The 15th Cavalry Regiment is a cavalry regiment of the United States Army. It was one of the Expansion Units originally established for the Spanish–American War, but has been a general workhorse unit ever since.
History
Origins
The 15th Cavalry Regiment was constituted on 2 February 1901 in the Regular Army, and organized on 12 February at the Presidio of San Francisco, California. Immediately after its organization, the 15th Cavalry embarked for the Philippines to quell an insurrection in the United States' newly acquired territory. The regiment's next action was part of the Cuban Pacification from 1906 to 1909, followed by duty along the Mexican border and the hunt for revolutionary leader Pancho Villa from December 1917 to March 1918.
World War I
When the United States entered World War I, the regiment sailed for France as one of the four mounted regiments on duty with the Allied Expeditionary Force. The fighting had bogged down into trench warfare and the role of horse cavalry was nearly over. The 15th subsequently dismounted and relieved exhausted infantry units in the trenches. It was the tank that finally broke the trench lines to end both the war and signal the twilight of the horse soldier. The 15th served occupation duty after the war, and arrived at the port of New York on 19 June 1919 on the USS Panaman. It was transferred the same day to Camp Mills, New York, where emergency period personnel were discharged from the service.
Interwar period
The 15th Cavalry transferred to Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming, and arrived there on 26 June 1919. The regiment was sent in October 1919 to quell coal miners' strikes in Sheridan, Rock Springs, and Thermopolis, Wyoming. It was inactivated on 18 October 1921 at Fort D. A. Russell. Subsequently, the 15th Cavalry's "active associate" unit that would provide the personnel to reactivate the unit in the event of war was the 13th Cavalry, 1922–25, and the 14th Cavalry, 1925–27. With the abandonment of the "active associate" concept, the 15th Cavalry was allotted to the Seventh Corps Area on 28 February 1927 and organized about June 1927 with Organized Reserve personnel from the 66th Cavalry Division as a "Regular Army Inactive" unit with headquarters at Kansas City, Missouri. The 15th Cavalry typically conducted inactive training period meetings at the 110th Engineer Regiment armory at 3620 Main Street or the Organized Reserve Center building at 20th and Vine Streets in Kansas City, and summer training with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment at Fort Riley, Kansas, from 1930 to 1940. As an alternate form of summer training, the regiment conducted cavalry Citizens Military Training Camps at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. On 1 July 1940, the 15th Cavalry Regiment was redesignated the 15th Cavalry Regiment (Horse and Mechanized), and was given the role of a corps-level reconnaissance regiment.[1]
World War II
With the outbreak of the Second World War, the 15th was ordered into active service on 22 March 1942 at Fort Riley, this time as a fully-mechanized unit with armored cars and tanks. After undergoing training at the Desert Training Center in California, the regiment sailed for the European Theater of Operations, arriving in Scotland in March 1944. Here, the 15th was reorganized as the 15th Cavalry Group (Mechanized). The group was composed of a group headquarters and the 15th and 17th Reconnaissance Squadrons. The 15th Cavalry Group landed on Utah Beach on 5 July 1944 as part of Patton's Third Army. The 15th served in four major campaigns in Europe: Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, and Central Europe. The 15th Cavalry Group and its two squadrons fought as part of the Third Army, Ninth Army and was later assigned as a security force for several different divisions. The end of the war found the 15th deep inside Germany, covering over 1,000 miles of enemy held territory since landing on the Continent in July 1944. When the war ended, the 15th Cavalry Group and its two squadrons had taken nearly 7,000 German prisoners and had destroyed 78 guns and 495 enemy vehicles.
Postwar – the Constabulary Era
Following the war, the 15th was redesignated the 15th Constabulary Regiment, charged initially with occupation duty of the defeated Germany. The 17th Reconnaissance Squadron was deactivated in January 1947, but the 15th Squadron, redesignated as the 15th Constabulary Squadron, continued serving. As the cold war began in earnest, the regiment's duty shifted to patrolling the border between West Germany and East Germany, as well as the border with Czechoslovakia. The Constabulary Force guarded the border until 1952.
Cold War
From 1952 to 1987, the regiment went through a series of redesignations, inactivations and reactivations. Elements of the regiment served across various Army units in Korea, Germany, and the United States. Troop G served in the Vietnam War from 1971 to 1972, being equipped at that time with the M551 Sheridan Armored Reconnaissance/Airborne Assault Vehicle (AR/AAV).
Reorganization and current status
In March 1987, the Army overhauled its Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS) to restore some order to the history and lineage of its regiments. One goal of this reform was to keep on active duty those regiments which had earned distinguished records over long years of service. The 15th Cavalry Regiment met this criterion and, in March 1987, was reactivated at Fort Knox, Kentucky, by the activation of its 5th Squadron (Sabers). On 1 May 2018, the 2nd Squadron (Lions) was activated. Both Squadrons, as part of the 194th Armored Brigade, are charged with the mission of training the U.S. Army's enlisted Cavalry Scouts.
Lineage
15th Cavalry Regiment
Constituted 1901-02-01 in the Regular Army as the 15th Cavalry Regiment
Redesignated 1958-10-01 as Troop F, 15th Cavalry Regiment
Consolidation
HHC, 15th Armor Group; 15th and 501st Reconnaissance Battalions; and Troops F and L, 15th Cavalry Regiment, consolidated, reorganized and redesignated 1957-04-01 to 1959-05-01 as the 15th Cavalry Regiment, a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System
Redesignated 1963-07-01 as the 15th Armor Regiment
Redesignated 1967-07-01 as the 15th Cavalry Regiment
Troop G, 15th Cavalry Regiment arrived in Vietnam on 1971-12-15. For this security assignment, Troop G was equipped with M-551 Sheridan Assault Vehicles in place of their normal Tracked Vehicles.
12th COL Michael M. McNamee February 1920 – April 1920
13th COL Thomas B. Dugan April 1920 – September 1921
14th COL Roy B. Harper September 1921 – October 1921
(Inactivated October 1921, reactivated March 1942)
15th COL J. Frank Richmond March 1942 – November 1942
16th COL John B. Reybold November 1942 – August 1944
(Redesignated March 1944 as 15th Cavalry Group, Mechanized)
17th LTC Robert J. Quinn August 1944 – June 1945
18th COL David Wagstaff June 1945 – April 1946
(Redesignated May 1946 as 15th Constabulary Regiment)
19th COL Harold G. Holt April 1946 – July 1947
20th COL William H. Hill September 1947 – July 1948
21st LTC Evert S. Thomas July 1948 – December 1948
(Inactivated December 1948, reactivated November 1950 as 15th Armored Cavalry Group, Mechanized)
22nd COL Alan L. Fulton November 1950 – November 1952
23rd LTC Wilbur Stephenson November 1952 – July 1955
(Redesignated September 1953 as 15th Armor Group)
24th LTC Delbert Tanner July 1955 – December 1955
(15th Armor Group Inactivated December 1955, incorporated into the Combat Arms Regimental System 1957, regimental headquarters disbanded.)
References
^Clay, Steven (2010). U.S. Army Order of Battle, 1919-1941, Volume 2. The Arms: Cavalry, Field Artillery, and Coast Artillery, 1919-41. Fort Leavenworth: Combat Studies Institute Press. p. 626.
Headquarters, 15th Cavalry Group (Mechanized). History of the 15th Cavalry Group – Normandy – Northern France – Rhineland – Central Europe Campaigns. (Unit Historical Officer: Verl, Germany, 1945).
Budmirovich, Michael. History of the 15th Cavalry Group. (Privately published, 1991).
Larson, Ross E. Regimental History 15th U.S. Cavalry 1901 – 1921. (Gov't Press, Ft. D.A. Russell, WY, 28 February 1923)
Nash, Douglas E. The 15th Cavalry Regiment – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. (Govt Press, Ft. Knox, KY 1989)
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