2nd Brigade (US 1st Infantry Division)

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The 2nd Brigade, also known as the Dagger Brigade, is a maneuver brigade in the U.S. 1st Infantry Division. The brigade is stationed in Schweinfurt, Germany.

1 Distinctive Unit
2 Units
3 History
4 Lineage
5 Honors
- 5.1 Campaign Participation Credit
- 5.2 Decorations
6 References

[edit] Distinctive Unit

The Distinctive Unit Insignia of the Dagger Brigade.

On December 11, 1980 the 2nd Brigade was authorized their own Distinctive Unit Insignia (DUI). It is described as "a silver device 1 1/4 inches in height overall consisting of a blue arrowhead on which is superimposed a silver lion."

[edit] Units

The 2nd Brigade, as of 1996, is composed of:

HHC, 2nd Brigade Silver Lions
1-18 Infantry Battalion Vanguards
1-26 Infantry Battalion Blue Spaders
1-77 Armor Battalion Steel Tigers
E/4 Cavalry Troop Renegades
1-7 Field Artillery Battalion First Lightning
9th Engineer Battalion Gila
299th Forward Support Battalion Lifeline

[edit] History

[edit] Origin

The 2nd Dagger Brigade was first constituted on May 24, 1917 as Headquarters, 2nd Infantry Brigade of the 1st Expeditionary Division, which was later designated as the 1st Division.

[edit] World War I

Soldiers from the 2nd Dagger Brigade in World War I.

The 2nd Brigade deployed to France in December of 1917 with the rest of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division as part of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), as the American military was known in World War I. The brigade participated in many campaigns, including the Meuse-Argonne Offensive and the Battle of Saint-Mihiel.

The brigade redeployed at the end of World War I in August, 1918.

[edit] World War II

2nd Dagger Brigade of the US 1st Infantry Division in North Africa during WWII.

At the start of World War II, 2nd Brigade was stationed at Fort Ontario at Oswego, New York. It was relieved from assignment to the 1st Infantry Division on October 16, 1939, and moved to Pierrepont, New York as a Separate Infantry Brigade on March 29, 1940.
2nd Infantry Brigade remained at Pierrepont, New York until June 1, 1940, when they returned to Fort Ontario. 2nd Infantry Brigade was Inactivated on the same day.

In 1942 units that had previously been under 2nd Brigade participated in Operation Torch, the landings on North Africa. The 1st Infantry Division at that time was composed of only three infantry regiments, the 16th Infantry, 18th Infantry, and 26th Infantry, all of which distinguished themselves in the push across North Africa from the Kasserine Pass to Rommel's eventual defeat at the Second Battle of El Alamein. These units were then moved to Tidworth Camp in Wiltshire, England in anticipation of a cross-channel invasion late in 1942, but the next amphibious operation the unit would undertake next was to be in Sicily, not France.

Troina, Sicily, location of the Battle of Troina during Operation Husky in World War II.

The brigade participated in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, by storming ashore at Gela, July 10, 1943, and quickly overpowering the Italian defenses. Soon after, the German Herman Goering Tank Division counter-attacked with 100 tanks. With the help of naval gunfire, divisional artillery and Canadian allies, the counter-attack was repulsed. Brigade units then advanced and captured Nicosia on July 28. During the Battle for Troina, from July 31, 1943 to August 6, 1943, brigade units, including the 26th Infantry, were instrumental in capturing and then defending Troina from German counterattack. Even though the 26th was decimated due to intense counterattacks—one company reported only 17 men fit for duty by August 5th—the brigade held Troina. The brigade unit's refusal to give up Troina forced the German 15th Panzer Grenadier Division to retreat toward Randazzo, opening the Allied road to the Straits of Messina.

After Operation Husky, the brigade units returned to England, this time in Dorset to prepare for D-Day at Normandy. Brigade units, led by the 16th Infantry and closely followed by the 18th, led the way across Omaha Beach at Normandy. It was on Omaha Beach that Col. George Taylor, commander of the 16th Infantry Regiment, famously told his men, "Two kinds of people are staying on this beach! The dead and those who are going to die! Now, let's get the hell out of here!"

Soldiers from the 2nd Dagger brigade of the 1st Infantry Division on a road march during World War II.

The units participated in the Battle of Normandy throughout the summer of 1944 and subsequent operations across France, reaching the German border at Aachen in September. Along with the rest of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division, brigade units laid siege to Aachen, taking the city after a direct assault on October 21, 1944. They then attacked east of Aachen in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest, driving to the Roer River. Brigade units moved to a rest area on December 7th for its first real rest in 6 months of combat, and were resting when the von Rundstedt offensive (aka Battle of the Bulge) suddenly broke loose December 16, 1944. Dagger Brigade units raced to the Ardennes, and fighting continuously from December 17, 1944 to January 14, 1945, helped blunt and turn back the German offensive. While the brigade itself was disbanded on January 15, 1945, brigade units kept fighting as part of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division until the end of the war in May 1945.

[edit] Post World War II

The Dagger Brigade didn't participate in the Korean War as it was still inactivated. On February 15, 1958 the 2nd Brigade was re-activated at Fort Devens and spent the next five years training in northern Massachusetts and Cape Cod. It was inactivated on February 19, 1963 at Fort Devens, only to be reactivated on October 23, 1963 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division and moved (with the rest of the Division) to Fort Riley, Kansas in January, 1964.

[edit] Vietnam

On July 12, 1965, the 2nd Brigade landed at Cam Ranh Bay and Vung Tau, making it the first element of an Infantry Division to arrive in Vietnam. The brigade returned to Fort Riley, Kansas in April of 1970.

[edit] Persian Gulf War

The Dagger Brigade deployed from Fort Riley, Kansas to Saudi Arabia in December, 1990 as part of the United States' offensive buildup. The brigade was commanded by Colonel Anthony Moreno. The brigade was comprised of 2-16 Infantry Battalion, 3-37 Armor Battalion, and 4-37 Armor Battalion, plus supporting units. The brigade redeployed to Fort Riley in May, 1991.

[edit] Bosnia-Herzegovina

On February 15, 1996 the Dagger Brigade was relocated with the rest of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division to Europe. The Dagger Brigade replaced the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division's Raider Brigade in Schweinfurt, Germany.

Also in February 1996 the Dagger Brigade deployed units to Bosnia-Herzegovina to participate in Operation Joint Endeavor with the US 1st Armored Division.

On October 7, 1996, the Brigade Combat Team deployed to Bosnia to cover the US 1st Armored Division's redeployment to Germany. The brigade participated in Operation Joint Endeavor and Operation Joint Guard, and served as a stabilization force. The brigade redeployed to Schweinfurt in May 1997, except for the 1-77 Armor Battalion task force, which stayed in Bosnia until November 1997.

[edit] Kosovo

Members of the 2nd Brigade pose with their brigade colors after they were unfurled in Kosovo in 1999.

The Dagger Brigade served in Kosovo in 1999-2000 and again in 2002-2003. The Dagger Brigade deployed to the Balkans twice in 1999, first as part of Task Force Sabre in Macedonia, then in Kosovo as part of Task Force Falcon. Task Force Falcon served as the U.S. component of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) with the mission of conducting peackeeping operations in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia'a Serbian Kosovo province.

TF Falcon was under the command of the 1st Infantry Division and included elements from the 1st Armored Division. The Dagger Brigade enetered the war-torn province of Kosovo on June 12, 1999. TF Falcon headquartered at Camp Bondsteel, and grew into a Multi-National Brigade, including units from Greece, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, and the UK.

Initial efforts focused on monitoring and verifying the withdrawal of former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (now Serbia and Montenegro) forces and later the demilitarization and transformation of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

The Dagger Brigade rotated to Kosovo again in 2002, this time focused on maintaining the secure environment established by coalition forces.

[edit] 2003 Invasion of Iraq

2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division soldier SPC Buckner poses with local women at a medical clinic assessment in Iraq in May 2004.

In January 2003, the Dagger Brigade deployed to Turkey to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. Initial efforts were to prepare the way for the U.S. 4th Infantry Division to invade Iraq from the north. When the Turkish government denied access through their border, the 2nd brigade returned to Germany.

Soldiers from Alpha Company, 1-18 Infantry Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division on patrol in Iraq in November of 2004.

In February 2004, the Dagger Brigade deployed to northern Iraq to serve as part of the occupation force. The Brigade Combat Team included of 1-18 Infantry Battalion, 1-26 Infantry Battalion, 1-77 Armor Battalion, 2-108 Infantry Battalion, 1-7 Field Artillery Battalion, plus supporting elements.

[edit] Lineage

Constituted 24 May 1917 in the Regular Army as Headquarters, 2nd Infantry Brigade, and assigned to the 1st Expeditionary Division (later redesignated as the 1st Division)
Organized 8 June 1917 at New York, New York
Reorganized and redesignated 1 April 1921 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Infantry Brigade
Redesignated 23 March 1925 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Brigade
Redesignated 24 August 1936 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Infantry Brigade
Relieved 11 October 1939 from assignment to the 1st Division
Inactivated 1 June 1940 at Fort Ontario, New York
Redesignated 30 June 1943 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Airborne Infantry Brigade, and activated at Camp Mackall, North Carolina
Disbanded 15 January 1945 in Europe
Reconstituted 12 February 1958 in the Regular Army as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Infantry Brigade
Activated 15 February 1958 at Fort Devens, Massachusetts
Inactivated 19 February 1962 at Fort Devens, Massachusetts
Redesignated 23 October 1963 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division
Activated 2 January 1964 at Fort Riley, Kansas