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NOTE: Special 3AD-related entries are included
below. More entries to be added. The Division, of course, did
not "do it alone" at any point. It was always part,
and often a key part, of a larger U.S. Army machine.
1940's:
- 1945: Feb 4-11 -- Yalta
Conference -- Genesis of Cold War
- 1945: March -- 3AD captures
Cologne; crosses Rhine
- 1945: March/April -- 3AD
battles in Central Germany
- 1945: May 8 -- Germany
surrenders to Allies
- 1945: Jul 16 - Aug 2 --
Potsdam Conference
- 1945: Aug 6 -- U.S. drops
atomic bomb on Hiroshima
- 1945: Aug 8 -- USSR enters
war against Japan
- 1945: Aug 14 -- Japan surrenders
-- End of World War II
- 1945 Nov 9 -- 3AD
deactivated in Germany
- 1946: March -- Winston Churchill
delivers "Iron Curtain" speech
- 1947: June -- Marshall Plan
is announced
- 1947: July -- 3AD
reactivated as training unit, Ft. Knox, KY
- 1948: Feb -- Communist takeover
in Czechoslovakia
- 1948: June 24 -- Berlin
Blockade by USSR begins
- 1949: July -- NATO ratified
as a military organization
- 1949: May 12 -- Berlin Blockade
ends
- 1949: Sept -- Communists
take control of China
- 1949: Sept -- USSR explodes
its first atomic bomb
1950's:
- 1950: June -- Korean War
begins
- 1951: Jan 12 -- Fed. Civil
Defense Administration established
- 1953: June 19 -- Rosenberg
spy executions
- 1953: July -- Korean War
ends
- 1954: March -- KGB established
- 1954: -- CIA helps overthrow
unfriendly regimes in Iran
- 1954: July -- Vietnam split
at 17th parallel after French defeated
- 1955: March -- 3AD reverts
to combat division, Ft. Knox, KY
- 1955: May -- Warsaw Pact
formed
- 1956: May -- 3AD redeployed
to West Germany
- 1956: Oct - Nov -- Rebellion
put down in Communist Hungary
- 1957: July 1 -- Start of
3AD reorganization under new Army-wide
system called CARS (Combat Arms Regimental System).
- 1957: Oct 1 -- Continued
reorganization of 3AD with the
implementation of ROCAD (Reorganization of Current
Armored Division).
- 1957: Oct 4 -- USSR launches
Sputnik into Earth orbit
- 1957: Oct -- 3AD first
receives tactical nuclear weapons
- 1958: Nov -- Khrushchev
demands U.S. troops leave Berlin
- 1959: Jan -- Fidel Castro
takes over Cuba
- 1959: -- 3AD begins conversion
from M-1 to M-14 rifle
1960's:
- 1960: May 1 -- U.S. U2 spy
plane shot down over Russia
- 1960: Oct -- Creighton
Abrams made 3AD Commander
- 1960: Nov -- John F. Kennedy
elected President
- 1961: -- 3AD begins conversion
to M-60 Battle Tank
- 1961: April -- Bay of Pigs
invasion, Cuba
- 1961: April 12 -- USSR astronaut
Gagarin first to orbit Earth
- 1961: Aug 13 -- Berlin border
closed
- 1961: Aug 17 -- Construction
of Berlin Wall begins
- 1962: -- U.S. involvement
in Vietnam increases
- 1962: June -- US Army
Europe troop strength peaks
at 277,342 for the Cold War era (1946-1991).
- 1962: Oct -- Cuban Missile
Crisis (nuclear war narrowly averted)
- 1963: June 25 -- Kennedy
visits 3AD troops in Germany
- 1963: July -- Nuclear Test
Ban Treaty ratified
- 1963: Sept -- 3AD is
completely revamped in organization
under ROAD concept (Reorganization Objective Army Divisions)
- 1963: Oct-Nov -- 3AD
participates in Operation BIG LIFT,
forerunner of REFORGER exercises; 2AD air-lifted from Ft. Hood,
TX
- 1964: Aug -- Gulf of Tonkin
incident -- Start of Vietnam War
- 1964: Oct 16 -- China detonates
its first atomic bomb
- 1968: Jan -- North Korea
captures USS Pueblo
- 1968: Aug -- Soviet troops
crush Czechoslovakian revolt
- 1969: Jan -- 3AD in USAREUR's
first REFORGER field exercise
- 1969: July 20 -- U.S. lands
first man on moon
1970's:
- 1970: April -- President
Richard Nixon extends Vietnam War to Cambodia
- 1970: July -- 3AD begins
belated conversion to M-16 rifle
- 1972: July -- SALT I nuclear
treaty signed
- 1973: Jan -- Ceasefire in
Vietnam between North Vietnam & U.S.
- 1973: March -- Last sizable
U.S. military units depart South Vietnam
- 1973: Oct -- Egypt &
Syria attack Israel; Egypt requests Soviet aid
- 1973: -- End of the U.S.
military draft
- 1974: -- 3AD begins conversion
to all-volunteer force
- 1974: -- First female
soldiers join 3AD (then still WAC's)
- 1974: Aug -- President Nixon
resigns
- 1975: April 30 -- Saigon
falls to North; the end of South Vietnam
- 1975: July 27 -- President
Gerald Ford visits 3AD
- 1979: July -- SALT II nuclear
treaty signed
- 1979: Nov -- Shah of Iran
overthrown; Iranian Hostage Crisis
1980's
- 1980: Nov -- Ronald Reagan
elected President
- 1983: -- Reagan reveals
Strategic Defense Initiative, "Star Wars"
- 1985 -- 3AD begins conversion
to M1 Abrams Battle Tank
- 1985: -- Mikhail Gorbachev
ascends to power in USSR
- 1986: -- Gorbachev ends
economic aid to Soviet satellites
- 1986: Oct -- Reagan and
Gorbachev resolve to remove all intermediate nuclear missiles
from Europe
- 1987: June 19 -- 3AD
wins the Canadian Army Trophy (CAT) with a remarkable performance
by 1st platoon, Delta Company, 4th Battalion, 8th Cavalry (formerly
3-33 Armor). It was the first such "world series" victory
by a U.S. Army unit in 24 years of this international tank gunnery
competition.
- 1987: Oct -- Reagan and
Gorbachev agree to remove all medium and short-range nuclear
missiles from Europe by signing treaty
- 1988: Jan -- 3AD receives
its first Bradley Fighting Vehicles
- 1988: Jan -- 3AD in last
full-scale REFORGER exercise
- 1989: Jan -- Soviet troops
withdraw from Afghanistan
- 1989: June -- China puts
down protests for democracy
- 1989: June -- Poland becomes
independent
- 1989: Sept -- Hungary becomes
independent
- 1989: Nov -- Berlin Wall
falls
- 1989: Dec -- Communist governments
fall in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Rumania
1990's
- 1990: Jan -- 3AD in scaled-down
REFORGER exercise
- 1990: March -- Lithuania
becomes independent
- 1990: May 29 -- Boris Yeltsin
elected to presidency of Russia
- 1990: Aug 2 -- Iraq invades
Kuwait; threatens Saudi Arabia
- 1990: Oct 3 -- West Germany
and East Germany unite
- 1990: Dec -- 3AD redeployed
to Saudi Arabia
- 1991: Feb -- 3AD in Operation
Desert Storm
- 1991: March - July -- 3AD
redeployed back to Germany
- 1991: April -- Warsaw Pact
ends
- 1991: June 8 -- 3AD battalion-size
contingent marches in Desert Storm Victory Parade in Washington,
D.C.
- 1991: Aug -- USSR Dissolved
-- Cold War Ends
- 1992: Jan 17 -- 3AD deactivated
in Germany
- 1992: Oct 17 -- Formal 3AD
deactivation at Ft. Knox, ceremony & speeches, including
WWII veterans and former Division commanders.
Note: Additional 3AD entries will be made, as research
is continuing, as well as an explanation as to why many historians
feel that the Cold War began in February, 1945, with the Yalta
Conference, which essentially involved a meeting of Roosevelt,
Churchill, and Stalin to decide the post-war fate of Germany.
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