1st Armored Division (France)

The 1st Armored Division ( _fr. 1re Division Blindée, 1re DB) was an armored unit of the French Army. The division fought during World War II as a part of the First French Army and was active during the Cold War. It was disbanded in 1999, but its honors and traditions are carried on by the 1st Mechanized Brigade.

History

=World War II= The 1st Armored Division was created 1 May 1943 in Mascara, French Algeria, under the command of Jean Touzet de Vigier.

The division lands in Provence in 15 August 1944 part of the Garbo Force, a part of General de Lattre de Tassigny’s First French Army. It takes part in the liberation of Toulon and Marseilles. It is the first to reach the Rhone (25 August 1944), the Rhine (19 November 1944) and the Danube (21 April 1945). The division is mention in dispatches three times, but is disbanded in 31 March 1946.

Cold War

The division is recreated in 1948 and stationed in Trier, Germany in 1951.

Post-Cold War

Units of the division takes part in the Gulf War, it sends unit to Bosnia under the framework of UNPROFOR from 1992, as part of the IFOR from 1995 and provides the HQ in Mostar for the Multi-National Division South between August and November 1997.

When the French Army is reorganized in 1999 the division is dissolved and its honours and traditions are carried on by the 1st Mechanised Brigade created on 1 July 1999.