3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized)
"Rock Of The Marne!"
The 3d Infantry Division (Mechanized) is part of the XVIII Airborne Corps, one of the nation's premier units for dealing with contingencies. The 3rd ID deploys through Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, GA.
The 3rd Infantry has routinely has sent troops to Kuwait since the early 1990s. In 1998 the division deployed to Kuwait in response to Saddam Hussein's expulsion of UN weapons inspectors. The division also rotated troops through the Intrinsic Action exercise, along with other Army units. The 3rd Division was relieved from the rotation in 2000 and 2001 because of its peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. As of early 2002 it was announced that the division would be the only Army unit training in Kuwait. Until the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, the Army assembled a Desert Spring force with soldiers from about five different units. Under the new policy, 3rd Infantry will rotate his three brigades and one brigade from Fort Reilly, KS, in and out of the region.
In December 2001 approximately 150 soldiers from various elements of the 24th Corps Support Group, were deployed and operated in the Central Command theater of operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The deployed soldiers were performing logistical, engineer and preventive medical missions. The 224th Military Intelligence Battalion provides rapidly deployable aerial signals intelligence to the XVIII Airborne Corps in support of world-wide contingency operations.
More than twenty four hundred division soldiers of the 1st Brigade Combat Team (BCT) joined approximately 2,200 101st Airborne Division soldiers in May as part of the Kosovo Force, or KFOR, for NATO peacekeeping and peace enforcement duties, in the Multi-National Division (East) sector of the province. Soldiers patrolled the sector along with soldiers from Greece, Russia, Poland and the Ukraine. All returned to Fort Stewart by late November 2001.
The 3rd Infantry Division was activated at Camp Greene, North Carolina, in November 1917. Eight months later, at midnight on July 14, 1918 the Division went into combat for the first time. During World War I, as a member of the American Expeditionary Force to Europe the Division earned its name as the "Rock of the Marne," when surrounding units retreated, the 3rd Infantry Division remained. Although the stand was quite successful, the unit suffered many casualties.
In World War II, the 3d Infantry Division was one of the Army's premier assault units. Gen. Lucian K. Truscott, Jr. led the division in battles North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and France. As the sole United States fighting force for 531 continuous days of combat, the 3rd Infantry Division fought in places like Casablanca, Anzio, Tome, the Vosges Mountains, Colmar, the Siegfried Line, Palermo, Nurnberg, Munich, Berchtesgaden, and Salzburg.
3rd Infantry Division soldiers earned two medals of Honor during World War I, and 36 more during World War II. The most decorated soldier in World War II was among them: Lieutenant Audie Murphy, serving with the 15th Infantry in Italy and France.
During the Korean War, the Division, being known as the "Fire Brigade", received ten Battle Stars. The Korean War also added eleven more Medal of Honor winners, bringing the total to forty-nine.
In April 1958, the Marne Division returned to Germany to secure the defense of Western Europe.
In November of 1990, soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division were once again called into action. Following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, more than 6,000 Marne men and women deployed with Operation Desert Storm as part of the Allied Coalition which brought a swift end to Saddam Hussien's military aggression in the Gulf region. Nearly 1,000 soldiers deployed to Southeastern Turkey and Northern Iraq to Operation Provide Comfort to Kurdish Refugees. Almost 100 were part of Task Force Victory, which began the task of rebuilding Kuwait.
A new chapter of Marne history began with the activation of the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) at Fort Stewart and in the Coastal Empire. Three Army divisions were reflagged as the Army restructured from 12 to 10 active divisions.
The 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas, was redesignated as the 4th Infantry Div., and the 24th Inf. Div. was redesignated as the 3rd Inf. Div. The 3rd Inf. Div., stationed in Germany, was redesignated as the 1st Inf. Div. The redesignations occured during fiscal 1996. The Army's restructuring plan was announced in December 1994. It called for the inactivation of the headquarters and division support units of the 1st Inf. Div. at Fort Riley, Kan., and the 4th Inf. Div. at Fort Carson, Colo. The redesignation plan ensured that two of the Army's most famous and decorated divisions remained in the active force. The plan designating the divisions to remain was developed by the U.S. Army Center of Military History, which maintains records of Army unit lineage and honors. The center prepared an order-of-precedence list based on unit age, campaign participation, and awards and decorations. Units were then rank-ordered by category, providing a framework for the Army leadership to make its decision.
After an intense period of training at both Fort Stewart, Ga. and Fort Polk, La. elements of the Marne Division deployed Task Force Eagle to Bosnia-Herzegovina for a peace enforcement mission called Stabilization Force 8 (SFOR 8) as part of Multinational Division (North). Transfer of authority to the 3rd Infantry Division was conducted Oct. 5, 2000. Midway through this deployment (SFOR 8), 2nd Brigade, 3rd I.D. was relieved by the 48th Brigade of the Georgia National Guard on April 1, 2001 for SFOR 9. SFOR 9 transfer of authority was conducted Oct. 5, 2001 and transferred to the 29th Infantry Division and Marne Soldiers returned home.
Bosnia is not the only place where Marne Soldiers worked as a peacekeeping force. Task Force Falcon, under the leadership of the 101st Division (Air Assault) utilized large parts of the 1st Brigade, 3rd I.D. Combat Team to perform essential peace keeping duties in the ravaged province of Kosovo.
In January 2003, Soldiers in the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) were officially informed that they were headed for the Middle East to do their part in Operation Enduring Freedom.
Throughout the early months of the year, a multitude of flights proceeded to carry the Marne Division's more than 20,000 Soldiers to the Middle East, where they continued to train in preparation for the possibility of war. Although some elements of the division had been incountry as early as September 2002, the majority of Marne Soldiers arrived shortly after the new year.
With a potential combat in the near future the 3rd Inf. Div. trained hard in Kuwait. The division units conducted regular physical fitness training, desert tank tables, hot refuels and road marches, military operations on urbanized terrain, artillery livefires, enemy prisoner of war, sniper, nuclear, biological and chemical attack, trench, and engineer training.
As part of the training the division practiced "jumping" - quickly breaking down, relocating and building - its tactical operations center in preparation for rapid movement through Iraq. Soldiers also conducted extensive maintenance on vehicles and equipment, since the desert sand was hard on tracks and weapons.
Finally, after months of anticipation, the call came. On March 20, the Division began to cross the border from Kuwait to Iraq, beginning Operation Iraqi Freedom.
After combat, Soldiers from 3rd Inf. Div. shifted focus to support and stabilization operations in an effort to rebuild the war-ravaged country. The Soldiers conducted foot patrols and mounted patrols in every sector of the city, scanning the streets for signs of danger. They also had fixed sentries outside many gas stations and mosques maintaining the peace. They arrested looters, curfew breakers, citizens with weapons and drunk and disorderly citizens.
Soldiers helped refurbish and reopen schools, hospitals, soccer fields, zoos and even amusement parks. They distributed hundreds of soccer balls, school supplies, air conditioners, fans, medical supplies and thousands of gallons of propane fuel. They met with the sheiks and imams in each neighborhood, to determine what was best for its inhabitants. They also helped restore power and water to many neighborhoods.
Following the division's deployment and return to the United States following Iraqi Freedom, the Army initiated a major reorganization of the 3rd Infantry Division, instituting units of action that were streamlined and organized in a lighter fashion. In February 2004 the Army directed that the 3rd ID(M) adopt the CSA approved Armored Unit of Action design developed by the Training and Doctrine Command Task Force Modularity. This UA model is depicted in Figure 5 and contains several significant changes from the previously approved reorganization COA for the division. The most significant changes involve the creation of a Reconnaissance Battalion for each UA, similar to the structure currently found in the Stryker Brigade Combat Teams; the addition of a fourth maneuver company to each Armor and Infantry TF; the assignment of an Engineer Company to each maneuver TF in lieu of the DS Combat Engineer Battalion currently assigned to each BCT; and the retention of 16 Paladins, organized into two batteries, in each DS Artillery, or Strike Battalion.
In the first field test of the new brigade structure at the National Training Center from March 26 thru April 10, 2004, the 2nd UA of the 3rd Infantry Division demonstrated the new capabilities of the division's brigades. One difference between the BCT and the new unit of action is the addition of assets that previously belonged to the division. Field artillery, signal, chemical and engineer units that once supported the division are now permanently assigned to the Brigade. Capabilities such as counter-intelligence, human intelligence, and electronic warfare have been moved down to the Brigade.
