The United States Constabulary was a United States Army military gendarmerie force. From 1946 to 1952, in the aftermath of World War II, it acted as an occupation and security force in the U.S. Occupation Zone of West Germany and Austria.
Reason
The concept of a police-type occupation of Germany arose from the consideration of plans for the most efficient employment of the relatively small forces available. Ideas crystallized rapidly. At the end of October 1945, Eisenhower, announced to the proper authorities that the population of the United States Zone of Germany would ultimately be controlled by a super-police force or constabulary. In early November, the strength of the proposed constabulary was announced as 38,000. Planning was well advanced by the end of 1945, when the European Theater Headquarters notified the War Department that the constabulary would be organized as an elite force, composed of the highest caliber personnel obtainable under the voluntary re-enlistment program, and that it would be equipped with an efficient communications network, sufficient vehicles and liaison airplanes to make it highly mobile, and the most modern weapons. During the paper stage, the organization was known by a series of names. "State Police" was discarded for "State Constabulary." Then it was thought that "State" would be confusing, as the main United States Zone of Germany had been divided, for purposes of civil administration, into three states, or Länder. When the organization emerged from the planning stage, it was known as the "Zone Constabulary," but before it became operational it was named "United States Constabulary."
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! Original designation !! Constabulary designation
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|HQ & HQ Co., VI Corps||HQ & HQ Troop, US Constabulary
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|HQ & HQ Co., 4th Armored Division||HQ & HQ Troop, 1st Constabulary Brigade
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|HQ & HQ Co., Combat Command A, 4th Armored Division||HQ & HQ Troop, 2nd Constabulary Brigade
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|HQ & HQ Co., Combat Command B, 4th Armored Division||HQ & HQ Troop, 3rd Constabulary Brigade
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|1st Constabulary Regiment||
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|HQ & HQ Co., 11th Armored Group||HQ & HQ Troop, 1st Constabulary Regiment
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|11th Armored Infantry Battalion, 1st Armored Division||11th Constabulary Squadron
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|6th Armored Infantry Battalion, 1st Armored Division||12th Constabulary Squadron
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|91st Armored Field Artillery, 1st Armored Division||91st Constabulary Squadron
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|2nd Constabulary Regiment||
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|HQ & HQ Troop, 2nd Cavalry Group||HQ & HQ Troop, 2nd Constabulary Regiment
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|2nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron||2nd Constabulary Squadron
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|42d Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron||42nd Constabulary Squadron
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|66th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 4th Armored Division||66th Constabulary Squadron
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|3rd Constabulary Regiment
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|HQ & HQ Co., Combat Command A, 1st Armored Division||HQ & HQ Troop, 3rd Constabulary Regiment
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|37th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division||37th Constabulary Squadron
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|68th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Armored Division||68th Constabulary Squadron
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|81st Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 1st Armored Division||81st Constabulary Squadron
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|5th Constabulary Regiment
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|HQ & HQ Co., 6th Tank Destroyer Group||HQ & HQ Troop, 5th Constabulary Regiment
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|8th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division||8th Constabulary Squadron
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|35th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division||35th Constabulary Squadron
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|474th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion||74th Constabulary Squadron
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|6th Constabulary Regiment
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|HQ & HQ Troop, 6th Cavalry Group||HQ & HQ Troop, 6th Constabulary Regiment
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|6th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron||6th Constabulary Squadron
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|53rd Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division||53d Constabulary Squadron
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|10th Constabulary Regiment
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|HQ & HQ Co., 10th Armored Group||HQ & HQ Troop, 10th Constabulary Regiment
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|13th Tank Battalion, 1st Armored Division||13th Constabulary Squadron
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|4th Tank Battalion, 1st Armored Division||72nd Constabulary Squadron
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|771st Tank Battalion||71st Constabulary Squadron
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|11th Constabulary Regiment
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|HQ & HQ Troop, 11th Cavalry Group||HQ & HQ Troop, 11th Constabulary Regiment
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|25th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 4th Armored Division||25th Constabulary Squadron
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|94th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 4th Armored Division||94th Constabulary Squadron
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|51st Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division||51st Constabulary Squadron
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|14th Constabulary Regiment
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|HQ & HQ Troop, 14th Cavalry Group||HQ & HQ Troop, 14th Constabulary Regiment
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|10th Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division||10th Constabulary Squadron
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|22nd Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 4th Armored Division||22nd Constabulary Squadron
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|27th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Armored Division||27th Constabulary Squadron
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|15th Constabulary Regiment
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|HQ & HQ Troop, 15th Cavalry Group||HQ & HQ Troop, 15th Constabulary Regiment
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|15th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron||15th Constabulary Squadron
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|1st Tank Battalion, 1st Armored Division||1st Constabulary Squadron
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|14th Armored Infantry Battalion, 1st Armored Division||14th Constabulary Squadron
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|Special Troops, US Constabulary
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|97th Signal Battalion||97th Constabulary Signal Squadron
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|465th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion||Constabulary School Squadron
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Education and training
Early in the planning stage the need for a Constabulary School became evident.
Weaponry
The standard shoulder weapons of the Constabulary included the .30-06 cal M1 Garand rifle, .30-cal M1/M2 carbines, and .45-cal M1/M1A1Thompson submachine gun or M3 grease gun. Additionally, each Constabulary member was issued an M1911A1 .45 pistol. The standard 13-man (reconnaissance) patrol had seven rifle and five sub-machine gun armed men.
Strength
The US Constabulary consisted of up to 38,000 men organized into:
- Headquarters, United States Constabulary,
- Located first at Bamberg then moved to Stuttgart.
- Three Brigades,
- 1st, 2nd and 3rd
- 10 Regiments,
- 1st through 3rd and 5th through 9th, assigned to the brigades.
- The 4th Regiment, an independent unit with:
- Two squadrons in Austria and
- One squadron in West Berlin.
Controlling:
- Thirty Squadrons.
- Each battalion-size squadron had five (at first) and then later on only four company-size troops.
Disbanding
The postwar crime rate among German civilians was very low, sometimes so low that it disturbed the military government. Most incidents involved the black market, theft of food and firewood, and occasional threats and very rare attacks against soldiers or their girlfriends. Displaced persons were a larger source of criminality; American public sympathy gave them almost total freedom during late 1945, causing the military government in early 1946 to reimplement controls and guards in DP camps. As new, insufficiently trained soldiers replaced the massive outflow going home in Operation Magic Carpet, by March 1946 Americans were the largest cause of trouble.
By the Constabulary's formal establishment in 1946, the German internal forces' ability to maintain law and order had improved. As a possible war with the Soviet Union grew, by 1947 the constabulary increased its tactical training under new commanding general Withers Burress. Three of the nine constabulary regiments reequipped as armored cavalry units during the Berlin Airlift; while the others retained their policing mission, they increasingly retrained for combat and relocated to the border. In 1950 Constabulary headquarters was disabanded and personnel reassigned to Seventh Army. Remaining units reorganized into armored cavalry; their removal in 1952 formally ended the United States Constabulary. Many of the Constabulary troopers returned home and joined local and state police forces.
As the perception of the threat to border security changed from one of criminal activity to a potential invasion by the Soviet Army, the border operations mission along the Soviet zones in Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Austria was taken over by armored cavalry units of the U.S. Army.
While the Constabulary did not have a direct successor, its duty of close cooperation with German authorities is now maintained by Military and Civilian Police Officers of the U.S. Armed Forces. A strong working relationship continues to exist today between German Police Forces and United States Forces Europe Police who operate out of U.S. military installations throughout Germany. Joint patrols involving U.S. Military Police, U.S. Army Civilian Police, and local German Police are still relatively commonplace throughout towns near U.S. military installations in Germany. These patrols are directed at enhancing the safety and security of military and German communities by instilling a culture of mutual trust and cooperation between U.S. and German Police forces.
A small monument to the U.S. Constabulary was erected in 2008 on Patch Barracks in Germany.
See also
- Military police
- Constabulary
- Philippine Constabulary
- Gendarmerie
- 4th Armored Division (United States)
References
Further reading
- Robert Perito, Where is the Lone Ranger When We Need Him?, outlines a proposal for integrating military and civilian personnel to form a "U.S. force for stability" that would become part of a U.S. intervention force.
External links
- The U.S. Constabulary in Post-War Germany (1946-52)(USACMH)
- United States Constabulary Association homepage
- A United States Constabulary page
- US Army Command and General Staff College PDF article
- US Army Command and General Staff College PDF article on the establishment on use of a modern USC
- Chapter 3 Constabularies Riding Through History of Elusive Peace: U.S. Constabulary Capabilities in the Post-Cold War World by Tammy S. Schultz