Vaihingen under the command of GeneralWilliston Palmer. During this time, Palmer enlisted the help of a young CorporalSamuel Adler from within his ranks to organize theSeventh Army Symphony Orchestra. During the course of the next decade, the orchestra remained based with the 2nd Armored Division and the Seventh Army while supporting America'scultural diplomacy initiatives throughout Europe during the height of the Cold War.[15][16][17][18][19][20][check quotation syntax]The 1/50 Infantry; 2/1 Cavalry; 1/40 Field Artillery; and 1/92 Field Artillery fought in the war in Vietnam, but not the division as a whole. The division included the "Fort Hood Three", a group of three enlisted men who refused to ship out when ordered to deploy to Vietnam in 1966.
The majority of the division would spend much of the next 35 years based at Fort Hood, and the division remained on active service during the Cold War. Its primary mission was to prepare to conduct heavy armored combat againstWarsaw Pact forces in defense of NATO. The division formed a key component of the U.S. military's plan to move "ten divisions in ten days" to Europe in the event of a Soviet threat to NATO. The division practiced this task numerous times duringExercise Reforger from 1967 to 1988. To build and maintain combat skills, the division's maneuver brigades deployed almost annually to theNational Training Center to face an opposing force modeling Soviet military weapons and tactics.
However, with the end of the Cold War, the U.S. Army began to be reduced in size. The 2nd Armored Division was scheduled for inactivation in the spring of 1990.
In 1975, the 2nd Armored Division's third brigade forward deployed toWest Germany and was assigned to NATO'sNorthern Army Group (NORTHAG). The brigade received additional aviation, engineer, military intelligence, medical, and logistics support units and was additionally designated as the 2nd Armored Division (Forward). In case of conflict with theWarsaw Pact, the brigade was to either secure airfields and staging areas for the deployment of III Corps from the United States, or to deploy to theInner German Border and establish a blocking position as part of a NATO combat force.
From 1975 through 1978, the brigade headquarters was located at Grafenwöhr, along with the rotating armor and artillery battalions and the supporting engineer and cavalry units.[21] Two rotating infantry battalions were based at Hohenfels and Vilseck. The six-month rotations continued until 1978, immediately before the move to permanent facilities in northern Germany.
2nd Armored Division (Forward) was based at a new military facility near the village of Garlstedt just north of the city ofBremen. The facilities cost nearly $140 million to construct, half of which was paid for by the Federal Republic of Germany. The brigade had approximately 3,500 soldiers and another approximately 2,500 family dependents and civilian employees. The German government constructed family housing in the nearby city ofOsterholz-Scharmbeck. In addition to troop barracks, motor pools, an indoor firing range, repair and logistics facilities, and a local training area, facilities at Garlstedt included a troop medical clinic, post exchange, library, movie theater, and a combined officer/non-commissioned officer/enlisted club. The division's soldiers and family members received radio and TV broadcasts from The American Forces Network (AFN) – Europe via theAFN Bremerhaven affiliate station located in the nearby port city of Bremerhaven. In April 1986, a Burger King restaurant opened on the kaserne.[22]
The brigade was officially designated as 2nd Armored Division (Forward) during ceremonies atGrafenwöhr, FRG on 25 July 1978. The Garlstedt facilities were officially turned over to the United States by the German government in October. At that time the Garlstedt kaserne (camp) was named after GeneralLucius D. Clay, revered by the German people for his role as the American military commander following World War II. His son, a retired U.S. Army major general, attended the ceremony.
The brigadier general in charge of 2nd Armored Division (Forward) had a unique command. In addition to command of the heavy brigade, he also functioned as the Commander,III Corps (Forward), headquartered inMaastricht,Netherlands, and as commander of all US Army forces in Northern Germany, including the military communities of Garlstedt and Bremerhaven. In the event of the deployment ofIII Corps and/or the 2nd Armored Division from the United States, the division commander would revert to his job as assistant division commander for operations of 2nd Armored Division. This contingency was practised during REFORGER exercises in 1980 and 1987. Brigadier generals who held the position included James E. Armstrong, George R. Stotser, Thomas H. Tait,William F. Streeter, John C. Heldstab, andJerry R. Rutherford.
The brigade's subordinate combat units initially consisted of the 3d Battalion, 41st Infantry; 2d Battalion, 50th Infantry; 2d Battalion,66th Armor (Iron Knights); 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery, and Troop C, 2d Squadron, 1st Cavalry. In October 1983, as part of the army's regimental alignment program, 2–50 Infantry was reflagged as 4–41 Infantry and 1–14 Field Artillery as 4-3 Field Artillery.[23] Other brigade subordinate units eventually included the 498th Support Battalion, Company D, 17th Engineer Battalion, and the 588th Military Intelligence Company. The brigade also had a military police platoon and an aviation detachment. In 1986, under the army's COHORT unit manning and retention plan, 3–41st Infantry returned to Fort Hood and was replaced by 1–41st Infantry. In 1987, 4–41st Infantry returned toFort Hood, Texas and was replaced by 3–66th Armor (Burt's Knights, named for CaptainJames M. Burt who was awarded the Medal of Honor as a company commander in the 66th Armored Regiment in theBattle of Aachen during World War II). Now an armor-heavy brigade, 2nd Armored Division (Forward) fielded 116 M-1A1 Abrams tanks and nearly 70 M2/3 Bradley Fighting Vehicles.[24]
The brigade initially deployed to Germany with theM60A1 Patton tank and theM113 armored personnel carrier. 4–3rd Field Artillery had theM109 155 mm self-propelled howitzer. In 1984, 2–66th AR transitioned to theM1/IPM1/M1A1 Abrams[specify] main battle tank. In 1985, 3–41st IN and 4–41st IN transitioned to theM2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle; also, C/2-1 Cavalry was replaced by an air cavalry troop, D/2-1 Cavalry, armed withAH-1S Cobra attack helicopters.
The division participated in numerous major NATO training exercises, including "Trutzige Sachsen" (1985), "Crossed Swords" (1986) and the "Return of Forces to Germany" (REFORGER) (1980 and 1987). Division subordinate units used the NATO gunnery and maneuver ranges at theBergen-Hohne Training Area for gunnery and maneuver training and each year the division as a whole deployed south toGrafenwöhr andHohenfels[25] (both inBavaria) training areas for annual crew and unit gunnery and maneuver qualification. 2nd Armored Division (Forward) developed a reputation for excellence during these deployments, particularly in tank crew gunnery.
Tank companies from 2–66th, and later 3–66th, Armor competed in the bi-annual NATO tank gunnery competition, theCanadian Army Trophy (CAT), as part of the NORTHAG team. C Company, 2–66th first contested for the trophy in 1983. And while a West German tank platoon won the competition that year at Bergen Hohne, 2–66th surprised the competition by performing well with its old M60A1 tanks, which used optical rangefinder technology from the World War II era. This showed the value of local course knowledge over pure technology. C Company, 2–66th contested for the trophy again in 1985, and D Company, 2–66th was part of the NORTHAG team in 1987. In 1989 C Company, 3–66th Armor won the competition outright. Participation in "CAT" was a source of great pride among the tank crews of 2AD (FWD).
The division had a formal partnership withPanzergrenadierbrigade 32, a Federal Republic of GermanyBundeswehr mechanized infantry brigade headquartered in nearbySchwanewede. The division also had informal relationships with Dutch, Belgian, and BritishNORTHAG forces, often conducting joint training activities at Bergen Hohne.
Theinvasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein in August 1990 caught the division in the midst of the post-Cold War drawdown of the U.S. Army. Secretary of DefenseRichard Cheney had begun force reductions which meant the 2nd Brigade was in the middle of inactivating. Thus the 2nd Brigade could not be deployed as a whole. A unit of the 2nd Brigade, Battery "A",92nd Field Artillery Regiment, was attached to the10th Marine Regiment, and others were attached to the Division's 1st Brigade ("Tiger Brigade"). The 1st Brigade during the Saudi Arabia deployment was known almost exclusively as the Tiger Brigade.[26] The Tiger Brigade, commanded by ColonelJohn B. Sylvester, deployed to Saudi Arabia and provided heavy armor support forUnited States Marine Corps forces in their attack into Kuwait. The Tiger Brigade included two battalions of the67th Armor Regiment, the 1st and 3rd, TF 3-41 Infantry and 1st Battalion,3rd Field Artillery Regiment.[27] It served at theBattle of Kuwait International Airport. The Tiger Brigade was credited with destroying or capturing 181 enemy tanks, 148 APCs, 40 artillery pieces, 27 AA emplacements, and 263 Iraqi soldiers killed with an additional 4,051 captured.[28]
The division's 3rd brigade, based in Germany, deployed to Saudi Arabia in the fall of 1990 and acted as the third maneuver brigade of the1st Infantry Division fromFort Riley, KS. One of the brigade's battalion task forces,Task Force 1-41 Infantry, was the first coalition force to breach the Saudi Arabian border on 15 February 1991, and conduct ground combat operations in Iraq engaging in direct and indirect fire fights with the enemy on 17 February 1991.[29] It was involved in a six-hour battle to clear Iraq's initial defensive positions.[29] Initially it was tasked with performing counter reconnaissance and reconnaissance missions against Iraqi reconnaissance units.[30] The brigade served at theBattle of 73 Easting with the 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized) along with the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. They were responsible for destroying the Iraqi 18th Mechanized and 9th Armored Brigades of the Republican Guard Tawakalna Mechanized Infantry Division and the Iraqi 26th Infantry Division. They played a key role in the destruction of the12th Armored Division destroying no less than 80 combat vehicles.[31] The brigade destroyed 60 Iraqi tanks and 35 infantry vehicles along the IPSA pipeline.[32] This is known as theBattle of Norfolk. The division's 4-3 FA battalion played a large role in the destruction of 50 enemy tanks, 139 APCs, 30 air defense systems, 152 artillery pieces, 27 missile launchers, 108 mortars, and 548 wheeled vehicles, 61 trench lines and bunker positions, 92 dug in and open infantry targets, and 34 logistical sites during combat operations.[33] Before the end of combat operations the 2nd Armored Division(Forward) would engage a total of 11 Iraqi divisions.[34] By dawn of the third day of the ground campaign, the 2nd Armored Division (Forward) had a hand in the destruction of four Iraqi tank and mechanized brigades and two divisions. Between the cease-fire and the official end of the war in April 1991, 2nd Armored Division (Forward) took part in security operations to ensure peace in Kuwait. The division then redeployed to Saudi Arabia, where some of its soldiers established and ran three refugee camps near Raffia, Saudi Arabia. Division relief workers processed over 22,000 Iraqi refugees between 15 April and 10 May. After turning the camps over to the Saudi Arabian government, the unit redeployed to Germany.
The division's attack helicopter battalion, 1st Battalion,3rd Aviation Regiment, deployed from Fort Hood to Saudi Arabia in fall 1990 attached to and with support from the 1st Cavalry Division (also based at Ft. Hood).[35] The battalion was equipped withMcDonnell Douglas AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. The battalion participated in many air strikes along the border region during the air portion of the campaign. The unit provided covering missions when the ground forces advanced into Iraq. 1st Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment was pulled back into Saudi Arabia after the cease-fire, with two squads staging in Kuwait to provide refueling and rearming services for battalion aircraft if hostilities resumed. The unit returned to Fort Hood, Texas, in April 1991 and continued the inactivation that was interrupted when Iraq invaded Kuwait. The unit was inactivated on 16 September 1991, and the regimental flag transferred to sister unit 3rd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment based in Germany. The unit was transferred as a whole to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in August 1991 and became the 2nd Battalion of the 101st Aviation Regiment (part of the 101st Airborne Division).
After the Gulf War the division went through a series of inactivations and reflaggings. Due to the restructuring of the U.S. Army after the end of the Cold War, the division was ordered off the active duty rolls, ending more than 50 years of continuous service. On return to Fort Hood in 1991, the Tiger Brigade and 1st Battalion of the 3rd Aviation Regiment, all that remained of the U.S.-based division, were reflagged as the3d Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, and the 2d Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment respectively. On 1 September 1991, 2nd Armored Division (Forward), in Germany, officially became 2nd Armored Division after main elements of 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood inactivated. Over the summer and fall of 1992, 2nd Armored Division was inactivated. Lucius D. Clay Kaserne was turned back over to the German government and was later to become home of the German Army Logistics and Supply School (Logistikschule der Bundeswehr) as well as the seat ofGeneral der Nachschubtruppe.[36]
In December 1992, the 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized) at Fort Polk, Louisiana, was reflagged as the 2nd Armored Division. In 1993, the unit moved to Fort Hood. In December 1995, the 2nd Armored Division was again reflagged, this time as the4th Infantry Division (Mechanized), stationed at Fort Carson, CO. This formally ended the 2nd Armored Division's 55-year history. Several units historically associated with the 2nd Armored Division, including battalions from the 66th Armored Regiment at Fort Hood, TX, the 41st Infantry Regiment at Fort Carson, Colorado, the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Texas, and the172nd Infantry Brigade atGrafenwöhr, Germany (inactivated 31 May 2013).
Lucius D. Clay's name was later reused forWiesbaden Army Airfield.
Though it was inactivated, the division was identified as the fourth highest priority inactive division in theUnited States Army Center of Military History's lineage scheme due to its numerous accolades and long history. All of the division's flags and heraldic items were moved to theNational Infantry Museum atFort Benning, Georgia following its inactivation.
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