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The following service medals and awards are authorized for troopers who served
in the 14th ACR________________________________________________________________________________________
1947-48
The organization and operations of the Constabulary squadrons from which the
armored cavalry regiments were formed in 1948. Reprinted from an article
published in MILITARY REVIEW Oct 1949.
1956
59 Border operations in the mid and late
1950's, Armored Cavalry Regiments along the Iron Curtain an
article by General Bruce Clarke reprinted from ARMOR May-June 1958.
General Clarke was Commanding General of the US Seventh Army in 1957. At
that time the 3rd ACR had the border sector from Coburg to a point east of
Grafenwoehr and the 11th ACR faced the Czech border from there down to
Austria.
1961
The Regiment's actions in August of 1961 when the Berlin was was erected and
NATO defied a Soviet threat to close the Helmstedt - Berlin autobahn are
recalled by BG(R) Albin Irzyk with an article published in the July 2004 issue
of ARMY Magazine
1967-69
Recollections of the Regiment's operations in the period October 1967 to May
1969 by Major General(R) Adrian St John.
1945-1983
US Army Border Operations in Germany: This is an in-depth review
published by Headquarters USAREUR in 1984.
Christmas on the Border
As recalled in a Christmas card sent in 1991.
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The 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment, together with the 2nd and
6th, was activated in Germany in 1948 following imposition of the Soviet
blockade of West Berlin. It was formed from the 14th Constabulary
Regiment. Initially its headquarters was at Fritzlar, near Kassel, and
its 1st, 2d and 3d Battalions (Bns. redesignated Sqdns. in 1960) were
stationed respectively in Fritzlar, Schweinfurt and Coburg. It also
included the 24th Constabulary Squadron based at Bad Hersfeld with troops in
Fulda and Schweinfurt. Up to 1951 this squadron patrolled the border
area from a point east of Kassel to a point west of Coburg.
In the summer of 1951 the Regiment's battalions moved
forward to stations in Bad Hersfeld, Fulda and Bad Kissingen. In early 1952
the Regimental Headquarters moved to join the 1st Battalion in Fulda.
For the next twenty one years the Regiment conducted operations to maintain
around-the-clock surveillance of the ground approaches from the East toward
the sectors of the Fifth US Corps and the Third German Corps. In
addition the 2nd Bn./Sqdn was the covering force for the left flank division
of the Seventh US Corps.
The Soviet force facing the Regiment was the Eight Guards
Army consisting of three motorized rifle divisions and a tank division.
All five regiments of its forward division (39th Guards) were based within 50
Km of the border in our sector. One of them, the 117th at Meiningen,
stood within 15 Km. The other three divisions of the Eight Guards Army
were based forward of the Elbe River. The next echelon was the 1st Guards Tank
Army based around Dresden.
The Fourteenth was on the Border in 1961 when the Berlin
Wall was built and when the fences and minefields were placed along the Iron
Curtain to complete the imprisonment of Germany's eastern states. All
troops of the Regiment deployed to forward field positions as NATO defied the
Soviet threat to close the Helmstedt-Berlin Autobahn. An equally
critical situation arose a year later during the Missile Crisis in November of
1962 when World War III was but an “eye blink” away. Still later, in
May of 1968, the Regiment again deployed to forward positions when, in
conjunction with the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, two rear based
Soviet divisions moved toward the Fulda Gap to reinforce the Eight Guards
Army.
There was a time of very slow promotion in the late 1950s
and early 1960s when the Regiment had a wealth of seasoned captains to command
its companies and troops. Some of those officers had more than six years in
grade and were lightheartedly referred to as “field grade captains”.
From that profile the pendulum swung in the next few years to the other
extreme. During the years of heavy commitment in Vietnam our squadron
commanders in Germany sometimes found themselves with no majors and only one
or two captains to fill the senior positions. Young lieutenants were called
upon to serve as troop commanders. Great credit is due them and their
platoon leaders and to the stalwart first sergeants and platoon sergeants who
met some of the most severe leadership challenges that can arise short of
battle itself.
In 1972 a reduction in the force structure of the U.S.Army
resulted in a decision by the Secretary of the Army to retire the colors of
the Fourteenth and replace them with those of the 11th Armored Cavalry
Regiment. On the 17th of May the soldiers of the Fourteenth placed
their Suivez Moi insignia among treasured keepsakes and donned the insignia of
the Blackhorse Regiment. For the next seventeen years, until the fall of
the Iron Curtain in 1989, that proud regiment continued the border mission.
The US troops based closest to those former stations are the cavalry
squadrons of the 1st Infantry and 1st Armored Divisions. The former is
based at Budingen (see 1st
Squadron, 1st Cavalry ) and the latter at Conn Barracks north of
Schweinfurt (see 1st
Squadron, 4th Cavalry )
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TROOPLISTS
