History of the 1st Armored Division
- Mar 5
- 9 min read
1st Armored Division History “Old Ironsides”
The history of the 1st Armored Division, nicknamed "Old Ironsides," one of the oldest and most recognizable armor divisions in the United States Army. It was the first tank unit to see combat in World War II. Old Ironsides is still serving America as part of III Corps, stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. This is a short history of the 1st Armored Division.
The triangular shape of the 1st Armored Division’s patch symbolizes power and stability and is the shape of all Armored Division patches created in World War II. The colors of the patch represent the combined arms nature of an armored division: yellow for cavalry, blue for infantry, and red is the color of field artillery. The symbols on the patch represent the unit’s capabilities: the tank tread symbolizes mobility, the canon is firepower, and the lightning bolt is for shock action. The “Old Ironsides” flash across the base of the patch is the unit’s nickname, given during the Second World War.
As part of the mechanization of the U.S. Army and the buildup for WWII, cavalry and reconnaissance units were brought together to form the 1st Armored Division at Fort Knox, Kentucky, on July 15, 1940. Major General Bruce Magruder was the Division's first commander. He is also the man responsible for the Division's famous nickname. In 1941, General George Patton Jr. had just named his 2nd Armored Division "Hell on Wheels." The 1st Armored Division needed a nickname too, so General Magruder held a contest to find a suitable name. Approximately two hundred names were submitted, including "Fire and Brimstone" and "Kentucky Wonders." None of the suggestions appealed to the general. It so happened that General Magruder had just bought a painting of the U.S.S. Constitution during a drive for funds for the preservation of that famous fighting ship, which is nicknamed "Old Ironsides." General Magruder was impressed with the parallel between the development of the tank and the Navy's "Old Ironsides" spirit of daring and durability. He decided the 1st Armored Division should also be named "Old Ironsides."
The 1st Armored Division boarded the Queen Mary in New York Port on May 11, 1942. Five days later the soldiers of the Division landed in Northern Ireland and began training there. On October 29, Old Ironsides moved to England to depart for North Africa.
The Division's first contact with an enemy was during Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa, on November 8, 1942. The Allies did receive unexpected and heavy resistance from Vichy-French units; however, the invasion forces suppressed all resistance in the beachhead area within three days. Old Ironsides then advanced toward Tunisia. The soldiers of the Division learned hard lessons about armored warfare and the harsh conditions of North Africa.
Old Ironsides was assigned to II Corps and, in January 1943, received the mission of defending central Tunisia against an Axis counterattack. In February, the 1st Armored Division met with a superior German armored force at Kasserine Pass. The Division sustained heavy losses in personnel and equipment and was forced to withdraw. Old Ironsides was battered but kept in mind its lessons learned. The Germans outran their supply lines and faced determined Allied resistance. After three more months of hard fighting, the Allies finally claimed victory in North Africa. Old Ironsides was reorganized in French Morocco and then moved to Naples, Italy, on October 28, 1943, to support the Allied effort there.
As part of General Mark Clark's U.S. Fifth Army, the 1st Armored Division took part in the attack on the infamous Winter Line in November of 1943. Old Ironsides then participated in the Battle of Anzio at the end of January 1944 and moved on to participate in the liberation of Rome on June 4, 1944. The 1st Armored Division continued to serve in the Italian Campaign until German forces in Italy surrendered on May 2, 1945. In June of 1945, Old Ironsides was moved to Germany as part of the U.S. Army occupation forces.
In the drawdown of forces after WWII, the 1st Armored Division was deactivated in April 1946. With the success of the Russian-made T-34 tank by the enemy at the outset of the Korean War in 1950, there was a renewed enthusiasm for armored forces in the U.S. Army. As part of the new buildup for the Cold War, Old Ironsides was reactivated on March 7, 1951, at Fort Hood, Texas, and was the first U.S. Army unit to field the new M48 Patton tank.
Although the 1st Armored Division did not participate as a division in the Vietnam War, two of its subordinate units did. Company A, 501st Aviation and 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry served with distinction. Both units earned Presidential Unit Citations, and 1-1 Cavalry received two Valorous Unit Awards and three Vietnamese Crosses of Gallantry. Neither unit was officially detached from the 1st Armored Division. Therefore, veterans of both units are authorized to wear the Old Ironsides as a combat patch. Also, in 1967, three Old Ironsides infantry battalions were formed into the 198th Infantry Brigade and deployed to Vietnam. Two of those battalions, 1-6th Infantry and 1-52nd Infantry, were returned to the 1st Armored Division.
As Vietnam wound down, the United States turned its attention back to the Cold War in Europe. The 1st Armored Division was moved to Germany in 1971, home based in the West German city of Ansbach. Part of VII Corps, the Division remained in Germany for the next twenty years as part of the American forces committed to a NATO defense of Europe.
In November of 1990, Old Ironsides was alerted for deployment to the Middle East in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. In less than two months, the Division moved 17,400 soldiers and 7.050 pieces of equipment by rail, sea, and air to Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Desert Shield. On February 24, 1991, the 1st Armored Division crossed into Iraq to begin Operation Desert Storm as the leading unit in the VII Corps' main flanking attack. Its mission was to destroy the elite Iraqi Republican Guard Divisions. In an 89-hour blitz across the desert, Old Ironsides traveled through 250 kilometers of enemy territory. They destroyed 768 tanks, armored personnel carriers, and artillery pieces. The 1st Armored Division also captured 1,064 prisoners of war. Old Ironsides returned to Ansbach, Germany on May 8, 1991. Their accomplishment was celebrated by participation in victory parades in both Washington, D.C., and New York City.
The 1st Armored Division was called to serve once again, this time in the Balkans. Old Ironsides was ordered to Bosnia-Herzegovina as part of Operation Joint Endeavor on December 14, 1995. Task Force Eagle assumed control of its area of responsibility on December 20th. After the historic bridging of the Sava River on December 31, the Old Ironsides Division and its supporting elements from the U.S. V Corps were joined by forces from twelve other nations. A brigade of Russians was part of this force. American and Russian soldiers working together to keep the peace was a true sign that the Cold War was over. In this deployment, Task Force Eagle enforced the ceasefire and the zone of separation between the former warring factions. The 1st Armored Division was relieved by the 1st Infantry Division and returned to Germany in November of 1996.
In 1999, Old Ironsides was deployed again. This time 1st Armored Division was supporting Operations Allied Force and Joint Guardian. Operation Allied Force took Old Ironsides soldiers to Albania in response to the ethnic cleansing and fighting there. Operation Joint Guardian was to uphold the United Nations Security Council resolution to bring peace back to the Kosovo region.
The 1st Armored Division received deployment orders to the U.S. Central Command on March 4, 2003. By April 15th, Old Ironsides was moving out to participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom. During their 15-month deployment, Task Force 1st Armored Division was the largest division-based task force in U.S. Army history. Units serving with the Task Force included brigade-sized elements from the 82nd Airborne Division, the 3rd Infantry Division, the 1st Cavalry Division, the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, the 124th Infantry Battalion, the 18th and 89th Military Police Brigades, and the 168th MP Battalion. At its height, more than 39,000 soldiers were part of Task Force 1st Armored Division. The Division took responsibility for Baghdad in April of 2003. Old Ironsides was scheduled to return to Germany in April of 2004, but their tour was extended by three months to defeat a Shia militia led by Moqtada Al Sadr. Since then, units of the 1st Armored Division have deployed multiple times since in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation New Dawn (the final phase of the U.S. military mission in Iraq), and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
In 2005, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission decided that the 1st Armored Division would relocate from its bases in Germany to Fort Bliss, Texas. The division officially marked its arrival at Fort Bliss by uncasing its colors on May 13, 2011.
In June 2017, the Headquarters of the 1st Armored Division and its Division Artillery Headquarters were deployed to support Operation Inherent Resolve, the campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The division headquarters took over command of the Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command and, working with coalition and Iraqi partners, made significant progress in blocking ISIS objectives. Over their nine-month deployment, the Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command—under the leadership of the 1st Armored Division—defeated insurgent attacks, regained thousands of square kilometers of territory, and dealt a major blow to the ISIS terrorist network in Iraq. These efforts helped pave the way for Iraq’s government to declare the country liberated from ISIS in December 2017. The 1st Armored Division Headquarters and Division Artillery Headquarters returned to Fort Bliss in March 2018.
Today, Old Ironsides remains home-based at Fort Bliss, located in El Paso, Texas. The Division can field approximately 17,000 soldiers with a lethal mix of combat capabilities, which include tanks, artillery, attack helicopters, and Bradley Fighting Vehicles. America’s Tank Division routinely conducts operations in support of U.S. military commands all over the world and is currently supporting missions in 20 countries on five continents. The 1st Armored Division carries with it the traditions and military values for which Old Ironsides has been known for over eighty-five years. Both active soldiers and veterans are proud to wear the 1st Armored Division patch.
Books by Jim Travis Broumley
The Boldest Plan is the Best
In the fall of 1941, as the U.S. Army scrambled to prepare for the war they knew was coming, a new kind of soldier was training with a new way of getting to the battlefield – the paratrooper. The first to deploy to England and the first to jump into combat, while their more celebrated airborne brothers were still training in the States. This is the story of the 509th PIB
The Bridge at El Djem
Tunisia, 1942
Paratroopers Lieutenant Jack Bell and lead scout Corporal Roland “Rube” Roubideaux might be the only survivors out of their platoon after a failed mission to blow up a bridge behind enemy lines. Now they're going back to finish the job, tagging along with a detachment of British SAS desert commandos.
The Avellino Jump
Avellino Province, Italy, 1943 Paratroopers Lt Jack Bell and Sgt Rube Roubideaux, jumped with their battalion behind German lines in Italy to take pressure off the Allies’ tenuous hold on the Salerno beachhead. But they are given an additional mission by Col Addington, the mysterious OSS officer. They need to complete their battalion’s mission while also getting an Italian scientist safely to American lines. But first they need to outwit a fanatic Nazi officer and an Italian playing both sides.
The War in Venafro
Naples, Italy 1943 Lt Jack Bell is reunited with his cousin Nadia. The only problem: she is now the head of an organized crime family, and threatens to pull Jack and his friend Captain “Doc” Allen into her world to stop an American deserter from taking over. Meanwhile, friction grows between the veteran paratroopers and some of the new men, will everyone be able to work together to fight the Germans?
Anzio
Anzio Italy, 1944 - 1LT Jack Bell and his fellow paratroopers prepare to make a beach landing in Italy. The problem is that the civilians in Naples know where they’re going before they do. Along with everything else, Jack is put in the position of escorting OSS officer Boyd Carter on a raid of a German held blockhouse to “capture” an old friend. Now Carter is wounded and Jack is a prisoner. Can Jack’s friends and their green platoon leader mount an unauthorized rescue?
Operation Dragoon
Cpt Jack Bell and the rest of the 509th PIB jumped into Southern France as part of Operation Dragoon. Before the battalion can move out to attack the Germans in Le Muy, Maj Boyd Carter shows up with a mission for Jack. Rescue an Air Corps major, nine miles behind the lines and hidden by a group of French Resistance fighters. The Geronimos are outnumbered, but "Rube" Roubideaux has a plan to even the odds.
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