The 313th Military Intelligence Battalion was an

active duty Active duty, in contrast to reserve duty, is a full-time occupation as part of a military force. In the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations, the equivalent term is active service. India The Indian Armed Forces are considered to be one ...

Airborne Airborne or Airborn may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Airborne'' (1962 film), a 1962 American film directed by James Landis * ''Airborne'' (1993 film), a comedy–drama film * ''Airborne'' (1998 film), an action film sta ...

Military Intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

Battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

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 ...

Unit history

Background

Before World War II, the

United States Intelligence Community United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

was fragmented and

ad hoc Ad hoc is a Latin phrase meaning literally 'to this'. In English, it typically signifies a solution for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a generalized solution adaptable to collateral instances. (Compare with ''a priori''.) Com ...

, comprising numerous government and military entities who were reluctant to share information with each other. President Roosevelt directed the Joint Board to form the

Office of the Coordinator of Information The Office of the Coordinator of Information was an intelligence and propaganda agency of the United States Government, founded on July 11, 1941, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, prior to U.S. involvement in the Second World War. It was intend ...

(COI) in mid-1941''The Office of Strategic Services: America's First Intelligence Agency''.
15 March 2007. Retrieved fro
Central Intelligence Agency
on 12 August 2020 and the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

later that year prompted the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * Dep ...

to expand the Army's existing entities into the

Military Intelligence Service The Military Intelligence Service ( ja, アメリカ陸軍情報部, ''America Rikugun Jōhōbu'') was a World War II U.S. military unit consisting of two branches, the Japanese American unit (described here) and the German-Austrian unit based ...

, the

Counterintelligence Corps The Counter Intelligence Corps (Army CIC) was a World War II and early Cold War intelligence agency within the United States Army consisting of highly trained special agents. Its role was taken over by the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps in 1961 and ...

, and the Signal Security Agency.Benson, Robert L
''A History of U.S. Communications Intelligence during World War II: Policy and Administration''.
Fort Meade, MD. National Security Agency Center for Cryptologic History. 1997. The Joint board also formed

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...

from elements of the COI as America entered

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. During the first decades of the Cold War, Army intelligence departments maintained compartmentalization by

discipline Discipline refers to rule following behavior, to regulate, order, control and authority. It may also refer to punishment. Discipline is used to create habits, routines, and automatic mechanisms such as blind obedience. It may be inflicted on ot ...

for security purposes. Their missions and assignments were classified, organizations utilized

deception Deception or falsehood is an act or statement that misleads, hides the truth, or promotes a belief, concept, or idea that is not true. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda and sleight o ...

, while personnel operated in and out of

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

to protect their missions first and themselves second. Seemingly divergent organizations like the

Army Security Agency The United States Army Security Agency (ASA) was the United States Army's signals intelligence branch from 1945 to 1976. The Latin motto of the Army Security Agency was ''Semper Vigiles'' (Vigilant Always), which echoes the declaration, often ...

, the Army Intelligence Agency, and numerous intelligence production units would eventually merge forming the

Intelligence and Security Command The United States Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) is a direct reporting unit that conducts intelligence, security, and information operations for United States Army commanders, partners in the Intelligence Community, and nationa ...

. During the decades leading up to the formation of the modern

Military Intelligence Corps The Military Intelligence Corps is the intelligence branch of the United States Army. The primary mission of military intelligence in the United States Army is to provide timely, relevant, accurate, and synchronized intelligence and electronic ...

, these agencies and their personnel were laying the groundwork for what would become ''"The Army's Most Decorated MI Battalion."''

World War II

215th Signal Depot Company

The lineage of the 313th Military Intelligence Battalion is traced to the 215th Signal Depot Company, which was activated on 25 September 1942 at Camp Livingston, Louisiana.Lineage and Honors Information for the 313th Military Intelligence Battalion.
29 September 1999. Retrieved from

US Army Center of Military History The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Arm ...

on 11 August 2020. The 215th, composed of approximately 190 personnel, arrived in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, England in October 1943 and moved

en masse Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern Engli ...

by train to

Taunton, Somerset Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by th ...

. From there, the unit

detached A stand-alone house (also called a single-detached dwelling, detached residence or detached house) is a free-standing residential building. It is sometimes referred to as a single-family home, as opposed to a multi-family residential dwelli ...

to perform various support activities, mostly repairing, maintaining, and issuing communications equipment to field units marshaled there.Bissey, Roland L., et al
''History of the 215th Signal Depot Company''.
1943-1945. Retrieved fro
Ibiblio Digital Archive
on 13 August 2020. In April 1944, the 215th was attached to First Army and moved to

Hindon, Wiltshire Hindon is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about west of Salisbury and south of Warminster. It is in the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Hindon was a ma ...

in southern England anticipating the invasion of mainland Europe. The unit planned and made laborious efforts to prepare for

amphibious operations Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducted ...

before sending three detachments to the southwestern English port towns of

Paignton Paignton ( ) is a seaside town on the coast of Tor Bay in Devon, England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the borough of Torbay which was created in 1998. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the English Riviera. Paignt ...

, Pencalenick, and

Swanage Swanage () is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately south of Poole and east of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the civil ...

in mid-May.

= ''Normandy''

= :These detachments participated in the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

with the advance element

landing Landing is the last part of a flight, where a flying animal, aircraft, or spacecraft returns to the ground. When the flying object returns to water, the process is called alighting, although it is commonly called "landing", "touchdown" or ...

Utah Beach Utah, commonly known as Utah Beach, was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), during World War II. The westernmost of the five code-named la ...

at 1030 hours on 6 June. 215th personnel were under sporadic fire from German artillery, aircraft, and even occasional sniper's bullet well into that first night as front-line units moved inland. One detachment, which landed at approximately 2200 hours, even captured two German

prisoners A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. ...

. :While awaiting deliveries of communications equipment to perform their assigned mission, detachments assisted other units in establishing

communications networks A telecommunications network is a group of nodes interconnected by telecommunications links that are used to exchange messages between the nodes. The links may use a variety of technologies based on the methodologies of circuit switching, messag ...

along the

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

. Another detachment of the 215th salvaged a radar set from a sunken

landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Pr ...

; drying, repairing, then reissuing it as an operational set. These radars were instrumental with ensuring air defense units were ready for enemy aircraft approaching the beach, protecting follow-on forces as they continued landing.Thompson, George R. and Harris, Dixie R
''The Signal Corps: The Outcome (Mid-1943 through 1945)''.
Washington, DC. US Army Center of Military History. 1991. :The third detachment landed on D+1, helping to establish a

depot Depot ( or ) may refer to: Places * Depot, Poland, a village * Depot Island, Kemp Land, Antarctica * Depot Island, Victoria Land, Antarctica * Depot Island Formation, Greenland Brands and enterprises * Maxwell Street Depot, a restaurant in ...

near Sainte-Marie-du-Mont on the road to

Cherbourg Naval Base Cherbourg Naval Base is a naval base in Cherbourg Harbour, Cherbourg, Manche department, Normandy. The town has been a base of the French Navy since the opening of the military port in 1813. History Early works Cherbourg had been a stronghold si ...

from the Normandy beaches in support of

VII Corps 7th Corps, Seventh Corps, or VII Corps may refer to: * VII Corps (Grande Armée), a corps of the Imperial French army during the Napoleonic Wars * VII Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Army prior to and during World War I * VII ...

units. Because of the proximity to

Sainte-Mère-Église Sainte-Mère-Église () is a commune in the northwestern French department of Manche, in Normandy. On 1 January 2016, the former communes of Beuzeville-au-Plain, Chef-du-Pont, Écoquenéauville and Foucarville were merged into Sainte-Mère-Ég ...

and

Carentan Carentan () is a small rural town near the north-eastern base of the French Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy in north-western France, with a population of about 6,000. It is a former commune in the Manche department. On 1 January 2016, it was merg ...

, the American airborne forces' objectives,

paratroopers A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during Worl ...

from the 82nd and

101st Airborne Division The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operati ...

s were supported from this depot, replenishing their communications equipment which was lost or battle-damaged during their combat parachute assault into Normandy. :On D+2 one detachment established a signal supply depot in vicinity of Colleville issuing equipment ''"without formal requisitions in view of the tactical situation"'' before moving with an estimated 5,000 tons of equipment on D+6 to establish a depot near Mosles. Here, the depot was engaged nightly at approximately 2300 hours by a lone German aircraft dubbed ''"Bed Check Charlie"'' who dropped flares and the occasional bomb with no damage to personnel, equipment, or supplies reported. On 6 August this depot moved to

Torigni-sur-Vire Torigni-sur-Vire (, literally ''Torigni on Vire'') is a former commune in the Manche department, Normandy, northwestern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Torigny-les-Villes.Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer (, literally ''Saint-Laurent on Sea'') is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. The town is located not far from Omaha Beach, where, in World War II, Allied forces landed duri ...

on 15 June, assisting in the consolidation of depots near

Bricqueville Bricqueville () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several S ...

while her detachments augmented various units as allied forces seized

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

. Some detachments relocated in order to support elements maneuvering to take

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Patton's Third Army to advance in just two weeks from

Avranches Avranches (; nrf, Avraunches) is a commune in the Manche department, and the region of Normandy, northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of the department. The inhabitants are called ''Avranchinais''. History By the end of the Roman period, t ...

Argentan Argentan () is a commune and the seat of two cantons and of an arrondissement in the Orne department in northwestern France. Argentan is located NE of Rennes, ENE of the Mont Saint-Michel, SE of Cherbourg, SSE of Caen, SW of Rouen and N ...

, aided by

Ultra adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by breaking high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park. '' ...

intelligence which apprised him of German counterattacks, indicating where to concentrate his forces. The 215th moved along with 5,000 tons of equipment and supplies to

Saint-Samson-de-Bonfossé Saint-Samson-de-Bonfossé () is a former commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Bourgvallées.Verviers Verviers (; wa, Vervî) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Ensival, Heusy, Lambermont, Petit-Rechain, Stembert, and Verviers. It is also the ...

where the 215th consolidated for the first time since D-Day on 30 September. Equipment was stockpiled in anticipation of impending military operations and while front lines stabilized, friendly units refitted by sending their equipment to the 215th for repair or replacement. The work load was so great that the 215th was augmented by an additional signal repair company and three ordnance heavy automotive maintenance companies.

= ''Battle of the Bulge''

= :After the onset of winter in late-1944, the 215th continued maintenance activities in support of front-line units. As inclement weather slowed the Allied tempo, the Germans initiated a counter-attack on 16 December which would later become known as the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive (military), offensive military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted fr ...

. The 215th at Verviers was approximately from the Germans on the

Siegfried Line The Siegfried Line, known in German as the ''Westwall'', was a German defensive line built during the 1930s (started 1936) opposite the French Maginot Line. It stretched more than ; from Kleve on the border with the Netherlands, along the west ...

and were unaffected by the initial German artillery bombardment, the first phase of their counter-attack. In the early hours of 17 December, German paratroopers parachuted into the Allies' rear area intending to seize the crossroads at

Jalhay Jalhay (; wa, Djalhé) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 Jalhay had a total population of 7,953. The total area is 107.75 km² which gives a population density of 74 inhabitants per ...

, just from Verviers. Mis-drops of the paratroopers (some as far as off-target) confused the Allies into believing the Germans conducted a division-level airborne operation, and the 215th was told that 500 Nazi paratroopers had seized the road between Eupen and Malmedy, within of their location. In response, the company activated and drilled their base defense plan as several alerts were implemented over the coming days. :As the Germans approached Verviers, they shelled supply routes around the town. The commander of First Army ordered the evacuation of the depot to preserve its stocks and capability. Over 5,000 tons of equipment was loaded onto 400 rail cars and evacuated a reported southwest to

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

. By 21 December the unit had resumed their mission, repairing equipment damaged by the German offensive while also installing communications equipment onto nearly 300

M4 Sherman } The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the Military history of the United States during World War II, United States and Allies of World War II, Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman prove ...

tanks; a task made even more difficult by inadequate facilities, the biting winds, and the cold steel of the tanks. These tanks were largely responsible for repelling the German attack.

= ''Central Europe''

= :Following the Battle of the Bulge, the 215th again detached from Verviers to support the Allies crossing the Rhine, integrating into numerous depots through Belgium then onward into Germany. The headquarters eventually occupied a depot near

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

in central Germany by 1 May before the war in Europe came to a close. The unit returned stateside and was inactivated in November 1945 at Camp Kilmer,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. The 215th commander encapsulated the spirit of his unit by reporting: ''"Satisfaction enough, however, for both officers and enlisted men, is in knowing that a piece of Signal equipment repaired by them will not fail the man with the rifle."''

82nd Counterintelligence Corps Detachment

The ''provisional Counterintelligence Corps'' (CIC) attached personnel to the 82nd Airborne Division''Counter Intelligence Corps History and Mission in World War II''.
The Counter Intelligence Corps School.

Fort Holabird Fort Holabird was a United States Army post in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, active from 1918 to 1973. History Fort Holabird was located in the southeast corner of Baltimore and northwest of the suburban developments of Dundalk, Maryland, in s ...

, MD. who accompanied the division into combat on all major operations from Sicily to Germany; conducting

interrogation Interrogation (also called questioning) is interviewing as commonly employed by law enforcement officers, military personnel, intelligence agencies, organized crime syndicates, and terrorist organizations with the goal of eliciting useful informa ...

s of captured enemy personnel and performing counterintelligence activities in occupied areas.

Human Intelligence Human intelligence is the intellectual capability of humans, which is marked by complex cognitive feats and high levels of motivation and self-awareness. High intelligence is associated with better outcomes in life. Through intelligence, humans ...

attachments included what would later become the 82nd CIC Detachment, four ''Interrogator Prisoner of War'' teams, and a ''Military Intelligence Interpreter'' team.''82d Airborne Division in Italy and Sicily''.
Retrieved from the

Defense Technical Information Center The Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC, pronounced "Dee-tick") is the repository for research and engineering information for the United States Department of Defense (DoD). DTIC's services are available to DoD personnel, federal governm ...

on 13 August 2020. Before dawn on D-Day, the CIC personnel attached to the American airborne forces parachuted or landed by

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

into Normandy. The initial D-Day mission of CIC troops was to locate, seize, and control all important communications centers and take charge of civilian traffic. Some CIC detachments contacted resistance groups to facilitate their mission, but no specific mention of the 82nd doing so was found. Additionally, of the eight agents who parachuted in with the 101st Airborne, three were killed in action and two were wounded and captured, showing the inherent perils the airborne faced that day; though there were no reports of significant casualties amongst the CIC personnel accompanying the 82nd. On 12 July 1944, a month after landing on Normandy, the ''82nd Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment'' was formally constituted by the United States Army, after having already accompanied the 82nd into combat for the better part of a year. ''Constitute'' in this context merely means to place the designation of the new unit on the official rolls of the Army, and the unit was formally activated the next month in England on 20 August 1944, no doubt while the unit prepared for the impending airborne assault into Holland. Records are spotty regarding the 82nd CIC Detachment, likely due to the sensitive nature of their work, but based on their official military honors, they went on to participate in

Operation Market Garden Operation Market Garden was an Allies of World War II, Allied military operation during the World War II, Second World War fought in the Netherlands from 17 to 27 September 1944. Its objective was to create a Salient (military), salient into G ...

, the Battle of the Bulge, and the final push into Germany across the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

River then finishing in

Ludwigslust Ludwigslust () is a central castle town of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, 40 km south of Schwerin. Since 2011 it has been part of the Ludwigslust-Parchim district. Ludwigslust is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. The former royal r ...

after crossing the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...

3191st Signal Service Company

Four days after D-Day, the 3191st Signal Service Company was constituted before being officially activated on 20 June 1944 at

Camp Crowder Fort Crowder was a U.S. Army post located in Newton and McDonald counties in southwest Missouri, constructed and used during World War II. Establishment and purpose Camp Crowder was a military installation named in honor of Major General Eno ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, the home of the Central Signal Corps Replacement Training Center. The unit likely consisted of a

cadre Cadre may refer to: *Cadre (military), a group of officers or NCOs around whom a unit is formed, or a training staff *Cadre (politics), a politically controlled appointment to an institution in order to circumvent the state and bring control to th ...

of some seasoned, along with newly appointed, Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers leading soldiers who recently completed their initial training at Camp Crowder. As with the 82nd CIC Detachment, little information is available about the 3191st, likely due to the sensitive nature of their work. What is available indicates that the company moved to

Fort Monmouth Fort Monmouth is a former installation of the Department of the Army in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The post is surrounded by the communities of Eatontown, Tinton Falls and Oceanport, New Jersey, and is located about from the Atlantic Ocean. Th ...

, New Jersey sometime after activation, ostensibly to deploy to the European theater if needed. Based on their unit awards, the 3191st was not needed in Europe and instead deployed to the

Asiatic-Pacific Theater The Asiatic-Pacific Theater was the theater of operations of U.S. forces during World War II in the Pacific War during 1941–1945. From mid-1942 until the end of the war in 1945, two U.S. operational commands were in the Pacific. The Pacific O ...

taking part in the

liberation of the Philippines Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...

in the

Battle of Luzon The Battle of Luzon ( tl, Labanan sa Luzon; ja, ルソン島の戦い; es, Batalla de Luzón) was a land battle of the Pacific Theater of Operations of World War II by the Allied forces of the U.S., its colony the Philippines, and allies agai ...

. The unit was deactivated in the Philippines on 25 October 1945, two months after Japan accepted the terms of the

Potsdam Declaration The Potsdam Declaration, or the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender, was a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II. On July 26, 1945, United States President Harry S. Truman, Uni ...

Post-World War II/Early Cold War

215th Signal Depot Company

In 1955 the 215th was reactivated, converted and redesignated the 313th Communications Research Battalion, absorbing the 358th Communications Research Company (see ''3191st Signal Service Company'' below) as A Company and the 337th Communications Research Company as B Company; the 337th was first activated in 1952. In 1956 the 313th was designated as an Army Security Agency (ASA) Battalion, and the subordinate companies designated as ASA Companies. Ultimately, the battalion would be deactivated in December 1957 as part of a reorganization by the ASA.

82nd Counterintelligence Corps Detachment

The detachment returned to Fort Bragg with the 82nd after occupation duty and was allotted to the Regular Army shortly after the division itself was saved from deactivation and allotted to the Regular Army. The CIC Detachment was further redesignated as the 82nd Military Intelligence Detachment in 1958.

3191st Signal Service Company

As cold war tensions rose and the Americans bolstered their intelligence apparatus, the Army reactivated the 3191st Signal Service Detachment in mid-1951 at

Fort Devens Fort Devens is a United States Army Reserve military installation in the towns of Ayer and Shirley, in Middlesex County and Harvard in Worcester County in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Due to extensive environmental contamination it was li ...

, redesignating the unit the 358th Communications Reconnaissance Company. The 358th would fall under the 313th (as A Company) in 1955 before being deactivated again in late-1957.

Vietnam

313th Army Security Agency Battalion

The 313th was activated again in 1962 at Fort Bragg, with A Company and B Company maintaining their previous lineages of the 358th and 337th Communication Reconnaissance Companies. The battalion was reactivated in anticipation of the structured implementation of ASA

OPLAN A military operation plan (also called a war plan before World War II) is a formal plan for military, military armed forces, their military organizations and units to conduct operations, as drawn up by commanders within the combat operations proce ...

7-61 ( codenamed WHITEBIRCH), designed to "''increase U.S. COMINT/DF capability against guerrilla communications of Communist forces in South Vietnam, North Vietnam and Laos.''" When the 313th was slotted to deploy to Vietnam in 1966, the ASA removed its organic companies with A Company redesignated the 358th (supporting the 82nd Airborne Division), B Company reflagged as the 337th (supporting the 1st Infantry Division), and C Company becoming the 371st (supporting the 1st Cavalry Division) ASA Companies.Army Security Agency Online: 313th Radio Research Battalion
retrieved fro
ASA Lives.org
on 12 August 2020. The reason for the reorganization was the impending deployment of numerous ASA Direct Support Units (DSUs) as the war in Vietnam escalated. A DSU was an ASA company supporting an army division; the company would further organize detachments to support the brigades or regiments of that division and independent brigades were allotted their own ASA detachments.Hanyok, Robert J
''Spartans in Darkness: American SIGINT and the Indochina War, 1945-1975''.
Fort Meade, MD. National Security Agency Center for Cryptologic History. 2002. Once in-country, the 313th's anticipated mission would be to oversee DSU activities; while there were four DSUs operating in Vietnam in 1965, by 1968 the number exploded to sixteen.Wolfe, Hiram M., Schmidt, Raymond P., Thompson, Thomas N
''Working Against the Tide: COMSEC Monitoring and Analysis, Part One''.
Fort Meade, MD. National Security Agency Center for Cryptologic History. 1970. ASA_FFV-I_SSIs

In February 1966, with only about 60 percent of its authorized strength, the 313th ASA Battalion deployed to

Nha Trang Nha Trang ( or ; ) is a coastal city and capital of Khánh Hòa Province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the north by Ninh Hòa District, Ninh Hoà town, on the south by Cam Ranh city and on the west by Diên Khánh Distri ...

using the cover name ''13th Radio Research Unit'', and was assigned to the ''509th Radio Research Group''. Charged with supporting

I Field Force I Field Force, Vietnam was a corps-level command of the United States Army during the Vietnam War. Activated on 15 March 1966, it was the successor to Task Force Alpha, a provisional corps command created 1 August 1965 (renamed Field Force Vietnam ...

(FFV-I), the battalion oversaw DSUs deployed in the

II Corps Tactical Zone The II Corps () was a corps of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975. It was one of four corps in the ARVN, and it oversaw the central highlands region, north of ...

(AKA Military Region 2). All collection, processing, and reporting efforts from the DSUs and stations in II Corps were coordinated through the 313th, making them responsible for monitoring all communist communications in the Central Highlands from Quảng Nam Province south to Đắk Lắk Province (AKA ''Dar Lac'' or ''Darlac''). The 313th also concentrated on FFV I headquarters

telephone switchboard A telephone switchboard was a device used to connect circuits of telephones to establish telephone calls between users or other switchboards, throughout the 20th century. The switchboard was an essential component of a manual telephone exchange, ...

s and radio circuits, ostensibly seeking to ferret out hostile agents amongst the local employees and partner force personnel working at FFV-I. The battalion would see her previous companies again in-country, with operational control over the 371st (''formerly C Company''; as the ''10th Radio Research Unit'') supporting the 1st Cavalry Division. Also, the 358th (''formerly A Company'') deployed for a short time with the 3rd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division in response to the

Tet Offensive The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. It was launched on January 30, 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) against the forces o ...

of 1968, before returning stateside to support the 82nd's global contingency mission. Additionally, the 337th ''(formerly B Company)'' deployed in support of the 1st Infantry Division in the

I Corps Tactical Zone I Corps () was a corps of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975. It was one of four corps of the ARVN. This was the northernmost region of South Vietnam, bordering ...

(AKA Military Region 1), falling under control the 303rd ASA Battalion. Personnel would be reassigned and some would return, but the 313th would stay in-country until July 1971, earning five

Meritorious Unit Commendation The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding achievement or s ...

s, the

Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm The Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross also known as the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross or Vietnam Cross of Gallantry ( vi, Anh-Dũng Bội-Tinh) is a military decoration of the former Government of South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam). The medal wa ...

, and 12

campaign streamer Campaign streamers are decorations attached to military flags to recognize particular achievements or events of a military unit or service. Attached to the headpiece of the assigned flag, the streamer often is an inscribed ribbon with the n ...

82nd Military Intelligence Detachment

Along with the 358th ASA Company, the 3rd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division was supported in-country by the 82nd MI Detachment, who earned the

Republic of Vietnam Civil Action Honor Medal The Republic of Vietnam Civil Actions Medal ( vi, Dân-Vụ Bội-Tinh) also known as the Vietnam Civil Actions Medal or Civil Actions Medal, is a military decoration of the former South Vietnamese government (1955–75). The medal was creat ...

. After redeploying to Fort Bragg with the brigade in late-1969, the detachment became the 82nd Military Intelligence Company in November 1970.

Formation

The Headquarters of the 313th ASA Battalion was reorganized as the ''313th Military Intelligence Battalion'' and assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division on 16 October 1979. Simultaneously, the 358th ASA Company was restructured and designated A Company while the 82nd Military Intelligence Company reorganized and became B Company. On 1 November 1988, Companies A, B, and C were designated as direct support companies for each of the three infantry brigades while Company D was activated, assuming roles as the general support company for the division. The battalion continued to evolve in the 1990s, with the reassignment of the

Long Range Surveillance Detachment {{unreferenced, date=November 2007 The United States Army long range surveillance detachment (LRSD) is organized as a detachment organic to the military intelligence battalion at division (military), division level for the purpose of long-range surv ...

from the 1st Squadron,

17th Cavalry Regiment The 17th Cavalry Regiment is a historical organization within the United States Army that began as a regiment of cavalry after the Pancho Villa Expedition. The unit was constituted on 1 July 1916 in the Regular Army as the 17th Cavalry at Fort ...

, the division's cavalry squadron, to the 313th Military Intelligence Battalion. The unit provided direct and general support to the 82d Airborne Division in the form of intelligence collection, analysis, and dissemination; counterintelligence and interrogation; signals intelligence, including ground and air based intercept, jamming, and direction finding; remote battlefield sensors and ground surveillance radar; moving target indicators; and long range surveillance. The unit's lineage included 23 campaign and battle streamers from World War II, the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

, and the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

. The battalion earned seven Meritorious Unit Commendations, one Army Superior Unit Award, and five foreign unit awards. The 313th Military Intelligence Battalion was also one of the most diverse units in the

, with soldiers holding 47 different military occupational specialties and speaking eight different languages.Archive of Official 313th Military Intelligence Battalion website.
''313th MI Bn History''. Retrieved from

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

on 16 August 2020. In 2006 the battalion was inactivated when, as part of the Army-wide reorganization of combat forces to the modular structure, it was broken up and most of its personnel and equipment were reassigned to the brigade support battalions in each of the division's brigade combat teams. The battalion's long range surveillance detachment was reorganized, reflagged and reassigned as Company F (

Pathfinder Pathfinder may refer to: Businesses * Pathfinder Energy Services, a division of Smith International * Pathfinder Press, a publisher of socialist literature Computing and information science * Path Finder, a Macintosh file browser * Pathfinder ( ...

), 2nd Battalion, 82d Aviation Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division.

Battalion Monument

Former members of the battalion organized for a monument to be placed along the entranceway to the

Airborne & Special Operations Museum The United States Army Airborne & Special Operations Museum (ASOM) is part of the U.S. Army Museum Enterprise dedicated to preserving and teaching a public history of the Special Operations and Airborne community, as well as broader United State ...

Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville () is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayetteville has received the All-America C ...

, adjacent to Fort Bragg. The monument was formally dedicated on 9 September 2017 and features engravings of the Master Parachutist Badge, the Military Intelligence Corps' Branch Insignia, and the 313th's Distinctive Unit Insignia. A list of the battalion's soldiers who were killed in action and in training accidents, unit coins, and other unit artifacts were placed under the stone.Brooks, Drew
Paratroopers honor history of inactivated battalion.

The Fayetteville Observer ''The Fayetteville Observer'' is an American English-language daily newspaper published in Fayetteville, North Carolina. As the oldest North Carolina newspaper, the paper was founded in 1816 as the ''Carolina Observer''. It was locally owned by ...

, 9 September 2017.

Honors

Campaign Streamers Campaign streamers are decorations attached to military flags to recognize particular achievements or events of a military unit or service. Attached to the headpiece of the assigned flag, the streamer often is an inscribed ribbon with the ...

Decorations

Heraldry

Coat of Arms

Blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vis ...

The coat of arms features an Azure (teal blue)

shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...

with an ordinary of an

Argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

(white) and

Tenné In heraldry, tenné (; sometimes termed tenny or tawny) is a "stain", or non-standard tincture, of orange (in English blazonry), light brown (in French heraldry) or orange- tawny (in continental heraldry) colour. Tenné, however, is not to be ...

(orange) checkered

fess In heraldry, a fess or fesse (from Middle English ''fesse'', from Old French ''faisse'', from Latin ''fascia'', "band") is a charge on a coat of arms (or flag) that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the centre of the shield.Wo ...

. The

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * '' Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * ''Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

of the shield is an Argent six-pointed mullet of the second. Atop the shield rests an Argent and Azure rolled wreath which forms the base of the

crest Crest or CREST may refer to: Buildings *The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York *"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York *Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switzerla ...

featuring a

Gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). In engraving, it is sometimes depict ...

(red)

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

trimmed in Or (gold) in a passant posture. The dragon stands in front of a

Vert Vert or Verts may refer to: * Vert (heraldry), the colour green in heraldry * Vert (music producer) (born 1972), pseudonym of Adam Butler, an English music producer * Vert (river), in southern France * Vert (sport), a competition in extreme vers ...

(green)

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

which is impaled with twelve

Proper Proper may refer to: Mathematics * Proper map, in topology, a property of continuous function between topological spaces, if inverse images of compact subsets are compact * Proper morphism, in algebraic geometry, an analogue of a proper map for ...

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

spikes while the dragon's tail is interlaced through the spikes. Symbolism Azure and white are the colors used for units not assigned to a

branch A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk (botany), trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term '' ...

, referring to the unit's previous designation as the 313th ASA Battalion. The colors orange and white express the organization's former affiliation with the Signal Corps and the six points of the mullet allude to the battalion's decorations for World War II and Vietnam service.. The dragon symbolizes alertness and readiness, and its Asian styling denotes the unit's service in Vietnam. The green mountain represents the lush vegetation and mountainous terrain while the twelve bamboo spikes represent the twelve campaigns the battalion participated in during the Vietnam war.

Distinctive Unit Insignia

Blazon

The unit's Distinctive Unit Insignia (DUI) is a silver color metal and enamel device in height overall consisting of a shield representing the unit's coat of arms with a silver

scroll A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing. Structure A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papyrus ...

attached around the sides and bottom of the shield inscribed, "SAVOIR C'EST POUVOIR" (''Knowledge is Power in French'') with

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

-colored lettering. Distinctive Unit Insignia and Coat of Arms of the 313th Military Intelligence Battalion.
Retrieved from

The Institute of Heraldry The Institute of Heraldry, officially The Institute of Heraldry, Department of the Army, is an activity of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army solely responsible for furnishing heraldic services to President of the United ...

on 11 August 2020.

Beret Flash & Background Trimming

The 313th's flash is a teal blue shield-shaped embroidered item with a semi-circular base. Around the edge of the flash is a orange border, two white lightning bolts bendwise sinister, one issuing from the top of the flash and one issuing from the lower right side; the overall dimensions are in height by in width. The airborne background trimming is a teal blue oval-shaped embroidered item edged with a orange border two white lightning bolts bendwise sinister, one issuing from the top of the item and one issuing from the right side. The overall dimensions are in height by width. Beret Flash and Background Trimming of the 313th Military Intelligence Battalion.
Retrieved from The Institute of Heraldry on 11 August 2020.

References

External links

82nd Airborne Division Association

Army Security Agency Veterans.net
online veteran locator.

* ttps://army.togetherweserved.com/army/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=PublicUnitProfile&type=Unit&ID=67812 Together We Served, 82nd Military Intelligence Companyonline veteran locator. {{DEFAULTSORT:313th Military Intelligence Battalion (United States Army) Airborne units and formations of the United States Army Battalions of the United States Army in World War II Military Intelligence battalions of the United States Army Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations of the United States Army in the Vietnam War Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the United States Army