| 327th Infantry Regiment | |
|---|---|
327th Infantry coat of arms |
|
| Active | 1917-1945 1948-1953 1954- |
| Country | USA |
| Branch | Army |
| Type | Infantry |
| Part of | 101st Airborne Division |
| Garrison/HQ | Fort Campbell, Kentucky |
| Nickname | "Bastogne Bulldogs" (BDE)(Special Designation) [1] "Above the Rest" (1st BN) "No Slack" (2nd BN) "Battle Force" (3rd BN) "Bandits" (1-32nd CAV/RSTA) |
| Motto | Honor and Country |
| Engagements | World War I World War II *Battle of Normandy *Battle of the Bulge Vietnam War War in Southwest Asia |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Colonel Joseph H. Harper,Colonel David Hackworth,Colonel Charles A. Beckwith
Medal of Honor recipients = Lt James P. Garner(VN),SSG John G Gertsch(VN) Honorary Commanders = COL (R) Lou McDonald, CSM (R) Joe Bossi identification_symbol= |
| U.S. Infantry Regiments | |
|---|---|
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| 325th Infantry Regiment | 329th Infantry Regiment |
During World War II, the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment ("Bastogne Bulldogs"[1]) was a gliderborne regiment of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division. It fought during World War II as part of the U.S. 82nd Division. It has also been deployed to: The Dominican Republic 1965; Vietnam 7/29/65 – 3/10/72; Grenada 1983; Panama 1989; and most recently to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Contents |
Although ostensibly the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment during World War II as part of the 101st Airborne Division, the majority of this unit landed by sea on Utah Beach the afternoon of D-Day, June 6, 1944, due to a shortage of glider tow planes. The 327 suffered a few casualties going ashore by enemy fire and were strafed by enemy aircraft. Near Ste. Come DuMont (southeast of the village), the 327 was camped right next to German paratrooper, separated by thick hedgerows. German speaking 327 soldiers engaged in taunting the enemy. The 327 took several casualties by enemy mortars. By June 8, the 327th had entered the front line, largely in reserve of the 506 until crossing the Douve River near Carentan. First and Second Battalions guarded Utah Beachhead's left flank northeast of Carentan. The 327 suffered heavy casualties while advancing on Carentan via what is now the city Marina from a northeast direction. G Company lead the attack on the west bank of the marina canal. A Company of the attached 401 was on the east bank of the canal. Concealed German machine guns and mortars inflicted the most casualties. The 327 played a pivotal role with the 501st and 506th of the 101st in taking Carentan. The 327th marched through the town and East to be possibly the first unit of the Utah Beachhead to link up with the Omaha Beachhead around the four-villages area of le Fourchette, le Mesnil, le Rocher and Cotz. It was then directed South between the bulk of the 101st and the 75th Infantry Division of the Omaha Beachhead.
The unit was commanded by Col. George S. Wear through June 10, and then its command was picked up by Col. Joseph H. Harper. Although not official, the men of the 327 understood that Wear was replaced due to friendly fire artillery casualties while crossing the Douve River. Officially, enemy mortars were blamed.
The regiment played a pivotal part in the Market Garden battle near Best, in the Netherlands, encircling a large German force which had been pressured from the west by the tank support 502 of the 101st. Sgt. Manuel Hidalgo and Lt. Hibbard of G Company risked their lives in a humanitarian effort to get the enemy to surrender before being annihilated by the 327. In the Market Garden operations, some companies in the 327 suffered 2/3 casualty rates before arriving at Opheusden. At Opheusden, the 327 withstood repeated assaults by the enemy and heavy artillery barrages. In Rendezvous with Destiny, Rapport and Arthur cite British officers that indicated that the barrage suffered by the 327 was as intense as anything they had seen, and rivaled what the British pummeled the Germans with at El Alamein in North Africa. The fighting along the west and northwest perimeter in the Ophuesden (the Island) area was as intense as any fighting in the area. E Company engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy near the railroad track switch house south of Opheusden.
At Bastogne, Belgium, the 327 held half of the perimeter (including the 401, which was acting as the Regiment's 3rd Battalion and later begin officially a part of the 327. Numerous intense fights erupted along the 327 sector including two brutal fights at Marvie and more to the west in the 401 section. At Marvie, the 327 was outnumbered by 15 to 1. Facing only 2 US companies, the German commander took his whole division further west after engaging G Company with E Company in reserve and several tanks from the 10th Armored Division. At Marvie, the Germans lost 6 tanks and several half tracks. One tank did break into Marvie, but was destroyed trying to make a run towards Bastogne. Several days later during the night of the 23rd of December, the enemy attacked in force with tanks. The road through Marvie was blocked when G Company mistook a US tank destroyer for a German tank and destroyed it on the village bridge. The Germans overran Hill 500 just to the west of Marvie and broke through the gap between F and G Company. The enemy then put rear pressure on the F Company Command Post. A platoon sized paratrooper element came to support F Company. Unable to make quick progress the Germans pressed the attack until morning, but withdrew when the German Command Center was destroyed by US artillery. Again, the 327 was badly outnumbered by the enemy.
After the break through by General Patton's tanks, the 327 proceeded to the north sector of the Bastogne theater of operations. There, 2nd Battalion was involved in clearing Champs after a German armored element broke through paratrooper lines. Later, the 327 made an open field maneuver against armored enemy troops east of Foy, which helped secure that village. After that, the enemy was primarily in withdrawal mode back to Germany. The 327 often is slighted by fans of the 101st Airborne Division as riding in a glider is not deemed as perilous as parachuting in battle. Several Companies of the 327 suffered casualty rates as high or higher than many paratrooper regiments. Some companies, such as G Company took casualties as severe as the most engaged paratrooper regiments. Later, the 327 was involved in action near Hagenau, France in Alsace.
Inactivated on 30 November 1945 in France, the regiment was redesignated as the 516th Airborne Infantry Regiment on 18 June 1948 and active from 6 July 1948 to 1 April 1949 and from 25 August 1950 to 1 December 1953 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky. As was the case with many combat divisions of World War II fame, the colours of the 101st Airborne Division and its subordinate elements were active only as training units and were not organized as parachute or glider units.
On 27 April 1954 the 516th was relieved from assignment to the 101st Airborne Division and activated at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, on 15 May 1954, again as a training unit. On 1 July 1956 it was reorganized and redesignated as the 327th Airborne Infantry Regiment, an element of the 101st.
On 25 April 1957 the colours of Company A, 327AIR were reorganized and redesignated as HHC, 1st Airborne Battle Group, 327th Infantry, and remained assigned to the 101st Airborne Division (organic elements concurrently constituted and activated). This was the only active element of the 327th Infantry during the Pentomic era. When the Army abandoned battle groups for brigades and battalions, the unit was reorganized and redesignated on 3 February 1963 as the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry, an element of the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division.
On 21 January 1964 the lineage of the former Company B, 327AIR was redesignated as HHC, 2d Battalion, 327th Infantry, assigned to the 101st Airborne Division (organic elements concurrently constituted) and activated on 3 February 1963, also as an element of the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division.
As elements of the 1st Brigade, the two battalions of 327th Infantry deployed to Vietnam in 1965, where they were joined by the rest of the division in late 1967. While still at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the remaining elements of the 101st were severely stripped of personnel to support the war effort. When ordered to deploy, it was necessary to fill empty manning slots with non-Airborne-qualified soldiers, effectively making these units of the division Airborne in name only. In mid-1968, the Army created a second Airmobile division (the other being the 1st Cavalry Division) by reorganizing the 101st and its subordinate elements, to include the battalions of the 327th Infantry. The division has remained a helicopter-landed unit to the present day.
During the early 1980s the Army adopted a battalion rotation program that paired combat battalions based in the continental United States with those stationed overseas. As part of this program, the lineage of the former Company C, 327AIR was redesignated on 21 January 1983 as HHC, 3d Battalion, 327th Infantry, and assigned to the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). This was accomplished by reflagging the existing 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry. In Alaska the existing infantry battalions of the 172nd Infantry Brigade were reflagged as the 4th, 5th and 6th Battalions, 327th Infantry,with the 3 'C' Companies' back on Airborne status, thus reactivating the lineages of the former Companies D, E, and F, 327AIR. The rotational program was later abandoned and the Alaska-based battalions were reflagged again, leaving only the Fort Campbell-based battalions with 327th designations.
With the recent Army-wide reorganization adding one brigade to each division and eliminating one infantry or armor battalion from each brigade, 3-327th was inactivated and replaced by the 1st Squadron (RSTA), 32nd Cavalry Regiment. The 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) also includes the 2nd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment; the 426th Brigade Support Battalion; and the 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion. [2][3][4]
In 1990 the 1st BCT was deployed to Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield. The 1st BCT established defensive positions north of Tap Line Road approximately 60 miles (97 km) south of the Iraq border. On Jan 17 the 327th Infantry Regiment conducted a ground movement to Camp Eagle II in preparation for deployment into Iraq. Over the course of the next week the regiment regrouped and by C-130 and ground convey repositioned to RaFa in northern Saudi Arabia and further into TAA Campbell where it remained for approximately 30 days. With the commencement of ground operations, under the command of Colonel Tom Hill the 327th conducted the deepest and largest air assault operation in history establishing FOB Cobra approximately 85 miles (137 km) inside Iraq. Subordinate elements were 1st Battalion 327th Infantry Battalion commanded by LTC Hancock, 2nd Battalion 327th commanded by LTC Gary Thomas, 3rd Battalion 327th commanded by LTC (P) Gary J. Bridges and 1st Battalion 502nd commanded by LTC Jim Donald. 2nd Battalion 320 FA artillery was commanded by LTC Lynn Hartsell. The 3rd Battalion 327the Infantry Regiment conducted a second air assault operation to seize FOB White under the command of 2nd Brigade 101st Airborne Division for further seal the defeat of Iraqi forces. Not a single 101st Airborne Division soldier was lost.
In early 2003 the entire 101st Airborne Division deployed to Kuwait in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom where the 1st Brigade Combat Team made up of the 327th Infantry Regiment under the command of Colonel Ben Hodges and its support elements prepared for battle at Camp Pennsylvania. The majority of the 327th Infantry Regiment later shifted to Camp Udairi, Kuwait and from there, conducted a massive air assault into southern Iraq while other soldiers crossed the Kuwaiti-Iraqi border in a massive maneuver known as a GAC, or Ground Assault Convoy. Once in Iraq, the 327th encountered heavy to light resistance from both fleeing Iraqi soldiers as well as the Fedayeen Saddam and other less organized fighters. The 327th fought through An Najaf, Al Kufa, Karbala, Baghdad, and then headed north to conduct Stability and Security Operations in Qayyarah West and Mosul or Al Mawsil.
They returned to America in early 2004 and were re-deployed to Iraq again in the Fall of 2005. During their second tour in Iraq, they were stationed in the Kirkuk province and under the command of COL David Gray and CSM Rory Malloy. The majority of the 1st Brigade Combat Team were positioned on FOB Warrior at the Kirkuk Regional Air Base while 1st Battalion and other attachments were spread out amongst FOB McHenry outside of Hawijah, FOB Caldwell just south of Kirkuk, and FOB Bernstien southwest of Kirkuk.
For their third OIF deployment, the Bastogne Bulldogs were split up, with the 1st Battalion deployed near Baiji, Iraq, and the 2nd Battalion deployed in the vicinity of Samarra, Iraq. Both battalions served 15 month deployments beginning in September 2007, and ending in late November 2008.
During the early part of World War II, after the formation of the division, the 101st had two two-battalion glider regiments, one of which was the 401st. When the TO&E for airborne divisions was changed to encompass a single three-battalion glider regiment, the 2nd Battalion of the 401st was transferred to the 82nd Airborne Division and the 1st Battalion of the 401st Glider Infantry Regiment served as the third battalion of the 327th GIR. This battalion was sea-landed in the Normandy invasion, glider-landed during Operation Market Garden and moved by truck to participate in the Battle of the Bulge.
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army Center of Military History document "327th Infantry Lineage and Honors".