First United States Army
|
First United States Army |
|
|---|---|
 1st Army shoulder badge |
|
| active | August 10, 1918 to April 20, 1919 since September 11, 1933 |
| Country | United States |
| Armed forces | US armed forces |
| Armed forces | Army |
| Type | army |
| headquarters | Rock Island Arsenal , Illinois |
| motto | First in deed |
| Wars |
World War One World War II |
| commander | |
| Current commander |
Lieutenant General Thomas G. Miller |
| Important commanders |
John J. Pershing |
The First United States Army ( German 1st US Army ) is a large unit of the US Army . She is responsible for training and mobilizing the Army National Guard and Army Reserve in the United States .
organization
The headquarters of the US 1st Army is currently located in the Rock Island Arsenal , Illinois . It has two sub-commandos, the First Army, East Division in Fort George G. Meade , Maryland , covering all states east of the Mississippi, and the First Army, West Division in Fort Hood , Texas , covering all states west of the Mississippi. The current commanding general is Lieutenant General Mick Bednarek .
history
First World War and the interwar period
The 1st US Army was activated in France on August 10, 1918 as part of the AEF under the command of General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing . On August 30, she took command of the front section from Port-sur-Seille east of the Moselle to Watronville , 11 kilometers southeast of Verdun . In the following months the army was involved in the Battle of St. Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive . In October 1918, Hunter Liggett took command. After the end of the war and a few months of service as an occupying army in Germany, it was deactivated on April 20, 1919.
In 1933 the 1st US Army was reactivated as a training army at Fort Jay ( Governors Island , New York).
Second World War
After the USA entered the war, the 1st US Army was relocated to England. General Omar N. Bradley took command in 1944 . She came for the first time on June 6, 1944 as part of Operation Overlord used when their units to the beach sections Utah and Omaha landed. At that time she was part of the 21st Army Group under the command of British General Montgomery . In the following weeks, the units of the 1st US Army gradually expanded the Normandy bridgehead - together with British and Canadian units - in heavy fighting with German units.
At the end of July, the 1st US Army broke out of the Normandy bridgehead with Operation Cobra . This was the prelude to the rapid advance of the Allied armies as far as Belgium and the border of the German Empire. After Operation Cobra, the 1st and 3rd US Armies were placed under the command of the newly formed 12th US Army Group , whose command was taken over by the previous commander of the 1st US Army, General Bradley. The new commander of the 1st US Army was General Hodges .
In October and November 1944, the 1st US Army liberated the Belgian city of Liège and conquered the first major German city, Aachen, and at the end of 1944 defended a long section of the front in the Ardennes, in which the German side launched the Ardennes offensive in December . After defending them, the army advanced into the Rhineland and crossed the Rhine near Remagen in March .
At the end of March 1945, Kassel was conquered together with the 3rd US Army under General Patton . At the beginning of April, the city of Nordhausen followed and the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp to the northwest, where the V2 rocket was produced. The so-called Harz fortress in the north of Nordhausen was bypassed, the 1st US Army advanced east via Halle (Saale) and occupied Leipzig on April 18 .
The first contact with the Soviet troops was reached on April 25 on the Elbe near Strehla , near Torgau soldiers of the 1st US Army (69th US Division) met units (58th Guard Division) of the Soviet 5th Army . Guard Army and thus pushed the front of the German Army Group Center to the south. At the end of April 1945 the connection with the Red Army was also established near Dessau .
List of commanders
| Rank | Surname | Beginning of the appointment | End of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|
| general | John J. Pershing | 1918 | 1918 |
| Lieutenant General | Hunter Liggett | 1918 | 1919 |
| Major general | Dennis E. Nolan | 1932 | 1936 |
| Major general | Fox Conner | 1936 | 1938 |
| Major general | Frank Ross McCoy | 1938 (provisional) | |
| Major general | James K. Parsons | 1938 (provisional) | |
| Lieutenant General | Hugh A. Drum | 1938 | 1943 |
| Lieutenant General | George Grunert | 1943 | 1944 |
| Lieutenant General | Omar N. Bradley | 1944 | |
| general | Courtney H. Hodges | 1944 | 1949 |
| Major general | Roscoe B. Woodruff | 1949 (provisional) | |
| general | Walter Bedell Smith | 1949 | 1950 |
| Major general | Roscoe B. Woodruff | 1950 (provisional) | |
| Lieutenant General | Willis D. Crittenberger | 1950 | 1952 |
| Lieutenant General | Withers A. Burress | 1953 | 1954 |
| Lieutenant General | Thomas W. Gentlemen | 1954 | 1957 |
| Lieutenant General | Blackshear M. Bryan | 1957 | 1960 |
| Lieutenant General | Edward J. O'Neill | 1960 | 1962 |
| Lieutenant General | Garrison H. Davidson | 1962 | 1964 |
| Lieutenant General | Robert W. Porter, Jr. | 1964 | 1965 |
| Lieutenant General | Thomas W. Dunn | 1965 | |
| Lieutenant General | William F. Train | 1966 | 1967 |
| Lieutenant General | Jonathan O. Seaman | 1967 | 1971 |
| Lieutenant General | Claire E. Hutchin, Jr. | 1971 | 1973 |
| Lieutenant General | Glenn D. Walker | 1973 | 1974 |
| Lieutenant General | James G. Kalergis | 1974 | 1975 |
| Lieutenant General | Jeffrey G. Smith | 1975 | 1979 |
| Lieutenant General | John F. Forrest | 1979 | 1981 |
| Lieutenant General | Donald E. Rosenblum | 1981 | 1984 |
| Lieutenant General | Charles D. Franklin | 1984 | 1987 |
| Lieutenant General | James E. Thompson Jr. | 1987 | 1991 |
| Lieutenant General | James H. Johnson Jr. | 1991 | 1993 |
| Lieutenant General | John P. Otjen | 1993 | 1995 |
| Lieutenant General | Guy AJ LaBoa | 1995 | 1997 |
| Lieutenant General | George A. Fisher Jr. | 1997 | 1999 |
| Lieutenant General | John M. Riggs | 1999 | 2001 |
| Lieutenant General | Joseph R. Inge | 2001 | 2004 |
| Lieutenant General | Russel L. Honoré | 2004 | 2008 |
| Lieutenant General | Thomas G. Miller | 2008 | 2011 |
| Lieutenant General | John Michael Bednarek | 2011 | 2013 |
| Major general | Kevin R. Wendel | 2013 (provisional) | |
| Lieutenant General | Michael S. Tucker | 2013 | 2016 |
| Lieutenant General | Stephen M. Twitty | 2016 | 2018 |
| Major general | Erik C. Peterson | 2018 (provisional) | |
| Lieutenant General | Thomas S. James Jr. | 2018 | officiating |
Web links
- Official website of the First Army (English)
- US Army Center for Military History (English)
