2d Battalion, 3d Field Artillery
"Gunners"
The 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment consists of eighteen, 155mm M109A6 Howitzers, fifteen M981 Fire Support Team Vehicles, and more than 600 personnel.
The Gunner Battalion, based in Giessen, Germany, provides lethal and non-lethal direct support artillery fires for 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, located in Friedberg, Germany.
The history of the 2d Battalion, 3d Field Artillery Regiment began on 11 January, 1812 when the first GUNNERS mustered near Salisbury, NC as Captain Donoho's Company, the 2d Regiment of Artillery. The Gunners were immediately involved in their first combat in the Canadian Campaign during the War of 1812. Between 1831 and 1838, the unit earned two battle streamers in the Indian Wars, fighting in campaigns against the Seminoles in Florida. For its service during the Mexican War, the unit earned thirteen battle streamers, participating in battles at Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo.
Less than fifteen years later, the American Civil War would see the battalion add a further fourteen battle streamers to its color. The battalion fought in campaigns at Antietam, Fredricksberg, the Wilderness, Gettysburg, Chancelorsville, and Petersburg. In 1898, the battalion participated in the Santiago Campaign of the Spanish-American War.
In July 1918, the unit deployed to Europe with the 6th Division. The unit arrived short of equipment and transportation assets, and by the time it was reconstituted, World War I had ended and the Gunner Battalion re-deployed without firing a shot in anger.
In August 1944, the battalion returned to action in Europe, this time as part of the 9th Armored Division. Landing in France in late September, the battalion drove across the recently liberated country. The battalion soon became engaged with the Germans along the Siegfried Line on Germany's western border. During the "Battle of the Bulge" in December 1944 and January 1945, the battalion helped to relieve the garrison at Bastogne, and later supported the drive into Germany across the Rhine River at Remagen. It smashed its way through central Germany near Wetzlar, driving northward toward Berlin and then south into Czechoslovakia before taking up occupation duty near Nürnberg. For its actions during the war the battalion earned the most decorations of any unit in the Division Artillery.
On 1 October 1957, the 2d BN, 3d FA Regiment began a long-standing relationship with the 3d Armored Division in the Federal Republic of Germany, providing direct support artillery fires for the Ready First Combat Team, in Kirchgöns. In November 1989, when the fall of the Berlin Wall heralded the end of the Cold War between NATO and Warsaw Pact countries, the GUNNERS experienced a short-lived peace.
In January 1991, the battalion deployed to Saudi Arabia as the direct support battalion for the Ready First Combat Team in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The battalion was located in Tactical Assembly Area Henry until February 19th when the battalion moved to Forward Assembly Area Butts with the 3d Armored Division. On 24 February 1991, the battalion moved across the Iraqi border in support of Operation Desert Storm. During this first day and the next, the battalion moved into enemy territory, picking up a reinforcing battalion - the 2d BN, 29th FA - en route.
On 26 February, the Ready First Combat Team encountered the enemy for the first time and the GUNNERS fired their first round at the enemy since 1945. During the war, the battalion fired 1467 rounds in operations against the Republican Guard, including the Battle of 73 Easting.
In mid-June, the battalion returned to Kirchgöns, Germany. With units reorganizing in the draw-down of forces in Europe, the battalion became part of the 8th Infantry Division Artillery on 20 July 1991. The battalion was further redesignated in August when it became part of the 1st Armored Division Artillery.
In November 1995, representatives of the three warring factions from Bosnia met in Dayton, Ohio and set up the Dayton Peace Accord. The GUNNERS deployed to Bosnia to assist in implementing the Accord. The battalion became responsible for providing fire support to the 1st Brigade of the 1st Armored Division, and to the Nordic-Polish Brigade. In late October 1996 the battalion assisted the 1st BN, 7th FA in their transition into Bosnia.
By the end of November 1996 the GUNNERS had returned to the Kirchgöns area. In May 1997 the battalion moved from Ayers Kaserne to Gießen Depot. In October 1997 Alpha Battery and Task Force 1-36 FSE once again deployed to Bosnia to assist in the continuing efforts of the NATO peace mission. In late February 1998, Bravo Battery deployed to Bosnia to conduct a relief-in-place with Alpha Battery.
