2nd Chemical Battalion (United States)

The 2nd Chemical Battalion is a United States Army chemical unit stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, United States, and is part of the 48th Chemical Brigade. The battalion can trace its lineage from the 30th Engineer Regiment and has served in World War I, World War II, Korean War, Operation Desert Storm, and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The 2nd Chemical Battalion currently consists of the Headquarters and Headquarters Company and 181st Chemical Company at Fort Hood, Texas, the 172nd Chemical Company at Fort Riley, Kansas and the 63rd Chemical Company at Fort Campbell, Kentucky/Tennessee. The 68th Chemical Company was formerly part of the battalion but was deactivated on September 27, 2024 at Fort Hood. The unit is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the "2D CBRN Battalion" where CBRN stands for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear. However the correct designation for the unit is "2D Chemical Battalion."

History

Formation

Shortly after the U.S. entered World War I, the general staff of the American Expeditionary Forces decided to establish a Gas Service, part of which would be an offensive gas regiment. Born out of this decision was War Department General Order 108, dated 15 August 1917, which authorized and established an offensive gas unit designated as the 30th Engineer Regiment Shortly thereafter, General Order 31 from the General Headquarters of the AEF officially activated the Gas Service Section with Colonel Amos Fries in command. Because its lineage traces directly back to the 30th Engineers, this timeline means that not only is the 2D Chemical Battalion the first and oldest unit in the Chemical Corps, but it is also older than the Chemical Corps itself.
On 30 August 1917 Captain Earl J. Atkisson was assigned the task of raising and training the fledgling gas regiment which was stationed at Camp American University, Washington, D.C. Atkisson set out acquiring officers, enlisted men, equipment and information. Beginning on 19 October 1917, the influx of enlisted personnel into the regiment was "near continuous".
Early on the 30th Engineer Regiment became known as the "Hell Fire Battalion", and its soldiers as the "Hell Fire Boys". A 15 November 1917 story in the Baltimore Evening Star stated:

If His Satanic Majesty happened to drop around at the American University training camp to-day, he would see the "Hell Fire Battalion" at work and might blush with envy. On the War Department records the battalion is known as the "Gas and Flame Battalion of the Thirtieth Regiment Engineers." Throughout the Army they are known as the "Hell Fire Boys."

In reality training consisted mostly of close order drill, marching, inspections and guard duty. The U.S. Army had no men with chemical warfare experience, no weapons or agents to train for offensive chemical warfare, and no gas masks or other protection to train for defensive chemical warfare. On 24 December 1917, the first two companies of the regiment deployed to France as part of the American Expeditionary Force, still with no equipment or training for chemical warfare.

World War I

Once in France, companies A and B reported to the British Special Brigade and received training in offensive chemical warfare with Livens projectors and Stokes mortars. Five platoons completed a five-week training course and began offensive operations under supervision of the Special Brigade on 2 March, only 93 days after formal organization. During this period the 30th Engineers participated in the largest gas attack of the war, consisting of 4,000 Livens projectors. On 22 May 1918, the regiment began combat operations as an independent American unit. The 30th Engineers won three campaign streamers – Flanders 1918, Lys, and Lorraine 1918 which are still carried on the battalion colors today.
On 13 July 1918 the regiment was re-designated as the 1st Gas Regiment. In its first campaign the front was very fluid. Gas weapons were considered static and of little use when positions were changing frequently. Therefore, the regiment was assigned to road repairs and the men performed this task with such excellence that they were praised by the I Corps Commanding General for “maintaining practically the entire line of communication upon which the advancing Divisions were dependent” which was “of first importance” to the success of the campaign. Meanwhile, officers and picked weapon squads demonstrated to American combat commanders the effectiveness of their gas weaponry. This began a tradition still demonstrated by the Red Dragons today: gaining trust and confidence by excelling at onerous, off-mission work, and using persuasion and education to ensure their chemical capabilities are used most effectively.
For their second campaign they were assigned all along the American front, supporting eight infantry divisions. Confounding the view that gas weapons were static, members of the regiment began carrying their Stokes mortars along with the advancing infantry to assist by taking out enemy machine gun positions and other strong points. At times their heavy 4-inch gas mortars were in action ahead of the infantry's own 3-inch mortars, firing combinations of gas, smoke, and thermite.
The 1st Gas Regiment won battle streamers for Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, and the Meuse-Argonne.
During six campaigns seventy-five members of the regiment made the ultimate sacrifice while supporting the AEF. After the Armistice, the regiment redeployed to Camp Kendrick, Lakehurst, New Jersey where it was demobilized on 28 February 1919.

Between the Wars

On 24 February 1920 the 1st Gas Regiment was reconstituted at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland which remained its home station until 1953.
Duties at Edgewood were mostly routine for more than a decade. The men maintained the grounds, polished their equipment, and drilled. They conducted demonstrations with Stokes mortars and Livens projectors and taught the Chemical Warfare Course for all Army officers. Being trained with tear gas, their responsibilities included crowd control and periodic field exercises were conducted to practice this mission as well as combat operations.
On 5 February 1929 the 1st Gas Regiment was redesignated the 1st Chemical Regiment. The men in ranks hardly noticed, as the idyllic environment at Edgewood continued unchanged. The daily schedule of events was standard, with weekends free after Saturday morning inspections.
Change was more noticeable after 15 April 1935 when the 1st Chemical Regiment was disbanded. The next day the 2nd Separate Chemical Battalion was activated, receiving all personnel and equipment from the disbanded regiment. With supplies and equipment in short supply, soldiers began to refer to the new unit as the “2nd Desperate Chemical Battalion.” The battalion began training with the new 4.2-inch chemical mortar, developed from the 4-inch Stokes mortar. The new weapon had a rifled barrel that give it unprecedented accuracy, and a firm base structure that allowed firing up to 20 rounds per minute. With a 25-pound shell a company of mortars had the firepower of a full battalion of 105 mm howitzers.

World War II

After Pearl Harbor the battalion spent several months performing guard duty at aircraft manufacturing plants, public water supplies and other potentially sensitive points. Then it was transferred to Fort Bragg, NC under a new commander, Major Robert W. Breaks. On 1 April 1942 Companies B, C, and D and a Medical Detachment were activated. For 14 months Breaks carried out a training program that involved working with paratroopers and engineers, extensive mountain training, and four amphibious invasion exercises. Most important, they trained with the 45th Infantry Division, with which they invaded Sicily in Operation HUSKY, and which they supported on many occasions during the war.
During the Sicilian campaign, 10 July – 18 August 1943, operating under the code name SAPPHIRE, the Red Dragons were the only Allied unit to serve the entire 38-day campaign without relief. Their performance in supporting infantry attacks was so remarkable that shortly after the invasion of Italy, Fifth Army ordered that no infantry division would ever go into combat without a chemical mortar battalion attached, and no infantry regiment without a chemical mortar company attached. Eventually 32 chemical mortar battalions were activated and in 1947 the 4.2-inch mortar was standardized by Ordnance and was the primary heavy support weapon for fifty years. These decisions rested heavily on the mortar's performance in the hands of the 2nd Separate Chemical Battalion.
The battalion was cited specifically for its actions on 6 August 1943 at San Fratello Ridge, known as “Hill 715.” Two battalions of the 15th Infantry became trapped while attacking across the Furiano River. The Red Dragons laid an eight-hour smoke screen on a 3500-yard front to protect the infantry which was under direct observation and fire from the ridge. Two chemical mortar companies were shelled out of their positions but set up elsewhere and continued firing. That night the two infantry battalions returned safely under cover of darkness.
On 7 September 1943 the unit was re-designated the 2nd Chemical Battalion, Motorized being one of the few Army units with enough organic transport to move itself unassisted. Under this name the battalion participated in the invasion of Italy at Salerno The 45th, 34th and 3rd Infantry Divisions went into the line and were rotated out, but the Red Dragons remained in action to support each in turn. The unit participated in the Naples-Foggia and Rome-Arno campaigns, then prepared for the invasion of southern France in operation ANVIL-DRAGOON, Company A joined the First Airborne Task in a glider assault 15 miles inland from the beaches. The battalion continued with the ABTF defending against any German penetration of the French-Italian border in the Maritime Alps. They then proceeded to the Vosges Mountains, attached to the First French Army. At this point they had completed the Southern France campaign. On 31 December 1944 the designation changed to 2nd Chemical Mortar Battalion.
Continuing on to cross the Rhine and enter Germany, the battalion completed the Rhineland, Ardennes Alsace, and Germany campaigns. Significant events included defending the flank of 3rd Army during the Battle of the Bulge, assault on the Maginot line, liberation of the Dachau concentration camp, and the capture of a town named Traunstein. This was the only occasion in the entire war in which a chemical mortar battalion was credited with such a capture. In Traunstein HQ Company captured a young Luftwaffe deserter named Joseph Ratzinger, who later would become Pope Benedict XVI.
After the German surrender, the battalion was assigned guard duty over numerous sites where the Germans had stored chemical munitions, including Zyklon B, the chemical used for mass executions in the concentration camps. On 26 July 1946 the battalion was deactivated in Germany, with remaining personnel going to the 9th Infantry Division. During the war the battalion was in combat for 511 days, the same as the 45th Division, and the second most days of combat in the US Army in the European Theatre of Operations. Fifty-eight men were killed in action.