Military unit
The 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment is an artillery unit of the United States Army. The battalion traces its lineage to 1812, and it is currently assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division.[1] The battalion has served in the Seminole Wars, the Civil War, the Spanish–American War, World War I, World War II, Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom.
History
The history of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment dates back to January 11, 1812, when the first GUNNERS assembled near Salisbury, North Carolina, as Capt. Donoho's Company, the 2nd Regiment of Artillery. Units of the regiment were involved in their first combat during the War of 1812 in the Canadian Campaign. The battalion has since earned numerous battle streamers including one for fighting against the Seminoles during the Indian Wars in Florida. Units of the regiment were awarded 13 battle streamers for service during the Mexican War. This included battles fought at Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo. Less than 15 years later, the battalion earned 14 battle streamers participating in the American Civil War including campaigns at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness and Petersburg. In 1898, the battalion participated in the Santiago Campaign of the Spanish–American War. In July 1918, the unit deployed to Europe with the 6th Division for action in WWI.
In August 1944, the battalion returned to action in Europe as part of the 9th Armored Division, spending time in Britain and France. The battalion soon engaged the Germans along the Siegfried Line on Germany's western border. During the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and January 1945, the battalion helped relieve the garrison at Bastogne, and they later supported the drive into Germany across the Rhine River at Remagen. It smashed its way through central Germany near Wetzlar before driving northward toward Berlin and then south into Czechoslovakia before taking up occupation duty near Nurnberg. During that time in action, about eight months, the battalion earned its laurels as the unit that saw the most time in combat of any unit in the 9th Armored Division. Firing 56,426 rounds from its M7 "Priest" self-propelled 105-mm howitzers, the battalion earned the most individual decorations of any unit in the division artillery. The battalion even earned the Presidential Unit Citation for its actions taken at the onset of the "Battle of the Bulge." 2-3 Pic 2
On February 24, 1991, the battalion moved across the Iraqi border in support of Operation Desert Storm and fired their first round at the enemy since 1945. In 2004, the battalion deployed with the 1st Brigade Combat Team (Ready First), 1 Armored Division in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom to Baghdad and again in 2006 to Tal Afar and Ramadi. The battalion deactivated in 2007 in Giessen, Germany, and reactivated in 2008 as part of the Ready First Combat Team at Fort Bliss. 2-3 FA deployed to Shah Wali Kot District, Kandahar, Afghanistan, from December 2012 to September 2013 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom as a combined arms task force as well as provided artillery support throughout the Ready First area of operations.[2]
United States Army
Field artillery