Second Army | |
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Second Army's distinctive unit insignia
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Active | October 1918 – April 1919 October 1933 – January 1966 July 1983 – July 1995 March 2014 – April 2017 |
Allegiance | United States |
Branch | United States Army |
Type | Field army |
Part of | Regular Army |
Motto(s) | "Tout Préparé" |
Engagements | World War I |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders |
William Simpson Leonard T. Gerow Edward H. Brooks George Windle Read, Jr. |
Insignia | |
Combat service identification badge | |
Flag |
Second Army was most recently located at Fort Belvoir, Virginia as a Direct Reporting Unit to Headquarters U.S. Army, Chief Information Officer (CIO)/G-6. Under the CIO/G-6, Second Army served as the single point of contact for Army missions and functions related to reporting on, assessing, planning, coordinating, integrating, synchronizing, directing and conducting Army network operations. This mission ended after a 2017 reorganization, and Second Army was inactivated.
Second Army, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), was established in October 1918 during World War I and demobilized in April 1919. A new Second Army operated from 1933 to 1966, and 1983 to 1995, as a training army in the continental United States.
On 1 October 2010, U.S. Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER) was formed as the Army service component command supporting U.S. Cyber Command, commanded by Lt. Gen. Rhett A. Hernandez. On 6 March 2014, Army headquarters activated Second Army as a direct reporting unit of Army CIO/G-6 with Commander, ARCYBER, dual-hatted as the Second Army Commander.
The history of the Second Army began as a fighting army on the battlefields of France in the waning days of World War I. Eager to maintain a hard-fought momentum to drive the Germans out of France, on 10 October 1918, General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), selected Lieutenant General Robert L. Bullard to command the newly activated Second Army, AEF. Bullard, a Spanish–American War veteran, earned Pershing's confidence and reputation as an aggressive commander, after leading the 1st Infantry Division during the battle of Cantigny. At Cantigny, Bullard delivered the first American victory of the war. Bullard’s orders for Second Army were to hold the line on a portion of the St. Mihiel sector along the Lorraine front. In November, General Pershing ordered Second Army to advance toward Metz. Bullard subsequently launched rigorous attacks against the Germans on 10 November. The 7th, 28th, 33rd, and 92nd divisions, then on the Second Army front, began the attacks. Encountering stubborn resistance, Second Army made a considerable advance, recovering a total of approximately 25 square miles of French territory before the armistice terminated hostilities on 11 November. During its first month of combat operations, 102 soldiers serving under Second Army earned the Distinguished Service Cross. After the armistice, Second Army occupied an area in Belgium and Luxembourg, remaining there until the end of March 1919, and demobilized in France on 15 April 1919.