Third United States Army

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Third United States Army

3rd US Army shoulder badge

3rd US Army shoulder badge
active November 7, 1918 to July 2, 1919
August 3, 1932 to 1974
since 1982
Country United States
Armed forces US armed forces
Armed forces Army
Type army
headquarters Fort McPherson , Georgia
Nickname Patton's Own
motto Tertia Semper Great
Wars World War
One World War
Two Gulf War Two
Operation Enduring Freedom
Iraq War
commander
Current
commander
Lieutenant General James L. Terry
Important
commanders

Courtney Hicks Hodges
George S. Patton
Tommy R. Franks
David D. McKiernan

insignia
Distinctive Unit Insignia United States Army Central DUI.png

The Third United States Army ( German  3rd US Army ) is a large unit of the US Army . As a ground combat component of the US Army Forces Central Command (ARCENT), it reports to the US regional command responsible for the Middle East , the US Central Command . During the official hostilities of the 2003 Iraq War , the 3rd US Army under David D. McKiernan led the Coalition Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC), responsible for all ground operations in the region. The CFLCC was replaced on June 14, 2003 by the Combined Joint Task Force 7 (CJTF 7) under Ricardo S. Sánchez , which was later converted into the Multi-National Force Iraq . After the CJTF 7 assumed operational command of all ground forces in the region, the CFLCC became the primary logistics center in the region.

history

Positioning and First World War

The 3rd US Army was first raised and activated on November 7, 1918 during World War I. This was done in Chaumont in France by General Order No. 198 of the headquarters of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) under Lieutenant General John J. Pershing . On November 15, Major General Joseph T. Dickman took over the post of first Commander-in-Chief of the 3rd US Army.

Invasion of Germany

On November 15, 1918, Major General Dickman received the order to advance quickly and under all circumstances to central Germany and to occupy it. He was then to disarm and disband German troops on Pershing's orders . The march began on November 17, 1918. One month later, on December 15, the headquarters of the 3rd US Army were relocated to Koblenz . Two days later, on December 17th, the army secured the bridgehead with a pontoon bridge and three railway bridges over the Rhine . During this time the army had no contact with German troops. The Compiègne armistice was signed on November 11, 1918. On December 19, the day when the bridgehead occupation was completed, the 3rd US Army reported 9,638 officers and 221,070 NCOs and men.

On December 12th, Field Order No. 11 ordered the 3rd US Army to occupy the northern sector of Koblenz in order to secure the advance of the advancing troops. On the night of December 14th, the troops of the 3rd US Army had secured the perimeter around the Koblenz bridgehead.

Occupation time in Germany ( Army of Occupation )

During January 1919, the 3rd US Army trained its troops to be able to respond to any eventuality. In February, military schools were opened within the occupied territory of the 3rd US Army, and a quartermaster depot was organized. Around 2,000 officers and NCOs were transferred and completed courses at British and French universities. There are also plans to relocate US divisions back to the United States. On February 4th, the 3rd US Army took control of Trier . Throughout March, the 3rd US Army then carried out routine tasks for an occupying army, such as training its own troops. In addition, training centers were set up at corps and division level and the 42nd Infantry Division was released into the reserve . Then in April the withdrawal of the divisions of the 3rd US Army began and on April 20, Lieutenant General Hunter Liggett took over command of Dickman.

Treaty of Versailles

On July 1, 1919, Pershing informed the US War Department that after the Germans had agreed to the military conditions, US troops in Europe would be reduced to a single regiment . The 3rd US Army was disbanded on July 2, 1919. Their headquarters and the personnel stationed there (approx. 6,800 men) and units under their command were now referred to as US troops in Germany ( American Forces in Germany ). This force remained in Germany for three more years. This was due to the fact that the United States had not ratified the Versailles Peace Treaty . In terms of international law, they were still at war with Germany. This situation was only resolved with a separate peace agreement in the summer of 1921. In the fall of that year there was a further need for members of the army from Koblenz when the American Relief Administration was on duty in response to the famine in Soviet Russia 1921–1922 and American personnel could be obtained from there as quickly as possible.

Reactivation and inter-war years

In August 1932, the 3rd US Army was (re) activated as one of four armies within an army reform of the US Army to command the troops on the bases . However, until the eve of World War II , the 3rd US Army remained largely an army on paper. Drill exercises were held, but they were never appropriate.

Second World War

General George S. Patton
Flag parade of the 3rd US Army on the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress after the conquest of Koblenz in 1945
Photographs of the Buchenwald concentration camp, a few days after the liberation

During the mobilization of the United States in 1941/42, the 3rd US Army was given the task of training a large number of newly drafted recruits. Lieutenant General Walter Krueger , later known as the commander of the 6th US Army during the Pacific War , commanded the 3rd US Army from May 1941 to February 1943. Under his command, the foundations of the 3rd US Army as a successful armed force were laid . Krueger was then replaced in February 1943 by Lieutenant General Courtney H. Hodges , who commanded the army until January 1944. In December 1943, the expected transfer of the 3rd US Army to England took place . In January 1944, Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr. took command and later led the 3rd US Army into battle.

The 3rd US Army did not participate in the first phase of Operation Overlord . When the army moved to France, it made significant breakthroughs. After a period of security, the 3rd US Army was ready for an offensive task again. During the Ardennes offensive of the Wehrmacht (from December 16, 1944) Patton distinguished himself by making a left swing to the north on the orders of General Dwight D. Eisenhower before the Saarland and attacking the advancing German troops on their southern flank. Thus, units of the 3rd US Army were able to end the siege of Bastogne at the end of December 1944 and relieve the US troops encircled there. In the Battle of the Bulge, the US forces had 76,890 casualties (about 20,000 killed; the rest wounded or missing).

After further fighting in the Rhineland (including Operation Lumberjack March 1-7 , 1945), the Rhine was crossed at Nierstein (south of Mainz ) and Boppard in March 1945 . The 3rd US Army advanced rapidly further east and liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp on April 11th . On April 14, she reached and occupied the secret site where the Horten H IX flying wing aircraft was being tested.

At the end of April the 3rd Army swung south to the Danube and reached Passau . At the beginning of May she reached the border with Upper Austria, advanced to Linz , liberated the Mauthausen concentration camp and some satellite camps , including the Ebensee concentration camp . Ernst Florian Winter , the son of the former Vice Mayor of Vienna Ernst Karl Winter , was the first Austro-American to march into Burghausen on May 4, 1945 . The left wing of the 3rd US Army advanced as far as Pilsen in western Bohemia . They were the US troops that had pushed farthest east.

Occupation, training service and dissolution

The 3rd US Army remained in the country as an occupying army after the end of the war and participated in the reconstruction of Germany until it withdrew in 1947. After moving back to the United States, the army took on similar tasks as in the 1930s . When the Korean War broke out in 1950, the army again took over the training of recruits . The army kept this task beyond the Korean War until 1974, when it was replaced and then dissolved by a new main command , the US Army Forces Command (FORSCOM).

Reactivation and realignment

On December 3, 1982, the headquarters of the 3rd US Army at Fort McPherson was reactivated and placed under the command of Lieutenant General M. Collier Ross . The new order of the army was the use as ground combat component ( US Army Forces Central Command ; ARCENT) of the responsible Unified Combatant Command for the Middle East , the US Central Command .

Second Gulf War

Under the command of Lieutenant General John J. Yeosock , the 3rd US Army took command of the ground forces during Operation Desert Shield , the defense of Saudi Arabia from a possible invasion of Iraq after it had invaded Kuwait in 1990 . At the beginning the 3rd US Army was only the XVIII. Subordinated to US Airborne Corps . In November 1990, however, the US troops in the Persian Gulf were massively increased in the form of the VII US Corps from Germany. This move resulted in the largest armored troop concentration in the United States since the end of World War II. At the beginning of the fighting, the XVIII. US Airborne Corps three US and one French divisions and the VII US Corps, four US and one British divisions and thus nine divisions, as well as the armored cavalry regiments of the two corps, under their command.

Post-war tasks in the Middle East

Iraq war

During the official hostilities of the 2003 Iraq war , the 3rd US Army under David D. McKiernan led the CFLCC, responsible for all ground operations in the region. The CFLCC was replaced on June 14, 2003 by the Combined Joint Task Force 7 (CJTF 7) under Ricardo S. Sánchez , which was later converted into the Multi-National Force Iraq . After the CJTF 7 assumed operational command of all ground forces in the region, the CFLCC became the primary logistics center in the region.

assignment

The 3rd US Army comprises the total of the ground forces of the US Central Command (CENTCOM) regional command. It is the operative arm of the US Army Central (USARCENT), the Service Component Command of the Army of the CENTCOM (command staff of the CENTCOM for the land forces), to which it reports. The commanding officer of the 3rd US Army is also the commander of the US Army Central (USARCENT).

In this function, she is responsible for the training, readiness and constant operational capability of the CENTCOM ground forces and supports the Commander CENTCOM in his operational planning, target setting and operational management. The 3rd US Army guarantees military security in the territorial area of ​​responsibility of CENTCOM and public security in occupied Iraq. Through constant exercises and joint maneuvers and cooperation with the armed forces of allied and friendly local nations, it contributes to the political stabilization of the region. She leads and coordinates the planning and deployment of the Coalition Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC).

organization

In 2007, the 3rd US Army had its headquarters in Fort McPherson in the US state of Georgia , as well as an advanced base in Camp Arifjan in Kuwait and the logistics center of the Area Support Group (ASG) in Qatar , which serves the US Central Command and the Coalition Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC) served as the logistics command.

guide

Command Group

The command group of the 3rd US Army consists of the Commanding General Lieutenant General William G. Webster, Jr. , his two deputies, Major General Randy E. Manner (Kuwait) and Major General Peter M. Vangjel (Afghanistan), the Chief of Staff Brigadier General Stephen M. Twitty and Command Sergeant Major of the Union, John D. Fourhman.

List of commanders

No. Surname Beginning of the appointment End of appointment
50 Terry R. Ferrell 2019
49 Michael X. Garrett 2015 2019
48 James L. Terry July, 1st 2013 2015
47 Vincent K. Brooks (2011) July, 1st 2013
46 William G. Webster, Jr. May 4, 2009 (2011)
45 James J. Lovelace December 20, 2007 May 4, 2009
44 R. Steven Whitcomb October 13, 2004 December 20, 2007
43 David D. McKiernan September 6, 2002 October 13, 2004
42 Paul T. Mikolashek June 29, 2000 September 6, 2002
41 Tommy R. Franks May 30, 1997 June 29, 2000
40 Robert R. Ivany February 18, 1997 May 30, 1997
39 Steven L. Arnold July 19, 1994 February 18, 1997
38 James R. Ellis July 18, 1992 July 15, 1994
37 John J. Yeosock March 17, 1989 17th July 1992
36 Andrew P. Chambers October 10, 1987 March 16, 1989
35 TG Those, Jr. May 4th 1984 September 30, 1987
34 William J. Livsey July 21, 1983 May 3, 1984
33 M. Collier Ross 1st December 1982 July 20, 1983
Association inactive between 1973 and 1982
32 Warren Bennett July 1, 1973 1st October 1973
31 Melvin Zais June 20, 1972 June 14, 1973
30th Albert O. Connor 1st August 1969 June 19, 1972
29 John L. Throckmorton August 1, 1967 July 31, 1969
28 Louis W. Truman July 15, 1965 July 31, 1967
interim William C. Bullock June 24, 1965 July 14, 1965
27 Charles WG Rich August 1, 1964 June 23, 1965
interim John W. Bowen July 16, 1963 July 31, 1964
26th Albert Watson II 2nd February 1963 July 15, 1964
interim Hamilton H. Howze December 1, 1962 1st February 1963
25th Thomas JH Trapnell 3rd October 1961 November 30, 1962
24 Paul D. Adams October 17, 1960 October 2, 1961
23 Thomas JH Trapnell 1960 1960
22nd Herbert B. Powell March 5, 1960 September 30, 1960
interim Robert F. Sink February 18, 1960 March 4, 1960
21st Clark L. Ruffner May 1958 February 1960
20th Thomas F. Hickey 15th August 1955 April 30, 1958
19th Alexander R. Bolling 22nd August 1952 July 31, 1955
18th William A. Beiderlinden May 8, 1952 August 21, 1952
17th John R. Hodge September 1, 1950 May 7, 1952
16 Alvan C. Gillem, Jr. June 19, 1947 August 31, 1950
interim Edward H. Brooks April 15, 1947 June 18, 1947
15th Oscar W. Griswold March 15, 1947 April 14, 1947
14th Ernest N. Harmon January 10, 1947 March 14, 1947
13 Geoffrey Keyes April 1946 January 9, 1947
12 Lucian K. Truscott, Jr. October 8, 1945 April 1946
11 George S. Patton, Jr. January 26, 1944 October 7, 1945
10 Courtney H. Hodges February 16, 1943 January 25, 1944
9 Walter Krueger May 16, 1941 February 2, 1943
8th Herbert J. Brees October 1, 1940 May 15, 1941
7th Stanley D. Embick October 1, 1938 September 30, 1940
6th George Van Horn Moseley October 1, 1936 September 30, 1938
5 Frank Parker April 4, 1936 September 30, 1936
4th Johnson Hagood October 4, 1933 February 27, 1936
3 Edwin B. Winans September 15, 1932 September 30, 1933
Association inactive between 1919 and 1932
2 Hunter Liggett April 20, 1919 July 2, 1919
1 Joseph T. Dickman November 15, 1918 April 19, 1919

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Crossing the Rhine," History of the American Third Army, November 14, 1918 to July 2, 1919; Third Army, AEF, July 2, 1919.
  2. ^ Benjamin M. Weissman: Herbert Hoover and Famine Relief to Soviet Russia. 1921-1923 , Hoover Institution Press, Stanford 1974, p. 84.
  3. Documentary film (minute 1:54 from 50:34)
  4. Ernst Florian Winter : 1945 as the first US soldier in Austria , May 3, 2008 (salzburg.orf.at)
  5. Contingency Forces ( Memento of the original from November 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arcent.army.mil