The Armor Branch is the armored warfare branch of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

. This branch was formerly considered to be one of the combat arms branches, but is today included within the "Maneuver, Fires and Effects" (MFE) classification, in accordance with current U.S. Army organizational doctrine. It was created provisionally in 1940 as Armored Force under the Chief of the Armored Force, Brigadier General Adna R. Chaffee, Jr. and took control of all tank units in infantry and cavalry units.

History

Even though the armor branch traces its lineage back to the original

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

units, its first beginnings date from the First World War. The United States Tank Corps was established in 1918 but then split back into the Infantry and Cavalry in 1921. The Armored Command was headquartered at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, became effective on 2 July 1943, the Armored Center on 20 February 1944, and was discontinued on 30 October 1945. The Armor Center at Fort Knox Kentucky transferred to Fort Benning, Georgia in 2010. United States Army Armor School is now located at

Fort Benning Fort Benning (named Fort Moore from 2023–2025) is a United States Army post in the Columbus, Georgia area. Located on Georgia's border with Alabama, Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve compone ...

]. I Armored Corps (United States) was established in 1940, and was successively commanded by Adna R. Chaffee Jr., Charles L. Scott, and George S. Patton Jr. The corps fought during

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa whil ...

in North Africa, but then upgraded in status to become the United States Seventh Army on 10 July 1943.

Branch insignia

U.S. Army Service Regulation 42, change 1, dated 29 December 1917 authorized "the first insignia for the new ''tank service''." This new insignia was the image of the "front-end view of a ''conventionalized tank''", but in appearance looked like an unidentifiable upper half circle of sort of storage or transport container. A little over 4 months later on 7 May 1918, change 2 to Regulation 42, eliminated the Army's first ''Tank Service'' and replaced it with the new U.S. Army Tank Corps, along with a newly designed collar insignia which consisted of the "side view of the Mark VIII tank above two stylized

dragons A dragon is a magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depict ...

breathing fire over a wreath." In 1921 U.S. Army Circular 72 deactivated the U.S. Army ''Tank Corps'', returning all armored vehicles to the Cavalry and Infantry units, which also removed the new "Tank Corps" collar insignia from the service. On 10 July 1940 the U.S. Army ''Armored Force'' was created and on 25 February 1942 Army Circular 56 created a new collar insignia, consisting of the left side view of a Mark VIII tank. This simple tank design had no decorations or other objects surrounding it, and was the insignia worn by U.S. Army personnel throughout WWII. Presently, the current U.S. Army "Armor" branch collar insignia, which consists of the front view of a U.S. M26 Pershing tank superimposed over two crossed sabers, replaces the WWII collar insignia with the "Army Reorganization Act of 1950, Section 404, Army Bulletin 9", in which the current ''Armor'' insignia became authorized to wear in February 1951.Laframboise p. 125

Publications

ARMOR is the professional journal, originally published as the '' Cavalry Journal'' in 1885. The name was changed to ''

Armor Armour (Commonwealth English) or armor (American English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, e ...

'' in 1940 after the transition from Horse Cavalry to Armor for the U.S. Army's Armor Branch, published by the Chief of Armor at Fort Benning, GA., training center for the Army's tank and cavalry forces. It is also one of the oldest publications in the U.S., founded in 1888 by cavalry officers on the American frontier as a forum for discussing doctrine, tactics, and equipment among soldiers geographically separated by the great distances of the American West.

Weapons

* M1A1 –

Main Battle Tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank or simply tank,Ogorkiewicz 2018 p222 is a tank that fills the role of armour-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more po ...

* M1A2 –

Stryker The Stryker is a family of Eight-wheel drive, eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicles derived from the Canadian LAV III. Stryker vehicles are produced by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-C) for the United States Army in a plant in L ...

– Armored Fighting Vehicle * Stryker MGS – Infantry Support Vehicle * M2 Bradley IFV –

Infantry Fighting Vehicle An infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle (MICV), is a type of armoured fighting vehicle and armoured personnel carrier used to carry infantry into battle and provide direct fire, direct-fire suppo ...

* M3 Bradley CFV – Cavalry Fighting Vehicle

Current units

* 1st Armored Division * 1st Cavalry Division * 33rd Armor Regiment * 34th Armor Regiment * 35th Armor Regiment * 37th Armor Regiment * 63rd Armor Regiment * 64th Armor Regiment * 66th Armor Regiment * 67th Armor Regiment * 68th Armor Regiment * 69th Armor Regiment *

70th Armor Regiment The 70th Armor Regiment is an armored (tank) unit of the United States Army. It was constituted as the 70th Tank Battalion in July 1940, an independent tank battalion intended to provide close support to infantry units. In this role, it saw acti ...

* 77th Armor Regiment * 103rd Armor Regiment * 194th Armor Regiment (United States)

References

* https://web.archive.org/web/20110513005759/http://www.history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/lineages/branches/ar/default.htm * Laframboise, Leon W. (1976) "History of the Artillery, Cavalry And Infantry Branch of Service Insignia." Watson Publishing Co., Steelville, MO.

External links

https://web.archive.org/web/20110611020230/http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/UniformedServices/Branches/armor.aspx US Army Armor Branch Heraldry]
List of and links to heraldry for all units that come under the Armor Branch
* http://www.armorcavalrymuseum.org/ {{US Army navbox Branches of the United States Army Nationstate armoured warfare branches