1st Engineer Brigade (United States)
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The 1st Engineer Brigade is a
military engineering Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics be ...
training brigade of the United States Army subordinate to the United States Army Engineer School. It is headquartered at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.


History


World War II

The 1st Engineer Amphibian Brigade was activated at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts on 15 June 1942. Some 2,269 men were transferred from existing units, the 37th Engineer Combat Regiment providing the nucleus of the boat regiment, and the 87th Engineer Heavy Ponton Battalion that of the shore regiment. Brigadier General
Henry C. Wolfe Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
was assigned as commanding general on 7 July 1942. The brigade trained until 15 July, when it was assigned to the Amphibious Training Command. The brigade was pulled from the Amphibious Training Center early and sent to England to participate in Operation Sledgehammer, departing from the New York Port of Embarkation on 5 August, and arriving on 17 August. Elements of the brigade participated in the
Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...
. The 531st Shore Regiment and 286th Signal Company acted as the shore party for the 1st Infantry Division, while the 2nd Battalion, 591st Engineer Boat Regiment was reorganized as a shore battalion, and operated in support of Combat Command B, 1st Armored Division. Brigade headquarters departed Glasgow on 24 November, and landed in North Africa on 6 December. Wolfe became chief engineer at the Services of Supply on 22 February and Colonel R. L. Brown of the 531st Engineer Shore Regiment acted as commander. Wolfe rejoined the brigade on 22 March 1943, but on 25 May he became S-3 at
Allied Force Headquarters Allied Force Headquarters (AFHQ) was the headquarters that controlled all Allied operational forces in the Mediterranean theatre of World War II from August 1942 until the end of the war in Europe in May 1945. AFHQ was established in the Un ...
, and was replaced by Colonel Eugene M. Caffey. On 10 May 1943, the brigade was redesignated the 1st Engineer Special Brigade. The 591st Boat Regiment was detached, as was the 561st Boat Maintenance Company, which remained in England working on Navy landing craft, but the 36th and 540th Engineer Combat Regiments were attached for the 10 July Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky), bringing the strength of the brigade to over 20,000. The brigade then participated in the Allied invasion of Italy at
Salerno Salerno (, , ; nap, label= Salernitano, Saliernë, ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' in Campania (southwestern Italy) and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after ...
( Operation Avalanche) on 9 September. In November 1943, the headquarters of the 1st Engineer Special Brigade, along with the 531st Shore Regiment, 201st Medical Battalion, 286th Signal Company, 262nd Amphibian Truck Battalion and 3497th Ordnance Medium Automotive Maintenance Company, returned to England to participate in the invasion of Normandy (
Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...
). This nucleus of 3,346 men was built up to a strength of 15,000 men for Overlord. During Exercise Tiger, a rehearsal for the Normandy operation on 28 April, German E-Boats attacked a convoy of landing ships, tank (LSTs) of the
XI Amphibious Force Xi may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Xi'' (alternate reality game), a console-based game * Xi, Japanese name for the video game ''Devil Dice'' Language *Xi (letter), a Greek letter * Xi, a Latin digraph used in British English to write ...
carrying troops of the brigade. Two LSTs were sunk, and the brigade lost 413 men dead and 16 wounded. The exercise was observed by Lieutenant General
Omar N. Bradley Omar Nelson Bradley (February 12, 1893April 8, 1981) was a senior officer of the United States Army during and after World War II, rising to the rank of General of the Army. Bradley was the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and over ...
, who, unaware of the sinking of the LSTs, blamed the resulting poor performance of the brigade on Caffey, and had him temporarily replaced for the Normandy landings by Brigadier General James E. Wharton. The brigade participated in the
D-Day 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 D ...
landing on Utah Beach, and operated as Utah Beach Command until 23 October 1944, and then as the Utah District of the Normandy Base Section until 7 December 1944. Under the command of Colonel
Benjamin B. Talley Benjamin Branche Talley (July 29, 1903November 27, 1998) was an American engineer. He was involved in military construction in Alaska before and after World War II, and earned the nickname "the Father of Military Construction in Alaska". He was in ...
, the brigade headquarters returned to England, and embarked for the United States on 23 December. It arrived at
Fort Dix Fort Dix, the common name for the Army Support Activity (ASA) located at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is a United States Army post. It is located south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Fort Dix is under the jurisdiction of the Air Force A ...
, New Jersey, on 30 December. After four weeks leave, it reassembled at Fort Lewis, Washington. Part of the brigade headquarters went by air to Leyte to join the XXIV Corps for the
invasion of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...
, while the rest traveled directly to Okinawa on the . The brigade was in charge of unloading on Okinawa from 9 April to 31 May. It then prepared for the
invasion of Japan Operation Downfall was the proposed Allied plan for the invasion of the Japanese home islands near the end of World War II. The planned operation was canceled when Japan surrendered following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ...
. This did not occur due to the end of the war, and the brigade landed in Korea on 12 September 1945. Its final commander was Colonel Robert J. Kasper, who assumed command on 1 November 1945. The brigade was inactivated in Korea on 18 February 1946. Organization for the landing in Normandy: * Brigade Headquarters * 531st Engineer Shore Regiment * 24th Amphibian Truck Battalion ** 462nd Amphibian Truck Company ** 478th Amphibian Truck Company ** 479th Amphibian Truck Company * 306th Quartermaster Battalion ** 556th Quartermaster Railhead Company ** 562nd Quartermaster Railhead Company ** 3939th Quartermaster Gas Supply Co * 191st Ordnance Battalion ** 3497th Ordnance Medium Automotive Maintenance Company ** 625th Ordnance Ammunition Company * 161st Ordnance Platoon * 577th Quartermaster Battalion ** 363rd Quartermaster Service Company ** 3207th Quartermaster Service Company ** 4144th Quartermaster Service Company * 261st Medical Battalion (Amphibious) * 449th Military Police Company * 286th Joint Assault Signal Company * 33rd Chemical Decontamination Company


Postwar

On 30 September 1986, the brigade was reformed at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, as the 1st Engineer Brigade, and was assigned to the United States Army Engineer School within the Training and Doctrine Command.


Current Structure

* 1st Engineer Brigade, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri **
31st Engineer Battalion The 31st Engineer Battalion, known during World War II as the 31st Engineer Combat Battalion, is a combat Engineer Battalion in the U.S. Army History Origin The 31st Engineer Battalion of the United States Army was originally constituted as t ...
, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri ** 35th Engineer Battalion, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri **
169th Engineer Battalion The battalion is currently part of the U.S. Army Engineer School, headquartered at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and is a subordinate unit to the 1st Engineer Brigade. The battalion mainly conducts advanced individual training for engineering ve ...
, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri **
554th Engineer Battalion The 554th Engineer Battalion is an Engineer Battalion of the United States Army. It is currently based at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri where it trains Soldiers for the Engineer Branch. It is responsible for training the Horizontal skills course, ...
, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * {{cite book , last=Stanton , first=Shelby L. , title=Order of Battle: U.S. Army World War II , location=Novato, California , publisher=Presidio Press , year=1984 , isbn=0-89141-195-X , oclc=464157998 , url-access=registration , url=https://archive.org/details/orderofbattleusa00stan Engineer Brigades of the United States Army United States Army Corps of Engineers United States Army Engineer School