The United States Constabulary was a United States Army military gendarmerie force. From 1946 to 1952, in the aftermath of World War II, it acted as an occupation and security force in the U.S. Occupation Zone of West Germany and Austria.
Establishment The concept of a police-type occupation of Germany arose from the consideration of plans for the most efficient employment of the relatively small forces available.
The demobilization of United States Armed Forces after World War II in the fall of 1945, was the U.S. Army's top priority as there were nearly 3 million soldiers tor return to the zone of the interior. The basic principle of the police-type occupation—that the lack of strength in the forces of occupation must be made up for by careful selection, rigid training, and high mobility—cannot be attributed to any single individual, or indeed to any single agency. Before any plans were worked out for the organization of the United States Constabulary, units of the United States Army assigned to occupational duties in Germany had experimented with the organization of parts of their forces into motorized patrols for guarding the 1,200 miles of borders and maintaining order in the large areas for which they were responsible. In September 1945, the G-2 Division of European Theater Headquarters put forward a plan, which was carried into effect towards the end of the years for the organization of a special security force known as the District Constabulary. In October 1945, the War Department asked European Theater Headquarters to consider the feasibility of organizing the major portion of the occupational forces into an efficient military police force on the model of state police or constabulary in the United States. The occupation of Japan was to use local Japanese police forces under American authority, and Washington proposed a similar structure with German or other European policemen.
General Dwight Eisenhower thought that public opinion would reject using Germans, and using other Europeans would cause language difficulties and possibly cause demands to withdraw American forces. Ideas crystallized rapidly. At the end of October 1945, Eisenhower, announced to the proper authorities that the population of the United States Zone of Germany would ultimately be controlled by a super-police force or constabulary. In early November, the strength of the proposed constabulary was announced as 38,000. Planning was well advanced by the end of 1945, when the European Theater Headquarters notified the War Department that the constabulary would be organized as an elite force, composed of the highest caliber personnel obtainable under the voluntary re-enlistment program, and that it would be equipped with an efficient communications network, sufficient vehicles and liaison airplanes to make it highly mobile, and the most modern weapons. During the paper stage, the organization was known by a series of names. "State Police" was discarded for "State Constabulary." Then it was thought that "State" would be confusing, as the main United States Zone of Germany had been divided, for purposes of civil administration, into three states, or Länder. When the organization emerged from the planning stage, it was known as the "Zone Constabulary," but before it became operational it was named "United States Constabulary."
Command and staff On 10 January 1946, Major General Ernest N. Harmon, wartime commander of the 1st and 2nd Armored Divisions and the XXII Corps, was appointed Commanding General of the United States Constabulary.
Harmon was then the only member of the Constabulary, but by February he had a staff and a training school. At the direction of Lieutenant General Lucian K. Truscott, Commanding General, Third United States Army, a small group was detailed to assist General Harmon in carrying forward the planning for the new force. Its headquarters was established at Bad Tölz. Theater Headquarters had already announced the principle that the Constabulary would be organized along geographical lines to coincide as nearly as possible with the major divisions of the German civil administration, in order to facilitate liaison with the German police and United States Offices of Military Government. Thus, there would be one Constabulary Headquarters for the entire United States Zone, a brigade headquarters at each of the capitals of the three German Länder, and group, squadron, and troop headquarters established at points selected for ease in performing the mission. Theater Headquarters had also directed that the organization charts of the Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron would be used in planning the organization of the Constabulary.
The primary unit of the Constabulary, the troop, was organized on the pattern of the mechanized cavalry troop used in the war. In view of its tasks of road and border patrolling and its police-type jobs, the Constabulary needed a greater number of hand weapons and light vehicles, such as jeeps and armored cars. Each troop was divided for patrolling purposes into sections or teams, each of which was equipped with three jeeps and one armored car serving as a command vehicle and as support in case of emergency. A mobile reserve of one company equipped with light tanks was established in each Constabulary regiment. Horses were provided for patrolling in difficult terrain along the borders and motorcycles for the control of traffic on the super-highways (Autobahnen). Static border control posts were established at the crossing points. The 1st Infantry Division was stationed at strategic locations as an emergency combat force.
Uniforms
The uniform of the Constabulary trooper was designed both to make him easily recognizable and to distinguish him as a member of an elite force. The "Lightning Bolt" shoulder patch consisting of a circular yellow shoulder patch with the border of the patch and the letter "C" in the middle being in blue. A red lightning bolt appeared diagonally angled downward from right to left in the center of the "C". The yellow, blue, and red combined the colors of the cavalry, infantry, and artillery. Their motto was "Mobility, Vigilance, Justice." To make the troops more distinctive they were given US Cavalry bright golden yellow scarves, combat boots with a smooth outer surface designed to be spit shined, and helmet liners bearing the Constabulary insignia and yellow and blue stripes. The troopers were called the "circle C cowboys" by other U.S. Army units.
To create a high morale in the Constabulary as quickly as possible, elements of the 1st and 4th Armored Divisions and certain cavalry groups were assigned to form the basis for the new organization. The units converted into Constabulary squadrons and regiments included armored infantry, field artillery, tank, tank destroyer, antiaircraft battalions, and cavalry squadrons.
The Constabulary used horses for remote patrols and off-road conditions such as mountain areas. These were the last use of horse outside of the United States.
Organization The VI Corps Headquarters became Headquarters, United States Constabulary on 1 May 1946. The 1st Armored Division, activated at Fort Knox, Kentucky, in June 1940 and one of the first American divisions to fight on the other side of the Atlantic, supplied many tank and infantry units. The 4th Armored Division furnished the three brigade headquarters for the Constabulary.
These veteran units, seriously depleted by redeployment, now approached a task quite different from that of waging war, but one demanding initiative and high standards in training and discipline. Some of the combat units assigned to the Constabulary were carried temporarily as mere paper organizations, redeployment having taken all their officers and men. Other units had up to 75 percent of their allotted strength, but all the units taken together averaged only 25 percent of their authorized strength.
In February 1946, Constabulary Headquarters was established in Bamberg. During the period when tactical units, released from the Third and Seventh Armies, were being redesignated as Constabulary units, the main tasks were training and reorganization. Continuous training was prescribed for the trooper so that he might attain an acceptable standard of discipline and all around efficiency in the use of weapons, vehicles, and communications equipment.
+ Constabulary units in the American Zone as of 1 July 1946 Original designation Constabulary designationHQ & HQ Co., VI CorpsHQ & HQ Troop, US ConstabularyHQ & HQ Co., 4th Armored DivisionHQ & HQ Troop, 1st Constabulary BrigadeHQ & HQ Co., Combat Command A, 4th Armored DivisionHQ & HQ Troop, 2nd Constabulary BrigadeHQ & HQ Co., Combat Command B, 4th Armored DivisionHQ & HQ Troop, 3rd Constabulary Brigade1st Constabulary RegimentHQ & HQ Co., 11th Armored GroupHQ & HQ Troop, 1st Constabulary Regiment11th Armored Infantry Battalion, 1st Armored Division11th Constabulary Squadron6th Armored Infantry Battalion, 1st Armored Division12th Constabulary Squadron91st Armored Field Artillery, 1st Armored Division91st Constabulary Squadron2nd Constabulary RegimentHQ & HQ Troop, 2nd Cavalry GroupHQ & HQ Troop, 2nd Constabulary Regiment2nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron2nd Constabulary Squadron42d Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron42nd Constabulary Squadron66th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 4th Armored Division66th Constabulary Squadron3rd Constabulary RegimentHQ & HQ Co., Combat Command A, 1st Armored DivisionHQ & HQ Troop, 3rd Constabulary Regiment37th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division37th Constabulary Squadron68th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Armored Division68th Constabulary Squadron81st Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 1st Armored Division81st Constabulary Squadron5th Constabulary RegimentHQ & HQ Co., 6th Tank Destroyer GroupHQ & HQ Troop, 5th Constabulary Regiment8th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division8th Constabulary Squadron35th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division35th Constabulary Squadron474th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion74th Constabulary Squadron6th Constabulary RegimentHQ & HQ Troop, 6th Cavalry GroupHQ & HQ Troop, 6th Constabulary Regiment6th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron6th Constabulary Squadron53rd Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division53d Constabulary Squadron10th Constabulary RegimentHQ & HQ Co., 10th Armored GroupHQ & HQ Troop, 10th Constabulary Regiment13th Tank Battalion, 1st Armored Division13th Constabulary Squadron4th Tank Battalion, 1st Armored Division72nd Constabulary Squadron771st Tank Battalion71st Constabulary Squadron11th Constabulary RegimentHQ & HQ Troop, 11th Cavalry GroupHQ & HQ Troop, 11th Constabulary Regiment25th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 4th Armored Division25th Constabulary Squadron94th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 4th Armored Division94th Constabulary Squadron51st Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division51st Constabulary Squadron14th Constabulary RegimentHQ & HQ Troop, 14th Cavalry GroupHQ & HQ Troop, 14th Constabulary Regiment10th Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division10th Constabulary Squadron22nd Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 4th Armored Division22nd Constabulary Squadron27th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Armored Division27th Constabulary Squadron15th Constabulary RegimentHQ & HQ Troop, 15th Cavalry GroupHQ & HQ Troop, 15th Constabulary Regiment15th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron15th Constabulary Squadron1st Tank Battalion, 1st Armored Division1st Constabulary Squadron14th Armored Infantry Battalion, 1st Armored Division14th Constabulary SquadronSpecial Troops, US Constabulary97th Signal Battalion97th Constabulary Signal Squadron465th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons BattalionConstabulary School Squadron
Education and training