After the end of
World War II, the
United States National Guard was reorganized and expanded from its prewar size. Initial
War Department unit allocations submitted to states for review in early February 1946 gave the 49th Armored Division to Texas and New Mexico, with the latter receiving one combat command headquarters and its subordinate units as well as field artillery and engineer battalions. As the governor of New Mexico desired to continue his state's prewar antiaircraft units, the 49th Armored Division was made all-Texas and New Mexico received the
111th Antiaircraft Artillery Brigade. The division, whose units were accepted by the Texas adjutant general on 2 July 1946, included two
combat commands and a reserve command with the 145th, 146th, and 147th Tank Battalions and the 145th, 146th, and 147th Armored Infantry Battalions. The division artillery included the 105 mm howitzer-equipped 645th, 646th, and 647th Armored Field Artillery Battalions. Division troops included the 49th Mechanized Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron and the 386th Armored Engineer Battalion as well as other support units. It and the New Jersey
50th Armored Division were the only armored divisions in the National Guard at the time. A number of the original divisional units received federal recognition from the
National Guard Bureau on 27 February 1947, a date used thereafter as the formation's "birthday", including the division headquarters at
Camp Mabry in
Austin. In 1947, all four battalions of the
144th Infantry Regiment were placed into the Division as
mechanized infantry units. The division headquarters location changed to
Fort Worth on 4 August 1949 and to
Dallas on 31 August 1950. Beginning in the northern and northeastern areas of the State, there were 111 units in 56 Texas cities by 1952. of the 5th Battalion, 112th Armor during an exercise at Fort Polk, 1961 In September 1961, an executive order alerted the division for mobilization at
Dallas due to the
1961 Berlin Crisis. 3rd Battalion, 132nd Field Artillery was reactivated at
El Paso to replace the 1st Battalion, 133rd Field Artillery. •
49th Armored Division,
Austin • Headquarters & Headquarters Company •
1st Brigade,
San Antonio • Headquarters & Headquarters Company • 6th Battalion, 112th Armor,
El Campo • 1st Battalion,
141st Infantry, San Antonio • 2nd Battalion, 141st Infantry,
Corpus Christi • Headquarters & Headquarters Company • 2nd Battalion, 112th Armor,
Fort Worth • 3rd Battalion,
112th Armor,
Brownwood • 2nd Battalion,
142nd Infantry,
Amarillo •
3rd Brigade,
Dallas • 4th Battalion, 112th Armor, Dallas • 5th Battalion, 112th Armor,
Marshall • 3rd Battalion,
144th Infantry,
Terrell •
49th Aviation Brigade,
Houston • Headquarters & Headquarters Company • 1st Squadron,
124th Cavalry (Reconnaissance),
Waco • 1st Battalion,
149th Aviation (Attack), Houston • Company D, 149th Aviation (Command Support), San Antonio • Company E, 149th Aviation (Assault),
Dallas (UH-1H Iroquois) •
49th Armored Division Artillery (DIVARTY), San Antonio • Headquarters & Headquarters Battery • 2nd Battalion,
131st Field Artillery,
Wichita Falls (12 ×
M110A2 203 mm self-propelled howitzers) • 3rd Battalion,
132nd Field Artillery,
San Angelo (18 ×
M109A3 155 mm self-propelled howitzers) • Headquarters & Headquarters Company • 111th Support Battalion (Forward), San Antonio • 249th Support Battalion (Main), Austin Dallas • 949th Support Battalion (Forward), Fort Worth • Company F, 149th Aviation (Aviation Intermediate Maintenance), San Antonio • 1st Battalion,
200th Air Defense Artillery,
Roswell (
New Mexico Army National Guard) (
MIM-72 Chaparral,
M163 Vulcan &
FIM-92 Stinger) • 249th Signal Battalion, Dallas • 549th Military Intelligence Battalion,
Austin (Army Reserve) • 149th Military Police Company, San Antonio • 449th Chemical Company,
Laredo The brigade's armor battalions were equipped with
M60A3 TTS main battle tanks.
M48A5 Patton tanks had been replaced by M60A3 TTS tanks by May 1987 and by the end of 1989 the National Guard fielded 3,072 M60A3 TTS. The 410
M1 Abrams The division's infantry battalions were equipped with
M113 armored personnel carriers, of which the National Guard had 6,870 at the end of Fiscal Year 1987, with a further 1,411 due to be taken in service in 1988. the OH-58C Kiowa and the
UH-1H Iroquois helicopters. Cavalry Reconnaissance units fielded 19 × M60A3 TTS, 8 × AH-1S Cobra, 12 × OH-58C Kiowa and 1 ×
UH-1H Iroquois helicopters; attack battalions fielded 21 × AH-1S Cobra, 13 × OH-58C Kiowa and 3 ×
UH-1H Iroquois helicopters, while the assault aviation company fielded 15 × UH-1H Iroquois helicopters and the command support aviation company UH-1 helicopters in various configurations.
Locations 1989 Recent History In 2000 elements of the division were deployed to take over the command and control of
Multi-National Division (North) (MND-N) of the
Stabilization Force in Bosnia (SFOR) as well as fulfill support missions for the MND-N troops. The division headquarters, aviation brigade headquarters, 249th Signal Battalion headquarters, the headquarters and Companies A and C of the 111th Engineer Battalion, the 649th Military Intelligence Battalion, the 149th Military Police Company, 1149th CID Detachment, 149th Personnel Services Battalion, 1104th Movement Control Team, and Company H, 149th Aviation (Air Traffic Support) were deployed. On 23 January 2004, 180 Soldiers, mostly from the
124th Cavalry Regiment (United States) out of Waco, Texas, left for deployment. They reported in to Fort Dix for pre-deployment training, then deploying to the Sunni Triangle in Iraq. On 18 July 2004 the division was re-flagged and again designated as the
36th Infantry Division. Prior to its redesignation, the 49th was cap-stoned to the
U.S. Army III Corps and stood as the only fully functional, reserve component, armored division in the
United States Army. (The
50th Armored Division in the north eastern states had been eliminated by consolidation with the
42nd Infantry Division in the early 1990s.) The Newly designated Troops came home after a year of deployment, with only a few wounded, and fortunately, no dead. They were the first Texas National Guardsmen to deploy since WWII. They are the last soldiers that were allowed to wear the 49th Armored patch as a battle patch. They would also be awarded the coveted
Texas Cavalry Service Medal, as well as the wounded receiving the
Texas Purple Heart Medal, the 3rd highest decoration awarded by the State of Texas. ==Commanders==