15th Cavalry Regiment (original) (raw)

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15th Cavalry Regiment
15th Cavalry Regiment coat of arms
Active 1901–19211927–present
Country USA
Branch Regular Army
Type Regiment
Role Cavalry One Station Unit Training
Size Regiment
Part of 1st Armored Training Brigade
Motto(s) "All for One, One for All"
Commanders
Notablecommanders William H. Hay
Insignia
Regimental distinctive insignia

Military unit

The 15th Cavalry Regiment is a cavalry regiment of the United States Army. It was one of the Expansion Units originally established for the Spanish–American War, but has been a general workhorse unit ever since.

The 15th Cavalry Regiment was constituted on 2 February 1901 in the Regular Army, and organized on 12 February at the Presidio of San Francisco, California. Immediately after its organization, the 15th Cavalry embarked for the Philippines to quell an insurrection in the United States' newly acquired territory. The regiment's next action was part of the Cuban Pacification from 1906 to 1909, followed by duty along the Mexican border and the hunt for revolutionary leader Pancho Villa from December 1917 to March 1918.

When the United States entered World War I, the regiment sailed for France as one of the four mounted regiments on duty with the Allied Expeditionary Force. The fighting had bogged down into trench warfare and the role of horse cavalry was nearly over. The 15th subsequently dismounted and relieved exhausted infantry units in the trenches. It was the tank that finally broke the trench lines to end both the war and signal the twilight of the horse soldier. The 15th served occupation duty after the war, and arrived at the port of New York on 19 June 1919 on the USS Panaman. It was transferred the same day to Camp Mills, New York, where emergency period personnel were discharged from the service.

The 15th Cavalry transferred to Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming, and arrived there on 26 June 1919. The regiment was sent in October 1919 to quell coal miners' strikes in Sheridan, Rock Springs, and Thermopolis, Wyoming. It was inactivated on 18 October 1921 at Fort D. A. Russell. Subsequently, the 15th Cavalry's "active associate" unit that would provide the personnel to reactivate the unit in the event of war was the 13th Cavalry, 1922–25, and the 14th Cavalry, 1925–27. With the abandonment of the "active associate" concept, the 15th Cavalry was allotted to the Seventh Corps Area on 28 February 1927 and organized about June 1927 with Organized Reserve personnel from the 66th Cavalry Division as a "Regular Army Inactive" unit with headquarters at Kansas City, Missouri. The 15th Cavalry typically conducted inactive training period meetings at the 110th Engineer Regiment armory at 3620 Main Street or the Organized Reserve Center building at 20th and Vine Streets in Kansas City, and summer training with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment at Fort Riley, Kansas, from 1930 to 1940. As an alternate form of summer training, the regiment conducted cavalry Citizens Military Training Camps at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. On 1 July 1940, the 15th Cavalry Regiment was redesignated the 15th Cavalry Regiment (Horse and Mechanized), and was given the role of a corps-level reconnaissance regiment.[1]

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the 15th was ordered into active service on 22 March 1942 at Fort Riley, this time as a fully-mechanized unit with armored cars and tanks. After undergoing training at the Desert Training Center in California, the regiment sailed for the European Theater of Operations, arriving in Scotland in March 1944. Here, the 15th was reorganized as the 15th Cavalry Group (Mechanized). The group was composed of a group headquarters and the 15th and 17th Reconnaissance Squadrons. The 15th Cavalry Group landed on Utah Beach on 5 July 1944 as part of Patton's Third Army. The 15th served in four major campaigns in Europe: Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, and Central Europe. The 15th Cavalry Group and its two squadrons fought as part of the Third Army, Ninth Army and was later assigned as a security force for several different divisions. The end of the war found the 15th deep inside Germany, covering over 1,000 miles of enemy held territory since landing on the Continent in July 1944. When the war ended, the 15th Cavalry Group and its two squadrons had taken nearly 7,000 German prisoners and had destroyed 78 guns and 495 enemy vehicles.

Postwar – the Constabulary Era

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Following the war, the 15th was redesignated the 15th Constabulary Regiment, charged initially with occupation duty of the defeated Germany. The 17th Reconnaissance Squadron was deactivated in January 1947, but the 15th Squadron, redesignated as the 15th Constabulary Squadron, continued serving. As the cold war began in earnest, the regiment's duty shifted to patrolling the border between West Germany and East Germany, as well as the border with Czechoslovakia. The Constabulary Force guarded the border until 1952.

From 1952 to 1987, the regiment went through a series of redesignations, inactivations and reactivations. Elements of the regiment served across various Army units in Korea, Germany, and the United States. Troop G served in the Vietnam War from 1971 to 1972, being equipped at that time with the M551 Sheridan Armored Reconnaissance/Airborne Assault Vehicle (AR/AAV).

Reorganization and current status

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In March 1987, the Army overhauled its Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS) to restore some order to the history and lineage of its regiments. One goal of this reform was to keep on active duty those regiments which had earned distinguished records over long years of service. The 15th Cavalry Regiment met this criterion and, in March 1987, was reactivated at Fort Knox, Kentucky, by the activation of its 5th Squadron (Sabers). On 1 May 2018, the 2nd Squadron (Lions) was activated. Both Squadrons, as part of the 194th Armored Brigade, are charged with the mission of training the U.S. Army's enlisted Cavalry Scouts.

15th Cavalry Regiment

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Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 15th Cavalry Group, Mechanized;

1st Squadron became 15th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, Mechanized, attached to 15th Cavalry Group (Mech).

2nd Squadron became 17th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, Mechanized, attached to 15th Cavalry Group (Mech).

HHT, 15th Cavalry Group, Mechanized

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15th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, Mechanized (less Troop E)

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Troop E, 15th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, Mechanized

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17th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, Mechanized (Less Company F)

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Portions of the 17th's movements are dramatized in the book, "Teacher of the Year: The Mystery and Legacy of Edwin Barlow".

Company F, 17th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, Mechanized

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Campaign participation credit

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  1. Mindanao;
  2. Luzon 1902
  1. Streamer without inscription
  1. Normandy;
  2. Northern France;
  3. Rhineland;
  4. Central Europe
  1. Consolidation II (Troop G only).

Commanding officers

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(Inactivated October 1921, reactivated March 1942)

(Redesignated March 1944 as 15th Cavalry Group, Mechanized)

(Redesignated May 1946 as 15th Constabulary Regiment)

(Inactivated December 1948, reactivated November 1950 as 15th Armored Cavalry Group, Mechanized)

(Redesignated September 1953 as 15th Armor Group)

(15th Armor Group Inactivated December 1955, incorporated into the Combat Arms Regimental System 1957, regimental headquarters disbanded.)

  1. ^ Clay, Steven (2010). U.S. Army Order of Battle, 1919-1941, Volume 2. The Arms: Cavalry, Field Artillery, and Coast Artillery, 1919-41. Fort Leavenworth: Combat Studies Institute Press. p. 626.