U.S. V Corps
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For the V Corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War, see V Corps (ACW)
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The V Corps (Fifth Corps)—nicknamed the Victory Corps—is a corps of the United States Army. It is headquartered at Campbell Barracks in Heidelberg, Germany.
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Command and Staff
As of 2005, the commanding general of V Corps is Lieutenant General Ricardo S. Sanchez, who took command in June 2003, replacing Lieutenant General William S. Wallace.
The Chief of Staff is Brigadier General Daniel J. Keefe, who replaced Brigadier General Daniel A. Hahn in August 2003.
Strength
V Corps has 41,000 personnel.
Subunits
- 5th Panzer Division: German Army unit under V Corps operational control
- 1st Infantry Division
- 1st Armored Division
- 130th Engineer Brigade
- V Corps Artillery
- 41st Field Artillery Brigade
- 5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery (ADA)
- 4th Battalion, 3rd ADA
- 41st Field Artillery Brigade
- 5th Signal Command. Commanded by Brigadier General Marilyn A. Quagliotti
- 2nd Signal Brigade, at Mannheim. Commanded by Colonel Hubert W. Newman
- 22nd Signal Brigade
- 22nd Brigade Headquarters Company
- 440th Signal Battalion
- 32nd Signal Battalion, located at Darmstadt
- 17th Signal Battalion, located at Kitzingen
- 11th Aviation Regiment
History
World War I
V Corps was established during World War I at Remiremont, France on 7 July 1918, initially organized by Maj. Gen. William M. Wright. Under the command of Maj. Gen. George H. Cameron it fought in the St. Mihiel offensive. By the end of the war, the Corps had participated in three campaigns and under the command of Maj. Gen. Charles P. Summerall, it carried the main attack in the decisive Meuse-Argonne offensive. Dubbed the "Victory Corps" in recognition of its rapid advance in the final phase of the war, V Corps returned to the United States in 1919.
World War II
V Corps was reactivated at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana, in October, 1940, and took part in the famous Louisiana Maneuvers of 1941. The organization deployed to Ireland after the United States declared war on Germany, providing the first American soldiers and the first army headquarters deployed to the European theater in World War II.
V Corps was one of the formations that took part in the D-Day landings, on 6 June 1944. It landed on Omaha Beach, and many casualties were suffered there due to the strong German defenses. During the Battle of Normandy, and indeed for almost the whole campaign up to the surrender of Germany, V Corps was assigned to First Army. The only exceptions were a brief detachment to Seventh Army during the autumn of 1944 and being switched to Third Army during the very final days before the enemy surrender.
Cold War
After the war, V Corps remained in Germany as part of the American occupation forces. Its role then evolved into that of countering Soviet forces. Along with VII Corps, it was one of the two main US combat formations in Germany.
With the end of the Cold War came the Gulf War. Although units from V Corps took part in the Persian Gulf War of 1991, the corps headquarters itself did not deploy. They came under the control of VII Corps or XVIII Airborne Corps.
Post-Cold War
After the Gulf War, VII Corps was withdrawn back to the United States and disbanded, leaving V Corps as the only major US combat field headquarters in Europe. Various peacekeeping operations during the 1990s took V Corps units to Bosnia and Kosovo. However, like the during the Gulf War, the headquarters itself did not deploy. In September 2000, V Corps participated in Operation Victory Strike I, one of the first times American units had ever deployed in Poland. In September 2002, Victory Strike II repeated the exercise. 4000 U.S., Polish, and Italian soldiers took part. The exercise tested a modular plug-in command post system which is expected to be used by U.S. forces in the future.
In March 2002, General Wallace traveled to U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, to discuss contingency plans for deployment to the Middle East. A year later, for the first time since 1945, V Corps headquarters deployed for combat operations. It had many of the American forces committed to Operation Iraqi Freedom under its command. The main units under its command were the 3rd Infantry Division and 101st Airborne Division, along with a brigade from the 82nd Airborne Division. V Corps is still deployed in Iraq controlling the occupation forces.
It is thought unlikely by some that the headquarters will ever return to Germany. Plans have been announced for the main units of V Corps to redeploy either to bases in the more easterly parts of Europe, or to the United States itself.
External links
- V Corps Home Page (http://www.vcorps.army.mil) - official site.
- GlobalSecurity.org: V Corps (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/v-corps.htm)
- Civil War Archive corps histories (http://www.civilwararchive.com/CORPS/5thcorp.htm)