V Corps ( United States ) V Corps was a regular corps headquarters of the United States Army . Originally organized for service in World War I , V Corps also saw service in World War II , and served in Western Europe during the Cold War . Most recently , V Corps served in the Balkans , Iraq , and Afghanistan . V Corps was inactivated on 12 June 2013 as part of the Army ' s force realignment in Europe . History . Spanish - American War . V Corps was organized in Tampa , Florida , in May 1898 under the command of Major General William Rufus Shafter . Intended to be the main U . S . Army unit leading the invasion of Cuba in the Spanish - American War , its full strength was 25 , 000 men . But chaotic logistics meant that it departed for the island with only about 17 , 000 officers and men . It consisted of the 1st Infantry Division of 5 , 000 men led by Brigadier General Jacob Ford Kent ; 2d Infantry Division of 5 , 000 men led by Brigadier General Brigadier General Henry Ware Lawton ; a Cavalary Division ( dismounted ) of 2 , 700 men led by Major General Joseph Wheeler ; an independent brigade of 1 , 100 men led by Brigadier General John C . Bates ; and a brigade of 2 , 700 volunteers led by Brigadier General Henry M . Duffield . The bridgade of volunteers consisted of the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry ( the " Rough Riders " ) , 2d Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry , 33rd Michigan Volunteer Infantry , 34th Michigan Volunteer Infantry , and 71st New York Volunteer Infantry . The corps was supported by a battalion of artillery , which included a four - gun squad Gatling Gun Detachment . Artillery pieces included a Hotchkiss revolving cannon and eight field mortars . V Corps landed in Cuba on June 22 , 1898 , at Daiquirí . It fought in the Battle of the Aguadores the Battle of El Caney , and the Battles of San Juan Hill and Kettle Hill . Garrisoning the city of Santiago de Cuba , V Corps suffered heavily from malaria , typhoid , and yellow fever . Worried that the corps would suffer thousands of deaths if left in Cuba , corps commanders presented General Shafter with the Round - Robin Letter at the end of July 1898 . Publication of an abridged copy in the American press led V Corps to be repatriated back to the United States . After spending a month in quarantine at Campt Wickoff on Long Island , New York , it was disbanded on October 7 , 1898 . World War I . V Corps was organized a second time 7 – 12 July 1918 in the Regular Army in France , as part of the American Expeditionary Forces , for service in World War I . By the end of World War I ( November 1918 ) , V Corps had fought in three named campaigns . Interwar Period The unit was reorganized and re - designated as the Fifth Corps Area , with the headquarters redesignated the V Corps Area Service Command . Established in the US Army on August 20 , 1920 with headquarters at Fort Benjamin Harrison , IN , and organized from portions of the discontinued Central Department . The headquarters was transferred to Fort Hayes , OH , on 20 June 1922 . The Fifth Corps Area included the states of Ohio , West Virginia , Indiana , and Kentucky . HQ , Fifth Corps Area was responsible for the mobilization , administration , and training of units of the Second and Fifth Armies , the V and XV Army Corps , select General Headquarters units , and Zone of the Interior support units of the Fifth Corps Area Service Command . Mobile units of the corps area , less General HQ Reserve , and Zone of the Interior units , were assigned to the Second and Fifth Armies from 1921 to 1933 . With the adoption of the four field army plan on 1 October 1933 , the units of the Fifth Corps Area were reassigned to the Second Army , General Headquarters Reserve , or demobilized . The Fifth Corps Area Training Center was established in 1921 , originally at Camp Knox , KY ( re - designated Fort Knox in 1932 ) , to train Regular Army and Organized Reserve . units of all arms and services , as well as ROTC cadets and Citizen Military Training Camp candidates . With the inactivation of the Fifth Corps Area Training Center in October 1922 , Camp Knox became the primary training center for corps area infantry , cavalry , and field artillery units . Corps area maneuvers of mobile units were also held , those years when funds were available , at Camp Knox . For the administration of Organized Reserve . units , all organizations initially came under the control of the V Corps , or the 83d , 84th , and 100th Divs . When the V Corps was inactivated on 15 November 1924 , the HQ , Non - Divisional Group was established to direct the organization , training , and administration of all non - divisional units . The HQ , Artillery Group was established on 5 September 1925 at Cincinnati , OH , to direct the organization , training , and administration of all non - divisional field artillery and coast artillery antiaircraft units . The corps area was further reorganized into four “ military areas ” on 28 September 1932 . At that time , the Ohio Military Area assumed control of the 83d Division . area , the Indiana Military . Area assumed control of the 84th Div . area , the West Virginia Military . Area assumed control of the 100th Division area less Kentucky , and the Kentucky Military Area assumed control of Kentucky elements of XV Corps , 100th Division , and 64th Cavalry . Division Concurrently , the Artillery Group , which administered all non - divisional field artillery and coast artillery units , was abolished and the military area headquarters assumed control of the artillery units in their respective areas . The Fifth Corps Area began assigning Reserve personnel to “ 1500 ” series Corps Area Service Command units on 1 October 1932 . The HQ , Fifth Corps Area actually began functioning as a service command headquarters in October 1940 and was re - designated HQ , Fifth CASC in May 1941 . It was further re - designated HQ , Fifth Service Command on 22 July 1942 . World War II . After Germany declared war on the United States on 11 December 1941 , the corps deployed ( January 1942 ) the first American soldiers to the European Theater of Operations , United States Army . That initial deployment was known as the U . S . Army Northern Ireland Force or MAGNET . On 6 June 1944 , V Corps assaulted Omaha Beach , Normandy . Corps soldiers then broke out from the beachhead , liberated Paris and Sedan , Ardennes , and raced to the German border . After liberating Luxembourg , V Corps fought in the Battle of the Bulge , captured Leipzig , made first contact with the Red Army at Torgau , and , south in Czechoslovakia , liberated Plzeň by May 1945 . Cold War . On 1 December 1950 due to concern of a Soviet threat to Western Europe during the Korean War , Seventh Army was activated as a field army in Europe ( Ca . 4 years earlier , in March 1947 , U . S . European Command [ EUCOM ] had designated that all EUCOM combat forces were to convert to “ Occupation duties ” ) . Seventh Army absorbed the two main Occupation Duty forces then in Germany , namely the 1st Infantry Division and the U . S . Constabulary ( Note : By middle 1948 limited combat training had been restored in EUCOM ) . In December , 1950 President Truman ’ s declared National Emergency due to the Korean War included a 4 division augmentation of U . S . Forces in Europe . In May 1951 the 4th Infantry Division arrived in United States Army Europe ( USAREUR ) in Germany , and on 3 August 1951 V Corps was reactivated and assigned to the Seventh Army in USAREUR . In July the 2d Armored Division arrived in Germany , and on 25 August 1951 the 4th Infantry Div ( HQ : Frankfurt ) and 2d Armored Div ( HQ : Bad Kreuznach ) were assigned as the V Corps ' divisions . In November 1951 VII Corps was assigned to the Seventh Army , and the long serving U . S . Zone of Occupation division , the 1st Infantry Div ( HQ : Wuerzburg ) , plus the newly arrived National Guard 28th and 43rd Infantry Divisions , were assigned as its divisions . Note : The U . S . Constabulary was inactivated upon the arrival of the four U . S . division augmentation forces to Germany . V Corps was assigned to the northern area of the U . S . Occupation Zone of Germany ( which included the Fulda Gap ) , and the VII Corps was assigned to the southern area of the U . S . Zone ( one of the National Guard divisions was stationed in Munich and the other was between Munich and Stuttgart ) . Reorganization . Although , as referenced above , in 1951 the 1st Infantry Division was assigned to the newly activated VII Corps , the significance of the Fulda Gap defense influenced not only the reassignment of 1st Infantry Division to V Corps by June 1954 , but also the 1 October 1953 assignment of the newly formed 19th Armor Group , headquartered at Frankfurt , to V Corps . The June 1954 main unit assignments to V Corps were 1st Infantry Division , 4th Infantry Division , 2d Armored Division , and 19th Armor Group ( 19th AG was the size of a large brigade , with 3 tank battalions and one mech . infantry battalion stationed from Mannheim to Wildflecken ) . The first U . S . armored division to be stationed east of the Rhine River in the Cold War , namely V Corps ' 3d Armored Division , arrived in May / June 1956 . ( The 3d Armored Div . replaced the 4th Infantry Div . ; later , the 2d Armored Div . was replaced by the Bad Kreuznach arriving 8th Infantry Div . ) The 19th Armor Group ( HQ : Frankfurt ) was replaced by the 4th Armor Group on 1 July 1955 ( the 4th AG was approximately the size of the replaced 19th AG ) ; the 4th Armor Group was deactivated in the 1963 ROAD conversion . In 1958 the 1st Infantry Division gyroscoped to CONUS , and was replaced in V Corps by the 3rd Infantry Division from CONUS . Due to the 1963 ROAD reorganization in USAREUR , V Corps ultimately lost two assigned units : ( 1 ) the 4th Armor Group was inactivated ; ( 2 ) the 3rd Infantry Division ( HQ : Wuerzburg ) was reassigned to VII Corps . After the Cold War collapse of the Warsaw Pact , V Corps soldiers deployed both units and individuals to Saudi Arabia for the Gulf War ; and to other operations in Kuwait , northern Iraq , Croatia , Somalia , Republic of Macedonia , Rwanda , and Zaire . Germany . In December 1994 , as part of the realignment of United States Armed Forces , V Corps moved from the IG Farben Building to Campbell Barracks in Heidelberg , severing a forty - three year tie with Frankfurt . The corps reached out to the armed forces of eastern Europe with numerous initiatives to foster closer ties and better understanding . Maintaining the NATO commitment , V Corps in 1994 created two bi - national corps with Germany . For Command Component Land Heidelberg missions , the corps commanded the 13th ( German ) Armored Infantry Division , while II ( German ) Corps commanded the 1st Armored Division . Eastern Europe . In December 1995 , V Corps deployed 1st Armored Division and elements of six separate brigades for the Implementation Force ( IFOR ) . The corps headquarters and Headquarters Company , the 3d Support Command , and the separate brigades helped form the National Support Element headquartered in Hungary for United States Armed Forces in Bosnia . Brigades of the two divisions rotated in the peace enforcement mission for a number of years in Bosnia . Headquarters and Headquarters Company , V Corps , was decorated with the Superior Unit Award | Army Superior Unit Award in 1998 in recognition of the unit ' s performance in Implementation Force ( IFOR ) . In April 1999 , V Corps deployed the headquarters and subordinate units to Albania as Task Force Hawk , a force involved in the on - going crisis in Kosovo . The 1st Infantry Division served in Kosovo twice and the 1st Armored Division served once , in addition to V Corps separate brigades . Iraq . At the end of 2002 , V Corps deployed to Kuwait under United States Central Command for the Iraq War . The United States - led coalition brought about a regime change in Iraq and satisfied international concerns about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction . The corps and its maneuver brigades crossed into Iraq on March 21 , 2003 as the main effort . In sixteen days of fighting , V Corps advanced more than 540 miles straight line distance from Kuwait to Baghdad , decisively defeated the Iraqi Armed Forces , and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein . On June 15 , 2003 , the corps formed Combined Joint Task Force 7 , based in Baghdad , and continued military operations to pacify the remainder of Iraq , rebuild the country , and create democratic institutions . As part of Combined Joint Task Force 7 mission , V Corps soldiers sought out and arrested or killed the major figures in the Iraqi regime , culminating in the arrest of Saddam Hussein himself . On February 1 , 2004 , V Corps was succeeded in Combined Joint Task Force 7 by III Corps and redeployed to its home station in Heidelberg , Germany . In recognition of its combat achievements in Iraq , the Department of the Army , in 2004 , awarded the Headquarters and Headquarters Company the Meritorious Unit Commendation ( Army ) . In January 2006 , the corps , deployed to Iraq and replaced XVIII Airborne Corps as the command and control element for Multi - National Corps – Iraq . During its second year - long deployment , which ended on December 14 , 2006 , V Corps continued to lead coalition forces and made great strides battling a widespread insurgency , conducting a massive rebuilding effort , and paving the way for democracy in Iraq . Afghanistan . From 2012 to 2013 , V Corps served in Afghanistan , providing command and control of all United States ground forces engaged in the War on Terror . Inactivation . In accordance with the ongoing force realignment of the US Army , it was announced in February 2013 V Corps would be inactivated in June 2013 . In a ceremony on 12 June 2013 , V Corps was awarded the Army Superior Unit Award and Meritorious Unit Citation and formally inactivated .