4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment
"Iron Thunder"

As part of the reorganization of the 1st Armored Division to the US Army's new modular force structure, various units previously held at the division level were made organic to the brigades they habitually supported. 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment was subsequently reassigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division from the Division Artillry (DIVARTY). The DIVARTY was subsequently inactivated. The 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment remained a 155mm self-propelled artillery battalion as it had been before the modular reorganization. Prior to the reorganization, 4-27th Field Artillery had habitually supported the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division. Prior to the relocation of the 1st Armored Division to Fort Bliss, Texas, the Battalion had been located with forward elements of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division at Baumholder, Germany.

The 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery was fisrt constituted on 5 July 1918 in the National Army as Battery D, 27th Field Artillery, an element of the 9th Division. It was organized on 2 August 1918 at Camp McClellan, Alabama and subsequently demobilized on 8 February 1919 at Camp McClellan, Alabama.

The unit was reconstituted on 24 March 1923 in the Regular Army as Battery D, 27th Field Artillery, an element of the 9th Division. The 27th Field Artillery as a whole was relieved on 1 October 1933 from assignment to the 9th Division. The unit was redesignated on 15 July 1940 as Battery D, 27th Field Artillery Battalion, and activated at Fort Knox, Kentucky, as an element of the 1st Armored Division. The unit was absorbed on 15 December 1941 by Battery A, 27th Field Artillery Battalion. Battery A, 27th Field Artillery Battalion, was redesignated on 1 January 1942 as Battery A, 27th Armored Field Artillery Battalion. As part of Battery A, 27th Armored Field Artillery, the unit's personnel served through seven campaigns in World War II. These were Algeria-French Morocco (as part of the initial invasion), Tunisia, Naples-Foggia, Anzio, Rome-Arno, North Apennines, and Po Valley.

After the Second World War, Battery A, 27th Armored Field Artillery was converted and redesignated on 1 May 1946 as Troop A, 27th Constabulary Squadron, and relieved from assignment to the 1st Armored Division. It was inactivated on 20 December 1948 in Germany and converted and redesignated as Battery A, 27th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, an element of the 1st Armored Division.

War in Korea precipitated the need once again for Armored Divisions in the Active Force Structure and on 7 March 1951, the 27th Armored Field Artillery Battalion was activated at Fort Hood, Texas as part of the newly reactivated 1st Armored Division. Battery A, 27th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, still containing the lineage and honors of D Battery, 27th Field Artillery Battalion, was activated on the same day. The 27th Armored Field Artillery Battalion subsequently moved to Fort Polk, Louisiana.

Former Battery D, 27th Field Artillery Battalion, was formally reconstituted on 15 February 1957 in the Regular Army and redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Battalion, 27th Artillery. It was redesignated on 19 March 1959 as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Howitzer Battalion, 27th Artillery. At this point it was concurrently withdrawn from the Regular Army, allotted to the Army Reserve, and assigned to the 83rd Infantry Division with its organic elements concurrently constituted.

It was not until 20 March 1959 that the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery was formally activated, with Headquarters at Chillicothe, Ohio. There it was inactivated on 15 April 1963 and relieved from assignment to the 83rd Infantry Division. While inactivate, the unit was redesignated on 1 September 1971 as the 4th Howitzer Battalion, 27th Field Artillery.

On 16 June 1985 the unit was redesignated as the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery, concurrently withdrawn from the Army Reserve, allotted to the Regular Army, and activated in Germany. A non-divisional artillery battalion assigned to VII Corps, the unit was equipped with the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket Ststem and based in Wertheim, Germany. The Battalion spent the next 5 years as a reinforcing unit to the 1st Armored Division with many gunnery rotations to the Grafenwoehr Training Area.

On 2 August 1990, the Army of Iraq invaded Kuwait. This invasion set in motion the largest deployment of US Forces since World War II and the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery was an active participant. On 4 November 1990, the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery was alerted for service in the Persian Gulf War, deploying between late December 1990 and early January 1991 as an element of the 75th Field Artillery Brigade, VII Corps Artillery. The relationships that the Battalion had established with the 1st Armored Division served it well in the Gulf and the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery was assigned the mission of reinforcing to the 1st Armored Division Artillery. Equipped with 27 M270 MLRS vehicles, the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery provided awesome fire power in support of the 1st Armored Division.

On 20 February 1991, the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery and Battery A, 94th Field Artillery, both equipped with the MLRS, moved east from FAA Garcia to a position near the Kuwait-Iraq-Saudi Arabia tri-border area. On 21 February 1991, the Battalion joined with elements of the 1st Cavalry Division Artillery to attack known and suspected enemy locations in Iraq at noon and 1500 hours. During the missions the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery fired 312 rockets on the first mission and 276 rockets on the second mission prepping the battlefield for ground offensive operations, which began on 24 February 1991. For its service in the Persian Gulf War, the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery was awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation and 3 Campaign Participation Streamers.

Following action in the Persian Gulf War, the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery returned to Germany with assignment to the 41st Field Artillery Brigade. The battalion was subsequently redeployed to Fort Sill, Oklahoma and inactivated on 15 January 1996.

On 16 February 1997, the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery was reactivated at Baumholder, Germany, equipped with the M109A6 Paladin 155mm Self-Propelled Howitzer, and assigned to the 1st Armored Division. There the Battalion participated in many national missions and major training exercises. In 1997, the Battalion provided fire support personnel to the NORDPOL Brigade in Bosnia. Battery A, augmented by slice elements from Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, and Service Battery saw action with Task Force Hawk during Operation Noble Anvil in Albania and Kosovo. Additionally, the Battalion conducted realistic training during Exercise Rolling Steel 98 and 99, Exercise Rolling Thunder 99, Grafenwoehr Gunnery, supported to the 1st Armored Division and V Corps during Warfighters, and provided direct support field artillery fires and coordination for the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division at the Combat Maneuver Training Center.

C Battery, 4-27th Field Artillery also had the honor of being the Salute Battery for the 1st Armored Division between May 1999 to July 2000. The most important and greatest duty in this capacity was to help commemorate the 55th Anniversary of the D-Day landings. During 3 days in June 1999 C Battery performed retreat ceremonies, salutes, and placed over 18,000 flags on the graves of US Service Members who gave their all during the invasion.

On 1 October 2005, the unit was redesignated as the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment.