page_title: 303rd Cavalry Regiment (United States)
section_title: Predecessor units of the 303rd Armor
hierarchical_section_title: 303rd Cavalry Regiment (United States) / History / Predecessor units of the 303rd Armor
caption_attribution_description: English: An M10 tank destroyer from the 803rd Tank Destroyer Battalion firing on a German pillbox on the other side of the Sauer River near Echternach, Luxembourg, supporting an advance by the 5th Infantry Division's 11th Infantry Regiment. Signal Corps Photo #200040
context_page_description: The 303rd Cavalry Regiment is a United States cavalry regiment, currently represented in the Washington Army National Guard by the 1st Squadron, 303rd Cavalry, headquartered at Vancouver, Washington, part of the 96th Troop Command. It incorporates the lineage of the 303rd Cavalry, 303rd Armor, and 803rd Armor Regiments of the Washington Army National Guard.
context_section_description: The 303rd Armor traced its lineage back to the 103rd Antitank Battalion, constituted on 14 August 1940 in the Washington National Guard. The 103rd was organized and federally recognized on 30 September from new and existing units, and was headquartered at Tacoma. After being inducted into Federal service on 10 February 1941 at home stations, it was converted into the 103rd Infantry Battalion, Antitank, on 24 July 1941. On 15 December 1941, after the United States entered World War II, it became the 803rd Tank Destroyer Battalion.
  On 24 June 1943, the battalion departed for England. Days after Allied troops landed in Normandy on 6 June, the 803rd landed at Omaha Beach on 13 June, equipped with the M10 tank destroyer. It helped capture Saint-Lô during the Battle of Saint-Lô in July. The battalion rapidly advanced across northern France in August when German lines disintegrated and through Belgium and Holland before reaching the Siegfried Line in September, where the Allied advance bogged down. In October, it supported operations north of Aachen and transferred to the Hürtgen Forest. Just before the Battle of the Bulge began in December, the 803rd was relocated to the Ardennes. It was sent into the renewed assault against the Siegfried Line in early 1945 and converted to the M36 tank destroyer in February. The battalion fought in the capture of Trier and the crossing of the Rhine at Oppenheim on 23 March. The 803rd helped eliminate the Ruhr Pocket in April, then advanced southeast through Austria and Czechoslovakia, ending the war there in May. During its combat service, the battalion was attached to the 82nd Airborne Division, 3rd Armored Division, 2nd Infantry Division, 5th Infantry Division, 8th Infantry Division, 29th Infantry Division, 30th Infantry Division, and the 1st Belgian Brigade. The 803rd was inactivated postwar at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey on 1 December 1945.
  On 13 September 1946, the 803rd became a tank battalion, and was allocated to the state of Washington, with an authorized strength of 607 men on 31 October. It was reorganized and federally recognized on 18 March 1947 with its headquarters at Centralia, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Lilburn H. Stevens. Between 29 May and 5 June 1948, Stevens led 44 men from the battalion in flood control duty during the 1948 floods along the Columbia River.
   On 1 February 1949, it was redesignated the 803rd Heavy Tank Battalion, and joined the 41st Infantry Division. On 1 September 1950, it was redesignated yet again, dropping the "Heavy" designation.
caption: An M10 tank destroyer from the battalion firing on a German pillbox on the other side of the Sauer River near Echternach, Luxembourg, supporting an advance by the 5th Infantry Division's 11th Infantry Regiment.
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