1st Brigade - 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized)
"Raiders"
1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) was originally organized on 25 August 1917 in the National Army at Camp Custer, MI, as Headquarters, 169th Infantry Brigade, and assigned to the 85th Division. It was demobilized on 17 April 1919 at Camp Custer, MI.
It was reconstituted on 24 June 1921 in the Organized Reserve as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 169th Infantry Brigade, and element of the 85th Division (later designated as the 85th Infantry Division), and organized in November 1921 at Grand Rapids, MI.
The unit was redesignated on 23 March 1925 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 169th Brigade, and on 24 August 1935 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 169th Infantry Brigade. It was converted and redesignated on 30 January 1942 and ordered into active military service at Camp Shelby, MS, as the 85th Reconnaissance Troop, Mechanized. It was disbanded at Hampton Roads, VA, on 25 August 1945.
It was reconstituted in the Organized Reserve and redesignated as the 85th Mechanized Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop and assigned to the 85th Infantry Division (later designated as the 85th Infantry Division Training) on 6 November 1946. The unit activated on 19 May 1947 at Appelton, WI, as Organized Reserve, and redesignated in 1948 as organized Reserve Corps and in 1952 as Army Reserve.
It was reorganized and redesignated on 23 November 1949 as the 85th Reconnaissance Company. It relocated on 1 March 1952 to Champaign, IL; to Onerga, IL, on 1 March 1953; and to Beardtown, IL, 13 October 1954. It was disbanded at Beardtown, IL, on 1 June 1959.
1st Brigade, 3d Infantry Division was cited in Department of the Army General Orders 43, 26 February 1953 (with attached units) for the defense of the Imjin River and the Hantan River line from 18 April 1951 to 23 April 1951; for the strategic retrograde from 24 April to 2 May 1951; and for the defense of Seoul form 3 May 1951 to 11 May 1951, inclusive. Having driven north to the Imjin and Hantan Rivers, the 3d Infantry Division, controlling all the major arteries of Seoul, became the prime target of the powerful Chinese Communist spring offensive. In the face of overwhelming and frenzied hostile numbers, the 3d Infantry Division held, inflicting untold casualties and disrupting the enemy plans. Then, the 3d Infantry Division effected a deliberate retrograde with devastating effect upon the enemy. Finally, at the approaches of the to Seoul the division once more held back the last hostile thrusts and to deny to the enemy the vital city. The individual and collective heroism of each member of the 3d Infantry Division was conspicuous and is in accord with the highest traditions of the military service.
1st Brigade, 3d Division was cited in Department of the Army General Orders 29, 31 March 1954 (along with attached units). During this period, Chinese Communist forces in the vicinity of Chorwon-Kumwha made an intensive effort to capture Outpost Harry, a keystone position. On three successive occasions the enemy attacked in reinforced regimental strength, prefacing his attack with heavy concentrations of mortar and artillery. The seemingly endless waves of Chinese fighters were able to break through friendly defensive firs and intense hand to hand fighting took place in the trenches on Outpost Harry. The coordinated efforts of armor, artillery and fighting infantry, as employed by Third Infantry Division units, overwhelmed the numerically superior Chinese forces and forced them to retreat from positions on 13 June 1953, leaving behind over 2,400 dead. Having been soundly defeated on Outpost Harry, the enemy transferred his efforts to the east, and on 14 June conducted a coordinated attack against Third Infantry Division and the Ninth Republic of Korea Army Division main line of resistance positions. Supporting the Ninth Republic of Korea Army Division with tanks and artillery, and counterattacking a threatened enemy break through in the Seventh Infantry Regimental sector, troops of the Third Infantry Division inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy and forcibly ejected him from the position. The enemy left 1,275 dead in the trenches and in front of the position during this action. The actions of the Third United States Infantry Division denied the enemy the strategic terrain needed to launch a full scale attack in this vital sector.
The unit was reconstituted on 21 January 1963 when it was withdrawn from the Army Reserve, and allotted to the Regular Army. The unit was at tha point converted and redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade, 24th Infantry Division.
Reconstituted on 18 April 1963 in the Regular Army as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, it activated on 3 June 1963 in Germany. It inactivated at Fort Riley, KS, 15 April 1970.
The 1st Brigade was reactivated at Fort Stewart, GA, on 21 October 1974.
In response to mounting tensions between the United States and Iraq, the 1st Brigade Combat Team (1st BCT), 3d Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, GA, received an alert to deploy to Kuwait, 16 Feb 98. The first aircraft of soldiers landed at Kuwait's International Airport two days after the alert. Kuwaiti government officials and leaders from US Army, Central-Kuwait (ARCENT-K) met the arriving troops. The 1st BCT was quite familiar with operating in the Middle East after participation in Exercise Bright Star 1998 in Egypt five months before.
Division soldiers moved directly to buses for the short trip to Camp Doha. At Camp Doha, leaders immediately went to the post theater for a two-hour situational briefing on Operation Desert Thunder before linking up with their soldiers and supervisors who were taken directly to the draw yard. After equipment issue and upload, the BCT moved to a marshaling area (Logistics Release Point 4), about five kilometers outside Camp Doha.
Logistics Release Point 4 served as the download site for the heavy equipment transports (HETs), an ammunition transfer point (ATP) and an emergency refuel site. Units downloaded track vehicles, received ammunition in combat configured loads and then moved to the tactical assembly area (TAA) and to their "Kabals" (designation for some field locations in Kuwait). Tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles went directly to the screening range. Upon arrival in theater 18 Feb 98, the BCT worked 7 days a week and, in many cases, 19-20 hours a day for more than two months. In some instances, the maneuver units could take time off when not training.
The Combined/Joint Field Training Exercise (CJFTX) was a three-day, 19-21 April 1998, ground rehearsal of the division's go-to-war plan in defense of Kuwait. Divisional leadership was in country to participate in the CJFTX, including the division commander, assistant division commander for maneuver, each brigade commander, DISCOM commander and battalion commanders. The sensitivity of actually maneuvering the entire brigade led to notional play of several parts of the plan. The overall intent was rehearsing each phase of the operation without leaving a large military "footprint." Joint participants included the Kuwaiti Army and Air Force and the US Air Force, Marines and Army.
The 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, deployed in mid-2001, to Kosovo on peacekeeping duties, for a six-month rotation.
In January 2003, the 1st Brigade Combat Team arrived in Kuwait with the mission to- deter Iraqi aggression in the region. By March, following countless training exercises in the Kuwaiti desert and an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein from President George W. Bush, the future seemed clear. On the night of March 20, led by Task Force 3-69 Armor, the Raiders crossed the border into Iraq around 8 p.m. and began their march toward Baghdad.
In four-days time, the 1st BCT crossed the border, secured an airfield, convoyed 30 hours straight and traveled 300 kilometers. In addition, TF 2-7 Inf., TF 3-7 Inf., 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Regiment and the 11th Eng. Bn. engaged Iraqi forces in lengthy battles that resulted in 248 enemy prisoners and no Raider Soldiers seriously injured.
For the next eight days, the Raiders staged operations from an assembly area northwest of An Najaf. From March 25 to 27, during a sandstorm that resulted in 25-meter visibility, the brigade recon team and elements of TF 3-69 Armor and TF 3-7 Inf. fought around the clock with regular and unconventional Iraqi troops in Al Kifl - a northern suburb of An Najaf on the Euphrates River. The fighting resulted in scores of dead Iraqi troops, more than 50 enemy prisoners and no 1st BCT casualties.
Tragedy struck TF 2-7 Inf. on March 29 when a local Iraqi stopped at a checkpoint north of An Najaf and detonated an explosive device in the trunk of his car. Four Soldiers died.
Three days later, the 1st BCT was staged and focused on one objective - Saddam International Airport. Around 2 a.m. on April 2, once again lead by TF 3-69 Armor, the Raiders pushed northward for 70 kilometers through the Karbala Gap and across the Euphrates River to within 30 kilometers of the airport. The following day, under the cover of Air Force ordnance and 1/41 FA's artillery barrage, the Raiders moved in on the airport. After two days of fighting, many Iraqi troops were killed and captured, and buildings in and around the compound were secure. The airport, under coalition control, was renamed Baghdad International Airport.
On April 9, 2003 Saddam Hussein's regime officially crumbled when Baghdad fell to Coalition forces led by the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized). When President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq, the Raiders were already two weeks into stabilization and support operations. For the next three months, the Soldiers of the 1st BCT secured areas in and around Baghdad while rebuilding many of its communities.
As of December, 2005 the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division was stationed at Forward Operating Base Dagger in Tikrit, Iraq.
