1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
2.
Air Defense Artillery Branch (United States)
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The Air Defense Artillery branch of the US Army specializes in anti-aircraft weapons. The Air Defense Artillery branch descended from Anti-Aircraft Artillery into a branch on 20 June 1968. On 1 December 1968, the ADA branch was authorized to wear modified Artillery insignia, according to the Armys Field Manual 44-100, the mission of Air Defense Artillery is to protect the force and selected geopolitical assets from aerial attack, missile attack, and surveillance. On 10 October 1917 an Antiaircraft Service in the American Expeditionary Force was created at Arnouville-Les-Gonesse where a school was established. These units were organized by Col. James A. Shipton but were disbanded in May 1918, the National Defense Act of 1920 formally assigned the air defense mission to the Coast Artillery Corps, and 4 battalions were organized in 1921. In 1924 under a reorganization of the Coast Artillery the battalions were reorganized as regiments. 203rd Coast Artillery MO. 206th Coast Artillery AR. 207th Coast Artillery N. Y. 211th Coast Artillery MA. 212th Coast Artillery N. Y. 213th Coast Artillery PA. 214th Coast Artillery GA, 251st Coast Artillery CA. 369th Coast Artillery N. Y. In 1938 there were only 5 Regular Army and thirteen National Guard regiments, in November 1942,781 battalions were authorized. However, this number was pared down to 331 battalions by the end of the war, by late 1944 the regiments had been broken up into battalions and 144 Antiaircraft Artillery Groups had been activated, some of these existed only briefly. On 9 March 1942 Antiaircraft Command was established in Washington D. C. Army Anti-Aircraft Command was created on 29 June 1950. The Army formed it to command the Army units allocated to the air defense of the Continental United States, ARAACOM was also charged with becoming the Army component of a joint continental defense force, if and when the joint force was designated. Eastern and Western Army Antiaircraft Commands were established with HQ at Stewart AFB, New York, Anti-Aircraft Command moved to Mitchel Air Force Base, New York on 1 November 1950. On 10 April 1951, the Commanding General assumed command of all AAA units allocated to continental air defense—six AW, nine 90-mm. battalions plus four brigade and seven Gp HQ, eight AAA Ops Det and 15 Signal radar detachments. On 24 April Central Army Anti-Aircraft Command was established with HQ at Kansas City and it was organized 1 May 1951. By 31 December controlling formations had grown to six brigades and 13 group headquarters, on 31 May 1955 EARAACOM was disestablished and personnel assigned to the 1st AAA Region. In 1955, numbering started to replace geographic locations to designate regions, the 1st, 2nd and 5th Regions now covered the area once called Eastern ARAACOM. In 1956, Western ARAACOM became 6th Region, and the following year, areas of responsibility between regions and brigades continued to shift throughout the life of the command. On March 21,1957, ARAACOM was renamed to US Army Air Defense Command, on 26 July 1960, ARADCOM activated a sixth region
3.
Battle of Bataan
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The Battle of Bataan was a battle that represented the most intense phase of Imperial Japans invasion of the Philippines during World War II. In January 1942, forces of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy invaded Luzon along with several islands in the Philippine Archipelago after the bombing of the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, by this time, the Japanese controlled nearly all of Southeast Asia. The Bataan peninsula and the island of Corregidor were the only remaining Allied strongholds in the region, despite a lack of supplies, Filipino and American forces managed to fight the Japanese for three months, engaging them initially in a fighting retreat southward. As the combined Filipino and American forces made a last stand, soon afterwards, Filipino and American prisoners of war were forced into the Bataan Death March. The capture of the Philippine Islands was crucial to Japans effort to control the Southwest Pacific, seize the resource-rich Dutch East Indies, many American planes were caught on the ground and summarily destroyed. In one day, the Japanese had gained air superiority over the Philippine Islands and this forced the U. S. Asiatic Fleet to withdraw its surface ships from its naval base in Cavite and retreat southwards, leaving only the submarine force to resist the Japanese. Army air force B-17s, often with a minimal or no fighter escort, attacked Japanese ships offloading at Gonzaga, submarines of the Asiatic Fleet were also assigned to the effort. In one last coordinated action by the Far East Air Force and these air attacks and naval actions, however, did not significantly delay the Japanese assault. Each plan covered a different situation, with War Plan Orange covering an emergency involving only the United States and this made the plan politically unrealistic and completely outdated by 1941. Tactically, however, the plan was an excellent one and its provisions for defense were applicable under any local situation, under WPO-3, the mission of the Philippine garrison was to hold the entrance to Manila Bay and deny its use to Japanese naval forces. The primary task of U. S. Army forces were to prevent enemy landings and it was to be defended to the last extremity. In addition to the regular U. S. Army troops, the defenders could rely on the Philippine Army, WPO-3 made no provision for what should be done if the defenses on Bataan crumbled, because the planners presumed that within six months, the U. S. The defenders, thus reinforced, could mount a counteroffensive and drive the enemy into the sea, however, no one in a position of authority in April 1941 believed that anything like this would happen. Informed naval opinion estimated that it would require at least two years for the Pacific Fleet to fight its way across the Pacific, Army planners in early 1941 believed supplies would be exhausted within six months, if not sooner, and the garrison would fall to the enemy. General MacArthur assumed command of the Allied army in July 1941 and rejected WPO-3 as defeatist and he recommended—among other things—a coastal defense strategy that would include the entire archipelago. His recommendations were followed in the plan that was eventually approved, when the Japanese made their first landings on 10 and 12 December at the northern and southern extremities of Luzon, General MacArthur made no disposition to contest them. He correctly surmised that these landings were designed to advance air bases. He did not regard the situation as serious enough to warrant a change in his plan to oppose the main attack, the MacArthur Plan, then, remained in effect
4.
Battle of Corregidor
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The Battle of Corregidor, fought May 5–6,1942, was the culmination of the Japanese campaign for the conquest of the Commonwealth of the Philippines during World War II. The fall of Bataan on April 9,1942 ended all organized opposition by the U. S. Army Forces Far East to the invading Japanese forces on Luzon in the northern Philippines. The Japanese had to take Corregidor, as long as the island remained in American hands, they would be denied the use of Manila Bay, the US army recaptured the island in 1945. At 3.5 mi long and 1.5 mi across at its head and its widest but elevated area, known as Topside, contained most of its 56 coastal artillery pieces and installations. Middleside was a plateau containing more battery positions as well as barracks. Bottomside was the low ground where an area and the civilian town of San Jose was located. The tunnel system under Malinta Hill was the most extensive construction on Corregidor. It consisted of a main east-west passage 826 ft long with a 24 ft diameter and had 25 lateral passages, a separate system of tunnels north of this main tunnel housed the underground hospital, it had its own 12 laterals and space for 1,000 beds. The facility could be reached either through the tunnel or by a separate outside entrance on the north side of Malinta Hill. East of this was Malinta Tunnel, the location of General Douglas MacArthurs headquarters, reinforced with concrete walls, floors, and overhead arches, it also had blowers to furnish fresh air, and a double-track electric tramway line along the east-west passage. The Malinta Tunnel furnished bombproof shelters for the hospital, headquarters, the two 12 in guns of Batteries Smith and Hearn, with a horizontal range of 29,000 yd and all-around traverse were the longest range of all the islands artillery. Caballo Island, with Fort Hughes—just south of Corregidor—was the next largest in size, at about 160 acres, the island rose abruptly from the bay to a height of 380 ft on its western side. Commander Francis J. Bridget was in charge of its defenses with a total of 800 men, of whom 93 were Marines and 443 belonged to the Navy. Coastal artillery numbered some 13 assorted pieces, with its anti-aircraft defenses tied in with those of Corregidor, Fort Drum—which lay about 4 mi south of Fort Hughes—was the most unusual of the harbor defenses. The top deck of this concrete battleship was 40 ft above the mark and had 20 ft thick walls. The last—Carabao island—lay only 500 yd from the shores of Cavite Province, except at one point along its eastern shore, the island rises precipitously from the sea in cliffs more than 100 ft high. The Americans had placed Fort Frank on this island, which late in 1941, had a garrison of about 400 men. Its armament consisted of two 14 in guns, eight 12 in mortars, four 155 mm GPFs, as well as anti-aircraft, both were under Major General George F. Moore who also commanded the Corregidor garrison
5.
United States Army Coast Artillery Corps
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The U. S. Army Coast Artillery Corps was a corps level organization responsible for coastal, harbor, and anti-aircraft defense of the United States between 1901 and 1950. The CAC also operated heavy and railway artillery during World War I, as early as 1882 the need for heavy fixed artillery for seacoast defense was noted in Chester A. In 1885 the Endicott Board was convened under the subsequent Grover Cleveland administration and this board recommended a large-scale program of harbor defenses at 29 ports, including guns, mortars, and mine fields. Most of their recommendations were implemented and new defenses were constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers 1895-1905, as the defenses were constructed, each harbor or rivers installations were controlled by Artillery Districts, renamed Coast Defense Commands in 1913 and Harbor Defense Commands in 1925. An extensive fire control system was developed and provided for the forts of each Coast Artillery District, Army leaders realized that heavy fixed artillery required different training programs and tactics than mobile field artillery. Prior to 1901 each of the seven artillery regiments contained both heavy and light artillery batteries, in February 1901 the Artillery Corps was divided into two types, field artillery and coast artillery. The previous seven artillery regiments were dissolved, and 30 numbered companies of artillery and 126 numbered companies of coast artillery were authorized. 82 existing heavy artillery batteries were designated as coast artillery companies, the company-based organization was for flexibility, as each harbor defense command was differently equipped and a task-based organization was needed. The Coast Artillery would alternate between small unit and regimental organization several times over its history, the head of the Artillery Corps became the Chief of Artillery in the rank of brigadier general with jurisdiction over both types of artillery. The Coast Artillery became responsible for the installation and operation of the mine fields that were planted to be under observation, fired electrically. The mine component was considered to be among the armament of coastal defense works. In 1905, after the experiences of the Spanish–American War, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed a new board on fortifications and they updated some standards and reviewed the progress of the Endicott boards program. Most of the changes recommended by this board were technical, such as adding more searchlights, electrification, the board also recommended fortifications in territories acquired from Spain, Cuba and the Philippines, as well as Hawaii and a few other sites. Defenses in Panama were authorized by the Spooner Act of 1902, due to rapid development of the dreadnought battleship type, a new 14-inch gun was introduced in a few locations, primarily Los Angeles, the Philippines, and Panama. The Taft program fortifications differed slightly in construction and had fewer numbers of guns at a given location than those of the Endicott program. By the beginning of World War I, the United States had a defense system that was equal to any other nation. The rapidity of technological advances and changing techniques increasingly separated coastal defenses from field artillery, officers were rarely qualified to command both, requiring specialization. National Guard coast artillery units were formed by the states to attempt to bring the CAC up to strength in wartime
6.
Fort Monroe
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Fort Monroe is a decommissioned military installation in Hampton, Virginia—at Old Point Comfort, the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula. Surrounded by a moat, the star fort is the largest stone fort ever built in the United States. During the initial exploration by the mission headed by Captain Christopher Newport in the earliest days of the Colony of Virginia, beginning by 1609, defensive fortifications were built at Old Point Comfort during Virginias first two centuries. The first was a wooden stockade named Fort Algernourne, however, the much more substantial facility of stone to become known as Fort Monroe were completed in 1834. The principal facility was named in honor of U. S. President James Monroe, throughout the American Civil War, although most of Virginia became part of the Confederate States of America, Fort Monroe remained in Union hands. It became notable as a historic and symbolic site of early freedom for former slaves under the provisions of contraband policies, for two years thereafter, the former Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, was imprisoned at the fort. His first months of confinement were spent in a cell of the fort walls that is now part of its Casemate Museum. In the 20th century, it housed the Coast Artillery School and later the United States Army Training, Fort Monroe was decommissioned on September 15,2011, and many of its functions were transferred to nearby Fort Eustis. Several re-use plans for Fort Monroe are under development in the Hampton community, on November 1,2011, President Barack Obama signed a proclamation to designate portions of Fort Monroe as a National Monument. This was the first time that President Obama exercised his authority under the Antiquities Act and it has a 332-slip marina and shallow water inlet access to Mill Creek, suitable for small watercraft. The land area where Fort Monroe is became part of Elizabeth Cittie in 1619, Elizabeth River Shire in 1634, on their initial exploration, they recognized the strategic importance of the site at Old Point Comfort for purposes of coastal defense. They initially built Fort Algernourne at the location of the present Fort Monroe and it is assumed to have been a triangular stockade, based on the fort at Jamestown. Other small forts known as Fort Henry and Fort Charles were built nearby in 1610, in the latter part of August 1619, a Dutch ship, the White Lion, appeared off the coast of Old Point Comfort. Its cargo included more than 30 Africans captured from the slave ship Sao Joao Bautista, traded for work and supplies from the English, they were the first Africans to come ashore on British-occupied land in what would become the United States. Although the Bantu Africans from Angola were considered indentured servants, their arrival is considered to mark the beginning of slavery in America, another fort, known only as the fort at Old Point Comfort was constructed in 1632. In 1728, Fort George was built on the site and its masonry walls were destroyed by a hurricane in 1749, but the wood buildings in the fort were used by a reduced force until at least 1775. In 1781, during the Siege of Yorktown, the French West Indian fleet established a battery on the ruins of Fort George, throughout the Colonial period, fortifications were manned at the location from time to time. Following the War of 1812, the United States realized the need to protect Hampton Roads, in March 1819, President James Monroe came up with a plan of building a network of coastal defenses
7.
National Guard of the United States
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All members of the National Guard of the United States are also members of the militia of the United States as defined by 10 U. S. C. National Guard units are under the control of the state. The majority of National Guard soldiers and airmen hold a civilian job full-time while serving part-time as a National Guard member, local militias were formed from the earliest English colonization of the Americas in 1607. The first colony-wide militia was formed by Massachusetts in 1636 by merging small older local units, the various colonial militias became state militias when the United States became independent. The title National Guard was used from 1824 by some New York State militia units, National Guard became a standard nationwide militia title in 1903, and specifically indicated reserve forces under mixed state and federal control from 1933. The first muster of militia forces in what is today the United States took place on September 16,1565, appropriately enough, this muster occurred in the shadow of an oncoming hurricane. This Spanish militia tradition and the English tradition that would be established to the north would provide the nucleus for Colonial defense in the New World. The militia tradition continued with the first permanent English settlements in the New World, Jamestown Colony and Plymouth Colony both had militia forces, which initially consisted of every able bodied adult male. By the mid-1600s every town had at least one militia company, as a result of the Spanish–American War, Congress was called upon to reform and regulate the training and qualification of state militias. The first national laws regulating the militia were the Militia acts of 1792, in 1903, with passage of the Dick Act, the predecessor to the modern-day National Guard was formed. It required the states to divide their militias into two sections, the law recommended the title National Guard for the first section, known as the organized militia, and Reserve Militia for all others. During World War I, Congress passed the National Defense Act of 1916, Congress also authorized the states to maintain Home Guards, which were reserve forces outside the National Guards being deployed by the Federal Government. The National Guard of the states, territories, and the District of Columbia serves as part of the first-line of defense for the United States. C. Where the National Guard operates under the President of the United States or his designee, the governors exercise control through the state adjutants general. The National Guard may be called up for duty by the governors to help respond to domestic emergencies and disasters, such as hurricanes, floods. The National Guard is administered by the National Guard Bureau, which is a joint activity of the Army, the National Guard Bureau provides a communication channel for state National Guards to the DoD. S. C. The National Guard Bureau is headed by the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, prior to 2008, the functions of Agricultural Development Teams were within Provincial Reconstruction Teams of the US Government. Today, ADTs consist of soldiers and airmen from the Army National Guard, today, ADTs bring an effective platform for enhanced dialogue, building confidence, sharing interests, and increasing cooperation amongst the disparate peoples and tribes of Afghanistan
8.
American Expeditionary Forces
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The American Expeditionary Forces was the expeditionary force of the United States Army during World War I. It was established on July 5,1917, in France under the command of Gen. John J. Pershing, during the United States campaigns in World War I it fought, alongside French and British troops, against the German Empire. Some of the troops fought alongside Italian forces in that same year and it helped the French Army on the Western Front during the Aisne Offensive in June 1918, and fought its major actions in the Saint-Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Offensives in late 1918. Pershing insisted that American soldiers be well-trained before going to Europe, as a result, few troops arrived before 1918. This attitude was not always received by the Allied leaders who distrusted the potential of an army lacking experience in large-scale warfare. In addition the British tried to bargain their spare shipping to make the US put its soldiers into British ranks. The French harbors of Bordeaux, La Pallice, Saint Nazaire and Brest became the points into the French railway system which brought the US forces. American engineers in France built 82 new ship berths, nearly 1,000 miles of additional tracks and 100,000 miles of telephone. The first American troops, who were often called Doughboys, landed in Europe in June 1917, a formation of regular soldiers and the first division to arrive in France, entered the trenches near Nancy. The AEF used French and British equipment, particularly appreciated were the French canon de 75 modèle 1897, the canon de 155 C modèle 1917 Schneider and the canon de 155mm GPF. American aviation units received the SPAD XIII and Nieuport 28 fighters, Pershing established facilities in France to train new arrivals with their new weapons. A fifth division, the 41st Division, had converted into a depot division near Tours. After the first offensive action and American-led AEF victory on 28 May 1918 at the Battle of Cantigny, the rest followed at an accelerating pace during the spring and summer of 1918. The training took a minimum of six due to the inexperience of the servicemen. The first offensive action by AEF units serving under command was 1,000 men. This battle took place under the command of the Australian Corps commander. The Allied force in this battle combined artillery, armor, infantry, and air support, U. S. Army and Marine Corps troops played a key role in helping stop the German thrust towards Paris, during the Second Battle of the Marne in June 1918. The first major and distinctly American offensive was the reduction of the Saint Mihiel salient in September 1918, during the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, beginning September 12,1918, Pershing commanded the U. S
9.
Battle of Saint-Mihiel
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The U. S. Army Air Service played a significant role in this action. This battle marked the first use of the terms D-Day and H-Hour by the Americans, the fighting was depicted in the 1927 film Wings. The attack at the St. Mihiel salient was part of a plan by Pershing in which he hoped that the Americans would break through the German lines and capture the fortified city of Metz. It was the first and only offensive launched solely by the United States Army in World War I, and this meant that their artillery was out of place and the American attack, coming up against disorganized German forces, proved more successful than expected. The St. Mihiel attack established the stature of the U. S, the U. S. attack faltered as artillery and food supplies were left behind on the muddy roads. The attack on Metz was not realized, as the Germans refortified their positions, Saint-Mihiel is a town in the Meuse department in northeastern France. Since the end of the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War, the town was no longer considered important strategically and this changed early in World War I with the town inside the battlefront. In 1914, the German command wished to take the Verdun fortifications which formed a point in the French lines. A first attempt, at Bois-le-Pretre, failed despite violent fighting, during two more attempts, German troops took Saint-Mihiel and the fort at Camp des Romains, but they were ultimately stopped at the Fort de Troyon to the south of Verdun. During the course of the war the front did not change much in this area, Saint-Mihiel formed a salient inside the French lines, blocking communications between Nancy and Verdun. The area near St. Mihiel would know much fighting, The Crête des Éparges, the Bois dAilly and the Tranchée de la Soif, isolated behind German lines, Commander dAndrés men fight three days without food or water before surrender in May 1915. Bois Brûlé, many casualties when German conquer a redoubt on December 1914 and it is here that the sub-officer Jacques Péricard pronounced the famous words, Debout les morts. on 8 April 1915. The forêt dApremont, the Tête à vache trenches, Calonne trenches… But despite French attacks the German forces were able to retain this strategic location until the last months of the war. General John Pershing thought that a successful Allied attack in the region of St. Mihiel, Metz, for this, he placed his confidence in a young First Infantry Division Major, George Marshall, to move troops and supplies effectively throughout the battle. After these goals were accomplished, the Americans could launch offensives into Germany proper, the American First Army had been activated in August and taken over the sector of the Allied line. Pershing had to persuade Marshall Foch to permit an American attack on the salient, the weather corps of Corps I Operation Order stated, Visibility, Heavy driving wind and rain during parts of day and night. This would pose a challenge to the Americans when the order to advance was given, in some parts of the road, the men were almost knee-deep in mud and water. After five days of rain, the ground was impassable to both the American tanks and infantry
United States