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1st Infantry Division
Big Red One
(Page 1 - Division History / Headquarters & Division Troops)
Looking for more information from military/civilian personnel assigned to or associated with the U.S. Army in Germany from 1945 to 1989. If you have any stories or thoughts on the subject, please contact me.

Cold War History

Operation GYROSCOPE

1st Inf Div (FWD)



DIVISION TROOPS

Related Links



Division History
1945 - 1955
Special Anniversary editions of The American Traveler
Operation GYROSCOPE
1955
(Source: Email from Bennett Dickson, Army dependent, 1st Infantry Div)

1st Inf Div returns to US, 1955
  
I came across your pictures of the return of the Big Red One in July, 1955.  The ship was the USNS Upshur and I was standing somewhere on the deck, near the band. I was eight years old at the time.  My father had commanded the 3d Battalion, 16th Infantry, but was appointed the Division G4 and put in charge of the Advance Party for our trip to Ft. Riley.  Many other ships were to follow, but we were the first. This took place in Bayonne, I think.

My Aunt and Uncle lived in New Jersey, so we went to their house while they unloaded our car which was in the hold and we drove to Kansas.  The troops went by train.  That night, the band and my dad appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in New York City.  It was the first time that I had seen a television.
I later served a total of 9 1/2 years in Germany in the 3d Armored Division and 8th Infantry Division in Gelnhausen, Hanau, Mainz, and Bad Kreuznach from 1971-75 and 1981-86. We left Germany in 1986 and went to Ft. Riley (where else?) where I commanded the 5th Battalion, 16th Infantry.

On another page, you have the 16th Infantry Regiment in Furth from 1951-55.  They were at Ledward Barracks, Schweinfurt in 1954-55.

Great web site, glad so see someone doing the labor of love to document all of this, it's almost all gone now.

A historical look at the Big Red One, DUTY FIRST, Summer 2006
 
1st Infantry Division Troops
 

Headquarters, 1st Infantry Division

701st Ordnance Maintenance Battalion

63rd Tank Bn

1st Engineer (Cbt) Bn

1st Medical Bn

122nd Transportation Truk Bn

. . . .
HQ 1st Infantry Division
 

Emery Barracks, Würzburg, home of HQ 1st Infantry Division, c. 1953 (Wilmer Braunel)
 
(Source: Email from Anne (Tubinis) Audette, daughter of a former member of the 1st Inf Div, 1951-53)
Emery Barracks, early 1950s
 
Headquarters troops of the 1st Infantry Division were stationed at Emery Barracks in the 1951-53 timeframe.
1952

Location of 1st Infantry Division units and stations, 1952 (Walter Elkins)
Click on the graphic to view a higher res version of the map
If you have additional information/corrections, contact the webmaster - see email link at top of page
 
1954

Location of 1st Infantry Division unit, 1954 (Webmaster's collection)
(Click on image to view higher resolution version of map)
 

Hq building, 1st Infantry Division, Emery Barracks, 1954 (Webmaster's collection)
 
 
1955
(Source: various STARS & STRIPES issues)
Airfields under 1st Infantry Division control (1955) :
  Division airfield Emery Barracks airstrip (Würzburg)
  16th Infantry Regiment (Conn Barracks, Schweinfurt)
  18th Infantry Regiment Nilkheim airstrip (Aschaffenburg)
  26th Infantry Regiment Bamberg airstrip
  Division Artillery Ferris Barracks airstrip (Erlangen)
    (incomplete)  
 
122nd Transportation Truck Battlion
 
1948
(Source: STARS & STRIPES, Dec 18, 1948)
The 122nd Transportation Battalion with six transportation truck companies is assigned to the 1st Inf Div for logistical support of the division's infantry troops.

The battalion headquarters is located at South Kaserne (later known as Merrell Kaserne). Attached units are the 24th, 57th, 58th, 63rd, 544th and 590th Truck Companies.

In a combat situation, two truck companies would be attached to each of the three infantry regiments in the 1st Division to transport them.
(Source: Email from Everette Coppock)

122nd TC Trk Bn patch
worn during the 1948 mission		   The first challenge to the US Army during the Cold War came when the Soviet Union closed off freight traffic of its former Allies into Berlin hoping that they would turn their portion of the capitol over.

The Russians imposed a blockade of Berlin on 21 June 1948.

The US Army and Air Force responded by delivering supplies to Berlin through the air corridor. Operation Vittles had its airborne birth on 26 June 1948.

Rhein-Main and Wiesbaden became the Airports of Embarkation (APOE) with TC Airhead Tempelhof in Berlin the Airport of Debarkation (APOD).

The 2nd Traffic Control Group opened another APOE at Wiesbaden Air Base on 29 June 1948.

The 122nd Truck Battalion consisted of the 24th, 58th, 59th, 63rd, 544th, 590th Transportation Companies and would add the 76th Transportation Company to the Berlin line haul in August 1948.
 
1951
 

122nd Trans Trk Bn, 1951 (The American Traveler)
 
ORGANIZATION (1951):

UNIT DESIGNATION

DUTY STATION COMMENTS
HHD, 122nd Trans Trk Bn Merrell Bks, Nürnberg  
24th Trans Trk Co Nürnberg  
58th Trans Trk Co Bamberg  
59th Trans Trk Co Nürnberg  
63rd Trans Trk Co Nürnberg  
544th Trans Trk Co Hammelburg  
590th Trans Trk Co Hammelburg  
701st Ordnance Maintenance Battalion
 
1952
(Source: STARS & STRIPES, Nov 9, 1952)
The 701st Ord Co is located at Würzburg and commanded by Maj Homer D. Smith, Jr.

The company's mission is to issue and maintain all types of ordnance equipment, including vehicles, tanks, artillery, small arms and fire control instruments.

Supplying the division's needs for spare parts is the responsibility of the Supply Platoon. In order to carry out its supply function in the field, the platoon takes with it 20 trucks and trailers that it uses as mobile warehouses. Each truck houses certain spare parts so when a requisition is made to the platoon, it can find the part quickly.

The company's two maintenance platoons only handle third echelon maintenance.

For a 1st Inf Div unit to have a vehicle repaired, it must send the damaged vehicle to the 701st and submit a job order to the 701st shop office. The requisition form must state as nearly as possible the amount of work involved to repair the vehicle.

The next step is a complete technical inspection on the vehicle to determine if the 701st has the parts and facilities available for the repairs. If the 701st does not have the parts, the vehicle will be held by the company while the supply platoon requisiitons the parts. If the parts are available or once the requisitioned parts are received, the vehicle is moved into the automotive shop where technical workers take over.

After the repair work is completed, the vehicle is sent to the Service and Recovery section, if necessary. This is were carpenters, painters, and battery repairmen do their job.

After the vehicle is back in serviceable condition, it is picked up by the user unit.
 
 
 
 
1st Signal Company
 
1951
(Source: 34th Anniversary Issue of the AMERICAN TRAVELER, August 1951)
1st Signal Company, composed of 13 officers and 354 enlisted personnel, is the oldest signal unit in the United States Army, having celebrated its 53rd anniversary July 27, 1951.

Composed as it is entirely of specialists, the Signal Company is looked to for trained signal personnel for all units of the 1st Division. Training Courses in radio operation, field wire construction, message center and teletype operations are constantly conducted.

Lt Col M.C. Mautz, Division Signal Officer, directly supervises all 1st Division signal operations, and advises the commander on all communications matters. The Signal Company is commanded by Captain Thomas P. Cunninham.

A partial breakdown of the company's four platoons and 10 operating sections will give some idea of the complexity of operations in which the specialists of the unit are engaged. Some of the more distinct divisions are: the headquarters platoon, message center platoon, Division signal supply office, construction platoon, telephone and teletype section, radio relay, radio operations, and motor sections.

The initial means of communications in the infantry division is continuous wave radio, followed by radio link carrier and very high frequency equipment system which remains in operation until wire can be installed.
1952
(Source: Email from Paul Durant)
I was shipped to Vaihingen, Germany assigned to an AGL (air-ground liaison) unit. AGLs were new. Shortly after arriving (Jan 2, 1952), a training alert required us to bivouac in the Alps. I had not yet been assigned winter gear and I nearly froze my GI ass off hanging out in the cab of a deuce and a half. A couple month later, the AGL units were abandoned because of bad experiences in Korea.

I was transferred to the 1st Signal Company of the 1st (Inf Div) then located in Darmstadt and practiced my MOS, a cryptographer. A couple months later I was TA'd to a signal school where I learned to be a teletype repairman. Prior to this school, I had displayed no mechanical ability. I was also supposed to assum crypto maintenance duties. I can't remember where the school was but it was not at Ansbach. I can remember that one of the instructors on fundamentals of electricty was a German National who spoke very good "American" and was Physic teacher in a prior life.

I visited regimental HQs to repair their fancy new teletype machines. I was therefore given access to a jeep. The Regiments used their own permanent assigned personnel for signal support. Had not contact with DivArty except that they tried to recruit me to transfer and play on their football team. The prior year I was on SMU's freshman team.

When in the field for training and war games I was assigned beer duties. That is, evening refreshments for a small group of Sig Sup specialists. By this time, we had moved to the Hindenburg Barracks in Wurzburg which still showed the left over damages from bombings.

I remained there until rotation back to the US and subsequent discharge in April, 1954.
 

1st Signal Company Honor Guard at Hindenburg Kaserne, 1953
 
(Source: 36th Anniversary Issue of the AMERICAN TRAVELER, August 1953)
1st Signal Company moved from Darmstadt to Hindenburg Kaserne, Würzburg, in July 1952.
 
1954
(Source: 37th Anniversary Issue of the AMERICAN TRAVELER, May 1954)
The 1st Signal Company provides communications for the 1st Division. It sounds simple. You string a wire -- finis. It isn't simple. It is tough work, back-breaking work, long work.

The company has to be there "before" and it's got to clean-up "after." It has to contend with forests and rivers and mud and wire-breaks and the enemy.

Commanded by Capt George W. Ghent, the 1st Signal Co does all of these things and it does them well. Its work is sectionalized so that experts in different fields can devote primary concentration to the job making use of their particular skills.

The Division signal officer's section issues all signal operation instructions and standing signal instructions for the Division. It also controls all means of communications with the Division, particpates in field exercises, and represents the commanding general in matters pertaining to communications with the Division.

The administration section handles the supply room, the mess section and the training section.

The motor pool section insures that all vehicles within Signal Company are properly maintained at all times.

The Division signal supply section is divided into three sub-sections:
1. repair and maintenance
2. photographic
3. signal supply
 

Hindenburg Kaserne, Würzburg (Infomation = early 1950s; Photo courtesy Tom Crowder)
 

USAREUR Signal School, Barton Barracks, Ansbach (John Veit)
 
(Source: Email from John Veit)
I was in the 1st Signal Company at Hindenburg Kaserne in Wuerzburg. I was a radio operator (hi-speed). We usually operated radio teletypes between Division and Corps, and used dits and dahs for Division to Regiment and lower level units.

In the USAREUR Signal School photo (above), there looks to be a radio van of the type we used, behind and to the left of the helicopter. Note the stairs up to the door and the antenna mounted. Right inside, on the right, was a BC 610 transmitter as I recall, and other receivers and one or two teletype machines. Our deuce and a half had a ring mount at the front for a 50 caliber machine gun that we used to shoot now and then.

The photo of Hindenburg Kaserne (above) is how I remember it. The whole area looks bigger than I remember.

EM Club / Mess Hall -- The large building on the left in the photo was the EM club and mess hall. The EM club was on the upper floor of the building so marked. The mess hall was on the lower floor and staffed by Germans, so we did not have to pull KP duty.
 
 
The low building to the right was obviously repaired some in that the original roof was removed and replaced. During my time there that building was just one story high, the middle 3 floors were bombed out and the roof was resting on what was left of the first floor.

To the right of it was the Company Headquarters (marked as 1st Sig Co Hq). The first floor of the building housed the admin offices of the Company. The message center / crypto guys and company admin staff billeted on the upper floors. There were also some rooms where we practiced sending and receiving code. In the basement was a tailor shop / laundry. One of the guys was missing an arm, which he said he lost in the war as a bomber crew member.

To the right of Company Hqs building were "our" quarters (1st Sig Co Billets). This was another 4 story building which also housed most of the radio ops. The barrack walls were about a foot and a half thick and composed of reinforced concrete. The floors were nice wood floors and we had steam heat. Very nice quarters. There was an armory in the basement of our barracks from which we got guns and ammo in the case of an test/alert that the Russians were coming. Then we headed out of town to prearranged areas.

The next barracks was for the quartermaster company drivers (1st QM Company). And their warehouse is also shown. The warehouse was the long building on the other side of the gym building which I don't recall we used as a gym. It could have been a warehouse as well at that time. As to the warehouse, one night on guard duty, I found the doors at either end of the warehouse were unlocked. I had my partner call for the officer of the guard while I checked out the building which was a bit tenuous. We carried carbines and ammo at the time. I put a round in the chamber as the building was near to the fence, and the Germans also knew it was a warehouse, so having an exit ready (the second open door)would make sense for burglars to do that. - No burglars.
 
John Veit as a student at the NCO Academy at Munich
   Note that the scaled drawing (of Hindenburg Kaserne on the Würzburg Page) shows the barracks fronting on the street. Some of our guys traded cigarettes for 20 marks with the locals out the window on the street. It wasn't legal, but I think we paid about $1.20 a carton at that time, and 20 marks were worth $5.00, so a mini black market was born.

Don't recall what the buildings across the street from the barracks were used for.

We exited to the street on which the barracks fronted, and turned left to walk to town and gasthauses on the way. For a mile or so all the building on one side of the street were gone from the first floor window sills up. They had been blown away. And on the other side of the street, there were just the shells of buildings, the front sides having been blown away. At least that's how I remember it. Too bad I was not a camera buff. Looked just like the black and white films that showed the WWII ruins of some cities.
Wurzburg was specifically targeted for a saturation raid, and several thousand people were killed in one raid. More info on that is on Wiki.

Also, the long narrow building on the left of the scaled drawing were used to house the QM CO trucks. And the long row of buildings on the north of the drawing were used to house some vehicles and as I recall they had narrow pits in them that we drove our vehicles over for servicing.

We used to use gasoline to clean the oil off of the floor of the pits as needed. Stupid and very dangerous, but "they" wanted the floors clean, so you did what you did. At least they had no smoking signs (nicht rauchen) :-).

Related Links:
Society of the First Infantry Division - A wonderful site hosted by the official organization of veteran's who have served in the 1st Infantry Division (The Big Red One) of the U.S. Army.
16th Infantry Regiment Association - The website has a great deal of historical information on the regiment, including a fair amount on the 1945-55 period when the regiment had elements in Germany, Austria, and Berlin.
26th Infantry Regiment Association - A great site dedicated to the "Blue Spaders" vets