In a short six-month period during 1990 and 1991, the 1st Battalion, 37th Armor, was alerted for deployment to
Operation Desert Shield/
Desert Storm, deployed all of its personnel and equipment over from an already forward deployed location, fought a major battle against a well equipped enemy over terrain they had never trained on and then redeployed the unit to its home station. The 1st Battalion 37th Armor (
1st Armored Division) from
Rose Barracks,
Vilseck,
Germany, commanded by LTC Edward L. Dyer, was alerted for deployment to the
Persian Gulf on November 8, 1990. 1–37 Armor was the first brigade unit from
Vilseck to deploy. 1–37 Armor was attached to the 3rd "Bulldog" Brigade from
Warner Barracks in Bamberg,
Germany, under their former commander, Colonel Daniel Zannini. A small advance party deployed on 14 December and the main body began departing on December 26. By December 30, the main body of the battalion had arrived in
Saudi Arabia. Vehicles and equipment which had been shipped from ports in
Europe began to arrive on January 4 and by January 12 all the equipment had arrived. When hostilities commenced on January 15, 1991, the
battalion was in the process of closing the last elements into TAA Thompson. The next month was spent task organizing, training, rehearsing, and preparing for the ground war. On February 24, Task Force 1–37, part of 3rd Brigade,
1st Armored Division, crossed the line of departure as part of
VII Corps' attack against Iraqi forces. On February 25, the battalion attacked and seized the division headquarters of the Iraqi 26th Infantry Division destroying four
Armored Fighting Vehicles (AFV's), eight air defense weapons, and captured over forty
Enemy Prisoners of War (EPW's). After attacking all day on February 26, Task Force 1–37 made contact with a brigade of the Tawakalna Armored Division of the
Republican Guard Forces Command (RGFC), which had established a defensive position to protect the flank of the
RGFC and facilitate their escape from
Kuwait. After a thirty-minute fire fight, Task Force 1–37 was ordered to assault the enemy position. The assault, conducted at night in driving rain, resulted in the destruction of twenty-six
T-72 tanks, 47
Armored Personnel Carriers (APC's) and
Infantry Fighting Vehicles (mostly
BMP's) and a handful of other vehicles, as well as the capture of over one hundred EPW's. TF 1–37 suffered the loss of four
M1A1 tanks destroyed and six personnel
WIA. After consolidation and reorganization, the task force continued the attack throughout the night of February 26–27, reestablishing contact with the
RGFC at approximately 0530 (5:30 AM), February 27. The task force continued to attack, fighting numerous engagements with elements of multiple Iraqi divisions throughout the 27th and into the morning of the 28th. At 0800 (8 AM) local time, February 28, the task force established a hasty defensive position astride the Iraq-Kuwait border. During the last 28 hours of the attack, Task Force 1–37 destroyed an additional thirty-one tanks, thirty-one
BMP's, numerous other APC's, air defense weapons, and trucks, and captured over 200 EPW's. Four days after the
cease fire, Task Force 1–37 moved further into
Kuwait. Two missions were conducted to destroy additional enemy weapons, ammunition and equipment, bury enemy remains, and to recover the four
M1A1's which had been destroyed on February 26. On March 24, Task Force 1–37 moved back into
Iraq and established a defensive position in the vicinity of the
Rumayilah oil fields. For the next three weeks, task force missions centered on refugee assistance and security operations. On April 10, Task Force 1–37 began movement to the Rear Assembly Area (RAA) in the vicinity of
King Khalid Military City (KKMC),
Saudi Arabia. By April 13, the task force had closed into the RAA and preparations began for the redeployment of the unit to
Germany. On August 16, 1991, the 1st Brigade,
1st Armored Division was re-designated as the 3rd Brigade,
3rd Infantry Division. == Unit citations ==