2nd Armored Division (United States)

The 2nd Armored Division ("Hell on Wheels" ) was an armored division of the United States Army. The division played an important role during World War II in the invasions of North Africa and Sicily and the liberation of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands and the invasion of Germany. During the Cold War, the division was primarily based at Fort Hood, Texas, and had a reinforced brigade forward stationed in West Germany. After participation in the Persian Gulf War, the division was inactivated in 1995. Its units were later transferred to the 4th Infantry Division.

World War II
The 2nd Armored was formed at Fort Benning, Georgia on 15 July 1940. It was originally commanded by Major General Charles L. Scott, with Colonel George S. Patton in charge of training. Scott was promoted to command the I Armored Corps in November of that year, which put Patton, now a brigadier general, in command of the division. The Division served with the First, Seventh, and Ninth Armies. The 2nd Armored was organized as a "heavy" armored division, having two armored regiments of four medium tank and two light tank battalions of three companies each. Along with the 3rd 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. Both types had an infantry component of three mechanized battalions, although the heavy divisions maintained an "armored infantry regiment" organization.

The core units of the 2AD were the 41st Armored Infantry Regiment, the 66th Armored Regiment, the 67th Armor Regiment, the 17th Armored Engineer Battalion, the 82nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, and the 142nd Armored Signal Company.

The 2nd Armored had three artillery battalions: (the 14th, 78th, and 92nd). The Division also had support units, including the 2nd Ordnance Maintenance Battalion, a Supply Battalion, the 48th 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).

Opened front in North Africa
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 served in North Africa along with her "sister" division, the 1st Armored. The remainder of Torch's American component were infantry divisions, the 1st, 3rd, 9th and 34th Infantry Divisions. They were part of the Western Task Force of Operation Torch, which landed at Casablanca on 8 November 1942.

Invasion of Sicily
As the reserve force of the Western Task Force of Operation Husky, the division landed on 10 July 1943 in support of the 1st Infantry Division at the Battle of Gela. Afterwards, the division next went into action in the second landing at Licata, Sicily on 21 July following the 3rd Infantry Division's better-known earlier landing on 10 July. The division then fought through to Palermo.

Normandy invasion
The division then landed in Normandy on 9 June 1944 under the command of then Major General Edward H. Brooks, operated in the Cotentin Peninsula and later formed the right flank of the Operation Cobra assault. It blunted the German attack on Avranches, then raced across France with the rest of the Third Army, reaching the Albert Canal in Belgium on 8 September. It crossed the German border near Sittard, 18 September to take up defensive positions near Geilenkirchen. On 3 October, the division launched an attack on the Siegfried Line from Marienberg, broke through, crossed the Wurm River and seized Puffendorf 16 November and Barmen 28 November.

Rhine campaign
The Division was holding positions on the Roer when it was ordered to help contain the German Ardennes offensive. The Division fought in eastern Belgium, blunting the German Fifth Panzer Army's penetration of American lines. The Division helped reduce the Bulge in January, fighting in the Ardennes forest in deep snow, and cleared the area from Houffalize to the Ourthe River of the enemy. After a rest in February, the division drove on across the Rhine 27 March, and was the first American Division to reach the Elbe at Schonebeck on 11 April. It was halted on the Elbe, 20 April, on orders. In July the division entered Berlin-the first American unit to enter the German capital city. During World War II, the 2nd Armored Division took 94,151 prisoners-of-war, liberated 22,538 Allied prisoners of war, shot down or damaged on the ground 266 enemy aircraft, and destroyed or captured uncountable thousands of enemy tanks and other equipment and supplies.

In 238 battle days, the 2nd Armored suffered 7,348 casualties, including 1,160 killed in action. The division was recognized for distinguished service and bravery with 9,369 individual awards, including two Medals of Honor, twenty-three Distinguished Service Crosses, and 2,302 Silver Stars as well as nearly 6,000 Purple Hearts; among those receiving the silver star were Douglas MacArthur, Bill Bowerman, Hugh Armagio, Stan Aniol and William L. Giblin. The division was twice cited by the Belgian Government and division soldiers for the next 50 years proudly wore the fourragere of the Belgian Croix de Guerre.

Cold War Service
After a brief period of occupation duty, the division returned to Fort Hood, Texas, in 1946 to retrain and rebuild. The 2nd Armored Division returned to Germany to serve as part of NATO from 1951 to 1957. Several of the division's battalions participated in the Vietnam War. However, the majority of the division would spend much of the next 35 years at Fort Hood.

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 division remained on active service during the Cold War. Its primary mission was to prepare to conduct heavy armored combat against Warsaw 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 during Exercise Reforger from 1967 to 1988. To build and maintain combat skills, the division's maneuver brigades deployed almost annually to the National Training Center to face an opposing force modeling Soviet military weapons and tactics.

However, with the end of the Cold War, the U.S. military began to draw down its combat units. The 2nd Armored Division was scheduled to inactivate in the spring of 1990.

2nd Armored Division (Forward)
In 1978, the 2nd Armored Division's third brigade forward deployed to West Germany and was assigned to NATO's Northern Army Group. The brigade received additional aviation, engineer, military intelligence, medical, and logistics support units and was re-designated 2nd Armored Division (Forward). The unit's primary mission in case of conflict with the Warsaw Pact was to either secure airfields and staging areas for the deployment of III Corps from the United States, or to deploy directly to the Inter-German Border (IGB) and establish a blocking position as part of a NATO combat force.

2nd Armored Division (Forward) was based at a new military facility near the village of Garlstedt just north of the city of Bremen. 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 of Osterholz-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. In April 1986, a Burger King restaurant opened on the kaserne.

The brigade was officially designated as 2nd Armored Division (Forward) during ceremonies at Grafenwöhr, 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 General Lucius 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 in Maastricht, 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 of III 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. As a result of this varied and demanding job, command of the 2nd Armored Division (Forward) was considered a plum assignment for armor branch brigadier generals, on par with perhaps only the Berlin Brigade for high visibility and potential for advancement to higher rank. Brigadier generals who held the position included James E. Armstrong, George R. Stotser, Thomas H. Tait, James M. Streeter, John C. Heldstab, and Jerry R. Rutherford.

The brigade's subordinate combat units initially consisted of the 3rd Battalion of the 41st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion of the 50th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment (Iron Knights), 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery Regiment, and C Troop, 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment. In 1983, as part of the army's regimental alignment program, 2–50 Infantry was redesignated as 4–41 Infantry and 1–14 Field Artillery as 4-3 Field Artillery. Other brigade subordinate units eventually included the 498th Support Battalion, D Company, 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 1988, 4–41st Infantry returned to Fort Hood, Texas and was replaced by 3–66th Armor (Burt's Knights, named for Captain James M. Burt who was awarded the Medal of Honor as a company commander in the 66th Armored Regiment in the Battle 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.

The brigade deployed to Germany with the M60 Patton tank and the M113 armored personnel carrier. 4-3rd Field Artillery had the M109 155 mm self-propelled howitzer. In 1984, 2–66th AR transitioned to the M1 Abrams main battle tank. In 1985, 3–41st IN and 4–41st IN transitioned to the M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle; also, C/2-1 Cavalry was replaced by an air cavalry troop, D/2-1 Cavalry, armed with AH-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 training area at Bergen-Hohne for gunnery and maneuver training and each year the division as a whole deployed south to Grafenwöhr and Hohenfels (both in Bavaria) 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, the Canadian Army Trophy. C Company, 2–66th contested for the trophy in 1985 and D Company, 2–66th in 1987. In 1989, C Company, 3–66th Armor won the competition outright.

The division had a formal partnership with Panzergrenadierbrigade 32, a Federal Republic of Germany Bundeswehr a mechanized infantry brigade headquartered in nearby Schwanewede. The division also had informal relationships with Dutch, Belgian, and British NORTHAG forces, often conducting joint training activities at Bergen-Hohne.

The Gulf War
The invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein in August 1990 caught the division in the midst of the post-Cold War drawdown of the U.S. military. The division's 2nd Brigade could not be deployed as it was in the middle of deactivating. The division's 1st brigade, the Tiger Brigade for the war and commanded by Colonel John B. Sylvester, deployed to Saudi Arabia independently and participated in Operation Desert Storm by providing heavy armor for USMC forces in their attack into Kuwait. It was credited with destroying or capturing 181 enemy tanks, 148 APCs, 40 artillery pieces, 27 AA emplacements, and 263 Iraqi soldiers dead with an additional 4,051 captured.

The division's 3rd brigade, the 2nd Armored Division (Forward) based in Germany, deployed to Saudi Arabia in the fall of 1990 and conducted combat operations as the third maneuver brigade of the 1st Infantry Division from Fort Riley, KS. The division destroyed 60 Iraqi tanks and 35 infantry vehicles along the IPSA pipeline. 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. 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 aircraft battalion, 1st Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment deployed from Fort Hood to Saudi Arabia in the fall of 1990 attached to and with support from the 1st Cavalry (also based at Ft. Hood). The battalion was equipped with the AH64-A1 Apache Attack Helicopters, which had a main armament of 8 to 16 Hellfire laser guided antitank missiles. For smaller targets with less armor, the Apache was armed with a 30mm cannon firing high explosive rounds. An alternate weapon to Hellfire missiles was the 2.75 inch rocket, which had several types of warhead.

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 in to Saudi Arabia after the cease fire, with two squads staging in Kuwait to proved refueling and rearming services for battalion aircraft if hostilities resumed. The unit returned to Ft. Hood Texas in May 1991 and continued the deactivation that was interrupted when Iraq invaded Kuwait. The unit was deactivated in July 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 Ft. Campbell KY in July/August 1991 and became the 2nd Battalion of the 101st Aviation Regiment (part of the 101st Airborne Division).

Inactivation
The fate of the division after the Gulf War is a confusing series of deactivations and redesignations. 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 redesignated as the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, and the 2nd 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. SGT Michael L. Anderson was the last member of the 2nd Armored Division. He was a 74F who was in charge of cutting orders for all remaining members of 2nd Armored Division HQ. On 1 September 1991, he cut the final orders for himself and his commanding officer. 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 of General der Nachschubtruppe.

In December 1992, the 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized) at Fort Polk, Louisiana, was redesignated as the 2nd Armored Division. In 1993, the unit moved to Fort Hood. In December 1995, the 2nd Armored Division was again redesignated, this time as the 4th 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 and the 41st Infantry Regiment, currently serve as part of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado, the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Texas, and the 172nd Infantry Brigade at Grafenwöhr, Germany.

Lucius D. Clay's name was later reused for the Wiesbaden Army Airfield.