The 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment ("Blackhorse Regiment") is a unit of the United States Army garrisoned at the Fort Irwin National Training Center in California. The regiment has served in the Philippine–American War, the Pancho Villa Expedition, World War II, the Vietnam War, Gulf War and Iraq War. The 11th ACR serves as the opposing force (OPFOR) for the Army and Marine task forces, and foreign military forces that train at Fort Irwin.
The OPFOR trained U.S. Army forces in mechanized desert warfare following a Soviet-era style threat until June 2002, when the OPFOR and the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment changed to portraying an urban/asymmetrical warfare style of combat U.S. soldiers are facing in operations abroad. From June to December 2003, members of the 11th ACR deployed to Afghanistan, where they helped to develop and train the armor and mechanized infantry battalions of the Afghan National Army. These specialized units would defend the Afghan capital during the country's constitutional convention. In January 2005, the 11th ACR deployed to Iraq. The 11th ACR was not reorganized under the U.S. Army Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS), though it has been reorganized under CARS' replacement, the U.S. Army Regimental System.
History
11th Cavalry Regiment The regiment was constituted on 2 February 1901 in the Regular Army as the 11th Cavalry Regiment, and was organized on 11 March 1901 at Fort Myer, Virginia. The regiment participated in the 1916 Pancho Villa Expedition under the command of William Jones Nicholson.
In 1919, the regiment was stationed at the Presidio of Monterey, California. On 15 July 1927, the regiment was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry Division. It was relieved from the 3rd Cavalry Division on 1 May 1932 and assigned to the 2nd Cavalry Division. In April 1933, the regiment assumed command and control of the Monterey Civilian Conservation Corps District until mid-1934 and supported the construction and supervision of CCC camps in northern California from 1933 to 1939. It maintained habitual summer training relationships with the Organized Reserve 162nd Cavalry Brigade, 323rd Cavalry Regiment, and 162nd Machine Gun Squadron. The regiment moved to Fort Ord in stages from 16 to 27 January 1940 and again to Camp Clayton on 15 April to 15 May 1940 for temporary training. They participated in maneuvers at Fort Lewis in Washington from 4 to 29 August 1940, and returned to the Presidio of Monterey on 31 August 1940, where they were relieved from assignment to the 2nd Cavalry Division. They next moved to Camp Seeley in California on 7 November 1941, and again to Live Oaks, California, on 24 July 1941; they then returned to Camp Seeley on 17 September 1941, and to Camp Lockett on 10 December 1941.
They were next assigned to the Armored Force on 12 June 1942, and relocated to Fort Benning, Georgia on 10 July 1942, where they prepared to be inactivated and reorganized. The 11th Cavalry Regiment was inactivated on 15 July 1942 at Fort Benning, with personnel and equipment concurrently transferred to the 11th Armored Regiment, with concurrent development of the 11th Cavalry Group, and the 11th Tank Group. The remainder of the 11th Cavalry was disbanded on 26 October 1944.
11th Armored Regiment The 11th Armored Regiment was constituted on 11 July 1942 in the Army of the United States, assigned to the 10th Armored Division (AD), and organized at Fort Benning on 15 July 1942 from the personnel and equipment of the 11th Cavalry Regiment. The motto on the unit insignia is "Allons", which means "Let's Go" in French.
The regiment moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on 22 June 1943, and then Fort Gordon on 5 September 1943. 11th Armored Regiment was broken up on 20 September 1943, and its elements were distributed as follows: Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 11th Armored Regiment, and 1st and 2nd Battalions were reorganized as the 11th Tank Battalion in the 10th AD. 3rd Battalion, 11th Armored Regiment was reorganized and redesignated as the 712th Tank Battalion, and relieved from assignment to the 10th AD. The 712th Tank Battalion was inactivated at Camp Kilmer in New Jersey, on 27 October 1945, and redesignated the 525th Medium Tank Battalion on 1 September 1948. It was activated on 10 September 1948 at Fort Lewis, Washington. The 525th Medium Tank Battalion was redesignated as the 95th Tank Battalion on 4 February 1950, assigned to 7th Armored Division, and activated at Camp Roberts in California on 24 November 1950, and inactivated there on 15 November 1953. Reconnaissance Company was reorganized and redesignated as Troop E, 90th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, which maintained a separate history thereafter. Maintenance and Service Companies were disbanded.
The 11th Tank Group, later 11th Armoured Group, whose HHT was constituted on 19 July 1943 in the National Army, was a completely separate organization from the 11th Armoured Regiment / 11th Cavalry, a tank group/armoured group headquarters, not a regiment.
11th Tank Battalion As part of the 10th Armored Division, the 11th Tank Battalion shipped out from the New York Port of Embarkation on 13 September 1944, and landed in France on 23 September 1944. The battalion participated in the Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe Campaigns, and was located at Schongau, Bavaria, Germany on 14 August 1945. The battalion returned to the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation on 13 October 1945, was inactivated at Camp Patrick Henry in Virginia on the same day.
11th Cavalry Group (Mechanized)
Headquarters & Headquarters Troop (HHT), 11th Cavalry Regiment was redesignated on 19 April 1943 as HHT, 11th Cavalry Group, and was activated at Camp Anza in California on 5 May 1943. At that time, the 36th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron and 44th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron were attached. The group was then moved to Fort Bragg on 31 January 1944, and again to Atlantic Beach, Florida, on 15 March 1944 for amphibious training. They then moved to Camp Gordon on 1 June 1944 and then departed the New York Port of Embarkation on 29 September 1944, and arrived in England on 10 October 1944, and landed in France on 26 November 1944. They moved to the Netherlands on 8 December 1944, went into the line in Germany on 12 December 1944, and protected the Roer River sector; they recrossed into the Netherlands on 3 February 1945, and re-entered Germany on 27 February 1945 on the left flank of the U.S. 84th Infantry Division. The group then held a defensive line along the Rhine River near Düsseldorf on 12 March 1945 under the XIII Corps, and crossed the Rhine at Wesel on 1 April 1945, screened XIII Corps' northern flank, and saw action during the Battle of Munster and the seizure of the Ricklingen Bridge over the Leine River. During the campaign in northwestern Europe, Troop B of the 44th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron served as a mechanized escort and security force for the headquarters of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces. In August 1945, 11th Cavalry Group headquarters was located at Gross Ilsede, Germany.
HHT, 11th Cavalry Group was converted and reorganized as HHT, 11th Constabulary Regiment on 1 May 1946. During this period, the regimental headquarters was located in Regensburg. As a constabulary unit, the 11th Constabulary Regiment patrolled occupied Germany and performed law enforcement and keeping of the public order missions. HHT 11th Constabulary Regiment was further reorganized and redesignated as HHC, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment on 30 November 1948.
11th Armored Cavalry Regiment Reassembly and organizing of 11th ACR was completed on 30 November 1948 by reconstitution and reorganization of elements of the 11th Cavalry Regiment and HHT, 1st Constabulary Regiment. HHT-1st Constabulary Regiment was converted, redesignated and consolidated into 11th ACR as HHT, 3rd Battalion, 11th ACR on 30 November 1948. 11th Tank Battalion was consolidated into 11th ACR on 8 January 1951. 95th Tank Battalion was consolidated into 3rd Battalion, 11th ACR on 1 October 1958. Air Troop inactivated 20 March 1972 in Vietnam; 2d Squadron inactivated 6 April 1972 in Vietnam; Air Troop and 2d Squadron activated 17 May 1972 in Germany. Around 1984, Air Troop was enlarged and became the 4th Squadron (Thunderhorse), also known as the Combat Aviation Squadron.
Placed 17 June 1986 under the United States Army Regimental System
Inactivated 15 October 1993 – 15 March 1994 in Germany
Activated 16 October 1994 (less 3d and 4th Squadrons; the Air Defense Artillery Battery; and the Howitzer Batteries, 1st and 2d Squadrons) at Fort Irwin, California
West Germany (1957–64) As part of the Gyroscope unit rotations, the 11th ACR was sent to West Germany in March 1957 for another round at the border surveillance mission along the Iron Curtain, replacing the 6th Armored Cavalry Regiment. Regimental headquarters and 1st Squadron were located in Straubing while the 2nd Squadron was stationed in Landshut and the 3rd Squadron in Regensburg.www.usarmygermany.com The regiment's border surveillance mission was along the German-Czech frontier. In 1964, the 11th ACR returned to the United States and would be bound for Vietnam within two years.
South Vietnam (1966–72)
Home now for the regiment was Fort Meade, where the "Blackhorse" engaged in operational training and support activities like participation in the Presidential Inauguration and support for ROTC summer training.
With the war in South Vietnam escalating, the Blackhorse Regiment was alerted for assignment to Southeast Asia on 11 March 1966. The regiment began specialized training for combat in a counterinsurgency environment. Modifications were made to the organization and equipment (MTOE) with emphasis on the use of modified M113 armored personnel carriers (APCs). Two M-60 machineguns with protective gun shield were mounted at the port and starboard rear of the vehicle, and a combination circular & flat frontal gun shield(s) were added around the .50 caliber machine gun located at the commander's hatch. This combination produced a M-113 Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle, or, in Vietnam more simply referred to as an ACAV by GIs, a name coined by 11th Armored Cavalrymen.Starry p. 73
The regiment's modifications emphasized the use of ACAVs instead of the Patton medium tank and completely replaced the M-114 found in reconnaissance platoons, which may have existed in European and CONUS areas of operation. The M114 had been deployed to Vietnam in 1962, but withdrawn in 1964 due to its unsatisfactory, and often disastrous performance.Starry p. 38 Throughout the war, the tank companies, with their M48 Patton tanks, remained the same in each squadron. In 1968, Colonel George S. Patton IV (son of World War II General Patton), commander of the 11th ACR in South Vietnam recommended to General Creighton Abrams that one squadron from a division and the other from theater command be issued the army's new aluminum tanks (Sheridans) for combat testing. General Abrams concurred, and in January 1969, M551 Sheridans were issued to the 3rd Squadron 4th Armored Cavalry and the 1st Squadron 11th Armored Cavalry.Starry p. 143 Due to differences between the organization of regimental cavalry squadrons and divisional cavalry squadrons, in 1st Sqdn 11th ACR, the Sheridans were issued to the ACAV troops, replacing three M113 ACAVs in each platoon (the squadron's one tank company remained intact); in 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry, the Sheridans replaced M48A3 tanks throughout.