The 170th Infantry Brigade was an
infantry
Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...
formation of the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
. From 2009 to 2012, as part of its third period of existence, it was based at Baumholder in the
Federal Republic of Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...
.
World War I
The 170th Infantry Brigade was first activated 25 August 1917 at
Camp Custer
Fort Custer Training Center, often known simply as Fort Custer, is a federally owned and state-operated Michigan Army National Guard training facility, but is also used by other branches of the armed forces and armed forces from Illinois, Indiana ...
, Michigan. Commanded initially by
Julius Penn
Julius A. Penn (February 19, 1865 - May 13, 1934) was a career officer in the United States Army. He attained the rank of brigadier general during World War I, and commanded 170th Infantry Brigade, 85th Division and 76th Infantry Brigade, 3 ...
, it was one of two brigades of the
85th Infantry Division,
National Army.
*
![85th Infantry Division DUI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/85th_Infantry_Division_DUI.jpg)
Headquarters, 170th Brigade
**
339th Infantry Regiment
**
340th Infantry Regiment
**
![85th Infantry Division DUI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/85th_Infantry_Division_DUI.jpg)
330th Machine Gun Battalion
After a year of training the division left the U.S. for England. When the
American Expeditionary Force North Russia
The American Expeditionary Force, North Russia (AEF in North Russia) (also known as the Polar Bear Expedition) was a contingent of about 5,000 United States Army troops that landed in Arkhangelsk, Russia as part of the Allied intervention in th ...
was formed to be sent to
Arkhangelsk, Russia
Arkhangelsk (, ; rus, Арха́нгельск, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲsk), also known in English as Archangel and Archangelsk, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near i ...
, the 339th Infantry Regiment provided the infantry component, with support units also taken from the 85th Division sent along as well. While there, the 339th saw combat against the Bolsheviks. The 340th Infantry Regiment and the remainder of the Brigade was stationed in Lorraine, on the Western Front in France where the 85th served as a depot division and did not participate in any combat operations.
World War Two
The brigade, along with its parent unit the 85th Infantry Division, was reestablished as part of the
Organized Reserves
The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces.
Since July 202 ...
in 1921. However, the 85th Infantry Division was reactivated on 15 May 1942, it was as a
triangular division A triangular division is a designation given to the way military divisions are organized. In a triangular organization, the division's main body is composed of three regimental maneuver elements. These regiments may be controlled by a brigade head ...
with direct control of the 337th, 338th, and 339th Infantry Regiments. Thus the brigade was converted to serve as the 85th Reconnaissance Troop and served as the eyes and ears of the 85th Infantry Division throughout World War Two.
Interwar to 1970
With the reestablishment of brigades in the TOE of divisions in the 1960s following the short-lived experiment with
pentomic
Pentomic (cf. ''Greek pent(e)-'' +''-tome'' "of five parts") was a structure for infantry and airborne divisions adopted by the US Army between 1957 and 1963, in response to the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons, on future battlefields. ...
organization, the
2nd Brigade,
24th Infantry Division was in 1963 assigned the heritage of the 170th Infantry Brigade. The 24th Division was inactivated in 1970, then reactivated from 1975 to 1996. When the 24th was reactivated again in 1999 it was as a headquarters unit only with separate National Guard brigades attached and no organic brigades of its own. It was inactivated again on 1 August 2006.
From 2009-2012
The 170th Infantry Brigade of the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
was reestablished 15 July 2009 at U.S. Army Garrison
Baumholder
Baumholder () is a town in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, in the Westrich, an historic region that encompasses areas in both Germany and France. The town of Baumholder is the administrative seat of the like-named ''Verb ...
in Germany as part of the
Grow the Army
Grow the Army was a transformation and restationing initiative of the United States Army announced in 2007. The initiative was designed to grow the U.S. Army's force by almost 75,000 soldiers, while realigning a large portion of the force in Europe ...
Plan. The 170th Infantry Brigade was formed by reflagging the 2nd Brigade,
1st Armored Division. The soldiers and equipment will remain in place but the 2d Brigade flag will transfer to
Ft. Bliss
Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Named in honor of LTC William Bliss (1815–1853), a mathematics professor who was the son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor, Ft. Bliss h ...
, Texas, joining other elements of the 1st Armored Division. The 170th Infantry Brigade is organized as an enlarged hybrid of the
Army XXI Heavy Division Infantry Brigade and modular brigade designs, as it incorporates both organic artillery and engineer battalions together with three infantry and armor units.
Afghanistan
In late 2010 part of the unit deployed to Northern Afghanistan (RC-N)to take part in a NATO training mission in conjunction with the ANA and ANP.
In early 2011, the 170th IBCT deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom 11–12 to
Regional Command North
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
. During the brigade's deployment, it partnered with the 303rd Afghan Uniformed Police and the Afghan Border Police's 5th Zone. Key highlights of the deployment include the handover of security responsibilities for Mazar E Sharif from the International Security Assistance Force to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan by the Germans. The brigade also deployed two of its battalions for separate missions in support of other regional commands. The 3d Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment deployed in November 2010 to Regional Command Capital where it initially assumed part of the NTMA training mission in and around Kabul. It later transitioned to a security force mission across Afghanistan, ensuring various NTMA elements and VIPs were able to accomplish their tasks in a secure environment. The brigade's 4th Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment deployed to Regional Command South where it operated under Combined Team Uruzgan, partnered with the Australian Army. The brigade is redeployed back to Baumholder, Germany in early 2012. A total of eight brigade soldiers died during the deployment.
The 170th Infantry Brigade included the following subordinate units in 2011:
* Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 170th Infantry Brigade
*
![5thcav](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/5thcav.png)
Troop D,
5th Cavalry Regiment
The 5th Cavalry Regiment ("Black Knights") is a historical unit of the United States Army that began its service on August 3, 1861, when an act of Congress enacted "that the two regiments of dragoons, the regiment of mounted riflemen, and the t ...
*
![70_Arm_Rgt_DUI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/70_Arm_Rgt_DUI.png)
4th Battalion,
70th Armor Regiment
The 70th Armor Regiment is an armored (tank) unit of the United States Army. It was constituted as the 70th Tank Battalion in July 1940, an independent tank battalion intended to provide close support to infantry units. In this role, it saw acti ...
*
![18 Infantry Regiment DUI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/18_Infantry_Regiment_DUI.png)
2nd Battalion,
18th Infantry Regiment
*
![4th Infantry Regiment DUI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/4th_Infantry_Regiment_DUI.svg)
3rd Battalion,
4th Infantry Regiment
*
![84 FA Rgt DUI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/84_FA_Rgt_DUI.svg)
1st Battalion,
84th Field Artillery Regiment
The 84th Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army.
History
Pershing
3rd Battalion, 84th Field Artillery Regiment
The 3rd Missile Battalion, 84th Artillery Regiment was formed at Fort Sill in 1963 and d ...
*
40th Engineer Battalion (in addition to engineer companies, also controls the below units)
** 589th
Signal
In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...
Company
**
502nd Military Intelligence Company
** 2nd Platoon,
501st Military Police Company
** 23d Military Police Platoon
*
24th Brigade Support Battalion
In February 2012, Military.com announced that the brigade would be inactivated by the summer of 2012. Over the course of the year, 4,000 of the brigade's 4,500 soldiers were reassigned. On 9 October 2012, the 170th Infantry Brigade was inactivated in Germany, with the remaining 500 soldiers present for the event.
References
{{Reflist
External links
* Brigade Website https://web.archive.org/web/20101003065725/http://www.170infantry.army.mil/
*Mark St.Clair, and John Vandiver
Name changes set for 2 Germany-based units Stars and Stripes, Friday, 7 March 2008
''Stars and Stripes'' "1st AD brigade gets new colors"
170
United States military in Germany
Military units and formations established in 1917
Military units and formations disestablished in 2012