11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (United States) - Guardians of The Fulda Gap

Guardians of The Fulda Gap

The 11th Cavalry Group Mechanized was redesignated as the 11th Constabulary Regiment on 3 May 1946 in order that the regiment could fulfill its occupational duties, and was restored as the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment and inactivated in November 1948. Blackhorse was brought back into active status 1 April 1951 at Camp Carson, Colorado. In 1954, the Regiment transferred to Fort Knox, Kentucky to complete its training in fully armored tactics.

The Blackhorse Regiment rotated to Southern Germany in May 1957, relieving the 6th ACR, and assumed the mission of patrolling the German-Czechoslovak border until its return to the United States in 1964.

The Blackhorse arrived in Vietnam on 7 September 1966. Second Squadron spearheaded Operation Fish Hook into Cambodia on 1 May 1970, surrounding a North Vietnamese logistics center.

In 1972 the 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment, which had the mission of patrolling the East-West German border, was redesignated the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment at Downs Barracks. During the late 1980s the 11th had the distinction of operating the first air assault school in Europe, known as the Blackhorse Air Assault School, based in Fulda.

The East-West German border fell on 3 October 1990, and the Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991. The regiment's seventeen-year vigil along the Iron Curtain was over.

The Blackhorse Regiment deployed an aviation task force on 10 April 1991 to Turkey for Operation Provide Comfort, an operation to support the Kurdish relief effort. One month later, the three maneuver squadrons (1st, 2d and 3d) along with the regiment's support squadron, deployed to Kuwait for Operation Positive Force, an operation to secure Kuwait so it could rebuild from the war. By October, the Regiment had completed its missions in Turkey and Kuwait and returned to Fulda. As the need for US forces in Europe decreased, the Blackhorse Regiment was inactivated in a ceremony on 15 March 1994.