24th Infantry Division (United States)
Gulf War
Desert Shield
An M270 MLRS of A Battery, 13th FA Regiment, 24th ID during Desert Shield
When the United Nations intervened in
Kuwait in 1990, the 24th Infantry Division, which was part of the
Rapid Deployment Force, was one of the first units deployed to Southwest Asia. It arrived in 10 large cargo ships of the
US Navy Sealift Command.[SUP]
[84][/SUP] Advance elements of the 24th Division began arriving in
Saudi Arabia on 17 August.[SUP]
[85][/SUP] Some controversy erupted when the division's round-out unit, the 48th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized), of the Georgia National Guard, was not called up for service.[SUP]
[86][/SUP] Army leaders decided that the use of National Guard forces was unnecessary, as they felt the active-duty force had sufficient troops.[SUP]
[87][/SUP] The 48th Brigade was replaced once the 24th Division was in
Saudi Arabia with the regular Army's
197th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized). The 24th Division was then assigned to
XVIII Airborne Corps as the corps' heavy-armored division.[SUP]
[88][/SUP]
In the months that followed, the 24th Division played an important part of
Operation Desert Shield by providing heavy firepower with its large number of armored vehicles, including 216
M1A1 Abrams tanks.[SUP]
[89][/SUP] Elements of the division were still arriving in September, and in the logistical chaos that followed the rapid arrival of U.S. forces in the region, the soldiers of the 24th Division were housed in warehouses, airport hangars, and on the desert sand.[SUP]
[90][/SUP] The 24th remained in relatively stationary positions in defense of Saudi Arabia until additional American forces arrived for
Operation Desert Storm. Aviation units of the division included 2nd Squadron,
4th Cavalry, and 1st Battalion,
24th Aviation Regiment.[SUP]
[91][/SUP]
Desert Storm
Division engineers perform mine clearing tests during Desert Storm prior to the beginning of the ground war
Once the attack commenced on 24 February, the 24th Infantry Division formed the east flank of the corps with the
3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.[SUP]
[92][/SUP] It blocked the
Euphrates River valley to cut off Iraqi forces in Kuwait and little resistance.[SUP]
[93][/SUP] At this time, the 24th Division's ranks swelled to over 25,000 troops in 34 battalions, commanding 94 helicopters, 241 M1 Abrams tanks, 221
M2 Bradley Armored fighting vehicles, and over 7,800 other vehicles.[SUP]
[94][/SUP] The 24th Infantry Division performed exceptionally well in the theater; it had been training in desert warfare for several years before the conflict.[SUP]
[94][/SUP] On 26 February, the 24th Division advanced through the valley and captured Iraqi airfields at
Jabbah and
Tallil. At the airfields, it encountered entrenched resistance from the Iraqi 37th and 49th Infantry Divisions, as well as the
6th Nebuchadnezzar Mechanized Division of the
Iraqi Republican Guard. Despite some of the most fierce resistance of the war, the 24th Infantry Division destroyed the Iraqi formations[SUP]
[95][/SUP] and captured the two airfields the next day. The 24th then moved east with
VII Corps and engaged several Iraqi
Republican Guard divisions.[SUP]
[96][/SUP]
Ground operations during
Operation Desert Storm, with the 24th Infantry Division positioned at the left flank
After the Iraqi forces were defeated, the U.N. mandated that the U.S. withdraw from Iraq, ending the
Gulf War.[SUP]
[97][/SUP] By the time of the cease-fire on 28 February, the 24th Infantry Division advanced 260 miles and destroyed 360 tanks and other armored personnel carriers, 300 artillery pieces, 1,200 trucks, 25 aircraft, 19 missiles, and over 500 pieces of engineer equipment. The division took over 5,000 Iraqi prisoners of war while suffering only eight killed, 36 wounded, and five non-combat casualties.[SUP]
[98][/SUP]
After returning to the United States in spring 1991, the 24th was reorganized with two brigades at Fort Stewart and the 3rd Brigade reactivated at
Fort Benning, Georgia, replacing the 197th Infantry Brigade.[SUP]
[80][/SUP] In fall 1994,
Iraq again threatened the Kuwaiti border, and two brigades from the division returned to southwest Asia.[SUP]
[4][/SUP] As part of the Army's reduction to a ten-division force,[SUP]
[99][/SUP] the 24th Infantry Division was inactivated on 15 February 1996[SUP]
[1][/SUP] and reflagged to become the
3rd Infantry Division. Its three brigades were reflagged as 3rd Infantry Division brigades.
