1st Battalion The 1st Battalion, 34th Armor was constituted in the Regular Army on 28 August 1941 as Company A, 34th Armor Regiment. The unit was activated shortly thereafter on 1 October 1941 at Fort Knox, Kentucky, as an element of the 5th Armored Division. During
World War II, the 1st Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment was relieved from the 5th Armor Division, reorganized and re-designated as the 772nd Tank Battalion before being sent to Europe. Arriving at Le Havre, France in February 1945, it participated in the Rhineland and Central Europe Campaigns. Simultaneously, 2nd Battalion was reformed as the new 34th Armor Regiment, and 3rd Battalion became the 10th Armored Regiment. In March 1945, 772nd Battalion was attached to the 44th Infantry Division only days before crossing the Rhine River south of Worms, Germany. The battalion then led the attack of the 44th Infantry Division, which seized the city of Mannheim, an industrial, and transportation center. In April and May 1945, with the war fast approaching an end, the 772nd Tank Battalion moved rapidly across Germany into Austria, again leading the 44th Infantry Division. In Austria, the battalion's final combat mission was highlighted by the surrender of the 19th German Army. After the end of World War II, the battalion was inactivated on 14 November 1945 at
Camp Shelby, Mississippi. It was redesignated on 16 January 1947 as Company A,
306th Tank Battalion. Assigned to the Sixth Army, and allotted to the Army Reserves, the battalion was activated on 25 June 1947 at Seattle, Washington where the unit remained until 1965. In May 1949, Company A was reorganized and redesignated as Company A, 306th Heavy Tank Battalion before being deactivated again on 15 September 1950. The unit was completely disbanded on 20 February 1952. It was reconstituted and redesignated as Company A, 34th Armor in March 1957, the unit was withdrawn from the Army Reserve and re-allotted to the Regular Army. In April of the same year, the unit was redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 34th Armor, concurrently assigned to the 4th Infantry Division and reactivated at
Fort Lewis,
Washington. It was again reorganized and redesignated on 1 October 1963 as the 1st Battalion, 34th Armor and again inactivated on 14 October 1965 at Fort Lewis, Washington, and relieved from assignment to the 4th Infantry Division. The 1st Battalion, 34th Armor was reactivated at Fort Riley, Kansas on 1 August 1979 and assigned to the
1st Infantry Division (United States), the "Big Red One." From 1980 to 1990 the Centurion Battalion participated in numerous field-training exercises to include 4
REFORGER trips to Germany, and 4 deployments to the National Training Center in California. In December 1990, the battalion deployed to Operation Desert Shield in Saudi Arabia. During Operation Desert Storm, the battalion was the Brigade Assault Force for the breach of Iraqi defenses, and led the 1st Brigade in the night attack against the Tawakalna Division of the Republican Guard, and was the first unit in the Devil Brigade to enter Kuwait. The battalion deployed to Kuwait in 2003 in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom as the first unit from 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized) to enter that theater of operations. On 7 September 2003, Task Force 1-34th Armor was assigned to the Multi-National Force Iraq and assigned to the Multi-National Division Central. Elements of 1-34th Armor served in Habbaniyah and Ramadi in the Al Anbar province under the 82nd Airborne and 1st Marine Divisions. In Iraq, Task Force 1-34th encountered the beginning of the insurgency in Al Anbar performing full spectrum operations. The task force's missions included tasks such as renovating schools, helping build a local political structure, and simultaneously closing with and destroying the enemy. 1-34th Armor returned from Iraq in 2004. It subsequently participated in a mission readiness exercise at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, LA for a possible redeployment to Iraq. However, in 2006 the mission of the 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division changed to one of training units for deployment to Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as providing small security forces (SECFOR) elements.
2nd Battalion The 2nd Battalion was deployed from
Fort Irwin, California to
South Vietnam in September 1966. During the Vietnam War, Company C, 2-34 AR was a tank company; "Charlie" Company now acts as a scout and mechanized infantry company and fields the
Bradley Fighting Vehicle alongside the heavy armor employed by the rest of 2-34's "line" companies. During its service in Vietnam, Company B, 2-34 AR, was cited on 8 April 1969 under Army General Orders No. 21, for heroism and awarded the
Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm by the government of South Vietnam, for actions from 12 July 1965 to 16 October 1968The rest of 2nd Battalion was also cited on the same orders, and awarded the Gallantry Cross with Palm for actions from December 1965 to August 1968. 2nd Battalion (excluding Company B) was awarded the Gallantry Cross with Palm again, cited on 14 October 1971 under HQDA General Orders No. 48, for service during October 1966-1 August 1967. 2-34 Armor would altogether be awarded the Gallantry Cross with Palm a total of 4 times for its Vietnam service, with the specific award to Company B counted separately, and while the
Civil Action Honor Medal, First Class was presented to Headquarters & Headquarters Company and Company A, and to 2-34 Armor as a whole on a separate occasion[http://www.2nd34tharmor.freeservers.com/major_operations_and_battles.htm. Additionally, on 19 March 1974, HDQA General Orders No. 8 specified that all units which had served in Vietnam were authorized to wear the Gallantry Cross with PalmIt was during their Vietnam War service that 2-34 earned the "Dreadnaughts" name. Given by the
1st Infantry Division commander, Major General
William E. DePuy, in response to a situation in 1966 wherein 34 of the battalion's tanks became stuck amidst a Vietnamese monsoon. 2-34 managed to get every one of their tanks freed before nightfall, to which General DePuy called them "Dreadnaughts," meaning they could do the impossible and feared nothing.[https://pbase.com/d_berry/image/91635444/original The Dreadnaughts went on to be sent out on numerous assignments where armored forces were needed, including Operations Cedar Falls, Junction City, Baker, Yellowstone, and
Saratoga. A Valorous Unit Citation was awarded for 2-34's service during the Operation Fish Hook in 1970 (part of the Cambodian campaign)After returning from Vietnam to Fort Carson in December 1970, 2-34 Armor exchanged the
M48A3 Patton tank for the
M60. The M60A3 remained in use until it was replaced by the M1 Abrams in 1989[https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/2-34ar.htm, which has remained the mainstay of 2-34's tank companies for more than 30 years as of 2025. After 17 continuous years with the "Ivy Division," 2-34 Armor departed Fort Carson and the 4th Infantry Division on 14 July 1987, and was reassigned to the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley effective 16 August 19872-34 deployed on 1 January 1991 in support of Operation Desert Shield, and participated in Operation Desert Saber in February 1991. During the Global War on Terrorism, 2-34 deployed twice; the first was with
1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, during the invasion and initial post-war occupation of Iraq in March-December 2003. The second was with the
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division in another deployment to Iraq, this time in January 2005-2006. 2-34th Armor is currently assigned to the
1st Armored Brigade Combat Team,
1st Infantry Division, stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas.
Current organization The current makeup of the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment is as follows: • Company A-
M1 Abrams • Company B-
M1 Abrams • Company C-
Bradley Fighting Vehicle • Forward Support Company •
Headquarters & Headquarters Company 3rd Battalion Assigned to the
5th Armored Division in 1943, under the name of the 10th Tank Battalion, 3rd Battalion was cited by the Provisional Government of France on 15 July 1946 for exemplary heroism during 14-20 September 1944 as part of the 5th Armored Division's Combat Command R. Awarded the
Croix de Guerre with silver star, Combat Command R was referred to in the citation as "A group of units inspired by a fierce will to conquer."[https://d34w7g4gy10iej.cloudfront.net/pubs/pdf_71834.pdf
4th Battalion 4th Battalion deployed to Saudi Arabia with the
8th Infantry Division in support of
Operations Desert Shield & Desert Storm, from 4 January to 8 May 1991. Upon its return to Germany, 4th Battalion was deactivated. ==Lineage==