The 18th Infantry Regiment ("Vanguards") is an infantry regiment of the United States Army. The regiment currently exists with one active battalion, under the U.S. Army Regimental System; regimental designation is used only for historical tradition, and there is no active regimental headquarters. The 18th Infantry once had up to four active battalions, but three have been inactivated:
The 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment's home duty station is located at Fort Riley, Kansas, with the 2d "Dagger" Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. It is a combined arms battalion. The 2nd Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment was stationed in Baumholder, Germany as part of the 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Separate) and was inactivated with the brigade in 2012. The 3rd Battalion, 18th Infantry was stationed in Lawrence, Massachusetts, as part of the 187th Infantry Brigade, 94th Army Reserve Command (1963–1994). The 4th Battalion, 18th Infantry was part of the Berlin Brigade stationed in West Berlin in the 1960s along with the 2d and 3d Battalions, 6th Infantry. West Berlin was 100 miles behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany, surrounded by an estimated force of 270,000 Russian and East German troops. The battalion was later reflagged as the 4th Battalion, 6th Infantry.
History Civil War
The 18th Infantry was constituted in the Regular Army on 3 May 1861, and was organized at Camp Thomas, Ohio. It participated in campaigns in the Western theater of the American Civil War as a part of the US XIV Army Corps, under MG George Thomas, MG John M. Palmer and MG Jefferson C. Davis. Engagements included Perryville, Stones River, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and the campaign for Atlanta. At Utoy Creek, Georgia, on 5 August 1864 as part of Johnsons 1st Division, XIV Army Corps under MG John M Palmer, the Regular Brigade" that included the 18th Infantry was cited for making a crossing of North Utoy Creek under fire, assaulting and driving Armstrong's Confederate Cavalry Brigade, dismounted from their position at Peyton Road. 15th and 18th U.S. Infantry were cited for this action in official records. It then conducted a feint assault on 6 August 1864 to support XXIII Corps' attack at Utoy Creek, and participated in the three-week siege of Atlanta along the high ground east of Utoy Creek in southwest Atlanta, near Willis Mill and Adams Park (near current Fort McPherson).
Indian Wars Fetterman Massacre. On 21 December 1866, CPT William J. Fetterman took command of a composite force consisting of the former battalion quartermaster, Captain Frederick Brown, 2nd Lt. George Grummond, 49 enlisted troops of the 18th Infantry, 27 men of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, and 2 civilian scouts. Ignoring his orders not to venture beyond Lodge Trail Ridge (out of sight and support distance from the fort), Fetterman pursued a small band of Sioux and was lured into an ambush. He found himself facing approximately 2,000 Indians. Within 20 minutes, Fetterman and his command had been wiped out.
Interwar period
The 18th Infantry arrived at the port of New York on 3 September 1919 on the troopship USS Mobile, and was transferred to Camp Merritt, New Jersey, where emergency period personnel were discharged from the service. The regiment participated in the 1st Division Victory Parades in New York City and Washington, D.C., on 10 and 17 September 1919, respectively. It was transferred on 4 October 1919 to Camp Zachary Taylor, Kentucky, and was transferred on 14 September 1920 to Camp Dix, New Jersey. The regimental headquarters was transferred on 10 September 1922 to Fort Slocum, New York, with the subordinate battalions concurrently transferred as follows: 1st Battalion to Fort Slocum; 2nd Battalion to Fort Schuyler, New York; and 3rd Battalion to Fort Hamilton, New York. The regiment was organized with elements of the 16th Infantry into the “Composite Regiment” and deployed to Washington, D.C., to act as an honor guard for the unveiling of the 1st Division War Memorial on 4 October 1924.
The regimental headquarters was transferred on 10 January 1928 to Fort Hamilton, and concurrently, the 3rd Battalion was transferred to Fort Slocum. Company H was awarded the Edwin Howard Clark trophy for machine gun marksmanship in 1928 and 1929. The 2nd Battalion was transferred on 3 July 1931 to Fort Wadsworth, New York. Elements of the regiment served as honor guard for Marshal Henri Petain during his visit to New York City on 24 October 1931. In April 1933, the regiment assumed command and control of portions of the 1st Civilian Conservation Corps District (New Jersey), Second Corps Area. The 3rd Battalion was transferred in June 1933 to Fort Wadsworth. The regiment departed the New York Port of Embarkation on 28 October 1939 on the troopship USAT Republic and debarked at the port of Charleston, South Carolina, en route to Fort Benning, Georgia. After maneuvers in Louisiana in May 1940, the regiment returned to Fort Hamilton on 5 June 1940. It was transferred on 27 February 1941 to Fort Devens, Massachusetts.
World War II North African campaign. On 8 November 1942, the 18th Infantry Regiment (part of the 1st Infantry Division) went ashore at Oran, Algeria. Ensuring that the 18th was one of the first U.S. Army infantry units to engage in combat against Axis forces. The regiment (or elements of the regiment) would experience heavy action over the following seven months at Maktar, Tebourba, Medjez el Bab, the Battle of Kasserine Pass (where American forces were pushed back), and Gafsa. It also participated at El Guettar, Béja, and Mateur. The 18th Infantry Regiment was in combat in the Tunisian Campaign from 21 January 1943 to 9 May 1943, helping secure Tunisia for the Allies. Invasion of Sicily. The regiment participated in The Battle of Gela (10 - 12 July 1943) where it withstood heavy counterattacks from Italian and German forces. On 7 August 1943, the 18th Infantry Regiment captured Mount Pellegrino which overlooked the Troina defenses allowing accurate direction of Allied artillery. Invasion of Normandy. The 18th Infantry Regiment was part of the landing forces that participated in the initial onset of Operation Overlord. The 18th Regimental Combat Team (RCT) was part of the 1st Infantry Division forces that stormed Omaha Beach. The regiment was scheduled to land at 09:30 on Easy Red. The first battalion to land, 2/18, arrived at the E-1 draw 30 minutes late after a difficult passage through the congestion offshore. Casualties were light, though despite the existence of a narrow channel through the beach obstacles the ramps and mines there accounted for the loss 22 LCVP's, 2 LCI(L)'s and 4 LCT's. Supported by tank and subsequent naval fire, the newly arrived troops took the surrender of the last strong point defending the entrance to the E-1 draw at 11:30. Although a usable exit was finally opened, congestion prevented an early exploitation inland. The three battalions of the 115th RCT, scheduled to land from 10:30 on Dog Red and Easy Green came in together and on top of the 18th RCT landings at Easy Red. The confusion prevented the remaining two battalions of the 18th RCT from landing until 13:00 and delayed the move off the beach of all but 2/18, which had exited the beach further east before noon, until 14:00. Even then, this movement was hampered by mines and enemy positions still in action further up the draw.
Northwest Europe The 18th Infantry Regiment would experience almost eleven months of continual combat operations from the allied invasion of Normandy (June 6, 1944) to the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945. Among the many actions that the regiment participated in were Battle of Aachen, Battle of Hürtgen Forest, The Battle of the Bulge and crossing at the Remagen bridgehead 15–16 March 1945.
Vietnam War On 25 June 1965 the Regiment's 1st and 2nd battalions embarked on the USS General W. H. Gordon at Oakland Army Terminal bound for South Vietnam. On 12 July the 1st Battalion and an artillery battery disembarked at Cam Ranh Bay to provide security for the new port being built there. On 14 July the 2nd Battalion and other units disembarked at Vung Tau. Over the next two days the troops were flown from Vung Tau Air Base to Bien Hoa Air Base. Upon arrival, they moved by truck to their prospective base camp, about 3km southeast of the air base. For the first few days in Vietnam, the force came under the command of MACV, but on 19 July the 173rd Airborne Brigade assumed operational control. The arrangement lasted until the 1st Division headquarters reached Vietnam in October. On 29 September the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry ceded its security mission at Cam Ranh Bay to the recently arrived 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division and rejoined the rest of the Regiment at Bien Hoa.
Operation Desert Shield/Operation Desert Storm The 1st BN 18th Inf was assigned to the 197th Inf Bde Sep in Jul 1990 at Ft Benning Ga. In September 1990, the 197th Infantry Brigade (M)(S) deployed from Fort Benning Georgia to Saudi Arabia, attached to the 24th Infantry Division in defense of the Arabian kingdom during Operation Desert Shield. The combat units of the 197th included 1st Bn 18th Inf Regt (1/18), 2nd Bn 18th Inf Regt (2/18), 4/41 Field Artillery and 2/69 Armor. During Operation Desert Storm, the 24th ID was the right flank of the XVIII Airborne Corps' push into Iraq. As the division pushed north, elements of the 197th engaged the enemy in Basra during the offensive, to include soldiers from 1/18. Upon returning from ODS/S, the 197th Infantry Brigade transitioned to become the 3rd Brigade of the 24th Infantry Division. Soldiers who deployed to ODS/S, as a result of the attachment to the 24th ID, are authorized to wear the combat patch for either the 197th Infantry Brigade or the 24th ID. December 1990, Elements of 5/18, and 4/18 Brigade deployed from NATO in Europe to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for Operations Desert Shield, engaging into Iraq and Kuwait for Desert Storm and Provide Comfort. Units were inactivated shortly after Jun 1991.
Global War on Terror Operation Iraqi Freedom II. In January 2004 the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment deployed as part of the 2nd "Dagger" Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division from their home station in Schweinfurt, Germany for OIF II. 1–18 Infantry redeployed to Schweinfurt, Germany in February 2005. The battalion commander, then-Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Sinclair was quoted in The Age (Melbourne, Australia) regarding use of money to fight the Iraqi insurgency:Doug Struck, , July 2004.
Lieutenant-Colonel, commander of the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment in Tikrit, paid $US500 to a driver to get his car repaired; paid "benevolent" money to the family of a victim of violence; paid people to clean streets; bought soccer kits for a team and repaired a swimming pool. Other officers have given money to ice-cream vendors, chicken farmers and hardware suppliers to get their businesses going. "I'm trying to give them something to do rather than take shots at someone," said Colonel Sinclair, who said he gets $US50,000 every three or four weeks to distribute. "It's not bribery. It's priming the pump. And it works well." The cash incentive scheme comes as some top officers are questioning whether the practice of keeping their troops highly visible in Iraq is doing more harm than good.