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Concept
3rd Armored Division (United States)
Summary
The 3rd Armored Division (also known as "Spearhead", 3rd Armored, and 3AD) was an armored division of the United States Army. Unofficially nicknamed the "Third Herd", the division was first activated in 1941 and was active in the European Theater of World War II. The division was stationed in West Germany for much of the Cold War and also participated in the Persian Gulf War. On 17 January 1992, still in Germany, the division ceased operations. In October 1992, it was formally inactivated as part of a general drawing down of U.S. military forces at the end of the Cold War.
The 3rd Armored Division was organized as a "heavy" armored division, as was its counterpart, the 2nd Armored Division ("Hell on Wheels"). Later on in World War II, higher-numbered U.S. armored divisions were made smaller, with a higher ratio of armored infantry to tanks, based on lessons learned from fighting in North Africa.
As a "heavy" division, the 3rd Armored commanded two armored regiments containing a total of four medium tank battalions and two light tank battalions (18 companies) instead of the usual three tank battalions containing both light and heavy tanks (12 companies). The division commanded 232 medium tanks, compared to the 168 allotted to a standard light armored division, and commanded attached units numbering over 16,000 men in place of the usual 12,000 found in the light armored divisions. The 3rd Armored also commanded three armored infantry battalions.
The division's core units were the 36th Armored Infantry Regiment, the 32nd Armored Regiment, the 33rd Armor Regiment, the 23rd Armored Engineer Battalion, the 83rd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, and the 143rd Armored Signal Company. During World War II, these units were organized into task forces known as combat commands A, B and R (Reserve).
In addition to the core units, a number of other units of various specialties were attached to the division during various operations.
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