3rd Armored Division (United States) - The Cold War

The Cold War

The division was reactivated on 15 July 1947 at Fort Knox, Kentucky to act as training formation. In 1955 the 3d Armored Division was reorganized for combat and shipped to Germany the next year. It replaced the 4th Infantry Division under a program called Operation Gyroscope. The 3d Armored Division served in Cold War Germany from May 1956 to July 1992, with the exception of the time spent in Desert Storm.

The 3rd Armored's primary mission during this period was, in the event of war, to defend the Fulda Gap against numerically superior Warsaw Pact forces alongside other NATO elements. In June 1962 USAREUR maxed out its Cold War troop strength; that number was never achieved again. Also in June 1962 the nuclear warheads for the Davy Crocketts arrived in USAREUR (3rd AD combat maneuver battalions were issued Davy Crocketts). In late October 1962 during the Cuban Crisis there was no hotline between Washington and Moscow; Soviet Forces, including those in the Group of Soviet Forces Germany, were placed on the highest alert level. At the peak of 1980s East/West tensions, as many as nineteen Soviet and East German divisions faced off against Spearhead soldiers. To prepare their defenses against an invasion, the division's units frequently conducted field training at Hohenfels, Bavaria and at Wildflecken and Grafenwöhr U.S. Army training areas, conducting exercises of live fire, movement and communications. The division would also frequently take to the German countryside for training maneuvers, including what became an annually staged war game Reforger, which simulated invasion of Western Europe by Warsaw Pact forces.

Throughout the Cold War, the division headquarters company, 503d Adjutant General Co. and 503d M.P. Co. were based on Drake Kaserne, with 143rd Signal Bn. and other support units stationed across the street at Edwards Kaserne in Frankfurt, West Germany. A number of its subunits were based in other Kasernes throughout the German state of Hessen, notably Ayers Kaserne (50° 28' 32.44" N 8° 38' 29.24" E) at Kirch-Goens and Schloss Kaserne at Butzbach (CCA/1st Brigade), Gelnhausen (CCB/2nd Brigade), Ray Barracks at Friedberg (CCC/3rd Brigade) and Fliegerhorst near Hanau (Combat Aviation Brigade/4th Avn Bde). The NCO Academy contained 2 companies: Co.'A' was assigned to the medieval castle at Usingen-Kransburg, while Co. 'B' was located in Butzbach. The division itself comprised an average of 15,000 soldiers, organized into three combat commands (CC's) later renamed brigades (ROAD reorganization in 1963), organizations of comparable size to the World War II combat commands. These brigades were individually manned by at least one battalion each of infantry, armor, and artillery, and various supporting units, notably including medical, engineering, and aviation elements. The division was also assigned the dedicated 533rd Military Intelligence/CEWI (Combat Electronic Warfare and Intelligence) Battalion by 1980, replacing the 503rd MI Company that previously supported the division intelligence staff.

Most of the kasernes were located adjacent to or within German communities, leading to lively trade and interaction between soldiers and German civilians. A few, however, were somewhat remotely located, particularly Ayers Kaserne ("The Rock")(50° 28' 32.44" N 8° 38' 29.24" E), where the 1st Brigade was stationed, outside Kirch-Goens. The most famous soldier in the 3rd Armored Division during the 1950s was Elvis Presley, assigned to Company A, 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 32nd Armor Regiment, Combat Command C at Ray Barracks in Friedberg. After his time in service, Presley made the movie G.I. Blues, in which he portrays a 3rd Armored Division tank crewman with little field duty but with a singing career. Colin Powell also served in this division. He was assigned to the 2d Armored Rifle Battalion, 48th Infantry, Combat Command B, Coleman Kaserne, Gelnhausen, between 1958 & 1960. It started out with his first command assignment, as an Infantry Platoon Leader.

By 1990, Communism in eastern Europe collapsed, the two German states reunited, and the Soviet Army was being withdrawn back to the Soviet Union. With these events, the Cold War came to a peaceful conclusion, freeing U.S. Army units in Europe for other deployments.