2nd Battalion - 63rd Armor Regiment
"Lions"
On order, the Lion Battalion deploys to designated contingency areas to conduct military operations.
The 63d Armor was organized in 1942 as the 745th Tank Battalion at Camp Bowie, Texas. After training in Texas and Louisiana, the battalion departed New York in the summer of 1943 and continued its training in England. Landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day, 6 June 1944, the 745th supported the 1st Infantry Division during the Normandy invasion. For its actions on the beachhead, the battalion was awarded the French Croix de Guerre.
After securing the Caumont, the battalion continued its support of the "Big Red One," moving south through the breakthrough at Marigny and then west toward Coutances. It assisted in closing the Argentan-Falaise gap in September, moved north to the Soissons area, and then advanced through France to the vicinity of Liège, Belgium.In September 1944 the battalion, along with the 1st Division, destroyed an enemy pocket at Mons, Belgium, capturing more than 5,000 prisoners, including the commander of the German 6th Airborne Division. The withdrawal of German forces enabled the 1st Infantry Division to move rapidly toward Aachen, Germany. The division laid siege to the city, taking it after a direct assault on 21 October 1944. The 1st then attacked east of Aachen through the Hürtgen Forest in the drive toward the Roer. After bitter fighting, it moved to a rest area in December.
Later that month, the division fought on the northern flank of the German counter-offensive in the Ardennes in the area of Eupen-Malmédy, repulsing the enemy after heavy combat. After the German counterattacks were thwarted, the division and its attached units pushed forward to reduce enemy pockets and throw the Germans out of Belgian territory.
For its actions at Mons and at Eupen-Malmédy, the 745th Tank Battalion, along with the division, was awarded the Belgian Fourragère. The battalion supported the 1st Division's attack against the Siegfried Line until 7 February 1945, when the 99th Infantry Division relieved the 1st.
After supporting the 99th Division in February, the 745th Tank Battalion returned to aid the 1st Division in its drive to and across the Rhine, crossing into the Remagen bridgehead in March. The battalion advanced toward the Harz Mountains, through Büren, and across the Weser River. It then moved through Blankenburg to Marktleuthen, remaining there until the end of the war in May when the battalion moved to Czechoslovakia for occupation duty. After several months, the 745th tank battalion returned to the United States, where it was inactivated on 27 October 1945.
Three years later, the battalion was redesignated as the 63d Heavy Tank Battalion and activated in Germany as an element of the 1st Infantry division. The battalion served in West Germany until 1955 when it, along with the Division, moved to Ft. Riley, Kansas, as a part of Operation Gyroscope. The battalion was inactivated at Ft. Riley in 1957.
As a part of ROAD (Reorganized Objective Army Divisions), the battalion was reorganized and redesignated on 25 January 1963 as the 63d Armor Regiment, a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System. The 1st Battalion was then assigned to 1st Infantry Division at Ft. Riley. When the division deployed to Vietnam in 1965, the battalion remained at Ft. Riley. In 1969 it was posted to Ft. Knox, Kentucky, and returned to Ft. Riley in 1970,when the 1st Division came back from Vietnam. The battalion was inactivated in August 1987 and reactivated the following month at Ft. Irwin, California, home of the National Training Center.
The 2nd Battalion was also active with the 1st Infantry Division during 1964-65. It was reactivated in 1970 at Ft. Riley, when the division returned from Vietnam, and inactivated in 1983. To accommodate the requirements for the 1st infantry Division to be recognized as a mechanized unit, the 3rd and 4th Battalions were assigned to it in 1970. Eventually, the 3rd Battalion was reassigned to the 3rd Infantry Division in West Germany. The 4th battalion was inactivated in 1983.
In September 1987 the 63d Armor was reorganized under the U.S. Army Regimental System with its home base at Ft. Irwin. It inactivated 15 October 1994 at Ft. Irwin, California, and was relieved from assignment to the 177th Armored Brigade. The colors remained cased until 15 February 1996 when it was brought back to serve in Vilseck, Germany, as part of the 1st Infantry Division.
