V Corps (United States)


V Corps, formerly known as the Fifth Corps, is a regular corps of the United States Army headquartered at Fort Knox, Kentucky and Camp Kościuszko, Poland.
It previously served during World War I, World War II, the Cold War, Kosovo War, and the war on terrorism.

Shoulder sleeve insignia

The corps's shoulder patch, a pentagon whose points lie on an imaginary circle in diameter whose edges are white lines in width and whose radial lines are white in width, was approved on 3 December 1918. The triangles thus outlined in white are flag blue. The pentagon represents the number of the Corps, while blue and white are the colors associated with Corps flags.

History

World War I

V Corps was organized 7–12 July 1918 in the Regular Army in France, as part of the American Expeditionary Forces. By the end of World War I, the Corps had fought in three named campaigns.

Interwar period

The V Corps was constituted in the Organized Reserve on 29 July 1921, allotted to the Fifth Corps Area, and assigned to the Second Army. The corps headquarters was activated on 17 February 1922 at Fort Thomas, Kentucky, with Regular Army and Organized Reserve personnel. The Headquarters Company was allotted to the Ohio National Guard, but was placed on the "Deferred National Guard" list on 2 July 1923 and allotted to the Organized Reserve.
The Headquarters Company was initiated late 1924 with Reserve personnel at Columbus, Ohio. The corps headquarters was responsible for providing and planning administration, organization, supply, and training for army, corps, and other non-divisional Reserve units, less field and coast artillery, in the Fifth Corps Area. The headquarters was relieved from active duty on 15 November 1924, and all Regular Army personnel were reassigned to the Headquarters, Non-Divisional Group, Fifth Corps Area, which assumed the responsibilities previously held by the V Corps. Both the Headquarters and Headquarters Company remained active in the Organized Reserve. The corps headquarters was relocated in late 1924 to Indianapolis, Indiana, where most of the Reserve personnel assigned to the unit were located. Headquarters, V Corps was withdrawn from the Organized Reserve on 15 August 1927 and allotted to the Regular Army; Headquarters Company, V Corps was withdrawn from the Deferred National Guard list on 15 September 1927 and permanently allotted to the Organized Reserve.
The headquarters company was further withdrawn from the Organized Reserve on 1 October 1933 and allotted to the Regular Army. At the same time, the corps headquarters was partially activated at Fort Hayes, Ohio, with Regular Army personnel from the headquarters, Fifth Corps Area, and Organized Reserve personnel from the corps area at large. Though a "Regular Army Inactive" unit from 1927 to 1940, the corps headquarters was organized provisionally for short periods using its assigned Reserve officers and staff officers from Headquarters, Fifth Corps Area. These periods of provisional active duty were generally for command post exercises and major maneuvers. Headquarters, V Corps was fully activated on 20 October 1940, less Reserve personnel, at Camp Beauregard, LA.

World War II

After Nazi Germany declared war on the United States on 11 December 1941, the corps deployed the first American soldiers to the European Theater of Operations, United States Army. That initial deployment was known as the U.S. Army Northern Ireland Force or MAGNET. On 6 June 1944, V Corps assaulted Omaha Beach, Normandy. Corps soldiers then broke out from the beachhead, liberated Paris and Sedan, Ardennes, and raced to the German border. After liberating Luxembourg, V Corps fought in the Battle of the Bulge, captured Leipzig, made first contact with the Red Army at Torgau, and, south in Czechoslovakia, liberated Plzeň by May 1945.

Cold War

In March 1947, United States European Command directed that its combat forces were to convert to "Occupation duties." On 1 December 1950, due to concern of a Soviet threat to Western Europe during the Korean War, Seventh Army was activated as a field army in Europe. Seventh Army absorbed the two main Occupation Duty forces then in Germany, namely the 1st Infantry Division and the United States Constabulary.
By middle 1948 limited combat training had been restored within the European Command.
In December, 1950 President Truman declared a National Emergency due to the Korean War, and four divisions were dispatched to reinforce U.S. forces in Europe, including the National Guard's 28th and 43rd Infantry Divisions. In May 1951 the 4th Infantry Division arrived in United States Army Europe in Germany, and on 3 August 1951, V Corps was reactivated and assigned to the Seventh Army in USAREUR. In July the 2d Armored Division arrived in Germany, and on 25 August 1951 the 4th Infantry Division and 2d Armored Division were assigned as V Corps divisions.
As of June 1954, the main unit assignments to V Corps were 1st Infantry Division, 4th Infantry Division, 2d Armored Division, and 19th Armor Group. The first U.S. armored division to be stationed east of the Rhine River in the Cold War, namely V Corps' 3d Armored Division, arrived in May/June 1956. The 19th Armor Group was replaced by the 4th Armor Group on 1 July 1955 ; the 4th Armor Group was deactivated in the 1963 ROAD conversion. In 1955 the 1st Infantry Division gyroscoped to CONUS, and was replaced in V Corps by the 10th Infantry Division from CONUS. In 1958 the 3rd Infantry Division gyroscoped from CONUS and the 10th Infantry Division gyroscoped to CONUS.
Due to the 1963 ROAD reorganization in USAREUR, V Corps ultimately lost two assigned units:
the 4th Armor Group was inactivated;
the 3rd Infantry Division, with its headquarters at Wuerzburg, was reassigned to VII Corps. After the Cold War collapse of the Warsaw Pact, V Corps soldiers deployed both units and individuals to Saudi Arabia for the Gulf War; and to other operations in Kuwait, northern Iraq, Croatia, Somalia, Republic of Macedonia, Rwanda, and Zaire.

Organization 1989

Reorganization

At the end of the Cold War in 1989 V Corps consisted of the following units:
In December 1994, as part of the realignment of United States Armed Forces, V Corps moved from the IG Farben Building to Campbell Barracks in Heidelberg, severing a forty-three-year tie with Frankfurt. The corps reached out to the armed forces of eastern Europe with numerous initiatives to foster closer ties and better understanding. Maintaining the NATO commitment, V Corps in 1994 created two bi-national corps with Germany. For Command Component Land Heidelberg missions, the corps commanded the 13th Armored Infantry Division, while II Corps commanded the 1st Armored Division.
After the Cold War collapse of the Warsaw Pact, V Corps soldiers deployed both units and individuals to Saudi Arabia for the Gulf War; and to other operations in Kuwait, northern Iraq, Croatia, Somalia, Republic of Macedonia, Rwanda, and Zaire.

Germany

In December 1994, as part of the realignment of United States Armed Forces, V Corps moved from the IG Farben Building to Campbell Barracks in Heidelberg, severing a forty-three year tie with Frankfurt. The corps reached out to the armed forces of eastern Europe with numerous initiatives to foster closer ties and better understanding. Maintaining the NATO commitment, V Corps in 1994 created two bi-national corps with Germany. For Command Component Land Heidelberg missions, the corps commanded the 13th Armored Infantry Division, while II Corps commanded the 1st Armored Division.

Eastern Europe

In December 1995, V Corps deployed 1st Armored Division and elements of six separate brigades for the Implementation Force. The corps headquarters and Headquarters Company, the 3d Support Command, and the separate brigades helped form the National Support Element headquartered in Hungary for United States Armed Forces in Bosnia. Brigades of the two divisions rotated in the peace enforcement mission for a number of years in Bosnia. Headquarters and Headquarters Company, V Corps, was decorated with the Army Superior Unit Award in 1998 in recognition of the unit's performance in Implementation Force. In April 1999, V Corps deployed the headquarters and subordinate units to Albania as Task Force Hawk, a force involved in the ongoing crisis in Kosovo. The 1st Infantry Division served in Kosovo twice and the 1st Armored Division served once, in addition to V Corps separate brigades.

Iraq

At the end of 2002, V Corps deployed to Kuwait under United States Central Command for the Iraq War. The United States-led coalition brought about a regime change in Iraq and satisfied international concerns about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. The corps and its maneuver brigades crossed into Iraq on 21 March 2003 as the main effort. In sixteen days of fighting, V Corps advanced more than 540 miles straight-line distance from Kuwait to Baghdad, decisively defeated the Iraqi Armed Forces, and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein.
On 15 June 2003, the corps formed Combined Joint Task Force 7, based in Baghdad, and continued military operations to pacify the remainder of Iraq, rebuild the country, and create democratic institutions. As part of Combined Joint Task Force 7 mission, V Corps soldiers sought out and arrested or killed the major figures in the previous Iraqi regime, culminating in the arrest of Saddam Hussein himself. On 1 February 2004, V Corps was succeeded in Combined Joint Task Force 7 by III Corps and redeployed to its home station in Heidelberg, Germany. In recognition of its combat achievements in Iraq, the Department of the Army, in 2004, awarded the Headquarters and Headquarters Company the Meritorious Unit Commendation.