History of the First Division

Early Cold War: 1945-1965

With the Army’s demobilization after World War II, the 1st Infantry Division was the only American combat force in occupied Germany until 1950. It provided a stabilizing influence for the rebuilding of Germany and held the line against any possible Soviet threat to Western Europe. The Big Red One stayed in Germany until 1955, when it was the first division rotated back to the United States in Operation Gyroscope. The division made its new base at Fort Riley, Kansas. It remained there for ten years, reorganizing first as a “Pentomic” division and then a three-brigade “ROAD” division more like the “Triangular” structure of World War II.

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